The Challenge
Central City sits in Linn County, Iowa, about 15 miles north of Cedar Rapids. It is a community of around 1,264 people where the front counter doubles as a place to catch up. As Denise McGovern, the city's utility billing clerk, puts it, pretty much everybody knows everybody.
People come in the door and they call everybody by name, whether they're going to the library or to our senior dining.
Traci Wilson is the city clerk, and Denise handles utility billing. Between them they cover financials, payroll, utility billing, reporting, and a steady stream of residents at the window. What Traci loves about the job is the people.
What I enjoy most about being a clerk in this community is getting to see how the customers come in. They genuinely love the community that they live in, and they're always looking to do more for it.
The problem was that their old desktop software kept getting in the way of that work. Every process had to be backed up before it ran and backed up again the moment it was done. Jumping from one module to another meant losing your place, which is a real cost when a clerk is interrupted a dozen times a morning. Utility reread lists had to be built by hand, looking up account numbers, addresses, and names one at a time. Payroll took far longer than it needed to. And for a UB clerk, every deposit meant remembering to save multiple journals, with a recovery scramble if one got missed.
For a small office serving a growing town, those minutes added up. The system was asking Traci and Denise to spend their time managing the software instead of serving residents.
The gWorks Solution
To modernize operations, Central City moved to gWorks cloud Financials, a fully cloud-based platform that covers financials, utility billing, payroll, online payments, and resident self-service in one system. The timing was not for the faint of heart. They went live right before budget season.
I was extremely nervous about starting brand new in a software and having to do the budget.
What turned the nerves into confidence was the way the transition was handled. The gWorks team walked them through each stage and documented every process they needed to be ready for. Then they did something that made all the difference: they ran the new system in parallel with the old one.
We were able to run one practice session through the cloud version while we ran it live in the old system. It was very comforting being able to see each payroll out of the old system versus how it was going to look in the new system, and able to compare those.
By the time go-live arrived, the unknown was gone.
When we went live, it worked really well. We felt comfortable with what we had learned and were able to implement it.
Benefits Realized
By moving to gWorks cloud Financials, Central City realized measurable gains across the day-to-day work of running a city office.
She never loses her place
This is the shift Traci comes back to most. In the old system, helping a resident at the window meant stopping, backing up, and losing where she was. Now she can move between modules without missing a beat.
As a clerk you're constantly getting interrupted, so it's very nice that you do not lose your spot in one module while jumping to another one.
In practice, that looks like this: Traci is entering a general fund deposit when a resident walks up to pay a utility bill. She clicks over to utility billing, processes the payment while the resident is standing there, and clicks right back into the deposit where she left off. The resident gets helped on the spot, and nothing has to be redone.
Custom reports built around Central City
Central City runs a senior dining program that most communities do not, and it has its own library funds to track. gWorks lets Traci build reports that match exactly how the city actually operates.
She can narrow down to specific funds, pull the numbers a department needs, and hand them over without rebuilding anything.
That probably saves us an hour every month right there. And every hour matters, because there's always somebody at the window needing something.
Budgeting is clearer
The fear that nearly defined the transition turned out to be a strength. The budget view lists every fund across the top with the dollar amounts right there, and Traci can sort and drill down by account. General fund, water, sewer, all of it in one place.
Payroll dropped to under an hour
Central City pays 10 people. On the old system that was a long task. Now the modules talk to each other, and the tax piece is already waiting in accounts payable.
I pay 10 people. It probably takes me less than an hour, which is considerably less than what it was on the old system. The tax piece is already entered for you in accounts payable.
Once payroll is finalized, Traci pays the taxes online and processes the payment through accounts payable. It is all set up for her.
Residents serve themselves through FrontDesk
A lot of questions that used to land at the counter can now be answered before a resident ever calls or visits. Through FrontDesk, residents get real access to their own accounts.
Our residents can sign up for FrontDesk. They can view their consumption, their current bill, their past bill, and while they're on FrontDesk they can sign up for autopay.
Spotting leaks before they become a problem
When a resident's bill keeps climbing, Denise no longer has to dig. She can pull up the account and show consumption month by month, which makes it easy to catch a possible leak early and explain what is happening.
When they come in with a question about their consumption, we can quickly click within their account and tell them month by month what their consumption is. That has helped us better assist the customers.
Rereads went from manual lookups to one click
Building a reread list used to be one of Denise's slower jobs. Now the system does it for her.
