Purpose

Oracle Fusion is the Council’s Enterprise Resource
Planning system and manages key business processes that enable the
Council to operate effectively.
 
In
April 2019, cabinet approved the use of Fusion for 10 years with a
break clause after 5 years.  The initial
5 years’ duration expires in May 2024 and Cabinet needs to
consider if this should be extended for a period of a further 5
years.
 

Decision

Decision:
 
For the reasons set out in
the report and its appendices Cabinet RESOLVED to Agree to:
 
i) 
Exercise the 5 year extension to Oracle
at a cost of £3.1m for the continued use of Oracle Fusion as
the Council’s ERP system.
 
Alternatives
Considered
 

a) 
The options open to the Council relate to the length of the
contractual term for Oracle Fusion. The alternative option is to
award a shorter contract and commence a market review
immediately.

 
b) 
Oracle Fusion is a market leading ERP system that currently meets
the needs of the Council and has a continual cycle of development
in place to meet changing requirements in the future. Officers have
implemented an improved approach to system development and a
1 year period prior to a wider review,
will allow system improvements to be continually deployed and
embedded, for a more effective review of the use of Fusion against
possible alternatives in the future.
c) 
The current re-organisation and disaggregation of oneSource, including IT will have completed when
the review of the market is undertaken, allowing focus on a new ERP
system project to be completed, if a decision is made to move to an
alternative solution.
d) 
For reasons of existing stability, having a system that we are able
to continually develop as well as a better negotiating position
with Oracle, Officers cannot identify any tangible benefit to agree
a shorter term contract now, than was agreed under the original
cabinet decision in March 2019. Changing to a shorter term
extension would also need a further Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency
Notice to modify the notice already issued by the Council in the
award of the original contract and that is not advisable at this
stage. For the reasons outlined above, the option of a shorter term
has been rejected.