Corporate Software/Enterprise Applications - Freedom of information requests
Title or Description
Corporate Software/Enterprise Applications
FOI Number
15526
Date Received
19/08/2021
Type of Request
FOI
Request or Question
I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Consequently I require the organisation’s to provide me with the following contract information relating to the following corporate software/enterprise applications: a. Enterprise Resource Planning Software Solution (ERP) -this is the organisation’s main ERP system and may include service support, maintenance and upgrades.
b. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Solution-this is the organisation’s main CRM system and may include service support, maintenance and upgrades. Example of CRM systems the organisation may use could include Microsoft Dynamics, Front Office, Lagan CRM, Firmstep
c. Human Resources (HR) and Payroll Software Solution-this is the organisation’s main HR/payroll system and may include service support, maintenance and upgrades. In some cases the HR contract maybe separate to the payroll contract please provide both types of contracts. Example of HR/Payroll systems the organisation may use could include iTrent, Resourcelink,
d. The organisation’s primary corporate Finance Software Solution-this is the organisation’s main finance system and may include service support, maintenance and upgrades. Example of finance systems the organisation may use could include E-Business suite, Agresso (Unit4), eFinancials, Integra, SAP
In some cases you may come across contracts that provides service support maintenance and upgrades separate to the main software contract, please also provide this information in the response following the requested data below.
For each of the categories above can you please provide me with the relevant contract information listed below:
1. Software Category: ERP, CRM, HR, Payroll, Finance
2. Software Supplier: Can you please provide me with the software provider for each contract?
3. Software Brand: Can you please provide me with the actual name of the software. Please do not provide me with the supplier name again please provide me with the actual software name.
4. Contract Description: Please do not just state two to three words can you please provide me detail information about this contract and please state if upgrade, maintenance and support is included.
Please also include any modules included within the contract as this will support the categories you have selected in question 1.
5. Number of Users/Licenses: What is the total number of user/licenses for this contract?
6. Annual Spend: What is the annual average spend for each contract?
7. Contract Duration: What is the duration of the contract please include any available extensions within the contract.
8. Contract Start Date: What is the start date of this contract? Please include month and year of the contract. DD-MM-YY or MM-YY.
9. Contract Expiry: What is the expiry date of this contract? Please include month and year of the contract. DD-MM-YY or MM-YY.
10. Contract Review Date: What is the review date of this contract? Please include month and year of the contract. If this cannot be provide please provide me estimates of when the contract is likely to be reviewed. DD-MM-YY or MM-YY.
11. Contact Details: I require the full contact details of the person within the organisation responsible for this particular software contract (name, job title, email, contact number).
Response
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.
5. The license is for 6,550 users
6. 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.
7.
Enterprise Resource Planning Software Solution (ERP)- Contract Duration is for 5 Years
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - 12 month rolling contract
Finance Software Solution - Contract Duration is for 5 Years
