University of Nottingham looks for new HR and finance software just 18 months after massive Unit4 system upgrade
(2021/01/27)
- Reference: 1611739813
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/01/27/nottingham_unit4_shift/
- Source link:
The University of Nottingham is on the lookout for a new HR and finance system in a deal which could be worth £35m, barely a year after updating its current provider's system.
In a project dubbed “Digital Core”, the university said it is seeking a “step change in the way it manages its human and financial resources, with knock-on benefits for teaching and research,” according to [1]a tender document .
[2]
“The future solution will be Software as a Service (SaaS) based and will provide greater efficiency, usability, and control for the university so that it may better serve its staff, students, and partners,” the tender said.
The notice may raise a few eyebrows at the university, which attempts to educate around 45,500 students, because its finance system is based on Unit4’s Business World, the successor to Agresso. As per [3]a University blog , the finance system got a big upgrade on 1st July 2019.
[4]
The blog said: "We will be leap-frogging a number of versions ahead. The upgrade project will deliver some much-needed improvements to usability and process; a cleaner and more modern look and feel, as well as much improved web-based functionality through a single sign-on.
"As we consolidate into Business World, the project will also make changes to some working processes with the aim of improving efficiency and ease of use," it said.
Unit4 bought Agresso, an enterprise application firm specialising in the public sector and services industries, in 2000, although it kept the branding for some time. The product is now known as Business World but, apparently, just a year and a half after updating, that is no longer what the University wants.
Two English councils sign up to Azure for six years in £35m reseller deal as ERP project faces delays, ballooning costs [5]READ MORE
"The University of Nottingham is in the early stages of reviewing and improving the way it delivers HR, finance and procurement services," the institution told The Register .
"We are working closely with our employees to establish the best way in which we can deliver these services, and what requirements they would like to see in a new HR, finance and procurement system. A procurement process has commenced to identify a supplier that we can work with."
A spokesperson at the Uni added that: "Agresso was upgraded in 2019 to ensure continuity of service, in preparation for the procurement process we have now started."
The changes may also be part of a larger shakeup. The university's current [6]HR and payroll system is ResourceLink, provided by the vendor Zellis - for the moment at least.
"ResourceLink, along with the university's e-procurement and e-catalogue systems, are in scope for potential replacement," the university spokesperson said.
Some organisations have had difficulty getting Business World to work in practice. In November last year, [7]The Register revealed that The City of Edinburgh Council struggled with a Business World rollout for several years, and last year opted for an Oracle upgrade instead.
The troubled project, which began in 2015, ended up with the council’s IT service provider CGI facing off with Agilisys in Scotland's supreme civil court. Agilisys had been subcontracted to provide the Unit4 solution. In a 2018 [8]opinion [PDF] , Lord Bannatyne ruled that CGI had failed to provide any contemporaneous evidence to support its claims, in a case experts said showed how important it is to keep a paper trail of deadlines and documentation of reasons for any delays.
[9]
The vendor has notched up successes though. Last autumn it won a contract to replace [10]an ageing SAP system at Surrey County Council in a £30m deal. That project has a go-live date of December 2021 because of a support cut-off with the German vendor’s software. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/5d962015-1aa8-4154-aab3-d0cfa3017b4a
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YBFHxKyiPMu@SDMbJHlfMAAAAEU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/itnetwork/2019/02/05/finance-system-upgrade/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YBFHxKyiPMu@SDMbJHlfMAAAAEU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/07/cheshire_councils_azure_35m_reseller_deal/
[6] https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hr/guidesandsupport/hrsystems/index.aspx
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/03/city_of_edinburgh_council_selected/
[8] https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/default-source/cos-general-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2018csoh112.pdf?sfvrsn=0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YBFHxKyiPMu@SDMbJHlfMAAAAEU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/06/surrey_county_council_erp_replacement/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
In a project dubbed “Digital Core”, the university said it is seeking a “step change in the way it manages its human and financial resources, with knock-on benefits for teaching and research,” according to [1]a tender document .
[2]
“The future solution will be Software as a Service (SaaS) based and will provide greater efficiency, usability, and control for the university so that it may better serve its staff, students, and partners,” the tender said.
