Needham Finance Committee members heard at their Feb. 5 meeting that the town's billing and financial software is dated and that staff are preparing to explore replacements with the goal of an enterprise solution covering revenue, payroll, accounts payable and the general ledger.

Staff described problems with the current vendorincluding service responsiveness and system limitationsand said the best long-term solution is to seek a single, widely used municipal finance package rather than stitching together multiple vendors that do not integrate well. Committee members were told some of the implementation cost would include data conversion and archival of decades of records; staff estimated the capital request to replace and expand the financial-management software would likely be under $300,000 but noted final amounts depend on vendor selection and scope.

Officials emphasized implementation timing matters: major conversions can take from nine months to more than two years depending on scope, and certain billing cycles (for example, tax or sewer billing) present optimal windows for conversion to avoid splitting a billing period between systems. The committee heard that the town also must manage record-archival requirements and ensure the conversion preserves audit and legal records defined by public-record obligations.

Ending: Staff said they will return with a procurement plan and cost estimate for the enterprise finance system; committee members asked that implementation timing be coordinated to minimize disruptions to billing cycles and operations.