1 August 2023
Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: RLC's OneCouncil IT system
Enquiry
*please note, this was a follow-up enquiry re initial enquiry made the previous day
Follow up questions to OneCouncil cost and benefits:
I just had some points and questions for clarification please - really trying to be as accurate as possible with this but as there isn't a lot of information about the project online it would be really helpful to get a more detailed response.
For confirmation:
- Council first started looking at options in 2013 before settling on OneCouncil in 2015 and including it in that LTP.
- At this stage, and after 2017 contract signed, 3.4m was allocated for the project.
- Phase 1 was expected to go live November 2017 and phase two in July 2018. (As said by Geoff Williams in March 9, 2017 agenda)
- Phase 1 went live in May 2018. Phase 2 went live May 31 2023. Total cost has been $18,413,700
How did Covid-19 impact the go-live date of phase two when it was due to be live in July 2018? What else impacted this five year delay?
Can a more detailed and clear breakdown of how the cost increased from 3.4m to 18.4m please be given, and when each additional allocation of money was approved.
Council being the first in New Zealand to implement the CiA Property and Rating solution - can it please be explained how this impacts cost?
In 2017 Colle said there were cost savings expected of about 60,000 a year under the upgrade - is this still accurate? If no, what is the cost difference a year?
"Ongoing annual costs like licensing, maintenance and support are expected to be $60,000 less than the current cost per year."
Are there any cost savings from this upgrade?
And re asking:
Is the council aware of how its implementation of the system differs to other councils in the country using OneCouncil? (What aspects other than the rating solution)
Is the council aware of what other councils paid to implement the system?
In the module schedule, can a brief description of what each is please be provided? Is there any cost to this not budgeted for? (Will the total cost of 18.4m increase and to what?)
Any other information to help explain the timeline and cost of things?
Response
As well as a phonecall, we provided the following further information:
From DCE Organisational Enablement Thomas Collé:
OneCouncil is an enterprise resource planning system that is a replacement of Council’s core software systems, our legacy ERP- Ozone, Enterprise Document management system - Trim and our geo-spatial system – GeyserView.
As well as a number of smaller bespoke database systems and a myriad of spreadsheets which have been brought into the One Council ERP to enable automating processes currently being carried out manually.
In future, OneCouncil will allow customers to have more direct access to council information they require via a customer portal – which will allow a number of self-serve functions.
The Council has an ambitious and diverse set of capital programmes planned and underway to deliver efficient and easily accessible services and information.
We recognised back in 2016 that our legacy software no longer supported the size and complexity of our organisation, resulting in staff undertaking time-consuming and manual business processes that have limited council's ability to deliver quality information and effective services to the community.
Council’s two main systems, Ozone and Trim were implemented 16 years and 24 years ago respectively and have had very little investment or development since the implementation. Another trigger point was the announcement by the Ozone vendor to cease future investment in that product and develop a new solution for local government market as a replacement.
OneCouncil does provide an integrated software system which facilitates seamless online end-to-end business processes, enables effective management of data and information, provides accurate and timely reporting, and enables the development of e-services and mobile access.
The investment Council has made in changing systems will provide Council and the community a platform that will keep pace with the changing needs of our business for at least the next 10 years and beyond. It will provide a platform that allows engagement with the community and better availability and transparency of information.
The total cost of OneCouncil includes licenses, vendor support, third-party assistance and project-related staffing costs. A budget totalling $14.9m was allocated across several years. Additional funding totalling $3.5m was sought later due to the increased resourcing and consultancy costs, arising from the impacts of Covid and increased configuration costs which came about from Council being the first in New Zealand to implement the CiA Property and Rating solution. Neither of these two factors were known at the time of setting original budgets.
In December 2016, the time and materials contract with TechnologyOne had estimated costs based on expected time to complete the original scope of the project of between 19 and 21 months.
The project was to be delivered in Phases running in parallel.
Phase 1 - Accounts payable, supply chain and financial reporting.
Phase 2 - Property and Rating modules, Document Management, enterprise maps and community portals.
This estimate was made on the assumption that we would benefit from the synergies we have with Councils and Territorial Authorities, for example, Wellington City Council and Whangarei District Council who were scheduled to implement OneCouncil on the CiA platform ahead of us. Our OneCouncil solution would then be able to leverage the development work the early adopters had completed with TechnologyOne.
Phase 1 went to plan and was delivered at end of May 2018.
However, Phase 2 got off to a delayed start – in part as was run sequentially to Phase 1 due to resourcing availability and product readiness, – Phase 2 actually did not start August 2019, as time was spent embedding Phase 1 with the business and gathering more understanding of RLC business processes in the Property and Rating area.
Within 6 months of Phase 2 initiation – Covid-19 came to our shores – changing the way the project worked. Australian consultants could no longer be on site, the business was working remotely and it became more challenging to collaborate and get the required momentum to deliver a large cross functional significant change project.
Added to that the early adopters slowed or stopped their programmes of work and/or changed their approach which placed Rotorua Lakes Council as an early adopter and becoming the first in developing and implementing the Property and Rating modules in New Zealand. Therefore we did not benefit from the anticipate leveraged work of the earlier adopters.
Phase Two went live on 31 May 2023.
As with any ERP replacement there have been issues to work through and these continue to managed. There is also the expected drop in productivity as staff gain familiarity of using a new system. That said we have successfully run a number of significant business process, such as, Animal Licenses, Rates Strike and Billing, Water Billing and BAU processes continuing to be undertaken, such as application lodging and processing.
This has been a significant change project across all aspects of the business and for the most part is working well, staff are having to learn a new system and having to adjust to new ways of working. Undoubtable there will be efficiency gains to be had in some areas as we refine what has been configured going forward.
We see this as an investment in the city’s future and we will continue to partner with the vendor to ensure enhancements and new functionality are taken up to keep us at the forefront of providing good information and solutions to our staff and customers.
Follow-up questions broken down and responded to:
How did Covid-19 impact the go-live date of phase two when it was due to be live in July 2018? What else impacted this five year delay?
Answered above
Can a more detailed and clear breakdown of how the cost increased from 3.4m to 18.4m please be given, and when each additional allocation of money was approved.
Answered below
Council being the first in New Zealand to implement the CiA Property and Rating solution - can it please be explained how this impacts cost?
Answered above
In 2017 Colle said there were cost savings expected of about 60,000 a year under the upgrade - is this still accurate? If no, what is the cost difference a year?
Yes
And re asking:
Is the council aware of how its implementation of the system differs to other councils in the country using OneCouncil? (What aspects other than the rating solution)
A google search will reveal there are other Councils/Organisations who have paid substantially more for other products please find attached links to:
- Waikto Regional Council budgeted for $11.1M revised to $26.4M
- Auckland Supercity in 2015 their ERP project blew out for $71M to $157M
- Three Waters ERP is forcasted to cost $659
Is the council aware of what other councils paid to implement the system?
We are the first council to implement this system
In the module schedule, can a brief description of what each is please be provided? Is there any cost to this not budgeted for? (Will the total cost of 18.4m increase and to what?)
As discussed there are over 500 different modules that we will be looking to implement so that’s a huge task to try and put together. However, if you go to the bottom of pages 17 and 18 of the Audit & Risk Committee agenda there are 5 descriptions of modules that will be released over 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26, which shows you five of the more than 500 that you are requesting.
Project Cost Breakdown:
OneCouncil: Total Project Costs | |
TOTAL | |
Licencing & Hardware | 1,053,622 |
Consulting | 9,497,450 |
Interfaces | 344,109 |
Data Migration | 1,188,764 |
Staff Capitalisation | 6,329,756 |
18,413,700 |