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Programme Athena

Nathan Elvery, Deputy Chief Executive – L.B. Croydon Programme Sponsor

Tracie Evans, Programme Sponsor – L.B. Barking & Dagenham Programme Sponsor

Rita Greenwood – Programme Director

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Purpose

About Athena

Approach on the projects in detail

Learning

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About Athena Overall

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Our Aim

“Programme Athena is about

creating shared solutions for

London public sector organisations

to gain the opportunity and ability

to deliver significant efficiencies

and service improvements for ICT-

enabled support service functions

such as Finance, Procurement and

HR.”

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Why?

Savings

Cash savings, e.g. through reduced systems

Efficiency gains, e.g. through reduced procurement

Cost avoidance, e.g. by joint development and upgrades

Capacity building, e.g. by sharing processes

Performance improvement, e.g. by having best practice

Strengthening our resilience

Transforming our service offering

Providing a catalyst for partnering

Establishing a regional model

…………….doing something that makes sense

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Overall Athena outcomes:

Reduction in the number of systems and suppliers meaning reduced annual running costs and one-off costs

Solutions that are accessible to all London boroughs providing flexibility for the state of readiness

Boroughs enabled to share back office staff, so as to reduce costs, provide resilience and improve skills

London sharing back office systems in the same way as other organisations across the country

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Our Starting Position

Organisations have common suppliers and systems

4 suppliers providing 28 finance systems in London

4 suppliers providing 23 of the procurement systems in London

4 suppliers providing 29 of the payroll/HR systems in London

Procuring and managing systems and suppliers as individual

boroughs

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Significant cost variations

between boroughs

Our Starting Position – cont’d

Organisations are not fully utilising all the modules available to them

to service these core needs

Organisations are utilising the modules differently

Organisations are not getting the benefits and efficiencies from a

fully integrated solution

Organisations set processes around the systems which are not

consistently applied and which may or may not be efficient

Organisations are using different processes yet deliver exactly the

same services

ICT is one of the main barriers preventing organisations connecting

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Our Journey

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How we are making the journey

By radically reducing the existing systems and costs through

sharing so that boroughs are able to share back office functions

By increasing commonality of processes to reduce the number of

separate systems and the different ways of using these systems

The two key themes running through a number of work streams:

Enabling through commonality

Value through shared solutions

Cost of ownership and processes are seen as fundamental for

understanding the benefits

The History

Original concept

Launch

Initial reactions

Market involvement

How the approach changed

Resources in the past

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Where we are now

Three mobilised projects:

Oracle (6 boroughs, plus 10 possible)

SAP (2 boroughs)

Neutral (3 boroughs, plus 16 possible)

Other SAP and Oracle boroughs working together

Agresso and Cedar evaluating options and preparing business cases

Common metrics drafted

Cost of ownership on back office systems being gathered

Groups being created for Midland Trent and Northgate

Information on procurement systems being gathered and strategy

developed

Resourced Team

Programme Director (part time)

Programme Manager

Programme Support

Finance work stream

HR work stream

Procurement work stream

Cost of ownership, metrics and benefits

Communications (part time)

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Our Governance

Lead Chief Executive Programme Sponsors

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Mobilised Projects One Groups

Programme Delivery Group

Lead Chief Executive Capital Ambition Board

Heads of HR group Heads of ICT

Heads of Procurement Network Deputy CFOSs Network

SLT

CELC

Project Leads Professional leads

May

201

0

?

Individual authorities using:

houses platforms - standardise- consolidateThis includes:- processes- software modules used- software- contract arrangements- joint procurement- shared use

Groups create consolidated

Further consolidationEach group is working to:- simplify

- different processes

Local authorities have been grouped into key software

Programme Athena - The Journey

- different software for HR,

- different modules in each software

Finance, Procurement and service hubs

Journey to date

More information aboutthe projects being mobilised

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One Cedar

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One Cedar

Led by a Director of Finance

Boroughs involved:

Camden

Islington

Hackney

Senior Officer group overseeing and guiding

Project Manager

Supplier providing support and advice

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The journey being considered

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Can systems support & development teams be shared?

Can contracts be converged or there be joint procurement going

forward?

Can processes be agreed to help future sharing?

Can boroughs agree the configuration of a new solution based on

best practice across all three boroughs

Can the upgrade to e5.3 provide the opportunity?

Factors being considered

Is it Greenfield or Brownfield?

Is it multi-entity or multi-company?

Can it be scalable and how?

Are there quick wins?

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How it’s being undertaken

Workshops of various staff on: General ledger Accounts receivable Accounts Payable Business intelligence

Gathering core information e.g. interfaces, modules

Sharing “as is” and developing “to be” processes

Scoping the options and discussing the features

Gathering metrics

Agreeing Golden Rules

Identifying quick wins

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Challenges

Catalogues and Procurement Strategies

Differences organisationally

Where images are held

Assessing the implications

Different levels of benefits

Existing contractual arrangements

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Some of our Golden Rules

Where possible GL codes are not held in interfaces

There should be standard subjective and sub-nominal

listing with the same descriptors

The production of the returns should be produced from

E5 at the push of a button with 95% accuracy

Modules should have standard interface

The approval and coding should be at the point of initial

procurement

Coding should be auto-generated

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One Agresso

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One Agresso

Led by a Director of Finance

Boroughs involved: Ealing Hounslow Kingston Sutton Redbridge (withdrawn)

Operational group overseeing and guiding

Supplier involved

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Where we are

Outline business case drafted

This involved:

