Agenda item

The Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Resources and the ICT Application Support Officer presented a report in respect of the future provision of the Council’s core HR and Finance system, the Enterprise System Project Business Case.  Whilst presenting this report the following matters were highlighted for Members’ consideration:

·                The Council was using outdated finance and cash receipting systems and whilst the HR system was linked to payroll it was not particularly functional.

·                Staff, particularly those who managed budgets, had highlighted that the systems in place were not the most appropriate for cash receipting purposes.

·                The Corporate Peer review of the Council had identified the potential for these systems to perform more efficiently thereby enabling the Council to operate in a more commercial manner.

·                The Council was working to introduce a more integrated system.

·                Recent legislation permitted Councils to use capital receipts to drive efficiencies and it was proposed that this approach be adopted to help pay for the new system in this instance.

·                The proposed new system would provide data in real time and would be more efficient and more accurate.  The system would engender a self-service culture amongst managers.

·                The system would have a more modern interface than at present and would need to integrate with other Council systems.

·                Included within the system would be software that would undertake some of the more mundane tasks, providing staff with capacity to concentrate on qualitative areas of work.

·                Officers had consulted with other local authorities that used this system and had been reassured by advice that the system had worked for those Councils.

Following the presentation of the report Councillor L. Mallet spoke to Cabinet in his capacity as Chairman of the Finance and Budget Working Group.  Cabinet was advised that the group had considered the report and had concluded that further clarification was required with regard to potential savings that could be achieved following the introduction of the new system.  Members had felt that the finance part of the system was fairly easy to define.  However, the group agreed that the HR systems needed further definition.  There was the potential to introduce HR systems which enabled managers to post job adverts directly and to receive applications immediately after the deadline for a post had passed.  In conclusion, however, the group had been supportive of the proposed new system.

Cabinet subsequently discussed the report in detail and raised the following points:

·                The extent to which savings had been achieved by other local authorities that had utilised this system.  Members were advised that a number of other Councils had used this software and reduced their costs.

·                The potential for the system to be introduced on a staged basis.  Officers advised that staged implementation of such large systems was considered good practice and would be implemented in this case.

·                The potential for a further report to be presented to Cabinet in the future outlining the savings that had been achieved as a result of introducing the new system.

RECOMMENDED that the business case for the implementation of an integrated Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP) is approved.

[During consideration of this item Members discussed matters that necessitated the disclosure of exempt information.  It was therefore agreed to exclude the press and public prior to any debate on the grounds that information would be revealed which relates to financial or business affairs].