Prior to going live, I would have to go look up the account numbers, the addresses, the names. Now you click a button and it creates a spreadsheet for you. When our guys go out to reread, all I have to do is upload that. It saves so much more time.
Looking Back
Eight months in, Traci and Denise are not looking over their shoulders. If anything, their only regret is timing.
We wish maybe we hadn't waited so long.
Traci is candid that a software change is still a change, and Central City had its share of ups and downs along the way. Her advice to other clerks weighing the move is simple: stay patient, because the payoff is real.
For Central City, the proof is in the everyday work.
We do not look back on the old process at all, and we can't wait to see how gWorks grows and gets better over time.
The Challenge
Central City sits in Linn County, Iowa, about 15 miles north of Cedar Rapids. It is a community of around 1,264 people where the front counter doubles as a place to catch up. As Denise McGovern, the city's utility billing clerk, puts it, pretty much everybody knows everybody.
People come in the door and they call everybody by name, whether they're going to the library or to our senior dining.
Traci Wilson is the city clerk, and Denise handles utility billing. Between them they cover financials, payroll, utility billing, reporting, and a steady stream of residents at the window. What Traci loves about the job is the people.
What I enjoy most about being a clerk in this community is getting to see how the customers come in. They genuinely love the community that they live in, and they're always looking to do more for it.
The problem was that their old desktop software kept getting in the way of that work. Every process had to be backed up before it ran and backed up again the moment it was done. Jumping from one module to another meant losing your place, which is a real cost when a clerk is interrupted a dozen times a morning. Utility reread lists had to be built by hand, looking up account numbers, addresses, and names one at a time. Payroll took far longer than it needed to. And for a UB clerk, every deposit meant remembering to save multiple journals, with a recovery scramble if one got missed.
For a small office serving a growing town, those minutes added up. The system was asking Traci and Denise to spend their time managing the software instead of serving residents.
The gWorks Solution
To modernize operations, Central City moved to gWorks cloud Financials, a fully cloud-based platform that covers financials, utility billing, payroll, online payments, and resident self-service in one system. The timing was not for the faint of heart. They went live right before budget season.
I was extremely nervous about starting brand new in a software and having to do the budget.
What turned the nerves into confidence was the way the transition was handled. The gWorks team walked them through each stage and documented every process they needed to be ready for. Then they did something that made all the difference: they ran the new system in parallel with the old one.
We were able to run one practice session through the cloud version while we ran it live in the old system. It was very comforting being able to see each payroll out of the old system versus how it was going to look in the new system, and able to compare those.
By the time go-live arrived, the unknown was gone.
When we went live, it worked really well. We felt comfortable with what we had learned and were able to implement it.
Benefits Realized
By moving to gWorks cloud Financials, Central City realized measurable gains across the day-to-day work of running a city office.
She never loses her place
This is the shift Traci comes back to most. In the old system, helping a resident at the window meant stopping, backing up, and losing where she was. Now she can move between modules without missing a beat.
As a clerk you're constantly getting interrupted, so it's very nice that you do not lose your spot in one module while jumping to another one.
In practice, that looks like this: Traci is entering a general fund deposit when a resident walks up to pay a utility bill. She clicks over to utility billing, processes the payment while the resident is standing there, and clicks right back into the deposit where she left off. The resident gets helped on the spot, and nothing has to be redone.
Custom reports built around Central City
Central City runs a senior dining program that most communities do not, and it has its own library funds to track. gWorks lets Traci build reports that match exactly how the city actually operates.
She can narrow down to specific funds, pull the numbers a department needs, and hand them over without rebuilding anything.
That probably saves us an hour every month right there. And every hour matters, because there's always somebody at the window needing something.
Budgeting is clearer
The fear that nearly defined the transition turned out to be a strength. The budget view lists every fund across the top with the dollar amounts right there, and Traci can sort and drill down by account. General fund, water, sewer, all of it in one place.
Payroll dropped to under an hour
Central City pays 10 people. On the old system that was a long task. Now the modules talk to each other, and the tax piece is already waiting in accounts payable.
I pay 10 people. It probably takes me less than an hour, which is considerably less than what it was on the old system. The tax piece is already entered for you in accounts payable.
Once payroll is finalized, Traci pays the taxes online and processes the payment through accounts payable. It is all set up for her.
Residents serve themselves through FrontDesk
A lot of questions that used to land at the counter can now be answered before a resident ever calls or visits. Through FrontDesk, residents get real access to their own accounts.
