Customer Success Stories: Cities, Counties, Utilities, and Libraries

Choosing new ERP software is a big decision.

For local governments, utilities, libraries, and public agencies, it’s not just about replacing one system with another. It’s about protecting public trust, improving daily operations, supporting staff, and making sure your organization can keep moving when the work gets complicated.

Because it does get complicated.

Budgets need to be accurate. Payroll has to be right. Utility billing has to keep up with customers, meters, rates, payments, and reporting. Departments need visibility. Auditors need clean records. Staff need software they can actually learn without needing a decoder ring and a gallon of coffee.

That’s where customer stories help.

Feature lists are nice. Demos are useful. But real-world experiences show what happens after implementation, when staff are using the software every day, calling support, training new employees, reconciling accounts, running payroll, billing customers, and reporting to leadership.

Across cities, townships, water districts, parks, and libraries, SSI customers have shared a common theme: when the right software is paired with the right support, public-sector teams can work with more confidence, more transparency, and less daily frustration.

Cities: Restoring Financial Confidence

For the City of Wellston, Ohio, the challenge was serious.

For nearly three years, the City’s books were not fully reconciled. That meant leadership did not have a clear, reliable picture of the City’s financial position. Although VIP had been implemented in 2021, staff transitions and reconciliation challenges kept the City from fully realizing the value of the system.

The City had even hired outside CPAs in 2024 and 2025 to help bring the books back into balance. But those efforts left more questions than answers.

So Wellston turned to SSI for hands-on help.

An SSI Implementation Consultant worked closely with both the outgoing treasurer and the newly appointed treasurer. She helped the City walk through past discrepancies, understand the system, and complete the reconciliation process step by step.

Heather Mohler, Assistant Deputy Auditor for the City of Wellston, shared:

“From the very beginning, [SSI] was instrumental in turning things around for our City. [Their] knowledge, patience, and commitment were exceptional.”

With that guidance, the City met its goal of fully reconciling its books by year-end.

But the bigger win? Confidence.

Wellston didn’t just fix a short-term issue. The City built a more sustainable process moving forward, supported by staff who better understood the system and could rely on the financial records again.

As Heather said:

“We truly could not have achieved this success without [SSI] and the support of VIP. [Their] dedication restored confidence in our financial records and set the City of Wellston on a strong, sustainable path forward.”

For cities, that’s the real value of a strong ERP partner. Not just software. Stability.

Townships: Improving Transparency Across Departments

Beavercreek Township, Ohio, had a different challenge.

The Township was using UAN, but only one person could access the system. That created communication issues between finance and other departments, including Roads, Community Risk and Development, and Fire. Reporting was limited, integrations were missing, and department leaders did not have easy access to the budget information they needed.

Finance Director Teri Molden explained that the Township wanted to become more transparent with departments and give staff better visibility into budgeting and purchasing.

VIP helped Beavercreek Township move toward that goal.

With VIP, multiple users could access the system. Departments became more involved in the budgeting and purchasing process. Purchase approvals became more structured. And the finance department became “pretty much paperless.”

Teri shared:

“Each department takes more responsibility and has better understanding of the budgeting and purchasing process. There is better communication and transparency between Finance and Departments than there used to be.”

The Township also found value in SSI’s support team.

Teri called the customer support team “invaluable” and specifically mentioned the help she received with analytics and balancing questions. Other staff members noted that VIP was user-friendly, customizable, and easy to learn.

And that ease of use is important. Beavercreek Township staff could work more independently, train new employees more easily, and access reports without relying on one person to pull information.

The Township also received its first Auditor of State Award for financial reporting in 2022, a major achievement the team felt VIP helped support.

The lesson here is simple: transparency doesn’t happen by accident.

It requires the right tools, the right workflows, and the right access for the people doing the work.

Utilities: Supporting Growth, Billing, and Customer Service

Utility organizations face a unique mix of pressure.

They need accurate billing, strong accounting, responsive customer service, reliable reporting, and systems that can support both current operations and future growth. And when software becomes outdated or unsupported, the risk gets real, fast.

Boone County Water District, Kentucky

Boone County Water District, Kentucky, had been using Software Solutions for years, but like many growing utility organizations, they eventually needed more flexibility, more options, and a system that could better support the work happening every day.

For Nicole Smith, Office Manager at Boone County Water District, the need was practical. She had worked her way through customer service, billing, reporting, and office management, so she understood the daily pressure from every angle. Utility billing offices are busy places. Payments come in. Customers call. Reports need pulled. Staff need trained. And when a system feels outdated, every task can take longer than it should.

Nicole described the original challenge simply: outdated software, limited options, and time.

The transition to VIP came with a learning curve. Boone County Water District was a large customer with several customizations in their legacy software, so moving into a newer system was not perfectly smooth.

Software transitions are real work. They require patience, training, questions, adjustments, and a willingness to rethink old processes. For Boone County Water District, SSI’s customer support team helped make that process manageable.

Nicole shared that most, if not all, of her experiences with Customer Support have been positive, and she specifically recognizing their knowledge and technical support. As Nicole put it: “Most, if not all, of my experiences with Customer Support are positive.”

That kind of support is especially valuable in utility billing, where small details can create big issues. A meter change that doesn’t get communicated properly can affect billing accuracy. A delayed payment in the mail can send a customer onto a delinquency list. A missing note on an account can leave the next staff member without the context they need.

