MetHR revised business case

Report: 12
Date: 02 May 2002
By: Commissioner

Summary

Following the implementation of the MetHR contingency plan a revised business case has been prepared. This report highlights the main changes between the new and old business cases and seeks the Committee's approval to the business case now proposed.

A. Recommendations

To approve the business case outlined in Appendix 1 (part 2 of meeting), subject to appropriate financial provision.

B. Supporting information

1. The MPA Human Resources Committee approved a plan on 6 September 2001 to implement our contingency plan following the failure of Cedar, the National Strategy for Police Information Systems (NSPIS) supplier, to deliver a satisfactory HR IT system to the MPS.

2. The project has progressed substantially since that time. In the light of the implementation of the contingency plan, the impact that it has had on timescales and resources and a more informed view of the functionality being delivered, a revised business case has been prepared and is attached at appendix 1.

3. As documented in the previous business case MetHR will deliver a totally integrated, comprehensive, automated IT system for all our HR processes within a single database, which is secure, organisationally flexible and individually accessible. It will provide the organisation with a strategic HR platform that will provide further benefit over the next 10 years and beyond.

4. The main change between this newly revised business case and the previous business case is the shift away from the NSPIS product, which to date still has not been completed, to the more robust and easily upgradeable Oracle HR system. The other major changes are as follows:

• Timescales - As previously reported project timescales have been extended by 12 months. Seven of these months had already been imposed on the project by the failure of the previous supplier, but a further five months have been required for the additional planning and implementation of the contingency.
• Cost - An increased cost of £1.5 million due to: (1) the extended development of the project; (2) revision of accounting rules to take in a previous year (1999) and (3) the purchase of additional hardware for disaster recovery, which was previously assumed to be charged against the Directorate of Information (DoI) system support budget.
• Benefits - Identified benefits have been reduced to £17 million over the investment life of the project. This reduction, in summary, is due to (1) the reduction of command units since the last business case thus realising efficiency savings elsewhere; (2) a reduction in the occupational health scope; (3) the removal of police annual leave requests through self-service, due to the de-scoping of duty management; and, (4) delayed start to the implementation (as detailed above).
• Scope - The previous business case included the NSPIS duty management module within its scope but reserved our purchase position pending evaluation. The NSPIS module is still not complete and therefore to meet the C3i interface need, duty management is now being progressed in a separate project within DoI.

5. The system is due to commence a phased rollout on 15th April 2002. The rollout plan is as follows:

• Core HR Records 15th April – 27th May 2002
• Training Administration - 27th May 2002
• Recruitment 31st May – 1st July 2002
• Devolved HR (Beacon Sites) July 2002 – September 2002
• Devolved HR (full rollout) October 2002 – March 2003

C. Financial implications

1. The aims, objectives and business requirements for this project remain as previously documented and the project contributes a positive saving of £6.8 million over the timescale of its investment appraisal. The system will be fully operational in 2003/04 and is anticipated to last a full ten years, which is five years further than previously reported in the business case. These additional years would therefore mean further savings of £15.5 million (less any required upgrade cost).

2. The increased costs of £1.5 million, is a mixture of revenue and capital expenditure. The capital expenditure was included in the Medium term Capital Programme 2002/03-2005/06 that was discussed by the Finance, Planning and Best Value Committee on 18 April. The allocations to projects, including MetHR, were agreed in principle. The revenue costs to cover the extended life of the project team have been contained within the Human Resources budget.

3. The financial provision for this project exists within the current budgetary plans, apart from £212k Directorate of Information continuing revenue costs. It is intended that this element will be incorporated within the Medium Term Financial Forecast to be presented to the May meeting of the Finance, Planning and Best Value Committee.

D. Background papers

None.

E. Contact details

Report author: Tony Horsley, MPS.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Appendix 1

Appendix 1 is exempt.

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