Our residents can sign up for FrontDesk. They can view their consumption, their current bill, their past bill, and while they're on FrontDesk they can sign up for autopay.
Spotting leaks before they become a problem
When a resident's bill keeps climbing, Denise no longer has to dig. She can pull up the account and show consumption month by month, which makes it easy to catch a possible leak early and explain what is happening.
When they come in with a question about their consumption, we can quickly click within their account and tell them month by month what their consumption is. That has helped us better assist the customers.
Rereads went from manual lookups to one click
Building a reread list used to be one of Denise's slower jobs. Now the system does it for her.
Prior to going live, I would have to go look up the account numbers, the addresses, the names. Now you click a button and it creates a spreadsheet for you. When our guys go out to reread, all I have to do is upload that. It saves so much more time.
Looking Back
Eight months in, Traci and Denise are not looking over their shoulders. If anything, their only regret is timing.
We wish maybe we hadn't waited so long.
Traci is candid that a software change is still a change, and Central City had its share of ups and downs along the way. Her advice to other clerks weighing the move is simple: stay patient, because the payoff is real.
For Central City, the proof is in the everyday work.
We do not look back on the old process at all, and we can't wait to see how gWorks grows and gets better over time.
Highlights
View external link
Add to your calendar:
The Challenge
Central City sits in Linn County, Iowa, about 15 miles north of Cedar Rapids. It is a community of around 1,264 people where the front counter doubles as a place to catch up. As Denise McGovern, the city's utility billing clerk, puts it, pretty much everybody knows everybody.
People come in the door and they call everybody by name, whether they're going to the library or to our senior dining.
Traci Wilson is the city clerk, and Denise handles utility billing. Between them they cover financials, payroll, utility billing, reporting, and a steady stream of residents at the window. What Traci loves about the job is the people.
What I enjoy most about being a clerk in this community is getting to see how the customers come in. They genuinely love the community that they live in, and they're always looking to do more for it.
The problem was that their old desktop software kept getting in the way of that work. Every process had to be backed up before it ran and backed up again the moment it was done. Jumping from one module to another meant losing your place, which is a real cost when a clerk is interrupted a dozen times a morning. Utility reread lists had to be built by hand, looking up account numbers, addresses, and names one at a time. Payroll took far longer than it needed to. And for a UB clerk, every deposit meant remembering to save multiple journals, with a recovery scramble if one got missed.
For a small office serving a growing town, those minutes added up. The system was asking Traci and Denise to spend their time managing the software instead of serving residents.
The gWorks Solution
To modernize operations, Central City moved to gWorks cloud Financials, a fully cloud-based platform that covers financials, utility billing, payroll, online payments, and resident self-service in one system. The timing was not for the faint of heart. They went live right before budget season.
I was extremely nervous about starting brand new in a software and having to do the budget.
What turned the nerves into confidence was the way the transition was handled. The gWorks team walked them through each stage and documented every process they needed to be ready for. Then they did something that made all the difference: they ran the new system in parallel with the old one.
We were able to run one practice session through the cloud version while we ran it live in the old system. It was very comforting being able to see each payroll out of the old system versus how it was going to look in the new system, and able to compare those.
By the time go-live arrived, the unknown was gone.
When we went live, it worked really well. We felt comfortable with what we had learned and were able to implement it.
Benefits Realized
By moving to gWorks cloud Financials, Central City realized measurable gains across the day-to-day work of running a city office.
She never loses her place
This is the shift Traci comes back to most. In the old system, helping a resident at the window meant stopping, backing up, and losing where she was. Now she can move between modules without missing a beat.
As a clerk you're constantly getting interrupted, so it's very nice that you do not lose your spot in one module while jumping to another one.
In practice, that looks like this: Traci is entering a general fund deposit when a resident walks up to pay a utility bill. She clicks over to utility billing, processes the payment while the resident is standing there, and clicks right back into the deposit where she left off. The resident gets helped on the spot, and nothing has to be redone.
Custom reports built around Central City
Central City runs a senior dining program that most communities do not, and it has its own library funds to track. gWorks lets Traci build reports that match exactly how the city actually operates.
She can narrow down to specific funds, pull the numbers a department needs, and hand them over without rebuilding anything.
That probably saves us an hour every month right there. And every hour matters, because there's always somebody at the window needing something.
Budgeting is clearer
The fear that nearly defined the transition turned out to be a strength. The budget view lists every fund across the top with the dollar amounts right there, and Traci can sort and drill down by account. General fund, water, sewer, all of it in one place.
