Agenda item

(To receive a report by Andrew McLean, Assistant Director – Corporate Transformation, Programmes and Performance; Louisa Harvey, ERP System Delivery Manager - Business World and Sadie Rossington, Senior Project Officer, which provides an update on the progress of the re-design of the Council's Business World ERP system)

Consideration was given to a report by the Assistant Director – Corporate Transformation, Programmes and Performance and the ERP System Delivery Manager, Business World, which invited the Board to consider an update on the progress of the re-design of the Council's Business World ERP system following approval from the Executive on 17 December 2019 to move to the Hoople Limited platform.

The two key areas of impact throughout the project had been the impact of COVID-19, the length of time needed to reconcile three months of complex payroll data with resource constraints and a shortage of skilled payroll professionals and the result of an IMT move from Sun Gard to the Azure platform.

The Board was advised that the mobilisation, design and build phases of the project were now complete and the test phase was progressing well. There had been no critical issues identified during the functional tests and the integrated system testing. User acceptance testing (UAT) had also been completed with some challenges due to high absence and school closures as a result of Covid-19. Not all school tests had been completed by schools themselves, with some being carried out by Council colleagues.

The introduction of a council-wide, back dated pay award also impacted resources during the later stages of UAT, however this phase was completed on the 31 March 2022 with some known exceptions.

The benefits and risks of the project were identified and could be found within the report. 

Overall, the project and testing were progressing well despite a number of initial challenges and the project was on track for a go-live date of April 2023.

The Board was invited to review the reporting arrangements for the project.

Consideration was given to the report and during the discussion the following points were noted:

• The Board was reassured that the issues identified in current payroll testing (PPR3) were in the main due to accuracy of data input and not the system itself. Efforts were being made to reduce the input error downtime when carrying out payroll tests. Assurance was provided that all service areas were fully engaged in the process which would minimise issues with data migration at the point of go-live.
• Assurance was provided that regular communication was taking place with schools and that training, along with on-hand support would be widely offered during the approach to go-live. It was recognised that some schools had limited time available to undertake the testing.
• The main benefits of the new system were the ease of use of the system and an overall better experience for end users. The system was also more self-intuitive and provided a stable platform to move forward for greater developments.
• The system would reduce the requirement for external consultants to support the system, which could be costly.
• The Council’s BW System team employees had been able to log onto the system as if they were a school user and complete end to end testing. Assurance was provided that schools would have access to the system before the ‘go live’ date and would be supported with queries. Engagement and communication with schools was essential and officers were working closely with school finance teams to help implement the system.
• The Board requested that a further update be reported to the Board at its meeting on 24 November 2022.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report and update be noted;
2. That a further update on the progress of the Business World ERP System Design be reported to the Board at its meeting on 24 November 2022.