Technical Specifications
The City has a sophisticated and robust network of computer systems. We use primarily Microsoft products for our in-house development. We also support IBM AIX, Oracle and Java applications that were purchased from third-party vendors. All in-house applications are written using Microsoft ASP.Net. This allows us to develop all new applications in a Web-based format, accessible from a browser like Internet Explorer. We use Microsoft SQL Server 2005 to store data for our in-house applications.  

History

The Application Services Division has been writing computer systems for the City since the early 1970s. Until the last few years, almost all of the City's computer applications, which included payroll / personnel, finance, procurement, inspections, and utilities billing, were written in-house and ran on the City’s IBM Mainframe.   

In the early 1990s, Application Services staff worked with a team from the Police Department to design and develop a Police Case Processing system. This system ran on its own machine, a DEC / VAX. The Police Department used this system until 2004 when it was replaced by a package.

Progression and Recent History

In the late 1990s, Application Services began to consider moving from the mainframe to Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 and Microsoft SQL Server Relational Database 7.0 for writing Client / Server applications. The first mainframe application to be converted was the Building Inspections mainframe system in 1998.

The new Building Inspections system allowed City inspectors to do their work on hand-held units out in the field, saving the City money and increasing efficiency in the department. Despite the success of the Building Inspections system, the transition from mainframe systems to the new technology was not yet feasible due to staff and time constraints.

In 2003, the City selected Lawson for its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The Lawson system handles the City's financials, payroll / personnel, and procurement / distribution systems. In 2004, a new Utilities Customer Service system was implemented to replace the mainframe water billing system. Both of these packages are Java-based and use an Oracle Relational Database.    
 
Now and into the Future

The City of Greensboro migrated all of its applications off the IBM Mainframe in June 2006. Application Services continues to write Web-based ASP.net systems and provides support for various interfaces to software packages. Our support staff manages a wide variety of SQL Server 2005 databases as well as the Oracle Database that houses our Lawson ERP data. All in-house systems are written using Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

The City provides the ability to pay certain fees on the Internet. Currently we offer online payment of parking ticket fines and have plans to expand this service to include payments for water bills, park shelter reservations, library fees, and building inspection fees in the near future.

The City's Web site was developed by the Application Services division using Microsoft’s Content Management Software. We plan to upgrade the Web site to Microsoft SharePoint Server in the coming years. This is the beginning of a dedicated effort to make the City of Greensboro’s Web site the one-stop place to conduct business with your local government.