Payroll dropped to under an hour
Central City pays 10 people. On the old system that was a long task. Now the modules talk to each other, and the tax piece is already waiting in accounts payable.
I pay 10 people. It probably takes me less than an hour, which is considerably less than what it was on the old system. The tax piece is already entered for you in accounts payable.
Once payroll is finalized, Traci pays the taxes online and processes the payment through accounts payable. It is all set up for her.
Residents serve themselves through FrontDesk
A lot of questions that used to land at the counter can now be answered before a resident ever calls or visits. Through FrontDesk, residents get real access to their own accounts.
Our residents can sign up for FrontDesk. They can view their consumption, their current bill, their past bill, and while they're on FrontDesk they can sign up for autopay.
Spotting leaks before they become a problem
When a resident's bill keeps climbing, Denise no longer has to dig. She can pull up the account and show consumption month by month, which makes it easy to catch a possible leak early and explain what is happening.
When they come in with a question about their consumption, we can quickly click within their account and tell them month by month what their consumption is. That has helped us better assist the customers.
Rereads went from manual lookups to one click
Building a reread list used to be one of Denise's slower jobs. Now the system does it for her.
Prior to going live, I would have to go look up the account numbers, the addresses, the names. Now you click a button and it creates a spreadsheet for you. When our guys go out to reread, all I have to do is upload that. It saves so much more time.
Looking Back
Eight months in, Traci and Denise are not looking over their shoulders. If anything, their only regret is timing.
We wish maybe we hadn't waited so long.
Traci is candid that a software change is still a change, and Central City had its share of ups and downs along the way. Her advice to other clerks weighing the move is simple: stay patient, because the payoff is real.
For Central City, the proof is in the everyday work.
We do not look back on the old process at all, and we can't wait to see how gWorks grows and gets better over time.
The Challenge
Central City sits in Linn County, Iowa, about 15 miles north of Cedar Rapids. It is a community of around 1,264 people where the front counter doubles as a place to catch up. As Denise McGovern, the city's utility billing clerk, puts it, pretty much everybody knows everybody.
People come in the door and they call everybody by name, whether they're going to the library or to our senior dining.
Traci Wilson is the city clerk, and Denise handles utility billing. Between them they cover financials, payroll, utility billing, reporting, and a steady stream of residents at the window. What Traci loves about the job is the people.
What I enjoy most about being a clerk in this community is getting to see how the customers come in. They genuinely love the community that they live in, and they're always looking to do more for it.
The problem was that their old desktop software kept getting in the way of that work. Every process had to be backed up before it ran and backed up again the moment it was done. Jumping from one module to another meant losing your place, which is a real cost when a clerk is interrupted a dozen times a morning. Utility reread lists had to be built by hand, looking up account numbers, addresses, and names one at a time. Payroll took far longer than it needed to. And for a UB clerk, every deposit meant remembering to save multiple journals, with a recovery scramble if one got missed.
For a small office serving a growing town, those minutes added up. The system was asking Traci and Denise to spend their time managing the software instead of serving residents.
The gWorks Solution
To modernize operations, Central City moved to gWorks cloud Financials, a fully cloud-based platform that covers financials, utility billing, payroll, online payments, and resident self-service in one system. The timing was not for the faint of heart. They went live right before budget season.
I was extremely nervous about starting brand new in a software and having to do the budget.
What turned the nerves into confidence was the way the transition was handled. The gWorks team walked them through each stage and documented every process they needed to be ready for. Then they did something that made all the difference: they ran the new system in parallel with the old one.
We were able to run one practice session through the cloud version while we ran it live in the old system. It was very comforting being able to see each payroll out of the old system versus how it was going to look in the new system, and able to compare those.
By the time go-live arrived, the unknown was gone.
When we went live, it worked really well. We felt comfortable with what we had learned and were able to implement it.
Benefits Realized
By moving to gWorks cloud Financials, Central City realized measurable gains across the day-to-day work of running a city office.
She never loses her place
This is the shift Traci comes back to most. In the old system, helping a resident at the window meant stopping, backing up, and losing where she was. Now she can move between modules without missing a beat.
As a clerk you're constantly getting interrupted, so it's very nice that you do not lose your spot in one module while jumping to another one.
