Franklin County software expected to go online in 2016

Some Franklin County employees should be able to use long-awaited software starting early next year, a consultant said.

The first phase of SunGard’s ONESolution financial software, which the county agreed to buy for $1.1 million in 2012, will go live by February 2016, according to a presentation from Jeff Tompkins, a consultant working with the county. The software is designed to prevent thefts like the largest embezzlement in state history discovered in Franklin County in 2012.

The entire project, which will replace a 30-year-old software system that can no longer be serviced, should be working by the third quarter of next year, Tompkins said.

The county first started talking with Tompkins in 2008, Auditor Matt Beaton has said. But the software became a priority after the firing of Dennis Huston, the former accounting and administrative director in the public works department.

Huston is serving a 16-year prison sentence after admitting to stealing $2.8 million over 22 years to support cocaine and gambling addictions.

This story was originally published August 21, 2015 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Franklin County software expected to go online in 2016."