Mega city council's Oracle finance fix faces further delays
(2025/02/03)
- Reference: 1738577707
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/02/03/birmingham_city_council_oracle/
- Source link:
Further delays have hit Birmingham City Council's disastrous attempt to implement a functioning finance system after it emerged that off-the-shelf software to solve "one of the fundamental problems" with the beleaguered Oracle implementation has been put back.
In a council audit committee meeting last week, an external auditor said the bank reconciliation system (BRS) within the current Oracle implementation "just posted things all over the place."
The council – Europe's largest local authority – went live with an Oracle Fusion ERP, finance, and HR system in April 2022 and has since failed to produce auditable accounts or fully understand its financial position. Custom code in the BRS was highlighted as one of the culprits.
[1]
In May 2024, [2]the council decided to buy off-the-shelf software to resolve the BRS customization issues from the initial Oracle deployment, opting for a CivicaPay solution, which it said would "go live no later than March 31, 2025."
[3]
[4]
In the council's audit committee, Mark Stocks, public assurance lead for auditor Grant Thornton, said he had been told to expect the go-live in August. "It's the same as the ERP system. The cash system is one of the fundamental problems because the way the BRS was set up, it just posted things all over the place. I see the ERP and the cash system as one and the same: you ought to be monitoring both."
[5]Oracle finance system at Europe's largest city council still falls short 2.5 years later
[6]Europe's largest local authority settles on ERP budget 5x original estimate
[7]Europe's largest local authority slammed for 'poorest' ERP rollout ever
[8]Europe's largest city council: Oracle ERP allocated £2B in transactions to wrong year
Stocks was responding to a question from Councillor Jamie Scott, an audit committee member, who said he had heard the new income management system had been delayed until September. "Things seem to be almost getting away [from] themselves," he said.
The delay raises questions about the cost of staff doing manual work to make up for problems with the BRS. In February last year, [9]the council allocated £5.3 million ($6.6 million) in the 2024/25 budget to pay for manual workarounds and backfill to support the release of Oracle subject matter experts.
The Register has asked the council about the reason for the delay in implementing the new cash management system and what it might cost in terms of further manual work.
[10]
The Oracle Fusion project to replace an aging SAP system began in October 2019 with an expected budget of £19 million ($23.6 million) and go-live dates of December 2020 and February 2021. Auditors now say the costs may be as high as £130 million ($161 million), and although the new software went live in April 2022, the council is "unlikely to have a fully functioning finance system until at least 2026."
The council continues to work to make the current system safe and compliant with financial requirements after it missed an auditor deadline to do so in October 2023. It also plans to reimplement Oracle "out-of-the-box" in 2026. ®
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[2] https://birmingham.cmis.uk.com/Birmingham/Document.ashx?czJKcaeAi5tUFL1DTL2UE4zNRBcoShgo=4VHHSE9ciyMWDue1rHE2llVXANkBNFdzPAFurp2s17AyOGSqcntTFA%3D%3D&rUzwRPf%2BZ3zd4E7Ikn8Lyw%3D%3D=pwRE6AGJFLDNlh225F5QMaQWCtPHwdhUfCZ%2FLUQzgA2uL5jNRG4jdQ%3D%3D&mCTIbCubSFfXsDGW9IXnlg%3D%3D=hFflUdN3100%3D&kCx1AnS9%2FpWZQ40DXFvdEw%3D%3D=hFflUdN3100%3D&uJovDxwdjMPoYv%2BAJvYtyA%3D%3D=ctNJFf55vVA%3D&FgPlIEJYlotS%2BYGoBi5olA%3D%3D=NHdURQburHA%3D&d9Qjj0ag1Pd993jsyOJqFvmyB7X0CSQK=ctNJFf55vVA%3D&WGewmoAfeNR9xqBux0r1Q8Za60lavYmz=ctNJFf55vVA%3D&WGewmoAfeNQ16B2MHuCpMRKZMwaG1PaO=ctNJFf55vVA%3D
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/29/birmingham_oracle/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/06/birmingham_erp_budget/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/08/birmingham_oracle_erp_rollout/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/20/birmingham_oracle_finance_woes/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/28/birmingham_city_council_to_spend/
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[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
In a council audit committee meeting last week, an external auditor said the bank reconciliation system (BRS) within the current Oracle implementation "just posted things all over the place."
The council – Europe's largest local authority – went live with an Oracle Fusion ERP, finance, and HR system in April 2022 and has since failed to produce auditable accounts or fully understand its financial position. Custom code in the BRS was highlighted as one of the culprits.