In practice, that looks like this: Traci is entering a general fund deposit when a resident walks up to pay a utility bill. She clicks over to utility billing, processes the payment while the resident is standing there, and clicks right back into the deposit where she left off. The resident gets helped on the spot, and nothing has to be redone.
Custom reports built around Central City
Central City runs a senior dining program that most communities do not, and it has its own library funds to track. gWorks lets Traci build reports that match exactly how the city actually operates.
She can narrow down to specific funds, pull the numbers a department needs, and hand them over without rebuilding anything.
That probably saves us an hour every month right there. And every hour matters, because there's always somebody at the window needing something.
Budgeting is clearer
The fear that nearly defined the transition turned out to be a strength. The budget view lists every fund across the top with the dollar amounts right there, and Traci can sort and drill down by account. General fund, water, sewer, all of it in one place.
Payroll dropped to under an hour
Central City pays 10 people. On the old system that was a long task. Now the modules talk to each other, and the tax piece is already waiting in accounts payable.
I pay 10 people. It probably takes me less than an hour, which is considerably less than what it was on the old system. The tax piece is already entered for you in accounts payable.
Once payroll is finalized, Traci pays the taxes online and processes the payment through accounts payable. It is all set up for her.
Residents serve themselves through FrontDesk
A lot of questions that used to land at the counter can now be answered before a resident ever calls or visits. Through FrontDesk, residents get real access to their own accounts.
Our residents can sign up for FrontDesk. They can view their consumption, their current bill, their past bill, and while they're on FrontDesk they can sign up for autopay.
Spotting leaks before they become a problem
When a resident's bill keeps climbing, Denise no longer has to dig. She can pull up the account and show consumption month by month, which makes it easy to catch a possible leak early and explain what is happening.
When they come in with a question about their consumption, we can quickly click within their account and tell them month by month what their consumption is. That has helped us better assist the customers.
Rereads went from manual lookups to one click
Building a reread list used to be one of Denise's slower jobs. Now the system does it for her.
Prior to going live, I would have to go look up the account numbers, the addresses, the names. Now you click a button and it creates a spreadsheet for you. When our guys go out to reread, all I have to do is upload that. It saves so much more time.
Looking Back
Eight months in, Traci and Denise are not looking over their shoulders. If anything, their only regret is timing.
We wish maybe we hadn't waited so long.
Traci is candid that a software change is still a change, and Central City had its share of ups and downs along the way. Her advice to other clerks weighing the move is simple: stay patient, because the payoff is real.
For Central City, the proof is in the everyday work.
We do not look back on the old process at all, and we can't wait to see how gWorks grows and gets better over time.
Highlights
View external link
Add to your calendar:
The Challenge
Central City sits in Linn County, Iowa, about 15 miles north of Cedar Rapids. It is a community of around 1,264 people where the front counter doubles as a place to catch up. As Denise McGovern, the city's utility billing clerk, puts it, pretty much everybody knows everybody.
People come in the door and they call everybody by name, whether they're going to the library or to our senior dining.
Traci Wilson is the city clerk, and Denise handles utility billing. Between them they cover financials, payroll, utility billing, reporting, and a steady stream of residents at the window. What Traci loves about the job is the people.
What I enjoy most about being a clerk in this community is getting to see how the customers come in. They genuinely love the community that they live in, and they're always looking to do more for it.
The problem was that their old desktop software kept getting in the way of that work. Every process had to be backed up before it ran and backed up again the moment it was done. Jumping from one module to another meant losing your place, which is a real cost when a clerk is interrupted a dozen times a morning. Utility reread lists had to be built by hand, looking up account numbers, addresses, and names one at a time. Payroll took far longer than it needed to. And for a UB clerk, every deposit meant remembering to save multiple journals, with a recovery scramble if one got missed.
For a small office serving a growing town, those minutes added up. The system was asking Traci and Denise to spend their time managing the software instead of serving residents.
The gWorks Solution
To modernize operations, Central City moved to gWorks cloud Financials, a fully cloud-based platform that covers financials, utility billing, payroll, online payments, and resident self-service in one system. The timing was not for the faint of heart. They went live right before budget season.
I was extremely nervous about starting brand new in a software and having to do the budget.
What turned the nerves into confidence was the way the transition was handled. The gWorks team walked them through each stage and documented every process they needed to be ready for. Then they did something that made all the difference: they ran the new system in parallel with the old one.
We were able to run one practice session through the cloud version while we ran it live in the old system. It was very comforting being able to see each payroll out of the old system versus how it was going to look in the new system, and able to compare those.
