HomeMy WebLinkAbout05082023 City Council Laydown - Util-Assist Proposal U t i l -a S S i St Solutions.
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Util-Assist Inc.
www.util-assist.com
470 Harry Walker Parkway South
Newmarket, ON, Canada, BY 0133
905.952.0477
1-855-263-2898
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Table of Contents
Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................................................3
Util-Assist's Experience in Billing.........................................................................................................................................3
Scopeof Work.......................................................................................................................................................................4
Implementation ....................................................................................................................................................................4
BillingServices ....................................................................................................................................................................4
CashProcessing Services...................................................................................................................................................6
CollectionsServices ............................................................................................................................................................6
Assumptions.................................................................................................................................................................7
AdministrationServices.......................................................................................................................................................7
ContactCenter Services......................................................................................................................................................7
Assumptions.................................................................................................................................................................7
PricingEstimate....................................................................................................................................................................8
One-Time Fees................................................................................................................................................................8
RecurringFees ................................................................................................................................................................9
PricingNotes....................................................................................................................................................................9
Outof Scope........................................................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
Util-Assist is pleased to provide this budgetary pricing document for CustomerAssist managed billing services to the City
of Seward, Alaska (the City). As a small utility serving a small community, the City faces considerable challenges in
resourcing its operations. Util-Assist can help, by supporting your billing functions and allowing your on-site employees to
focus their efforts on functions that require in-person attention.
Eight Reasons to Use Managed Services for Your Water Billing
1. Focus on your Core Business S. Reduce Costs
Improving and maintaining quality customer CustomerAssist offers tailored back-
service is one of your topmost priorities. office services for a fraction of running
CustomerAssist frees you and your team to C/—$ your own billing department. Plus,
focus on auditing, analyzing and delivering outsourcing results in significantly lower
higher value-added services. _w IT and deployment costs.
2. Eliminate the Hassle Factor _ 6. Enhance Customer Service
Put an end to the headache of validation Our professional customer service staff
processes, exception management, and become an extension of your department
even printing and stuffing. by following your processes and using
custom scripts to your specifications.
3. Leverage a State-of-the Art CIS 7. Guarantee Quality Service
CustomerAssist has partnered with an Our implementation team deploys
enterprise class CIS vendor (over 200 utility standardized business processes with the
deployments) on an application service appropriate checks and balances,
provider (ASP) basis. This means that even achieving a service level In which 99.9%of
the smallest municipalities have access to bills go out on time and accurately.
the same cutting edge technologies as the
bigger utilities,with none of the risk.
4. Reduce IT Risks 8. Tap into Industry Expertise
With technology in a constant state of flux, From rate design to bill design, our billing
leave the heavy lifting associated with CIS team's years of experience position us to
management, upgrades and maintenance deliver expert industry advice and relevant
to us. solutions.
Util-Assist's CustomerAssist managed billing practice has extensive experience operating the City's customer information
system (CIS), Harris NorthStar; it is the same system that Util-Assist already uses to provide hosted billing services to
several utilities.
Util-Assist's Experience in Billing
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Util-Assist's CustomerAssist has provided billing and customer service functions for water and electric utilities since 2007.
Util-Assist supports several sub-metering companies with billing multiple services (water, gas, electric, BTU); we also
provide full-turnkey billing for a municipal client of approximately 10,000 water accounts. In total, Util-Assist supports over
200,000 end billing accounts.
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Scope of Work
Util-Assist's turnkey CustomerAssist solution for the City consists of several elements:
• Account management services
• Billing services
• Cash processing services
• Collection services
• Administration (move-in/move-out) services
• Contact center services
Implementation
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As part of the City's transition to CustomerAssist, the implementation team would deliver the following services and
deliverables:
• Provide a dedicated project manager for the onboarding of services
• Lead discovery sessions/workshops to document:
• billing processes (cycle bills, adjustments, final bills, new services)
• call and email scripts and FAQ documentation for the Util-Assist contact center team
• cashiering and collection processes for Util-Assist cashiering and collections staff
• service orders and business processes for utility operational staff field visits
• Obtain copies of the City's billing schedule and business processes
• Secure remote connectivity to the City's production instances
• Register a toll-free line for incoming customer inquiries
• Document and configure the IVR within the toll-free line to direct incoming calls to the appropriate CustomerAssist
contact center agent
• Train CustomerAssist billers, cashiers, collections staff and contact center agents on utility processes
All onboarding tasks must be coordinated between Util-Assist and the City and any third-party vendors.
