About Fife Council: Delivering Essential Services to Scotland’s Communities
Fife Council is the third largest local authority in Scotland, dedicated to delivering a comprehensive selection of services to its residents. Its workforce of approximately 19,000 employees spanning across several different service areas.
Within the council’s framework, key responsibilities cover several critical areas. Procurement oversight ensures the provision of essential resources and services efficiently.
The decision to implement Oracle Cloud within Fife Council came from various factors and needs across its operations. Transitioning to Oracle was a strategic move driven by the realisation of its potential benefits and efficiencies for the council’s business processes, particularly in critical areas such as HCM and payroll contracts and the potential benefits of having a unified solution incorporating HCM, Finance and Procurement.
Identifying Operational Challenges and Strategic Needs
Fife Council realised that after going live with Oracle Cloud, they had a huge backlog of work within their departments. Fife Council’s IT competency centre, responsible for running, maintaining, and enhancing the system, needed some assistance. The centre is made up of subject matter experts (SMEs) responsible for finance, procurement, and recruitment, who all contribute to the development of the system.
The team had found itself overwhelmed with tasks and under-resourced. It became apparent that prioritisation was essential to navigating the workload effectively. With over 400 entries on the to-do list, it was important to identify and focus on the most critical tasks. Discussions were initiated with each SME, requesting them to outline their top priorities. It became clear that additional support was necessary to manage the workload efficiently.
A key decision when implementing was to go live with Oracle Cloud with minimal reporting. Therefore, post-implementation, Fife Council faced a lengthy list of reports requiring attention. The Council’s Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS) had been configured poorly for finance operations. This meant that the user’s interaction with the system resulted in a poor user experience due to design and performance issues which therefore impacted system adoption.
Another major area of concern for the council was centred around its system access to functionality and data for its employees; this was due to the configuration of security roles, which had been pieced together by previous partners and had the potential to expose sensitive information to unauthorised users.
Choosing Oracle Consulting:A Strategic Partnership for Sustainable Solutions
Fife Council’s decision to engage Oracle Consulting’s Evolve Services, designed to help customers maximise business value from their Saas Investment was to look to resolve outstanding tasks with a “partnership” approach. Concerns about the security setup and inefficient reporting processes raised doubts about the effectiveness of current partnerships and prompted a re-evaluation of their approach to engagements.
Recognising the need for strategic expertise and access to top consultants, Fife Council sought Oracle Consulting. This approach aimed to address immediate challenges, such as optimising PBCS performance, which needed external review and support. The comprehensive support provided by Oracle Consulting, coupled with Evolve’s strategic guidance and expertise, aligned well with Fife Council’s objectives and needs.
After exploring various options, Evolve emerged as the best solution because it allowed the council to leverage the expertise of Oracle Consulting and provided direct access to Oracle resources, including consultants.
“The thought was no one knew Oracle better than Oracle. Fife Council views their partnership with Oracle Consulting as highly beneficial, with a focus on collaboration, knowledge sharing, and achieving tangible outcomes. The positive working relationship and effective communication between the teams have been instrumental in driving progress and achieving Fife Council’s objectives.”
Transformative Results and Long-Term Gains
Over the course of two years, the partnership with Oracle Consulting allowed the council to make substantial progress. Through knowledge transfer and collaborative efforts, Fife Council’s internal team gained valuable insights and skills, enabling them to drive initiatives forward independently. The council’s internal team was strengthened with additional resources to support ongoing and future projects, such as warehousing, inventory management, and project costings where previously Fife did not have the expertise.
With a clear roadmap in place and the enhanced expertise of the internal team, Fife Council is now better positioned to navigate complex projects and address challenges effectively. The partnership with Oracle Consulting not only resolved immediate issues but also fostered long-term growth and resilience within the organisation.
A key aspect of this positive experience has been Oracle Consulting’s targeted sessions, which have been instrumental in facilitating productive discussions and achieving desired outcomes. These sessions have allowed for focused discussions with the council’s departmental experts, enabling Fife Council to define clear objectives and get valuable feedback from Oracle Consulting.
The collaborative approach has helped the Council address specific challenges, such as security concerns and module implementation. Oracle Consulting has demonstrated a proactive attitude towards identifying best practices and recommending solutions that align with the Council’s objectives and requirements.
Oracle Consulting has enabled connections with other organisations facing similar challenges, providing opportunities for shared learning and collaboration, which has enriched Fife Council’s experience and contributed to the success of their projects.
Snapshot Business Benefits
- Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Application size has been reduced by more than 50%;
- Some EPM rules run in less than half of their original time improving system performance and thereby providing an enhanced user experience;
- EPM User Experience has been improved so that some forms only require a single entry rather than multiple choices from users;
- 8 Recommendations on Learning Configuration to speed up administrative tasks and Increase User adoption assist with administrative tasks and user adoption;
- 11 Recommendations on Payroll Processing and Configuration thereby improving payroll processing such as automating late new joiners in the previous period.