M E M O R A N D U M

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To:                   Mike Wildgen, City Manager          

From:              Ron Hall, Information Systems Director                                                                

Date:               March 25, 2005

Subj:               2005 PC Software Training

For the past several years the city has been offering onsite computer software training for employees.  These training courses cover city-standard software such as Microsoft Word, Access, Excel, Powerpoint as well as Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, and HTML programming.  

Last year New Horizons Computer Learning Center was selected from a group of vendors responding to a request for proposal for onsite computer software training.  New Horizons has agreed to honor the same pricing as last year of $590 per class of 12 students.  In a full class of 12 students this divides out to a cost of $49.17 per student per class day that is charged back to the participating department.

Douglas County employees last year joined with city employees in attending and funding these classes.  Pam Madl at Douglas County has again expressed a desire to join the city in sponsoring these onsite classes.  Historically, approximately 40-50 classes have been held depending upon the number of employees that sign up for classes. 

I am requesting city commission approval to enter into agreement with New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Overland Park to provide onsite computer software classes this year at a cost not to exceed $590 per day.

The results of the committee’s review show a clear preference for vendor New Horizons Learning Center.   In addition to their being low quote, the committee rated them highly on courses offered, strength and stability of the company, quantity and quality of instructors, and the support after the initial training.

This year there have been discussions with Douglas County officials to jointly train both City and County employees in these classes.  Since classes are a fixed rate per day, filling classes to capacity translates into a lower cost-per-student to take the training.  Pending approval of this recommendation, City and County representatives will cooperatively schedule employees for training this fall in the City’s computer training facility located in the Riverfront offices.

Recommendation

It is recommended that approval be granted to enter into contractual agreement with New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, (Overland Park, KS) to provide PC software training for City and County employees this year for a cost not to exceed $590 per day including expenses.

It is estimated that approximately 25 classes will be needed for the 2003 year by participating departments with the possibility of that number increasing depending upon the level of participation by Douglas County employees.   An actual class count would be determined after departmental reviews of New Horizons class offerings and completing signup rosters.  Funding sources for software training would be obtained from each participating department’s training budget line item.   Assuming a maximum of class size of 12 students, the cost per student would be $49.17 per day.  Classes with less than 12 students would be charged back to the department as $590 divided by the number of students in the class, i.e. a class size of 8 students would result in a department charge back of $73.75 per student.

 Pending approval to proceed, class descriptions and signup sheets will be distributed to City and County departments in order to determine the type and number of classes offered.  Training would be held in the Riverfront training room adjacent to the Neighborhood Resources Department.