By LESLIE COLLINS
Northeast News
June 27, 2012

Kansas City Public Schools is spending slightly more than $1 million for a new software system, and district officials say it’s worth the price tag.

KCPS’ current software for managing financial systems and human capital management services dates back to 1998, said KCPS Manager of Public Relations Andre Riley.

“Basically, it was time to upgrade,” he said. “With the current system (JD Edwards), we’re paying $100,000 a year in maintenance. Part of it is the system is old and it’s a little bit complicated to update. Technology has passed it by.”

With the new system, Alio, annual maintenance will average $15,000 per year, he said.

Despite slashing this year’s fiscal budget by $13 million, the district has enough money in the General Fund to finance the Alio software. The district will pay off the $1 million price tag over a period of five years to Weidenhammer Systems Corporation, provider of the Alio software. The cost covers software, licensing, set-up, training, and five years of maintenance and hosting from Weidenhammer Systems Corporation.

Alio’s software package includes accounting, budget, accounts payable, payroll, general accounting, fixed assets, human capital management modules, a business intelligence system and data warehousing.

Not only will the software be used at the district level, it will also be used at individual schools for items like purchase orders.

Asked to explain the hefty price tag, Riley said, “The reason it’s so high this year is because we have to install hardware. It’s a one-time cost for this year.”

One advantage of switching over to Alio is that it’s specifically built for school districts, Riley said.

In addition, the previous software system, JD Edwards, had poor interface between the human resources system and financial system, he said.

“They were two different types of software, so to get them to work together was very difficult,” Riley said. “That slowed us down a lot because the two programs didn’t work well with each other. It just became cumbersome to do business.”

Those issues will be eliminated with Alio, which is web-based.

“We’ll have a lot more functionality,” he said. “One of the things we’re most proud of is folks can now interface with the system even when they’re not at work, because it’s web-based. It eliminates the excuse of, ‘I couldn’t get in, or I’m not at the office.’ It helps keep our workers more productive.”

Alio will be installed this summer and KCPS plans to use the software for the long-haul.

“We believe we’re going to save money (over the long run),” Riley said. “Yes, there’s a large upfront cost to get started, but once we get started we’ll have so much functionality. We’re going to have it for the long-haul.”