Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 19/02) - The city is gearing up for a $1 million overhaul of its aging financial software.

City council's corporate services committee met on Tuesday to hear a recommendation from administration calling for an Alberta-based company -- Diamond Software Inc. -- to begin replacing the software this fall.

"Our current financial software is 20 years old," said Tim Mercer, director of corporate services.

"It's been modified and updated extensively over the last 5-10 years, and it's simply no longer meeting our needs."

Because the current system is so old, a number of errors have been occurring in the city's accounting and billing procedures, said Mercer.

Occasionally, the computer -- an IBM AS/400 -- prints off bills to residents who have moved away long ago. As a result, many of the calculations must be done manually by staff using calculators.

City IT support specialist Andrew Morton estimates that he spends 20 hours per week just fixing glitches in the system.

"It's getting flaky," said Morton.

The new system must be fully installed by Jan. 31, 2004, in order to meet its Smart Communities obligations.

Once online with Smart Communities, the new system will allow residents to pay bills and enquire about properties for sale via the Internet.

The total cost of the project will be $943,000.

Administration told council on Tuesday that they had to go south for the new software because there are no local companies that could provide the service.

Coun. Dave McCann called the acquisition of the new computer software "exciting," and a boon for both the city and ratepayers.

"It should be a revolution in reporting," said McCann. "It'll be good for the taxpayer. They can see the changes."