Gathering core information, e.g. interfaces, modules

Scoping the options and discussing the features

Gathering metrics

Supplier requested to provide alternative options and

models

Business case still not compelling

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Challenges

Getting a reasonable return on investment

Unbundling hosting arrangements

Implementation costs

Understanding the implications

Different levels of benefits for each borough

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How we are moving forward

Approach is to look to align boroughs to reduce implications

Sharing “as is” and considering “to be” processes using

work of Cedar to maximise alignment

Consider systems support opportunities

Further work on hosting

Confirm Golden Rules

Continue with quick wins

DoFs discussing strategic direction

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Information about the approach on mobilised projects

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One Oracle

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One Oracle

Project involving 6 boroughs:

Lambeth, Brent, Barking & Dagenham,

Croydon, Havering and Lewisham 

Memorandum of understanding

Working together towards establishing a shared service for finance and procurement transactional processing and HR transactional processing services; all delivered using Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12

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Background

Driver was the need to upgrade to Release 12

Procurement has taken place and is now completed

Ten other London boroughs have been named along with Kent CC

on the OJEU, so as to have the option to access at a future point

Using the other boroughs as critical friends to assist as well as help

maintain engagement

Framework governance agreement developed for each stage

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How we are undertaking it

Various work packages set out scope and concepts agreed by

Governance Board

Strong Leadership and Governance

Gathering core information e.g. interfaces, modules

Sharing “as is” and developing “to be” processes

Scoping the options and discussing the features

Gathering metrics

Agreeing principles

Identifying quick wins

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Current Position

CapGemini awarded systems integrator and systems hosting

Mobilisation and implementation phases commenced

Licensing and support being finalised

Work packages continuing with boroughs leading different aspects

Assessing benefits achieved to date

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One SAP

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One SAP

Project involving 2 boroughs:

Haringey and Waltham Forest 

Memorandum of understanding

Working together towards establishing a shared service for finance and procurement transactional processing and HR transactional processing services; all delivered using Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12

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Some of our guiding principles

Collaborate and work towards developing a common solution based

on best practices

Maximise use if functionality and sharing potential

Minimise workarounds the system

Maximise opportunity to innovate

Minimise transition effort and cost where possible

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How we are undertaking it

Procurement requesting options, which includes a single instance

Competitive dialogue

Developing a local government solution

SAP providing support

Reviewed “as is”

Focused on an outcomes perspective

Strong Leadership and Governance

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Current Position and Next Steps

Evaluation of the Invitation to Participate completed

Successful bidders to discuss and propose solutions through

competitive dialogue

Visits to reference sites

Evaluation of final proposed solutions

Award January 2013

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Neutral Managed Shared Service

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Tri-Borough Project

Procurement Project involving 3 boroughs:

Hammersmith & Fulham, Westminster

and Kensington & Chelsea

Number of other boroughs named on the OJEU

Scope includes HR, Finance, e-Sourcing, Business Intelligence and Property Asset Data Management across 4 lots

Framework via competitive dialogue

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Drivers

Supports the Tri-borough programme including front office change

Contracts expiring

Financial Savings

Benefits of a managed service

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How we are undertaking it

Various programme work streams and activities

Strong Leadership and Governance

Preparing the business for change

Can procure a set of managed services including software as a

service

Framework is for 4 years, enabling call-offs of up to 5 years, plus a

3-year extension possibility

Clear unit pricing with volume discounts

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Current Position and Next Steps

Competitive dialogue commencing

Other preparation work taking place within boroughs, including:

business changes

transition arrangements

client arrangements

Contract award December 2012

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Learning

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Issues being faced

Investment in current systems

Understanding cost of ownership

Transition costs

Modules; legacy systems and interfaces

Existing or new; Tier 1 or Tier 2; multi-company or multi-entity

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Issues being faced (cont.)

Loss of identity and control

The need for compromise

Communications and engagement within the boroughs is important and must be promoted

Working across boroughs and through peer groups requires relationships and trust to be built

The slowest holding others up

An honest broker is a key role and needs to be considered as part of resourcing arrangements

Detail is required, however too much detail then means that the end is never in sight. Clear leadership is required to strike a balance.

Several flavours of vanilla best practise processes

Different interpretations when collating information

Procurement rules cause complexities along with differing views on the rules

Lack of consistency in the legal advice

The market does have something to contribute, and it is worth listening to suppliers

Convergence, and ensuring the ability to continue to do this, is fundamental

It is complicated

Strong governance is essential

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Issues being faced (cont.)

Our advice when starting a project

Agree outcomes wanted and end vision

Gather information, including: Software versions and modules Services that are using the systems Related contract arrangements including end date, annual cost Interfaces in and out What environments exist How system is supported, maintained and hosted Costs against key areas Levels of investment and when Development plans, e.g. mobile working and upgrades Any critical paths, e.g. procurements or upgrades.

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Understand who is best to lead what

Agree some core metrics for performance aspects

Agree tactical strategy, including: Which boroughs are up for what; can support be shared now “As is” process workshop with aim to understand what each other

do; learn some quick wins that could happen (e.g. joint development) as well as devise some golden rules

Have “to be” process workshops Consider options and evaluate Complete the specification of what is wanted Understand boroughs gap analysis and implications Justification approach.

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Our advice when starting a project (cont.)

Finally, why the name “Athena”…

Goddess of Wisdom

A War Goddess focusing on strategy rather than bloodshed

Provided resources that delivered many things