More computer woes for City of Portland
Last week a tipster told us that the City of Portland's new computer system, which as we recall rolled out in earnest about a year ago, was having some problems. The switchover of personnel functions, which started over the summer, was not going well, we were told, vis-a-vis the police bureau. Apparently, police officers who work shifts other than daytime have not been getting their pay processed correctly. The source said that although members of the force were royally angry about it, they had been ordered not to say anything publicly or risk their jobs.
Yesterday's apology e-mail from the police chief to the rank and file over the Humphreys beanbagging case seems to confirm the existence of these problems. She wrote in part: "You have had to endure the stresses of a new payroll system."
Meanwhile, the bobbleheads at City Hall keep telling us about all the prizes that the computer is winning. Too funny.
| Posted at 10:09 AM | Permalink |
|
Comments (7)
The city was attempting to put all financial and accounting systems onto a single, integrated system. Made sense in theory.
Problem is, commission government has allowed all the bureaus to grow their systems independently of one another. When they started the analysis for the new system they identified something like six hundred different types of time cards and time reportings between the various bureaus. They should have left payroll alone and simply consolidated the output for financial reporting systems.
Posted by Dave Lister | November 24, 2009 11:27 AM
How do you get your kickbacks if you don't fix what isn't broken?
http://pcworld.about.com/od/legalissues/Kickback-Allegations-Include-T.htm
Posted by Bad Brad | November 24, 2009 11:43 AM
"You have had to endure the stresses of a new payroll system". Poor babies. I wouldn't be bringing up problems like that in a bad economy with high unemployment.
Posted by tom | November 24, 2009 12:30 PM
...How many stress-disability settlements will this new computer system lead to?
Posted by RANZ | November 24, 2009 12:43 PM
Portland bought the same system that Multnomah County installed several years ago. If they would have bothered to talk to the folks at the County, they would have found out that the system is an expensive pile of &#@*. More taxpayer bucks down the crapper. I think they actually BORROWED money to buy the new system. We'll be paying for it for the next 20 years. Merry Christmas, Portland!
Posted by Frank | November 24, 2009 7:26 PM
I am shocked, simply shocked that the city of Portland has installed another major computer system that is riddled with problems. Do they learn nothing from their prior screw-ups with vendors and technology? And yeah, that's totally rhetorical.
Posted by LucsAdvo | November 24, 2009 7:35 PM
Dave Lister wrote; "When they started the analysis for the new system they identified something like six hundred different types of time cards and time reportings between the various bureaus."
I doubt that I can sream loud enough, but are these people out of their friggin minds?
Does anyone down there understand what management is all about or even halfway understand?
Posted by Michael Wilson | November 24, 2009 9:30 PM