Big Cornwall built on shared ERP

Cornwall Council aims to save £20 million over the next five years through streamlining internal services such as finance, purchasing and HR.  

The council has engaged Capgemini  at a cost of £7 million to deploy an ERP system based on Oracle software over the next 15 months in a bid to break away from paper-based processes entirely.  

"The ERP system and new business processes will make an enormous difference to the way we work," said Michael Crich, Cornwall council's corporate director, resources. "At present we have staff across the organisation processing the same types of paperwork in different ways using the various systems that belonged to the old councils. Because many processes are manual, there can be double or even triple handling.

"Things are overly complex and time consuming. The old systems weren't designed for an organisation the size of Cornwall Council, are very out of date and were scheduled for replacement several years ago," he added. "The ERP system will modernise our processes, bringing us in line with other large councils across the country and make us much more efficient. It will also help us to make considerable savings that will reduce the overall running costs of the Council, leaving more money for frontline services."

Assuming the current deployment is a success, it may form a template for future shared services ventures within the county,  "The ERP system will mean that in the longer term we could run finance and human resources services for other public sector partners in Cornwall or even public sector organisations further afield," said Council leader Alec Robertson.

"There is scope to join up services locally and to bring income into the area, both of which would greatly benefit Cornwall. As a council we have an ambition to create a Big Cornwall where public sector agencies work together to deliver efficiencies over and above those required by government."