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RFP – Support Services

By on October 8, 2015 in Uncategorized

The Community Software Consortium (CSC) is soliciting Proposals for the acquisition of Software Support Services for its suite of Municipal Software. A software support service should be able to carry out tasks such as: remote trouble shooting and software conflict solving, installation and basic usability assistance, as well as supplying updates and patches for bugs and security holes in the supported software. Service should be able to support one or more cloud, server or PC-based platforms.

A copy of the RFP is available here.

The CSC reserves the right to cancel or reject in whole or part, any or all proposals in the best interest of the CSC. Proposal deadline is 11:30 a.m. EDT on November 13, 2015. Late proposals will not be accepted.

2017 Membership Dues Now Payable

By on July 8, 2015 in Assessors, Collectors, General

The 2017 Membership dues are now ready for members.

Annual Dues for FY 2017The Community Software Consortium (CSC) consists of multiple membership tiers. Each community member belongs to the General Membership Tier and additionally can belong to one or more tiers.

Dues Assessments are determined annually by vote of the members of each tier.

Beginning in FY 2017, the members voted to have a 3-tiered dues based on the number of parcels in the community.

FY 2017 Dues   (July 1, 2016 –  June 30, 2017)

  • General Fund -$925
    • Assessed to each member community
    • Governed by the Board of Directors
    • Consortium Operating Expenses, Outreach, Advertising, Procurement
  • Assessing Tier    (FY2017)
    • $2,200  =   less than 1000 parcels
    • $2,850   =   1000 -4999 parcels
    • $3,550  =  5000 or more parcels
    • Assessed to each Assessing member in addition to the General Dues
    • CSC Real Estate application
      • Local or Cloud hosting
    • CSC Personal Property Application
      • Local or Cloud hosting
    • Application enhancements, maintenance, training
    • CSC Website – Community-specific landing page; public access to securely hosted assessment data
    • Marshall & Swift Cost Table licenses
    • Reporting tools for ad hoc reporting:
      • IQ Objects
      • Business Objects
  • Collection Tier  (FY 2017)
    • $1,200  =   less than 1000 parcels
    • $1,600   =   1000 -4999 parcels
    • $2,000  =  5000 or more parcels
    • Assessed to each Collection member in addition to the General Dues
    • CSC Tax Administration software
      • Local or Cloud hosting
    • Application maintenance and training
  • Personal Property Tier – $750
    • Personal Property Application
      • Local or Cloud hosting
    • Support & maintenance
    • Marshall & Swift Cost Table license
    • (Included free in Assessing Tier)
  • Technical Tier – $750
    • General Membership within the CSC
    • Public Access
  • Remote IT Tier –  Estimated  to be $1000-1400
    • Remote Backups of all community computers with storage up to 250 Gb
    • Daily monitoring
    • Periodic email notifications to community contact
  • Finance Tier –  Estimated to be $1200-1500
    • General Accounting Module for Accountants and Treasurers

 

Non Profit Status

By on March 17, 2015 in General

The Community Software Consortium is officially a non-profit.  We’ve received our IRS letter as well as tax exempt certification from the State of Massachusetts!

Remote IT program now open to more communities

By on September 23, 2014 in Grants, Remote IT

Funded by the Commonwealth’s Community Innovation Challenge grant program, the CSC is offering remote cloud-based backup of all your town’s critical data. Having successfully setup our first 10 communities, we are now able to open the program up to additional communities until we have reached our funding cap.

Communities need to sign up by Oct 31, 2014 to participate in the funded portion of the project.  Grant funds will cover the cost of the initial setup, and then ongoing backups of your computer data for 1 year.

 

The RPIS Condo Enhancements are now available.

By on May 28, 2014 in Assessors, Software

A new version of the CSC’s Real Property Information System (RPIS) will be available to all members starting June 9th.  In addition to the new Condo features, a number of smaller issues were addressed.  Contact your DLS IT advisor to get the new version of RPIS.  (CSC Cloud users will receive the update automatically – coming soon. Watch your email for a rollout date.)

We are hoping to have a user meeting, to review the new features, at the MAAO conference on Thursday morning June 25th, if we can find a room.  More info shortly.

In addition to the new Condo features, a number of smaller issues were addressed.

These include:

RPIS 3.1a

Data Management and Valuation Enhancements:

