Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire County Councils have
selected Fujitsu Services to provide what is believed to be the
first enterprise resource planning (ERP) shared service in local
government.
Cambridgeshire County Council cabinet member for corporate
services, John Reynolds, said, "This new shared service makes good
business sense and fits in with the national requirement for the
modernisation of local government."
Reynolds said savings from the project would be reinvested in
front-line services such as caring for the elderly, the disabled
and families, or providing improved schools, public transport and
community facilities such as libraries.
Fujitsu has built on its own internal Oracle ERP service to
provide the councils with a managed ERP service. The service is
paid for through an annual subscription. Costs should decrease as
more councils join, said Fujitsu.
Local and central government departments are increasingly
looking at improving the value they get from IT by sharing it with
other departments.
Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support
Service) recently signed a £25m deal to join a Flex
shared-services programme run by Fujitsu Services in conjunction
with the Cabinet Office, which offers IT as a shared service across
the public sector.