[1]
In May 2024, [2]the council decided to buy off-the-shelf software to resolve the BRS customization issues from the initial Oracle deployment, opting for a CivicaPay solution, which it said would "go live no later than March 31, 2025."
[3]
[4]
In the council's audit committee, Mark Stocks, public assurance lead for auditor Grant Thornton, said he had been told to expect the go-live in August. "It's the same as the ERP system. The cash system is one of the fundamental problems because the way the BRS was set up, it just posted things all over the place. I see the ERP and the cash system as one and the same: you ought to be monitoring both."
[5]Oracle finance system at Europe's largest city council still falls short 2.5 years later
[6]Europe's largest local authority settles on ERP budget 5x original estimate
[7]Europe's largest local authority slammed for 'poorest' ERP rollout ever
[8]Europe's largest city council: Oracle ERP allocated £2B in transactions to wrong year
Stocks was responding to a question from Councillor Jamie Scott, an audit committee member, who said he had heard the new income management system had been delayed until September. "Things seem to be almost getting away [from] themselves," he said.
The delay raises questions about the cost of staff doing manual work to make up for problems with the BRS. In February last year, [9]the council allocated £5.3 million ($6.6 million) in the 2024/25 budget to pay for manual workarounds and backfill to support the release of Oracle subject matter experts.
The Register has asked the council about the reason for the delay in implementing the new cash management system and what it might cost in terms of further manual work.
[10]
The Oracle Fusion project to replace an aging SAP system began in October 2019 with an expected budget of £19 million ($23.6 million) and go-live dates of December 2020 and February 2021. Auditors now say the costs may be as high as £130 million ($161 million), and although the new software went live in April 2022, the council is "unlikely to have a fully functioning finance system until at least 2026."
The council continues to work to make the current system safe and compliant with financial requirements after it missed an auditor deadline to do so in October 2023. It also plans to reimplement Oracle "out-of-the-box" in 2026. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z6Ch2vUkJZjo34YU3DocowAAAVI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://birmingham.cmis.uk.com/Birmingham/Document.ashx?czJKcaeAi5tUFL1DTL2UE4zNRBcoShgo=4VHHSE9ciyMWDue1rHE2llVXANkBNFdzPAFurp2s17AyOGSqcntTFA%3D%3D&rUzwRPf%2BZ3zd4E7Ikn8Lyw%3D%3D=pwRE6AGJFLDNlh225F5QMaQWCtPHwdhUfCZ%2FLUQzgA2uL5jNRG4jdQ%3D%3D&mCTIbCubSFfXsDGW9IXnlg%3D%3D=hFflUdN3100%3D&kCx1AnS9%2FpWZQ40DXFvdEw%3D%3D=hFflUdN3100%3D&uJovDxwdjMPoYv%2BAJvYtyA%3D%3D=ctNJFf55vVA%3D&FgPlIEJYlotS%2BYGoBi5olA%3D%3D=NHdURQburHA%3D&d9Qjj0ag1Pd993jsyOJqFvmyB7X0CSQK=ctNJFf55vVA%3D&WGewmoAfeNR9xqBux0r1Q8Za60lavYmz=ctNJFf55vVA%3D&WGewmoAfeNQ16B2MHuCpMRKZMwaG1PaO=ctNJFf55vVA%3D
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/29/birmingham_oracle/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/06/birmingham_erp_budget/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/08/birmingham_oracle_erp_rollout/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/20/birmingham_oracle_finance_woes/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/28/birmingham_city_council_to_spend/
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Refunds
Anonymous Coward
Any chance of getting a refund from Oracle or the implementer ?
I would ask if naming and shaming would work, but we know how that goes. Probably make them a shoe in for the next fuckup^H^H^H^H^H Project
Re: Refunds
Lee D
Like they draw up multi-million pound contracts with a vendor they've chosen that have any kind of back-out clause or refund for non-delivery.
This is government. How are the middle men going to get their 20% if people can just ask for their money back when it goes TEN TIMES over budget with still no product in sight?
Honesty with shareholders?
Larry Ellison, if I recall, made a big thing of getting Birmingham City Council as a client during a shareholder briefing. Shirley it is a requirement for him to now make a statement in an earnings call to explain that this 'flagship' project is massively over budget and hugely delayed.
I'm not suggesting it's Oracle's fault per se - but if you go around showing off about it and use it to help put the business in a positive light to investors then there must be an obligation to correct the record....