The notice may raise a few eyebrows at the university, which attempts to educate around 45,500 students, because its finance system is based on Unit4’s Business World, the successor to Agresso. As per [3]a University blog , the finance system got a big upgrade on 1st July 2019.
[4]
The blog said: "We will be leap-frogging a number of versions ahead. The upgrade project will deliver some much-needed improvements to usability and process; a cleaner and more modern look and feel, as well as much improved web-based functionality through a single sign-on.
"As we consolidate into Business World, the project will also make changes to some working processes with the aim of improving efficiency and ease of use," it said.
Unit4 bought Agresso, an enterprise application firm specialising in the public sector and services industries, in 2000, although it kept the branding for some time. The product is now known as Business World but, apparently, just a year and a half after updating, that is no longer what the University wants.
Two English councils sign up to Azure for six years in £35m reseller deal as ERP project faces delays, ballooning costs [5]READ MORE
"The University of Nottingham is in the early stages of reviewing and improving the way it delivers HR, finance and procurement services," the institution told The Register .
"We are working closely with our employees to establish the best way in which we can deliver these services, and what requirements they would like to see in a new HR, finance and procurement system. A procurement process has commenced to identify a supplier that we can work with."
A spokesperson at the Uni added that: "Agresso was upgraded in 2019 to ensure continuity of service, in preparation for the procurement process we have now started."
The changes may also be part of a larger shakeup. The university's current [6]HR and payroll system is ResourceLink, provided by the vendor Zellis - for the moment at least.
"ResourceLink, along with the university's e-procurement and e-catalogue systems, are in scope for potential replacement," the university spokesperson said.
Some organisations have had difficulty getting Business World to work in practice. In November last year, [7]The Register revealed that The City of Edinburgh Council struggled with a Business World rollout for several years, and last year opted for an Oracle upgrade instead.
The troubled project, which began in 2015, ended up with the council’s IT service provider CGI facing off with Agilisys in Scotland's supreme civil court. Agilisys had been subcontracted to provide the Unit4 solution. In a 2018 [8]opinion [PDF] , Lord Bannatyne ruled that CGI had failed to provide any contemporaneous evidence to support its claims, in a case experts said showed how important it is to keep a paper trail of deadlines and documentation of reasons for any delays.
[9]
The vendor has notched up successes though. Last autumn it won a contract to replace [10]an ageing SAP system at Surrey County Council in a £30m deal. That project has a go-live date of December 2021 because of a support cut-off with the German vendor’s software. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/5d962015-1aa8-4154-aab3-d0cfa3017b4a
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YBFHxKyiPMu@SDMbJHlfMAAAAEU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/itnetwork/2019/02/05/finance-system-upgrade/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YBFHxKyiPMu@SDMbJHlfMAAAAEU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/07/cheshire_councils_azure_35m_reseller_deal/
[6] https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hr/guidesandsupport/hrsystems/index.aspx
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/03/city_of_edinburgh_council_selected/
[8] https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/default-source/cos-general-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2018csoh112.pdf?sfvrsn=0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YBFHxKyiPMu@SDMbJHlfMAAAAEU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/06/surrey_county_council_erp_replacement/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
We use Business World here
boblongii
And it is atrocious. Really not fit for any purpose. Total garbage. Basic functionality is missing. The UI was clearly designed by a 4-year-old.
BW is easily the worst application I've ever used in 40 years.
Sticking with it is a complete waste of money, so the lesser of two evils is certainly to junk it and get something else.
Agresso
Anonymous Coward
Have to agree 200% I have never had the misfortune to work with a worse piece of software. The UI/UX is just appalling. Makes many a SAP deployment look good.
Unit4 - a "better way to work"
It seems that Business World isn't too good for business.
I checked out their [1]website . I can't say that I find the guy laughing in the banner to be an indication of professionalism. It feels more like they're partying all the time.
In any case, there is no shortage of tales of botched ERP implementations, and no shortage of ERPs to choose from. I gather that an ERP is a strategic-level decision, with great, long-term implications for the company. So how is it that all these implementations are failing ?
And how can a university need such a level of complexity to manage room schedules and order whiteboard pens ? Moreover, how does a university have the funds to change an ERP a year and a half after having upgraded their existing ERP ? I was under the impression that universities are generally strapped for cash. This one is throwing money into a bonfire.
[1] https://www.unit4.com/products/erp-accounting-software