Oracle Solution High-Level Design

In April 2022, Birmingham City Council (the Council) went live with a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) IT system (Oracle Cloud), to improve its internal functions relating to financial management and human resources.

Whilst there have been some successes in the implementation of Oracle, there are some critical elements of the Oracle solution that are not functioning adequately due to the implementation focusing on adapting the platform through customisation rather than adopting the 'out the box' functionality.

The Council is currently working at pace and has implemented a robust programme of activity which focusses initially upon stabilising the current situation and then optimising the implementation of Oracle.

The challenge going forward is to reduce or eradicate customisations and revert to a simpler Oracle ERP and HCM solution that is more resilient, easier to support and maintain, as well as better positioned to take advantage of anticipated Oracle developments - without the need for prerequisite redevelopment.

The Council is currently undertaking a High-Level Design to inform the detailed design and implementation of the desired end state Oracle solution.

As a key part of the High-Level Design, the Council is keen to learn and obtain the most useful, balanced views of the market and seek expert advice with regard to the key issues that the Council is facing.

The outcomes of this exercise will be used by the Council to help assure the High-Level Design (to date) and inform where and how external support could be best applied in developing and implementing the full solution.

The Council will be using its free to use e-tendering system (in-tend) for the administration of this Soft Marketing Testing (SMT) exercise.

If you wish to provide a response to this SMT exercise, the SMT document that contains relevant background information & a link to an online questionnaire (using Microsoft Forms) is available for download from https://in-tendhost.co.uk/birminghamcc/.

Use the 'Tenders' button at the top of the screen to navigate to this opportunity in the list of all current opportunities, click 'View Details' and then click 'View Synopsis' to download the SMT document (the file name is Oracle High Level Design - Pre-Market Engagement Document V1.docx).

Organisations wishing to take part are invited to complete the online questionnaire by 5pm on Friday 18th August 2023.