Derbyshire County Council (DCC) expects to complete a migration to a cloud-based ERP by the end of this year, according to Peter Handford, its Director of Finance and ICT.
A major digital transformation programme seeks to modernise and future-proof DCC’s core technology and business systems and allow the Council to better engage digitally with its citizens. DCC's existing SAP ERP system will be upgraded to SAP's S/4HANA Enterprise Resource Planning - which uses in-memory database technology to improve processing speeds and dramatically simplify how it handles data.
The move comes as part of DCC's Enterprising Council vision to provide enhanced services to communities. The council has 12,000 emoployees and serves a population of over 800,000 residents.
"Derbyshire County Council’s ICT strategy is underpinned by the principles of Standardise, Simplify and Share," explained Handford. "This will fundamentally change the way we deal with our citizens for the better. While this project is no small task, the value it will bring to DCC is immense; we will transition from a council focused entity to a truly citizen focused entity. What’s more, we will gain efficiencies and roll out updates throughout the implementation period in a phased approach."
With greater access to real-time management information, DCC will be able to leverage embedded and predictive analytics, and build new apps and portals.