  • Modified condo data storage, reporting, and valuation as recommended by the CSC Condo Committee.
  • Added Base Value and Base Rate fields to the Land table, and modifed Cost to populate them.
  • The system now supports range edits on dates.  The Low and High Values entered on the (useful for sale dates, bld permit, inspections etc.) Table/Column List screen will be applied to the year portion of the date.  If the High Value is left blank or set to zero, then the current calendar year will be used as the upper value.  This has been implemented in DMT, Transaction Processor, and Re-Edit.
  • Added a parcel-based page number to the Parcel Listing report. (Good for lengthy parcels like camps or big commercial properties.)
  • Column labels are now shown on the “column pick” screen for Parcel List and Audit List.
  • Removed unused fields from the Table / Column List screen.
  • Inactive columns are now excluded from column lists in Query Builder, Update Builder, etc.
  • On the Query Builder screen, added processing for Key Level 2 tables.
  • An Edit button has been added to the Query Builder screen to allow users to edit queries.
  • Added a subquery wizard to Update Builder.
  • In Image Maintenance:
    • Added a “confirmation” dialog box to the Replace button, to address the problem of inadvertently clicking Replace instead of Add.
    • When deleting a photo, deletion of the photo file is now allowed only if it is not referenced by any other parcel in the PICTURES table.
    • When adding new photos, the program now makes sure the new file is not already referenced by another parcel in the PICTURES table.
    •  Added a Note button.
    •  Added Land (LND) to list of allowable photo types.
    •  Added support for various photo sizes (users can change the default size in Local Settings).  A photo larger than the default size will be downsized; otherwise the size is not adjusted.  In all cases, the original width-to-height ratio of the photo is maintained.  This also works for photos taken in portrait mode.

Bug fixes:

  • Fixed problem in Sketch where using the backspace key in the Label text box crashes Sketch and deletes the vector.
  • Fixed problem with entering apostrophe in Name or Address on Search screen.

Read the CSC Connections from DLS

By on April 7, 2014 in DLS

Each Quarter, the DLS provides helpful information and updates.

Click here to read the latest issue, or catch up on prior news.

 

 

 

New Cost Tables Now Available

By on February 28, 2014 in Assessors

The 2014 RPIS Cost Tables are now available for download. Values were derived from Marshall & Swift as of January 1, 2014 and should be used for FY 2015 triennial certification programs.

 

Get them here:  Member Cost Tables

Town of Washington and CSC receive $128,000 CIC Innovation Grant for Connecting the Dots: Public Access, Cloud Accounting, and Security

By on February 7, 2014 in Grants, Software

PATRICK ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES $4 MILLION IN COMMUNITY INNOVATION CHALLENGE GRANTS FOR MUNICIPALITIES, REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND PLANNING AGENCIES ACROSS MASSACHUSETTS

 

BOSTON – Thursday, February 6, 2014 –Secretary of Administration and Finance Glen Shor today announced the 37 projects slated to receive funding from the $4 million Community Innovation Challenge (CIC) grant program.  Now in its third year, the Patrick Administration originally authorized the establishment of the CIC program in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget.  The program incentivizes and supports regionalization and other cost saving initiatives that will change the way local governments do business to maintain service delivery and stretch every tax payer dollar as far as possible.

The Town of Washington acting as the lead community on behalf of the Community Software Consortium, is receiving $128,000 for  “Connecting the Dots: Public Access, Cloud Accounting, and Security”

This is the 2nd CIC grant the consortium has received.  In FY2012, it received $287,000 to move its systems to a cloud environment.   This brings the total received to over $400,000!

This new grant will allow the CSC to create a new tier for Remote IT support, build a generic loader system for communities to load their assessing and valuation information into a public access system on the web free for all CSC members, and begin work on its integrated Accounting and Treasury System.

The full press release can be read here:  FY14 Community Innovation Challenge Grants Final Release

 

CSC Application Suite Upgrades Currently in Progress

By on January 21, 2014 in Software

Assessors

CSC Real Property Information System (RPIS) as well as the Tax Administration (Collection) applications are currently undergoing software design enhancements.   The enhancements to both applications were requested and funded by members of each tier.  The Assessing membership tier approved of a complete re-design of the RPIS Condo Unit record. The enhancements will allow end users to effectively value condo properties through the application’s condo valuation menu function.  Design enhancements were created by a committee of CSC members.   Membership was provided an opportunity to review and comment on the draft proposal. The proposal was finalized and is currently in production with a target completion date of January  21, 2014.

Condo Unit Specifications
Condo Property Record Card
Condo Record Design

Collectors:

The Collector’s tier has developed a long term multiple faceted enhancement plan consisting of four enhancement projects.  Each project incorporates a varied number of enhancements to the existing application.  Enhancements run the gamut from current screen revisions and revised system options to increasing security access.  Other enhancements incorporate into the system advanced capabilities such as acceptance of batch payment and utility billing.

Tax Administration Application Plan

CSC Personal Property Application ~ Table Updates and Upgrades

By on January 21, 2014 in Software

The Personal Property Application, part of the group’s application suite, has been upgraded for FY 2014.  Modifications to the application include FY 2014 base table updates of Marshall and Swift costs.  Included in table updates for FY 2014 are three new categories of items:  Sports/ Recreation Centers, Service Repair, and Closed Circuit Security.  Additionally, Farm Animal Excise values (FVAC) have been updated to reflect FY 2014 costs, though rates are the same as in FY 2013.  Upgrades to the application include minor bug fixes and the addition of new reports suggested by end-users.  These reports include: LA-4 Cross Check all Accounts, District LA-4 Cross Check, Account Listing by Local Account ID, Account Detail for Businesses, and Property Record Cards listing business accounts only excluding summer home accounts. Please contact CSC IT Support staff to obtain the latest copy of the application.