CC 02-19-2025 Item No. 10 Tyler New World ERP Replacement_Written CommunicationsFrom:
To:City Council; City Clerk; Pamela Wu
Subject:Written comments for Agenda Item #10 - Tyler New World ERP Replacement
Date:Monday, February 17, 2025 3:27:19 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you
recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear City Council, City Manager, City Clerk,
I wanted to share my comments regarding Agenda Item #10 — Tyler New World
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) replacement. Please note I am
speaking for myself only.
While I appreciate the interest in process improvement, it is important for Cupertino to level-
set on its financial situation. From a revenue standpoint, Cupertino is not comparable to Santa
Clara, Sunnyvale, or Palo Alto. The idea that Cupertino should spend $4M+ on an ERP when
it generates $120M annually is spending beyond our means.
The only relevant comparable listed in this table is the city of Mountain View. All other cities
are generating far more (or less!) in revenue and are not true comparables.
Mountain View - $184M annual revenue, spent only $1.3M on Central Square ERP
Palo Alto - $287M annual revenue, spent $6M on Oracle implementation + $0.9M annual
license
City of Santa Clara — $310M annual revenue, spent >$10M on PeopleSoft (also oracle) +
$350k annual license
Sunnyvale - $260M annual revenue, $10M Oracle implementation + $500k annual license.
The process seems to have been difficult. They originally hired Cherry Road in 2018 for
$12M, terminated the agreement 6 months in, hired a new consultant Sierra-Cedar for $4M for
implementation, and in 2024 put bid out for a final consultant for testing of the “recently
implemented” tool.
Some questions:
1. Is Tyler ERP really a “lower Tier 2” option? Tyler is considered the #1 market leader in
public sector ERP solutions. I would avoid writing off the city’s existing software simply due
to an unofficial categorization.
2. How much has the city worked with its existing ERP, Tyler, to solve its problems and
improve upon the solution it has? Tyler is a leading public sector ERP. Can we negotiate our
existing contract to obtain the features that are needed?
3. If all of the options we are evaluating are “tier 2”, what precisely are the benefits to
changing softwares? By switching, do we risk spending millions on other technologies without
significantly improved outcomes?
4. Can we spend a smaller amount to fix the security issues with Tyler? We owe it to ourselves
to explore the options here.
5. Cupertino only has ~100 employees. Is it really worth spending millions on a combined
HR-Finance solution? Are there options for technologies that perform each function well
separately and integrate with one another, rather than both functions together but
mediocrely/expensively? Most smaller companies use a tech stack of integrated tools.
Attempting to find a tool that does everything at once is unrealistic, and leaves little flexibility
for future customization as needs change.
6. If implementation takes 5+ years, do we risk the technology being outdated by the time it is
implemented? What options exist for improving upon what we already have, which would be
faster and more efficient?
Many thanks for your hard work and consideration,
Tracy