Wokingham saves 400k annual cost by switching to new finance & procurement IT

The saving, which equates to 710 weeks of nursing care or 530 weeks of foster care placements every year, helps reduce pressure on the Council to cut front line services or to increase council tax.

Prior to the implementation of Oracle E-Business Suite, the Council's financial systems were needing a big overhaul. As one of the country's poorly funded councils, Wokingham was coming under growing pressure to achieve more with less and had suffered significant budget management problems, including an overspend of £1.5m and a concerning low level of reserves.

To address the financial management problems and help restore the Council's financial wellbeing, the Council knew a long-term solution was required. After a strategic review, the Council selected Oracle E-Business Suite, an integrated Financial, HR/Payroll and Procurement software package, to deliver sustainable cost savings and drive efficiency. The implementation was completed on time and to budget.

Graham Ebers, Corporate Head of Finance at Wokingham District Council, said: 'It became clear that in order to overcome the huge financial challenges facing the Council, a major re-think of our systems was needed. This new highly integrated approach, based on Oracle technology, has not only driven massive efficiencies across our organisation but has also significantly strengthened the Council's financial management. This has been a benefit to both our employees and citizens.'

Wokingham Council employees are also enjoying substantial benefits from the new technology. The HR module of the Oracle E-Business Suite provides employees with electronic payslips and enables them to maintain their personal details and sign up for training online – all of which saves time and reduces the likelihood of salary and administrative errors.

The introduction of Oracle E-Business Suite was one aspect of a wider project by Wokingham District Council to transform its financial management. The Oracle implementation, known as WISE, ran in tandem with the additional challenge of returning the Council's payroll and Revenues and Benefits services in-house.

Related links to this article:
Wokingham District Council

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Finalists in the e-Government National Awards 2006 - full details
89 finalists in 11 categories in the e-Government National Awards 2006 have been announced. The Awards recognise and praise the best strategies, achievements, teams and individuals in UK e-Government. The Awards will be presented at a prestigious dinner at the Savoy in London in January 2007 and seats are likely to be sold out by 10th December (based on last year's experience). A small number of Savoy hotel rooms have been reserved at a highly discounted rate. For details of booking seats at the dinner and conference, and heavily discounted Savoy hotel rooms please see this link

The Awards are supported by the Cabinet Office e-Government Unit, the Office of Government Commerce, the Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm), and SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers). Platinum sponsor is KPMG, and also a sponsor are SunGard and O2.