Agenda item

Purpose of the item: to provide a status update following implementation of the “MySurrey” system and particularly to focus on the process for capturing ’lessons learnt’

Witnesses:

David Lewis, Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources

Leigh Whitehouse, Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Resources

Anna D’Alessandro, Director of Finance – Corporate and Commercial

Key points raised during the discussion:

1. The Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Resources introduced the report and provided Members with a brief outline. It was noted that the purpose of the report was to provide a status update following the MySurrey ‘go live’ date and particularly to focus on the process for capturing lessons learnt. Members noted that the Digital Business and Insights Programme (DB&I) was to implement a new Unit4 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system (now known as “MySurrey”), as a replacement for the previous SAP system. Details on the context of the item were included within the published report.
2. A Member noted that the Council’s plan was to discontinue the use of SAP in December 2023. With regard to external organisations, such as multi-academy trusts, which were being transitioned from the Council’s SAP system to other providers, the Members asked whether Officers were on track for the transition to be completed by the end of December 2023. The Director of Finance – Corporate and Commercial confirmed that in May Cabinet had made the decision to off-board the multi-academy trusts and academies from the council’s payroll system and that they would be supported by the Council with the onboarding of their own payroll system. The Director stated that the project was on track with agreed timeliness and that the Council continued to support the programme by providing essential resources and expertise.
3. The Chairman asked the witnesses for their view on whether the SAP contract would need to be extended beyond December 2023. The Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Resources responded that the Council held a perpetual licence for the software, which would allow it to use the software on an ongoing basis. However, there was an additional annual fee to have software support available which was due to end in December 2023. The witness explained that SAP was currently only being used for school payrolls during their transition to other providers, as previously noted, and that the SAP software would become redundant once those transitions were complete. In relation to a contingency plan in the event that the software was required following December 2023, Members noted that the replacement software, MySurrey, went live in June 2023 and so the SAP system would only need to be used during the transitional phase for external organisations and for data archiving purposes.
4. The Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Resources explained a ‘Lessons Learnt’ exercise would be completed as part of the transition to ‘business as usual’ and the closure of the DB&I programme.
5. Members noted the explanation that the main reason for school payroll issues in September 2023 was due to a technical issue related to incomplete forms relating to data capture being entered into the system. Members also noted that the main issues with the new system related to technical issues,familiarisation/process, and potential changes/refinements as noted within the report.
6. Members discussed the new requirement for Officers to submit receipts when making an expenses claim. Some Members stated that they were unsure why the previous process did not require receipts as evidence for a claim. SAP required expense receipts to be kept for internal audit purposes but were not required to be attached to claims on the system.
7. A Member queried the process followed to procure the new system. The Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Resources explained that, following testing, the decision was made to seek a cloud-based system that was based on a set of detailed requirements which suppliers then responded to and then a preferred provider was selected.
8. A Member asked whether witnesses could quantify the additional financial spend on MySurrey to date for the Committee and any other costs incurred by other Council services as a result of its implementation. The Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Resources explained that the total estimated cost of the programme was initially submitted to Cabinet and then further subsequent revised estimates were submitted. It was noted that impacts in some other Council services were not able to be quantified as they had manifested themselves in different ways. The original programme budget that was considered by Cabinet in 2020 was around £17 million and then, following two subsequent increases, the total was around £27 million. A Member said that they consider an overspend of around £10 million as staggering and asked for detail around accountability for the overspend. The witness explained a programme stakeholder board and Programme Director governed the programme, but the ultimate responsibility sat with the Programme Sponsor.
9. Regarding the benefits of the programme, a Member said they believed a report to Cabinet stated that there would an annual saving of £6.5 million. As the programme was delayed by two years, the Member asked whether that meant an additional loss of savings of £13 million over a two-year period. The Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Resources stated that he did not recognise the £6.5 million figure and asked to come back to the Member outside the meeting. In addition to this, the witness said that he did not want to pre-empt the lessons learnt conversations, but he believed that the original timeline for the programme was over ambitious.
10. In regard to the Intelligent Client Function (ICF) body, a Member asked for detail on its membership and proposed governance around it. The Director of Finance – Corporate and Commercial explained that the Intelligent Client Function was a best practice function established after the implementation of a large and complex system. The ICF would follow a contract management and strategic approach to support the optimisation of Unit 4. The function would sit within the Corporate Finance service but would have strong relationships with IT&D and Procurement. Officers were aiming to commence in May 2024 and interim arrangements were being considered in the meantime. A Member requested that full details of the ICF were considered by the Committee when available.
11. The Chairman stated that there was concern from Members of the Select Committee on what had been discussed during the meeting, and for future IT&D projects, and highlighted that the topic would be considered by a task and finish group.
12. The Select Committee agreed the recommendation ‘that the Resources and Performance Select Committee convene a task group of three to five Members to undertake the review of the MySurrey project with a view to report to the select committee at its first meeting of 2024’. The Chairman further noted that he expected full cooperation with the task and finish group and support from the independent consultant.

Actions/requests for further information:

Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Resources to clarify the figure reported to Cabinet regarding how much MySurrey was forecast to save annually.

Resolved:

That the Resources and Performance Select Committee convene a task group of three to five Members to undertake the review of the MySurrey project with a view to report to the select committee at its first meeting of 2024.