Utility billing teams need systems that help them document customer interactions, track account activity, communicate across departments, and support electronic billing and payments. They also need support people who understand why those details are so important.

With VIP, Boone County Water District gained versatility and found ways to use parts of the software beyond their original expectations.

Nicole’s advice to other utility professionals is simple and fitting: “Be patient, ask questions, pay attention.”

For utility billing offices, that may be some of the best advice there is. Because a successful software transition doesn’t come from flipping a switch and hoping for the best. It comes from learning the system, using the tools available, and working with a support team that’s ready to help when questions come up.

Libraries: Modernizing Payroll, Accounting, and Budgeting

Greene County Public Library needed more than a software replacement. They needed confidence in their vendor.

Their previous provider was not keeping pace. Promised functionality wasn’t being delivered. Enhancements lagged. Support felt disengaged. And for a library system consistently ranked among top national library systems serving populations between 100,000 and 250,000, that wasn’t good enough.

Mel Brindley, Fiscal Officer at Greene County Public Library, described the previous vendor this way:

“The company we were with—they were not adapting. The software wasn’t doing what they promised it would do. Support lacked a little gusto. I felt like they were kind of a sinking ship.”

GCPL selected SSI and implemented VIP Accounting, VIP Budgeting & Analytics, VIP Payroll, VIP Employee Portal, and VIP Cloud.

One of the biggest differences was the implementation approach.

SSI provided a sandbox environment so GCPL staff could test, explore, and build confidence before going live. That gave the team space to learn without the pressure of working in a live production environment.

Mel shared:

“They set up the sandbox, and we went in and played in the sandbox for days and days and days before we decided to go live.”

The move also helped GCPL transition from paper timesheets to an electronic payroll process.

“From paper timesheets—now it’s all electronic. It was just easier to do payroll. Much easier.”

Support continued to stand out after go-live. Mel noted that support usually called back within an hour or two, even when the issue was something he simply forgot how to do.

That quickness is key. Because public-sector staff are busy. They need answers immediately. And they need people who care enough to help.

Parks and Special Districts: Better Support, Better Processes

Mill Creek Metroparks in Ohio needed better support and a more modern financial system.

As one of Ohio’s major park systems, Mill Creek Metroparks needed smooth data flow, easier reporting, and more financial transparency. Their previous software allowed them to complete day-to-day tasks, but not easily. And when they needed help, support tickets often sat unanswered for hours or days.

Support became the driving factor for change.

Mill Creek Metroparks wanted a team that would respond quickly, close tickets in a timely manner, and provide more of a partnership. They also wanted improved reporting, smoother implementation, and a modern system that could digitize manual processes.

After evaluating three companies, Mill Creek Metroparks selected SSI and implemented VIP Accounting.

The result was a centralized, digital accounting process that gave departments more visibility into their own budgets. The system also allowed warnings or spending stops when a budget was exceeded.

The Fiscal Officer summed it up clearly:

“The support to us was crucial and Software Solutions’ support team is phenomenal. The implementation went very well. I’m very glad we made the change.”

And when asked what they would tell others considering VIP, the answer was simple:

“It’s worth making the switch. Don’t hesitate.”

Sometimes, the difference between tolerating your software and trusting your software comes down to support.

What These Customer Stories Have in Common

Each organization had its own challenges.

Wellston needed to restore financial confidence. Beavercreek Township needed department transparency. Boone County Water District needed flexibility and support through a complex transition. Oldham County Water District needed a modular system that could grow with them. Greene County Public Library needed a stable vendor and smoother payroll processes. Mill Creek Metroparks needed better support and more modern accounting tools.

Different organizations. Different needs.

But some themes are consistent:

1. Support matters as much as software.

   Customers repeatedly mentioned SSI’s responsiveness, patience, and knowledge. When your staff need help, they want a real person who understands the work.

2. Usability drives adoption.

   Software only helps if people can actually use it. Customers described VIP as intuitive, user-friendly, customizable, and easier to train on.

3. Public-sector processes need public-sector software.

   Local governments, utilities, libraries, and special districts have specific accounting, payroll, budgeting, billing, and reporting needs. Generic tools often force workarounds.

4. Flexibility is important.

   Organizations want systems that meet today’s needs without limiting tomorrow’s growth.

5. Confidence is the real outcome.

   Better reporting, cleaner processes, stronger reconciliation, and easier access all lead to one larger benefit: confidence in the work.

Choosing Software That Supports the Work Behind Public Service

Your software should not make public service harder.

It should help your finance team close the month with confidence. It should help payroll staff make accurate updates. It should help utility teams serve customers faster. It should help department leaders understand their budgets. It should help libraries, parks, townships, cities, counties, and special districts operate with clarity.

And when your staff need help, your vendor should answer.

At Software Solutions, Inc., we’ve worked with public-sector organizations since 1978. And our first customer is still our customer today. We understand the day-to-day complexity behind local government operations because we’ve spent decades helping customers manage it.

So whether you’re dealing with outdated software, limited reporting, disconnected departments, manual processes, or support that leaves you hanging, there’s a better way forward.

Because the right ERP partner doesn’t just give you software.

It helps your team succeed.

Or view our products...