Home Office and Fujitsu successfully deliver Shared Services platform

Fujitsu, in collaboration with the Home Office, has completed the final phase of the Home Office Shared Business Service Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Oracle implementation. The Home Office SBS programme was implemented over a number of phased approaches during a three year period, with the final £13m phase delivered on time and on budget. Projected programme savings are estimated to be between £40m and £50m.

The Home Office appointed Fujitsu, its IT implementation partner, in October 2000 to provide IT infrastructure, telephony and support services for it 25,000 users. During 2003 the Home Office implemented the first fully integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution in central government, covering Finance, Procurement and Human Resources (HR). The system was based on the Oracle eBusiness solution and Fujitsu was contracted to build and manage its ongoing operation. In 2006 this system needed to be upgraded and the decision was made to move it to a Shared Service operation.

'With Fujitsu's support and expertise, we successfully delivered a major government IT programme, on time and to budget, which is now delivering tangible benefits to the business, including projected cost savings of £40-50 million,' said John Collington, Home Office group commercial director and programme director. 'We can also share the lessons learnt with other departments and realise an even greater long-term return. So the decision to appoint Fujitsu as a strategic partner and our faith in its capabilities has been totally vindicated.'

Other benefits of the new Shared Business Services (SBS) include:
• Reduce costs – the £40-50 million savings will be achieved through greater back-office efficiency, economies of scale using centralised systems and services, headcount reductions and procurement savings with better supplier management
• Improve productivity – provides a better quality of service and more functionality, including a high degree of self-service and more transparency in areas such as sickness and absence
• Optimise performance – by using innovative processes and utilising best practice procedures. So, for example, staff expenses can now paid within days and 93% of supplier invoices are paid within 26 days – an increase of 23% in just five months
• Enhance management – provides more accurate and timely operational information to support improved decision-making

'Key to the SBS programme's success was good governance and a proven methodology, ensuring that there was clear accountability and transparency. And that enabled strong leadership and business ownership, the ability to make tough decisions and trust between all partners,' said Fiona Spencer, Home Office director of Shared Services. 'There was also the drive, determination and real collaboration between the Home Office and Fujitsu to make it happen. So the business owned the programme, but the programme drove the business to deliver, on time and to budget.'

Paul Marriner, Fujitsu's client engagement lead said: 'This has been an extremely rewarding project to be involved in for all concerned. Yes there have been testing times for all of us but the key point is that it is been a true partnership for the Home Office and Fujitsu working together to get the job done. Trust and collaboration were a key part of the project to enable us to meet all the tight deadlines. As the project moved forward we all had to solve various problems and it was very refreshing to do this alongside the customer rather than in a silo.'