By the time go-live arrived, the unknown was gone.
When we went live, it worked really well. We felt comfortable with what we had learned and were able to implement it.
Benefits Realized
By moving to gWorks cloud Financials, Central City realized measurable gains across the day-to-day work of running a city office.
She never loses her place
This is the shift Traci comes back to most. In the old system, helping a resident at the window meant stopping, backing up, and losing where she was. Now she can move between modules without missing a beat.
As a clerk you're constantly getting interrupted, so it's very nice that you do not lose your spot in one module while jumping to another one.
In practice, that looks like this: Traci is entering a general fund deposit when a resident walks up to pay a utility bill. She clicks over to utility billing, processes the payment while the resident is standing there, and clicks right back into the deposit where she left off. The resident gets helped on the spot, and nothing has to be redone.
Custom reports built around Central City
Central City runs a senior dining program that most communities do not, and it has its own library funds to track. gWorks lets Traci build reports that match exactly how the city actually operates.
She can narrow down to specific funds, pull the numbers a department needs, and hand them over without rebuilding anything.
That probably saves us an hour every month right there. And every hour matters, because there's always somebody at the window needing something.
Budgeting is clearer
The fear that nearly defined the transition turned out to be a strength. The budget view lists every fund across the top with the dollar amounts right there, and Traci can sort and drill down by account. General fund, water, sewer, all of it in one place.
Payroll dropped to under an hour
Central City pays 10 people. On the old system that was a long task. Now the modules talk to each other, and the tax piece is already waiting in accounts payable.
I pay 10 people. It probably takes me less than an hour, which is considerably less than what it was on the old system. The tax piece is already entered for you in accounts payable.
Once payroll is finalized, Traci pays the taxes online and processes the payment through accounts payable. It is all set up for her.
Residents serve themselves through FrontDesk
A lot of questions that used to land at the counter can now be answered before a resident ever calls or visits. Through FrontDesk, residents get real access to their own accounts.
Our residents can sign up for FrontDesk. They can view their consumption, their current bill, their past bill, and while they're on FrontDesk they can sign up for autopay.
Spotting leaks before they become a problem
When a resident's bill keeps climbing, Denise no longer has to dig. She can pull up the account and show consumption month by month, which makes it easy to catch a possible leak early and explain what is happening.
When they come in with a question about their consumption, we can quickly click within their account and tell them month by month what their consumption is. That has helped us better assist the customers.
Rereads went from manual lookups to one click
Building a reread list used to be one of Denise's slower jobs. Now the system does it for her.
Prior to going live, I would have to go look up the account numbers, the addresses, the names. Now you click a button and it creates a spreadsheet for you. When our guys go out to reread, all I have to do is upload that. It saves so much more time.
Looking Back
Eight months in, Traci and Denise are not looking over their shoulders. If anything, their only regret is timing.
We wish maybe we hadn't waited so long.
Traci is candid that a software change is still a change, and Central City had its share of ups and downs along the way. Her advice to other clerks weighing the move is simple: stay patient, because the payoff is real.
For Central City, the proof is in the everyday work.
We do not look back on the old process at all, and we can't wait to see how gWorks grows and gets better over time.
The Challenge
Central City sits in Linn County, Iowa, about 15 miles north of Cedar Rapids. It is a community of around 1,264 people where the front counter doubles as a place to catch up. As Denise McGovern, the city's utility billing clerk, puts it, pretty much everybody knows everybody.
People come in the door and they call everybody by name, whether they're going to the library or to our senior dining.
Traci Wilson is the city clerk, and Denise handles utility billing. Between them they cover financials, payroll, utility billing, reporting, and a steady stream of residents at the window. What Traci loves about the job is the people.
What I enjoy most about being a clerk in this community is getting to see how the customers come in. They genuinely love the community that they live in, and they're always looking to do more for it.
The problem was that their old desktop software kept getting in the way of that work. Every process had to be backed up before it ran and backed up again the moment it was done. Jumping from one module to another meant losing your place, which is a real cost when a clerk is interrupted a dozen times a morning. Utility reread lists had to be built by hand, looking up account numbers, addresses, and names one at a time. Payroll took far longer than it needed to. And for a UB clerk, every deposit meant remembering to save multiple journals, with a recovery scramble if one got missed.
For a small office serving a growing town, those minutes added up. The system was asking Traci and Denise to spend their time managing the software instead of serving residents.
