2013 Fall Newsletter

code. Any change to this code, changes every sketch in the system. When we added support for angles in Merlin we only had to write the code once, in Wisard we would have had to write it three times in two different languages making it a nightmare to get right. Another drawback of Wisard was the way it tracked changes. Wisard only recorded what screen was updated, when it was updated, and who updated it. We needed a lot more detail, so Merlin records be- fore and after images of almost every update in the system. The change log displays what table was changed, when it was changed, who made the change and the before and after images. It also high- lights the changes to make it easier to see exactly what changed.

In this brief tour, I have only covered a small sample of Merlin’s capabilities. Some other notable fea- tures include comparing parcels side-by-side, a breakdown of parcel values showing how various as- sessed and taxable values were derived, handling value adjustment board petitions and evidence, ac- cessing parcel documents such as historic final roll property record cards and TRIM notices, accessing parcel images, providing a breakdown on how a building value was derived, and many more. So, what is the bottom line?

Figure 2 - Savings Figure 2 shows what we saved between 2006 and 2010 by developing in house. As you can see, we would have spent more than $2.8 million on vendor li- cense fees, conversion services, interest, and maintenance fees, while Merlin only cost us $190,000 to develop. We saved over $2.6 million and we continue to save. Maintenance fees for the vendor would have been about $300,000 per year. Our annual cost for Merlin, based on a 5-year hardware replacement and 3 -year software upgrade path is only around $10,000 per year, not including labor costs. How did we keep the cost so

low? The vast majority of the work was done by me and one other programmer. So, a staff of 2 was able to create a comprehensive CAMA system that avoided the pitfalls of the past, improved performance and functionality, and drastically reduced our IT budget. That just goes to show that if you have the right skill set and enough time available, you can reap significantly savings from developing in house.