Ga. county finds unity in Tyler software

Columbia County, Ga., hopes to unify information used by county employees in different agencies through an array of software tools from Tyler Technologies Inc.

Tyler of Dallas will furnish the county with software to handle functions for financial operations and human resources, appraisal and tax administration, and courts and criminal justice among other areas.

The company will furnish the software, as well as professional services and support, through a contract valued at nearly $3 million.

The county expects that Tyler's software will improve productivity and increase staff effectiveness in several ways.

"Our objective is to push information instead of pull it," Lewis Foster, the county's IT director said in a statement released by the company. "We wanted software that shows us information and trends, so we can make sound, long-term business decisions."

The agreement is one of Tyler's broadest implementations to date of multiple systems with one local government, the company said.

Columbia County, with a population of more than 103,000, is located in Georgia's second largest metropolitan area, near Augusta.

Tyler has about 1,360 employees and had annual sales of $170.5 million in fiscal 2005, according to Hoover's Online of Austin, Texas.