Cook County Clerk’s Office

Clerk’s Office Saves $400,000 Within the First Year of Deploying Accounting Solution

The Cook County Clerk, David Orr, and his office are responsible for running county elections, keeping records on vital documents, and administering delinquent property taxes and tax sales. With 6 million residents, 24 million records, and 2,300 precincts, the Cook County Clerk’s Office (CCCO) has vast amounts of data to manage for each department. The government agency needed reporting functionality and wanted to provide faster turnaround on document requests from constituents. CCCO integrated accounting with cashiering and document management by deploying Microsoft Dynamics GP, combined with Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System as its point-of-sale solution. This system reduced costs by 20 percent, automated processes, increased efficiency within the organization, and strengthened constituent relations.

Situation

Cook County is the second-largest county in the United States and the third-largest election jurisdiction in the nation. Located in Illinois, the Cook County Clerk’s Office (CCCO) serves three primary tasks. The agency runs county elections; handles vital records for constituents, such as birth, marriage, and death certificates; and acts as administrator of delinquent property taxes for the 1.7 million parcels in Cook County.

For years, the CCCO used RealWorld Accounting Software for maintaining the general ledger and handling accounts payable functions for the U.S.$150 million processed annually in delinquent tax payments. This system was integrated with an old point-of-sale (POS) system in the tax department, but not with the vital records division.

The vital records department manages 24 million birth, death, and marriage certificates. Despite this large number, a document management solution for organizing and printing vital records did not exist. This contributed to long delays in responding to document requests from the public. Document orders, purchases, and printing of certificates were tracked manually and revenue totals had to be keyed in twice—once in the vital records departments, and then again into the RealWorld Accounting Software general ledger.

The disparate systems prevented analysis and report production on service usage and cash flow. “We couldn’t see how our fees were trending or easily analyze what kinds of documents were sold and how often,” recalls Fredda Berman, Director of Taxes at the Cook County Clerk’s Office.

In the property tax department, the CCCO manages property tax accounting for delinquent taxes that have been sold to investors through court-ordered tax sales. In Cook County, accountants must calculate property taxes and accrued interest owed for each taxpayer and store this information to print when requested. When a payment is made, the CCCO logs the financial information from the transaction to update the account for the tax investor, who will ultimately be paid the redemption funds after processing is completed.

Every morning, accountants would check and separately itemize each field and cross-balance it for data accuracy. If an amount was not properly attributed, the transaction had to be voided and reentered. The CCCO must always know exactly how much a taxpayer owes to Cook County and how much of the payment is accrued interest since this is reported to tax investors for federal income tax purposes.

The CCCO is also in charge of running elections in nearly 2,300 suburban precincts. Employees have to properly account for election equipment stored inside the county warehouse, such as voting machines, power cords, and ballots. Leading up to an election, supplies were manually counted, separated, packed in a box, and taken to the designated precinct. “We needed an inventory management system that would automate this process and integrate with our accounting systems to provide oversight for purchasing and inventory status,” says Regan Burke, Director of Operations at the Cook County Clerk’s Office.

The CCCO sought a solution to tie accounting and the POS process with a document management system. “With multiple departments, we experienced inefficient turnaround times, data entry errors, a complete lack of reporting, no access to relevant data, and, ultimately, poor service to the 6 million citizens of Cook County,” says Burke. The CCCO evaluated vendors and systems that could integrate its different systems and provide a holistic picture of the company’s accounting.

Solution

The CCCO presented a request for proposal to open up the bidding process for businesses interested in the project. A holistic solution built around the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics GP was proposed.

The CCCO had this overall vision for both vital statistics and tax services, where it would have a POS system, an accounting system, and some type of document management system that would all be interlinked into one. Microsoft Dynamics GP was deployed as the core accounting solution with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 as the database platform for the systems. Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS) was implemented as the POS solution.

As part of the deployment, processes where customized in Microsoft Dynamics GP to ease the burden of manual processes in the property tax department at CCCO. One of the automated processes was the check-writing process for the hundreds of tax refunds that the CCCO sends out, previously, the agency performed all these functions by hand.”

Microsoft Dynamics GP also connects to newly implemented and existing line-of-business systems, including a document management application called doc-link, Microsoft Dynamics RMS, and the existing RealWorld Accounting Software application. Integrating Microsoft Dynamics GP with Microsoft Dynamics RMS provided the integration between document production and cashiering that the CCCO desired.

Vital Records

Using doc-link, the CCCO scanned all vital records dating back to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and stored their digital representations in the mainframe system. When a citizen comes and a document is requested, doc-link determines which printer the document will be printed on. The purchase of the document is completed in Microsoft Dynamics RMS and financial data for each transaction is passed to Microsoft Dynamics GP. This integration between systems enables Microsoft Dynamics GP to log every transaction so that the CCCO can link all document purchases and payments coming in and out of the vital records department.