Billing Services
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The CustomerAssist team can address all of the City's billing needs, from providing subject matter expertise when
creating billing schedules and processes through to ensuring that readings are accurate, bills are calculated properly, and
any variances are investigated. The following services are included in our proposed services:
• Billing processing (assumes one regular bill cycle per month)
• Batch processing
• Journal processing
• Validations
• Bill print file preparation
• Final bills
• Move-ins/move-outs
• Adjustment billing
• Reporting
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• Service order management
More detail on the billing deliverables is provided in the following table:
ustomerAssist Servic escription
Billing Processing
Once the meter reading load and verifications are complete, Util-Assist will start a billing
Batch processing batch as per the master billing schedule. Util-Assist will complete audits and run reports,
dealing with the variances according to the plans outlined below.
Util-Assist will conduct audits during journal processing
First bills —confirm all initial customer charges are included (one-time fee or any deposits
Journal processing required).
No-bills — run a report to remove all "no-bills" from the billing batch for further
investigation.
Perform validations Util-Assist will review the dollar variance report.
Bill Print Processing
Bill print file preparation
The team will prepare all bill print files generated from the NorthStar system and send to
the preferred location as instructed by the City.
Final Bills
Process final bills
These can be completed directly within NorthStar. Our customer service team will enter
any move-in/out information into the CIS and process the final bills for customers.
Move-Ins/Move-Outs
Move-Ins/Move-outs
Util-Assist can transfer to an active account if the customer stays within their service area
or deliver a final bill to the customer if they are moving out of the City's service territory.
Adjustment Billing
Util-Assist pulls service orders on a daily basis and processes the adjustment, posting to
the same consumption month of the original bill. This can include cancel/re-bills, waiving
Process adjustments certain fees as approved by the City (interest fee or other admin type fee) or re-billing a
customer whose meter now has an accurate reading where it may have been estimated
in the past.
Reporting
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Deliver billing reports
Util-Assist will track billing activities on a daily basis in our billing tracker spreadsheet and
this will be made available to the City.
Service Order Management
Util-Assist will use service orders to manage any field visit to customer homes. This could
Process service orders
include such things as manual check reads, meter repairs, meter investigations or
leaking meters. Util-Assist will work closely with the City and third-party vendors to
establish agreed-upon processes to manage service orders.
Assumptions
• The utility will manage all new rate applications in the CIS.
• Meter reading and all field activities will be the responsibility of the City.
• The utility will manage any non-billing related processes with systems integrated with its CIS (GL financial
integration, GIS integration, etc.).
• The City will be responsible for document fulfillment services (bill print and stuff).
• New meter or new account setup information will be delivered to Util-Assist in one standard template to enter
details into the CIS.
Cash Processing Services
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Util-Assist will work closely with the City during the discovery phase to map out the optimal cashier process flows.
Assumptions
• The utility will manage the bank reconciliation process (i.e., the utility will confirm that the payments that Util-
Assist registers balance to the payments in the City's bank account).
• Customer has responsibility for arrangements with bank for lockbox service, bill payment receiver service, and
electronic funds transfer service.
• It is understood that the City will perform any bank reconciliations, deductive calculations and/or related
bookkeeping.
• The utility will be responsible for preparing any remittances and/or financial requisitions as needed.
• The utility will be responsible for having its own financial or accounting AP system to generate customer returns.
• It is assumed that NorthStar's month-end standard reports meet the needs of the City. Any additional custom
reporting will be scoped and priced separately.
Collections Services
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The Util-Assist team will take care of the City's collections needs, including generating notices (print-ready files), issuing
disconnection service orders (if applicable), and making arrangements with customers to clear up any overdue balances.
