County staff recommend moving Munis to cloud after vendor ends functional upgrades to on‑premises version

Davis County officials told the Budget Committee on April 14 that Tyler Technologies has informed customers it will cease functional upgrades for the on‑premises Munis product, prompting county staff to recommend a transition to the vendor’s cloud offering.

A controller’s office representative said Tyler will continue to provide security patches for the on‑prem version, but no new functional enhancements; the representative said the vendor has not provided a firm end‑of‑life date for on‑prem hosting but indicated the next major announcement could effectively be end‑of‑life.

County information‑systems and human resources staff described the cloud option as the most practical path for Davis County. Staff estimated current annual Munis costs at about $140,000 and projected that moving to the cloud would raise recurring costs to roughly $260,000 per year, with first‑year costs including implementation near $310,000. Implementation assistance to stand up the cloud environment was estimated at about $60,000. Staff said adding cashiering on‑prem cost an upfront ~$60,000 versus an estimated $6,000 license option in the cloud and that some cloud modules are only available there.

Officials warned of implementation complexity and the need to avoid disrupting payroll; they said a dual‑run approach (running on‑prem and cloud in parallel during transition) would be necessary for payroll and other mission‑critical functions and noted that dual runs carry additional costs. Staff also cautioned that alternate ERP platforms such as Workday or Oracle would likely cost substantially more (presenters cited potential annual costs three times Munis cloud for a county this size) and could require hiring external implementation partners.

Timing and next steps discussed at the meeting: staff suggested beginning implementation work in December–February to target a February go‑live the following year, but said a transition before October’s budget season would be difficult. Committee members asked departments to weigh in; staff said they planned to brief department heads and directors and that no final decision would be made immediately.

Why it matters: Munis supports finance and HR functions used across county departments. The vendor’s shift away from on‑prem functional upgrades creates a decision point with significant budget, implementation and operational implications.

Committee direction: Staff will develop a more detailed implementation plan, refined cost estimates and a timeline for departmental review; no vote or contract award occurred at the meeting.