University staff fall back on Excel to work around mis-coded transactions in Oracle system

From theregister.com

The fallout from Edinburgh University’s ill-fated Oracle HR and finance implementation continues with one department recording thousands of mis-coded transactions relating to more than £300,000 in spending.

More than two years after the Fusion HR, payroll, and finance system went live, the university’s Biology Department noted that transactions are still mis-coded. One insider told The Register they were using Excel spreadsheets to get an unofficial ledger of spending to make up for the system’s shortcomings.

The Register understands the problems are indicative of ongoing issues with the system, internally called People and Money (P&M), throughout the £1.3 billion budget institution.

In December, an independent report from PA Consulting showed how before the implementation, senior managers missed warning signs that the project was not ready. The report commissioned by the University Court, an independent governance body, said problems related to change management aspects of the project that were not given sufficient attention before it went live.

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