All collection activity will be based on the City's business processes; these would be documented as part of our discovery
process during onboarding.
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Assumptions
• The utility will be responsible for all field collections or field disconnections.
• The utility will be responsible for arrears applied to tax rolls.
• The utility will be responsible for ensuring adherence to all regulatory requirements for mailings. The utility is to
provide direction to Util-Assist and communicate any changes to ensure all regulatory requirements are met.
Administration Services
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Util-Assist's move-in/move-out services consist of:
• Setting up a new customer account in the CIS
• Creating a service order
• Processing a "final" bill to the previous occupant
Contact Center Services
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Util-Assist's proposal includes a contact center to handle all customer inquiries relating to billing. Util-Assist will better
define this during the Discovery phase, as current set-ups at the City will dictate the best approach, This may include:
• 1-800 number
• Interactive voice response (IVR) tree to route customers to the appropriate CustomerAssist agents
• Voicemail
• Reporting
Util-Assist's contact center offers phone and e-mail support during regular business hours. Any changes required to
support the City will be discussed further in the discovery sessions.
We can work with the City to develop a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document to address customer inquiries, as
well as develop call center scripts as part of this engagement.
Util-Assist's service level objective is to answer 65% of customer calls within 30 seconds, and to respond to emails within
two (2) business days. We can provide call reporting and further insights during our planned reviews.
Assumptions
• The utility will manage any outbound call or email campaigns; Util-Assist can scope these services separately as
needed.
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Pricing Estimate
The estimated pricing provided in this document is provided for budgetary purposes only; firm pricing would only be
provided following a detailed discovery process and development of an agreed-upon scope of work. Actual costs could
vary by up to 30% from the estimate provided here.
Pricing falls into two categories:
• One-time fees (discovery and onboarding)
• Recurring fees
One-Time Fees
Item Cost I
Discovery (2-3 days)
• Lead discovery/workshops
• Consult on solutions $12,000
• Document business processes
• Build scope and project plan
Onboarding (5 weeks)
• Project management
• IT services: secure/test remote connectivity, create $10,000
phone line, develop FAQ and call/email scripts
• CIS and customer service training
Total $22,000
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Recurring Fees
Item Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 1
CustomerAssist services:
• Account Management
• Billing
• Cash processing $80,000 $82,999 $86,009
• Collections $74,000 $77,500
• Administration (move-ins/move-outs)
• Contact center (call handling and
email services)
Note that a 10% discount would apply in years 2 and 3 if the City were to commit to a longer three (3) year contract term.
Pricing Notes
• Prices are in U.S. dollars.
• Prices do not include applicable taxes.
• Eligible out-of-pocket expenses will be charged separately. This includes any costs associated with travel,
conference calling, mileage and meeting facilities.
• Travel will only be incurred after prior agreement between the City and Util-Assist and will be billed, as incurred,
on a pass-through basis.
• Recurring fees increase each year on January 1, based on inflationary costs/Consumer Price Index.
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Out of Scope
The following items are not in scope for the purposes of this budgetary estimate, but could be added at a later date
following a detailed discovery:
• Application hosting costs
• NorthStar license costs
• Additional user licenses
• Management of NorthStar user profiles and security settings
• Ongoing IT support services
• Multi-account autoload program to add multiple new accounts into the CIS
• NorthStar application upgrades
• Document fulfillment services (printing/mailing of bills or collection letters)
• Purchase of printing or mailing supplies
• CIS rate changes
• Regulatory configurations needed in CIS
• Advanced IVR services (CIS data retrieval, online payment options, outbound marketing campaigns, etc.)
• Hosting or management of any customer service portal
• Secure FTP (File Transfer Protocol) site
• Non-billing related processes with systems integrated with its CIS (GL financial integration, GIS integration, etc.)
• Bank reconciliations, remittance or deductive calculations and related bookkeeping
• Financial or accounting AP system to generate customer returns
• Custom reporting outside NorthStar's readily available month-end reports can be scoped and priced separately