FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
| Contact: Shelie White P: (916) 921-0883, ext. 3145 E: shellie.white@hansen.com |
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SACRAMENTO, CA, March 25, 2004 - Hansen Information Technologies (Hansen®) announced that the City of Salem, Oregon, population 142,000, has successfully implemented Hansen’s utility billing and Customer Information Services systems. The City has successfully managed their water, sewer and storm assets within Hansen since 1986, recording several hundred thousand work orders and service requests. The integration of utility billing, coupled with Hansen’s existing Asset Management and Hansen’s Integrated Map Viewer solutions, provides a robust solution for the citizens of Salem.
“With Utility Billing, we implemented a solution that leverages our three decades of experience in the utility industry and the collected wisdom of our utility team around the world. This solution was a perfect match of product and the City’s customer-centric focus,” said James L. Anderson, Utility Solutions Director for Hansen.
The City of Salem currently bills approximately 46,000 residential, commercial and industrial accounts for water and sewer services, representing the highest source of revenue for the city’s budget.
The Public Works Department, in partnership with the Finance and Information Technologies Departments, determined that the existing 30-year-old utility billing system was in need of replacement due to age, difficulty to maintain, and the “mainframe-based” application simply could not deliver the necessary initiatives in a timely manner.
The Hansen solution provides the City with host of advantages, for instance: “wizards” that reduce errors and standardize the most critical and high-volume transactions, web presentment of real-time customer information that enables customer self-service, flexible budget billing and payment terms, and robust core billing that allows the City to offer any product or service. Additionally, the Hansen client/server based solution improves their technical architecture by removing the mainframe obligation for billing its customers.
For example, the City will have the ability to provide Internet bill viewing and payment options by using virtual checks, Visa and/or MasterCard options. The new system will also offer an easy transition from billing residential and certain commercial accounts bimonthly—to billing all accounts on a monthly basis.
Another benefit offered by Hansen’s Utility Billing solution is its Automatic Bill Payment (ABP) program. ABP customers can have their checking or savings account debited when the utility bill becomes due and payable, or the customer can have the ability to self-select when they would like to have the bill paid.
“This project has been successful because of the dedication and commitment from the project team which was comprised of key individuals from Hansen, the Public Works, Finance and Information Technologies Departments, “ said Deborah Ingledew-Herman, the City’s Customer Services Division Manager and Project Manager for the Utility Billing and Customer Information Services Systems project.
Salem’s Customer Services Division is responsible for the wholesale and retail billing of water and sewer customer accounts, accounts receivable management, customer service requests, collection of delinquent accounts, payment arrangements, social service agency referrals, utility bill adjustments, meter reading, leak detection, and meter box maintenance.