The gWorks Solution
To modernize operations, Central City moved to gWorks cloud Financials, a fully cloud-based platform that covers financials, utility billing, payroll, online payments, and resident self-service in one system. The timing was not for the faint of heart. They went live right before budget season.
I was extremely nervous about starting brand new in a software and having to do the budget.
What turned the nerves into confidence was the way the transition was handled. The gWorks team walked them through each stage and documented every process they needed to be ready for. Then they did something that made all the difference: they ran the new system in parallel with the old one.
We were able to run one practice session through the cloud version while we ran it live in the old system. It was very comforting being able to see each payroll out of the old system versus how it was going to look in the new system, and able to compare those.
By the time go-live arrived, the unknown was gone.
When we went live, it worked really well. We felt comfortable with what we had learned and were able to implement it.
Benefits Realized
By moving to gWorks cloud Financials, Central City realized measurable gains across the day-to-day work of running a city office.
She never loses her place
This is the shift Traci comes back to most. In the old system, helping a resident at the window meant stopping, backing up, and losing where she was. Now she can move between modules without missing a beat.
As a clerk you're constantly getting interrupted, so it's very nice that you do not lose your spot in one module while jumping to another one.
In practice, that looks like this: Traci is entering a general fund deposit when a resident walks up to pay a utility bill. She clicks over to utility billing, processes the payment while the resident is standing there, and clicks right back into the deposit where she left off. The resident gets helped on the spot, and nothing has to be redone.
Custom reports built around Central City
Central City runs a senior dining program that most communities do not, and it has its own library funds to track. gWorks lets Traci build reports that match exactly how the city actually operates.
She can narrow down to specific funds, pull the numbers a department needs, and hand them over without rebuilding anything.
That probably saves us an hour every month right there. And every hour matters, because there's always somebody at the window needing something.
Budgeting is clearer
The fear that nearly defined the transition turned out to be a strength. The budget view lists every fund across the top with the dollar amounts right there, and Traci can sort and drill down by account. General fund, water, sewer, all of it in one place.
Payroll dropped to under an hour
Central City pays 10 people. On the old system that was a long task. Now the modules talk to each other, and the tax piece is already waiting in accounts payable.
I pay 10 people. It probably takes me less than an hour, which is considerably less than what it was on the old system. The tax piece is already entered for you in accounts payable.
Once payroll is finalized, Traci pays the taxes online and processes the payment through accounts payable. It is all set up for her.
Residents serve themselves through FrontDesk
A lot of questions that used to land at the counter can now be answered before a resident ever calls or visits. Through FrontDesk, residents get real access to their own accounts.
Our residents can sign up for FrontDesk. They can view their consumption, their current bill, their past bill, and while they're on FrontDesk they can sign up for autopay.
Spotting leaks before they become a problem
When a resident's bill keeps climbing, Denise no longer has to dig. She can pull up the account and show consumption month by month, which makes it easy to catch a possible leak early and explain what is happening.
When they come in with a question about their consumption, we can quickly click within their account and tell them month by month what their consumption is. That has helped us better assist the customers.
Rereads went from manual lookups to one click
Building a reread list used to be one of Denise's slower jobs. Now the system does it for her.
Prior to going live, I would have to go look up the account numbers, the addresses, the names. Now you click a button and it creates a spreadsheet for you. When our guys go out to reread, all I have to do is upload that. It saves so much more time.
Looking Back
Eight months in, Traci and Denise are not looking over their shoulders. If anything, their only regret is timing.
We wish maybe we hadn't waited so long.
Traci is candid that a software change is still a change, and Central City had its share of ups and downs along the way. Her advice to other clerks weighing the move is simple: stay patient, because the payoff is real.
For Central City, the proof is in the everyday work.
We do not look back on the old process at all, and we can't wait to see how gWorks grows and gets better over time.
Highlights
The Challenge
Central City sits in Linn County, Iowa, about 15 miles north of Cedar Rapids. It is a community of around 1,264 people where the front counter doubles as a place to catch up. As Denise McGovern, the city's utility billing clerk, puts it, pretty much everybody knows everybody.
People come in the door and they call everybody by name, whether they're going to the library or to our senior dining.
Traci Wilson is the city clerk, and Denise handles utility billing. Between them they cover financials, payroll, utility billing, reporting, and a steady stream of residents at the window. What Traci loves about the job is the people.
What I enjoy most about being a clerk in this community is getting to see how the customers come in. They genuinely love the community that they live in, and they're always looking to do more for it.
