Financial Management/ERP System

15495

10/08/2021

FOI

I would like to raise a Freedom of Information Request regarding your Financial Management/ERP system: *   What Financial Management/ERP System does the council use?*   Who is ultimately responsible for the system (name and title)?
*   How many users access the system across the council?
*   Is the system hosted locally or is it a cloud solution?
*    Does the council intend to move the system to the cloud?
*   When did the contract commence and when will it expire?
*   Do you intend to evaluate alternative solutions when the contract expires?
*   Are you in a shared service for either ICT or Financial Management/ERP?

       *   If yes, what is the nature of the shared service?

       *   If no, what plans do you have for shared service/partnership working?

If the Finance system is run/managed in-house:

*   What is the annual software (licence and support) charge payable to the Financial Management/ERP system provider?
*   What was the initial capital cost of the system payable to the supplier?

If the Finance system is hosted remotely (via the cloud):

*   How are the annual charges made up (software licence/support charge, hosting charge etc.)?

*   What Financial Management/ERP System does the council use?
The Council is unable to release this information into the public domain. Section 35 (1) (a) exempts information if its disclosure is likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime.
Section 35 is a qualified exemption and we are required to conduct a public interest test when applying any qualified exemption. This means that after it has been decided that the exemption is engaged, the public interest in releasing the information must be considered. If the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in withholding it then the exemption does not apply and the information must be released. In FOISA there is a presumption that information should be released unless there are compelling reasons to withhold it.
The public interest has now concluded and the balance of the public interest has found in favour of withholding information covered by the section 35(1) (a) exemption. Considerations in favour of the releasing the information included consideration of public interest in transparency and accountability and disclosure of information about Scottish Borders Council procedures and commercial outsourcing contracts.

However, release of this information would make Scottish Borders Council more vulnerable to crime; namely, a malicious attack on Scottish Borders Council computer systems. As such release of this information would be seen to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime, by making Scottish Borders Council computer systems more vulnerable to hacking, therefore facilitating the possibility of a criminal offence being carried out. There is an overwhelming public interest in keeping Scottish Borders Council computer systems secure which would be served by non-disclosure. This would outweigh any benefits of information release. It has therefore been decided that the balance of the public interest lies clearly in favour of withholding the information on this occasion. Please note that this decision does not imply that you intend to engage in any criminal or malicious activities. However as the Freedom of Information Scotland Act is an open access regime, this exemption has been applied to protect Scottish Borders Council systems.

*   Who is ultimately responsible for the system (name and title)?
David Robertson, Chief Financial Director
*   How many users access the system across the council?
Licensed for 6,550 users
*   Is the system hosted locally or is it a cloud solution?
Hosted
*    Does the council intend to move the system to the cloud?
No
*   When did the contract commence and when will it expire?
. 01/05/2021 to 30/04/2023
*   Do you intend to evaluate alternative solutions when the contract expires?
Estimated review will be February 2023
*   Are you in a shared service for either ICT or Financial Management/ERP?
No
       *   If no, what plans do you have for shared service/partnership working?
None

If the Finance system is run/managed in-house:

*   What is the annual software (licence and support) charge payable to the Financial Management/ERP system provider?
We consider this information to be commercially sensitive therefore we rely on S33(1)(b) to withhold this information. We have considered the public interest test and it will always be in the public interest for the Council to obtain best value and by disclosing this information would prejudice this.

*   What was the initial capital cost of the system payable to the supplier?
Implementation of Financial Management/ERP System was agree as part of larger IT contract that was signed with CGI.

If the Finance system is hosted remotely (via the cloud):
N/A

*   How are the annual charges made up (software licence/support charge, hosting charge etc.)?
N/A

Financial Management/ERP System - Freedom of information requests