Re: Honesty with shareholders?
"As with the Edinburgh University fiasco"
A pity that successful Oracle implementations in universities are forgotten.
And yes I have personal experience of one. Back in 1998 I was working for a large systems integrator and was the Oracle team lead at a leading university. We implemented R10.7 NCA (I think, it was a long time ago) as 11.0 was only released about a month before go-live. And who in their right mind ever implements a point zero release?
We implemented GL, AR, AP, CE (Cash Management) & PO but failed to implement FA as the university had some peculiar requirements for that. There were also a number of bespoke processes and reports. I went back a couple of years or so later and got my hand dirty by implementing FA. There was a level of opposition to change, and a level of opposition to Oracle (it was thought to be too big - maybe it was but it was what we were contracted to supply). Despite a late start to the project it went live on the original go-live date.
Did it work - yep! OK, maybe CE needed a lot of bespoke code around the edges to make it work, the standard module was crap!
And for good measure, the university's internal IT team have upgraded the system over the years and it is still working 26 years after initial implementation.
Perhaps it was a one-off. If so, I can only assume that it was due to my presence on the project as I subsequently led several successful Oracle ERP implementations in both the private and public sectors. Hence the icon, no point in being modest.
Maybe I ought to come out of retirement and offer my services to the highest bidder ...