Property Tax

The tax department has to be extremely precise in its tax accounting to minimize the risk of property loss. This task was mitigated by enabling Microsoft Dynamics RMS to process barcode information related to property taxes. Microsoft Dynamics RMS scans a barcode to determine which tax documents must be produced from the county’s mainframe and verify how much is owed in property taxes. Detailed documents are printed with the amounts due. The taxpayer purchases the documents to find out how much is owed, and then submits a payment to the CCCO. Microsoft Dynamics RMS rings up both the sales and the tax payment, passing the transaction data to Microsoft Dynamics GP. This information updates the taxpayer’s financial data in the county’s mainframe and the county’s property tax records.

“Microsoft Dynamics GP enables us to feed the barcode data into a template in Microsoft Dynamics RMS and capture the itemizations,” explains Berman. “We know how much the payment was, the amount and type of interest the taxpayer was charged, and the 1099 tax form total. We can automatically print this data on a receipt for the taxpayer or produce a formal certificate of redemption for a title company.” The CCCO can also process the data through the Accounts Payable module in Microsoft Dynamics GP to produce disbursements for tax investors or a refund of overpayment to the taxpayer.

Election Equipment

Likewise, the CCCO uses barcodes to track election equipment in the county warehouse. Microsoft Dynamics GP provides the ability to track inventory status and the accounting needed to process orders. By using handheld computers from Maximum Data Solutions, employees can now scan the barcodes on election items for each precinct. Inventory status is then tracked through Microsoft Dynamics GP, where the CCCO election staff benefits from its reporting capabilities. “On election day, we use the barcode system to check off every item. This way, we know each precinct has the correct supplies without having somebody count each one individually,” explains Burke. “Then we use Microsoft Dynamics GP to reconcile inventory information with the general ledger to calculate costs and process invoices on supplies.” Microsoft Dynamics GP enables the CCCO to track inventory electronically and provide reports on inventory status so that the elections department will know when to order new merchandise.

Benefits

The CCCO has realized enormous benefits since implementing Microsoft Dynamics GP. The agency anticipates that, after a 36-month payback period, it will see an annual savings of more than U.S.$1 million. At Convergence 2008, Cook County Clerk David Orr received the Public Sector Industry Leadership Award following the successful deployment of Microsoft Dynamics GP at the CCCO.

Automate Manual Processes
With help from Microsoft Dynamics GP, the CCCO has streamlined its accounting processes and reduced the amount of time spent on manual data entry and reporting. “With this seamless, all-encompassing solution, we eliminated the need to complete tasks manually,” raves Burke. “All accounting data is passed from Microsoft Dynamics RMS to Microsoft Dynamics GP, so we don’t have to spend time entering data, reentering data, and balancing data. It’s a huge savings for us.” The agency reduced labor costs by 20 percent in the first year, which equated to an annual savings of approximately U.S.$400,000.

Enhance Data Accountability
The CCCO accountants no longer create reports manually, reducing the number of data entry errors. Microsoft Dynamics GP helps accountants compile financial information from a centralized repository, providing accurate data for analysis and reporting. “We have to account for money received from third parties and prepare 1099 tax form reporting on these funds. We need to make sure that all the math adds up in the end,” says Berman.
“With Microsoft Dynamics GP, every transaction is updated in the same system, and it’s all coming to us electronically, so we can maintain the integrity of the full audit trail.” Microsoft Dynamics GP automatically reconciles the data, populates the 1099 tax form, generates reports, and identifies discrepancies so that accountants at the CCCO do not have to spend time checking each other’s work.
With Microsoft Dynamics GP, Election Day has also become less of a burden on the staff. Integrating Microsoft Dynamics GP with its inventory management has enabled Cook County to track, organize, and distribute election equipment properly. From ballots and voting machines to power cords and pencils, all are tracked and distributed to designated polling areas with greater speed and accuracy—a vital factor in such a large county.

Increase Constituent Satisfaction
Implementing Microsoft Dynamics RMS and doc-link with Microsoft Dynamics GP has enabled the CCCO to digitize documents and automate processes. Cook County constituents no longer have to wait extended periods of time to receive requested records. Some records, such as genealogy records, are even made available online. “We do not know of any other government organization that offers genealogy records to be purchased and downloaded online,” raves Berman. “This is a huge convenience for our customers.”

“Our goal is always to improve the quality of our customer service,” says David Orr, Clerk of Cook County. “Microsoft Dynamics GP and integrated systems allows us to be more efficient and more accountable to the taxpayers.” The CCCO now has a platform that opens up channels of communication between its POS system, accounting, and inventory and document management systems. Automated processes at the government organization drive efficiency and improve the customer service experience. Says Orr, “The more convenient we make services, thanks to Microsoft Dynamics GP and other systems, the better we’re doing our job as public servants.”