The problem was that their old desktop software kept getting in the way of that work. Every process had to be backed up before it ran and backed up again the moment it was done. Jumping from one module to another meant losing your place, which is a real cost when a clerk is interrupted a dozen times a morning. Utility reread lists had to be built by hand, looking up account numbers, addresses, and names one at a time. Payroll took far longer than it needed to. And for a UB clerk, every deposit meant remembering to save multiple journals, with a recovery scramble if one got missed.
For a small office serving a growing town, those minutes added up. The system was asking Traci and Denise to spend their time managing the software instead of serving residents.
The gWorks Solution
To modernize operations, Central City moved to gWorks cloud Financials, a fully cloud-based platform that covers financials, utility billing, payroll, online payments, and resident self-service in one system. The timing was not for the faint of heart. They went live right before budget season.
I was extremely nervous about starting brand new in a software and having to do the budget.
What turned the nerves into confidence was the way the transition was handled. The gWorks team walked them through each stage and documented every process they needed to be ready for. Then they did something that made all the difference: they ran the new system in parallel with the old one.
We were able to run one practice session through the cloud version while we ran it live in the old system. It was very comforting being able to see each payroll out of the old system versus how it was going to look in the new system, and able to compare those.
By the time go-live arrived, the unknown was gone.
When we went live, it worked really well. We felt comfortable with what we had learned and were able to implement it.
Benefits Realized
By moving to gWorks cloud Financials, Central City realized measurable gains across the day-to-day work of running a city office.
She never loses her place
This is the shift Traci comes back to most. In the old system, helping a resident at the window meant stopping, backing up, and losing where she was. Now she can move between modules without missing a beat.
As a clerk you're constantly getting interrupted, so it's very nice that you do not lose your spot in one module while jumping to another one.
In practice, that looks like this: Traci is entering a general fund deposit when a resident walks up to pay a utility bill. She clicks over to utility billing, processes the payment while the resident is standing there, and clicks right back into the deposit where she left off. The resident gets helped on the spot, and nothing has to be redone.
Custom reports built around Central City
Central City runs a senior dining program that most communities do not, and it has its own library funds to track. gWorks lets Traci build reports that match exactly how the city actually operates.
She can narrow down to specific funds, pull the numbers a department needs, and hand them over without rebuilding anything.
That probably saves us an hour every month right there. And every hour matters, because there's always somebody at the window needing something.
Budgeting is clearer
The fear that nearly defined the transition turned out to be a strength. The budget view lists every fund across the top with the dollar amounts right there, and Traci can sort and drill down by account. General fund, water, sewer, all of it in one place.
Payroll dropped to under an hour
Central City pays 10 people. On the old system that was a long task. Now the modules talk to each other, and the tax piece is already waiting in accounts payable.
I pay 10 people. It probably takes me less than an hour, which is considerably less than what it was on the old system. The tax piece is already entered for you in accounts payable.
Once payroll is finalized, Traci pays the taxes online and processes the payment through accounts payable. It is all set up for her.
Residents serve themselves through FrontDesk
A lot of questions that used to land at the counter can now be answered before a resident ever calls or visits. Through FrontDesk, residents get real access to their own accounts.
Our residents can sign up for FrontDesk. They can view their consumption, their current bill, their past bill, and while they're on FrontDesk they can sign up for autopay.
Spotting leaks before they become a problem
When a resident's bill keeps climbing, Denise no longer has to dig. She can pull up the account and show consumption month by month, which makes it easy to catch a possible leak early and explain what is happening.
When they come in with a question about their consumption, we can quickly click within their account and tell them month by month what their consumption is. That has helped us better assist the customers.
Rereads went from manual lookups to one click
Building a reread list used to be one of Denise's slower jobs. Now the system does it for her.
Prior to going live, I would have to go look up the account numbers, the addresses, the names. Now you click a button and it creates a spreadsheet for you. When our guys go out to reread, all I have to do is upload that. It saves so much more time.
Looking Back
Eight months in, Traci and Denise are not looking over their shoulders. If anything, their only regret is timing.
We wish maybe we hadn't waited so long.
Traci is candid that a software change is still a change, and Central City had its share of ups and downs along the way. Her advice to other clerks weighing the move is simple: stay patient, because the payoff is real.
For Central City, the proof is in the everyday work.
We do not look back on the old process at all, and we can't wait to see how gWorks grows and gets better over time.
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