Background
Dorset Council was formed in 2019 with the merging of six councils, and now has a new administration since its elections in 2024. It sees technology as key to its goal of delivering long-term financial sustainability through process efficiencies and improved productivity.
The council approached Civiteq for support to develop its business case for acquiring a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution. Their existing SAP system is approaching end of life in December 2027 and they want to ensure they allow plenty of time to prepare, implement and adopt their new ERP system.
“We wanted a partner with a tried-and-tested approach to creating a business case for a local government ERP programme.”
James Ailward, Chief Technology Officer, Dorset Council
Our brief and goal
The aim of the project was to build a business case for a complex programme of change that would:
- Address the implications on the council’s finances
- Consider the strategic drivers
- Explain the benefits
- Take into account the context for the change
- Provide assurance to councillors that the change was being carefully thought out with guidance from external experts
Our approach
We started with ERP discovery, which gave us insight we could use to develop a strong business case. Our work included:
- SWOT analysis to identify the council’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
- Gaining an understanding of how their existing ERP operating costs inform the financial model
- Options appraisal to guide the council through their different options for the technology change
- Development of the outline business case for the ERP programme
The business case has now been approved by the council, and we’re continuing our work for the client by:
- Supporting with solution procurement, including guidance on liaising with suppliers
- Providing business readiness, project planning and change management support to help them prepare for implementation
The biggest challenges
The greatest challenge was helping the council to understand how to balance their wider transformation aspirations with their resources.
As part of this, we used dependency mapping to show them how much time and resource would be needed for a successful technology change. We talked the council through the different stages of an ERP programme, including the type of tasks that would be required and who would need to do them. This helped them to consider how to ensure they have the resources to manage the various tasks and activities in the programme.
Outcomes and benefits
Our support has helped the council to clearly see what their current problems are and to understand the differences between the software options. We’ve also enabled them to move forwards to the ERP selection phase with confidence and to prepare for implementation.
James comments: “I’ve worked with many suppliers, and this was one of the best supplier engagements I’ve had. That’s because of the positive working relationships, the calibre of people from Civiteq and their expertise and experience of ERP programmes in local government. They ask the difficult questions and hold us to account.”
Once implemented, the new ERP will give the council a single source of truth that will enable them to access data for effective decision-making. Their processes will be more efficient, and both the user and customer experience will be greatly improved.
“At Civiteq we understand ERP and local government inside out, so we could walk the client through the intricacies of this type of technology change in a council setting.”
Katherine Wright, Senior Consultant, Civiteq
Book a meeting with one of our team to discuss your ERP journey.