County Set to Move on City/County Software Deal

Allegheny County Council President Rich Fitzgerald says he thinks Council can get an agreement in place with the City of Pittsburgh to upgrade, share and operate HR and financial management software. Yesterday, the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority approved the City’s budget contingent on the city shifting over from its current ERP software to the software run by Allegheny County. The ICA feels the change is needed to make the Pittsburgh’s operations more transparent and increase the system’s reliability.

Pittsburgh officials hope to save money by piggybacking onto the licenses used by the county. Legislation to set up the deal on the county side was introduced into council this week and was sent to the Committee on Government Reform chaired by Fitzgerald. He says he does not see any hang-ups at the time and he expects it to be finally approved next month. However, some on the city side are already complaining that the city will be paying more than its fair share.

Under the current deal, the city of Pittsburgh would pay for upgrades to the system and then pay the county for training. Fitzgerald says the Mayor, County Executive and the City and County Controllers have been working on the details and he feels any issues can be ironed out quickly. Without a deal, Pittsburgh would have to purchase its own licenses.