Thursday, April 01, 1999
Computer upgrade project drags on
Butler committee to hire new manager
BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON — A newly formed committee headed by Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox is preparing to reshape the county's faltering computer project that has cost $1.4 million and is far from fully operational.
The seven-member committee, which met for the first time this week, plans to hire a new project manager and to decide on the design of a computer system that would improve the ability of Butler County's courts, prosecutor's office, the sheriff's and probation departments, and the clerk of courts office to store and share records.
Although the county has spent $1.4 million in the past four years on the project, only a small portion of it is operating.
In the past two weeks, the county commissioners fired Ken Glunt as the project manager and terminated its contract with the company that designed the information system, BIS Computer Solutions of La Crescenta, Calif.
Whom to hire?
Besides Mr. Fox, committee members include Commissioner Chuck Furmon, Common Pleas Judge Michael Sage, Juvenile Court Judge David Niehaus, Auditor Kay Rogers, Clerk of Courts Cindy Carpenter and Finance Director Tim Williams. Their next meeting will be April 12.
The committee must decide whether to replace Mr. Glunt with another person or to hire the consulting firm of KPMG LLP of Dayton, which the county paid last year to critique the justice-information project.
“It would be simpler, in my opinion, to hire KPMG to do it, since they're already familiar with the project,” Mr. Fox said.
Centralization sought
The committee favors a computer system that would allow each court and county department to choose its own software, but also would link each component into a centralized system.
Under the BIS system, all courts and departments would have to use BIS software in order to have a centralized database.
The committee will be searching for a vendor to provide the overall system connecting the various software packages.
Some of the BIS system might be salvaged. If some courts or county departments want to use BIS software, they can, Mr. Fox said.
A court order
Last year, Ms. Carpenter, frustrated by the delays in implementing the BIS system, obtained a court order allowing her to buy software from a vendor other than BIS. The system for her office has been running since the beginning of the year.
Mr. Fox said he doesn't know when the entire system will be operating.
Mr. Glunt had told the county judges recently that it would take two to five years to complete the project. Many of the judges were unhappy to hear it would take that long.
Mr. Fox said he will have a better idea of the project completion date after a project manager is hired and work proceeds. “We'll wait until we hear what the experts think,” he said.
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