back to article Yorkshire authority seeks £3m 'modern, cloud-based, future-proof ERP solution' in as few products as possible

West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) is on the hunt for a new £3m ERP system amid an IT services revamp. A tender notice described the way in which the English local authority – created in 2014 to bring together projects across Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield, and York – intends to "transform how the …

  1. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Coat

    Excel 365 it is, then.

    1. RSW

      Get real, Excel 2007 just to make sure everyone can open it

  2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    A mere 3 million ?

    Sorry mate, you're going to need to add a few zeros to that if you want an all-in-one solution.

    And you're going to have to wait a few years before you get the full package.

    Then you're going to have to ask for fixes and updates for a decade or so, which will inevitably up the costs by at least 80%.

    Good luck on your cloud project, though. You'll need it.

  3. Julz

    Do

    Unicorns live in the cloud then? Who knew.

  4. TimMaher Silver badge
    Meh

    They could always buy it from...

    ...Surrey County Council (See El Reg article in this edition).

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: They could always buy it from...

      Well, they could buy a tenth of it.

      1. keithpeter Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: They could always buy it from...

        Clueless end user here: assuming councils up and down England operate in roughly similar regulatory territory and provide roughly similar services, is it not possible to develop a 'shrink wrap' CouncilAsAService platform once and for all and just put them all on it?

        Coat: OK, I'm walking towards the door backwards and not making any sudden moves...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: They could always buy it from...

          Well, yes assuming your assumption is correct, I suspect however that you'd find that the value of your target market is actually relatively small when compared to development and operational costs, thus prices would probably be too high for most councils.

          c.f. there is a company that does a similar thing for University Students' Unions, provides a "membership solutions" package entirely aimed at SUs and is used by over 50% of SUs in the UK.

          Last time I looked a few years ago, to keep it profitable the company was <5 people to do business development, sales, operations, development and maintenance. Things may have changed since as it has grown a bit but that probably gives a bit of an idea...

          1. keithpeter Silver badge
            Windows

            Re: They could always buy it from...

            Interesting. I was sort of thinking of the councils setting up a consortium and sharing costs. Probably cloud cuckoo land.

  5. G2
    Devil

    future proof?

    future proof... ERP? i suggest they try hieroglyphs instead on anything from the computer age.

    we have accounting records that have lasted since the time of the pharaohs, in hieroglyph form, engraved on stones.

    the same cannot be said about modern information storage methods... most computers today can't even read a 3,25 inch floppy disk - usually because it was accidentally erased when stored behind the loudspeakers in the archive room.

    1. AMBxx Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: future proof?

      Doesn't matter. By the time it's implemented, there'll be another local government reorganisation and they'll have to start again.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    FAIL

    "a modern, cloud-based future-proof ERP solution".

    So control over data security and access isn't important then? Sigh..

  7. jake Silver badge

    "The combined authority said its current systems have been in place for many years"

    Do they still work as intended? Do they really need changing? Or is this a keeping up with the Joneses exercise, with the public's money?

  8. RyokuMas
    FAIL

    Typical local authority

    "We want the moon on a stick, delivered yesterday and at last decade's prices"

    Doooooooomed......

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    For this combined CA

    £3 million is rounding error territory.

    I'd guess someone looked at all the PC's they had. Figured a few hundred a computer and then went to lunch.

    (full disclosure, I know an ex-WYCA bean counter figures like this would be tiny on the budgets he was telling me about, especially in light of some of the cost write offs).

    Anon because I have sympathy for the devil a bean counter.

  10. Nifty Silver badge

    Decent ERPs are only affordable when the automation they provide custs the cost of human labour by their own cost. Presumably the council thinks this can be a add-on rather then an instead-of. Oh and yes, there should be a national, customisable ERP for councils if taxpayer money is to be used best.

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