John Cross
[FOI #8351 email]
27 March 2009
Our Ref: FOI 2009/27 – F0052750
Dear Mr Cross,
Re: Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 – Request for Information
Thank you for your email which was received by the University on 22 February 2009 timed
18:23 hours, requesting the following information.
Under the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) I am requesting the release of the
following information:
1. What was the initial budget for the implementation of the University's Finance
System?
2. Who approved the budget for the Finance System and when was it approved?
3. What was the initial completion date for the implementation of the Finance
System?
4. Since the approval of the budget for the Finance System, please provide for each
Financial Year:
a. Payments to the supplier of the Finance System for the procurement of
software.
b. Payments to the supplier of the Finance System for the procurement of
consultancy services.
c. Payments to other external consultants recruited for the implementation of the
Finance
System.
d. Costs of computers procured for the Finance System.
DATA PROTECTION AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OFFICE
Main Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ
Data Protection: Telephone: 0141-330-3111
E-Mail: [email address]
Freedom of Information: Telephone: 0141-330-2523
E-Mail: foi@gla.ac.uk
The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401
e. Cost of University staff working on implementation of the Finance System.
f. Salary cost of the department of Finance.
5. For the current Financial Year, please provide the following information for the
period 1st August 2008 to 31st January 2009 :
a. Payments to the supplier of the Finance System for the procurement of
software.
b. Payments to the supplier of the Finance System for the procurement of
consultancy services.
c. Payments for other external consultants / temporary staff recruited for the
implementation of the Finance System.
d. Cost of computers procured for the Finance System.
e. Cost of University staff working on implementation of the Finance System.
f. Salary cost of the department of Finance.
6. Please provide me with a copy of your cost savings analysis for the
implementation of the Finance System.
7. What are the outstanding areas that the Finance System's implementation
requires to address?
8.
When will the implementation of the Finance System be completed and what is the
anticipated future costs of this implementation?
University’s Response
1. What was the initial budget for the implementation of the University's Finance
System? Initial estimate of the implementation cost of Agresso System was approximately £315k.
2. Who approved the budget for the Finance System and when was it approved?
The expenditure for the new Agresso system was approved by the University Management
Group mid April 2000.
3. What was the initial completion date for the implementation of the Finance System? Initial completion date for the implementation of Agresso 5.4 was 1st August 2001.
DATA PROTECTION AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OFFICE
Main Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ
Data Protection: Telephone: 0141-330-3111
E-Mail: [email address]
Freedom of Information: Telephone: 0141-330-2523
E-Mail: foi@gla.ac.uk
The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401
4. Since the approval of the budget for the Finance System, please provide for each
Financial Year:
a. Payments to the supplier of the Finance System for the procurement of
software.
b. Payments to the supplier of the Finance System for the procurement of
consultancy services.
For
4 a and
b The University of Glasgow does not hold the information that you have
requested in any report and is not aware of any other public authority that could respond to
your request. Section 17 of FOISA states that where public authorities receive requests for
information that they do not hold, they must issue a notice advising that they do not hold the
requested information.
It may be possible to retrieve the requested information by indentifying the services invoiced
through an analysis of the Agresso supplier code. However, this would assume that all
relevant payments were made through this account, which cannot be guaranteed. There are
108 payments made through the Agresso supplier account prior to this current year. Initially it
would be necessary to identify which invoices make up each payment in the customer
account, retrieval of the manual copy and identification of what the expense covers would then
be required. The retrieved information would then be used to update a spreadsheet to sort it
into the information requested. The time taken to carry out this exercise is detailed below.
Projected costs
The estimated costs likely to be incurred in answering your information request are as follows:
Item
Details
Cost (£)
Staff costs (£15 per hour)
27hrs @ £15 per hour
405.00
Minus initial £100 costs
- £100.00
-100.00
Total Projected Costs
£ 405.00
305.00
Chargeable amount
10% of costs
30.50
Total chargeable amount
30.50
The fee requested has been calculated in accordance with the published Fee Regulations that
accompany the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. The Fee Regulations state that:
• The first £100 of costs will be waived.
DATA PROTECTION AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OFFICE
Main Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ
Data Protection: Telephone: 0141-330-3111
E-Mail: [email address]
Freedom of Information: Telephone: 0141-330-2523
E-Mail: foi@gla.ac.uk
The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401
• Projected costs include the cost of staff time involved in locating, retrieving and
providing the information; however the cost of staff time must not exceed £15 per hour
per member of staff. Where staff costs are lower than £15 per hour, they must be
charged at cost.
• For projected costs that exceed £100, the University may charge 10%, unless the
costs reach the £600 prescribed cost limit.
Please advise whether you would like us to proceed on this basis.
Method of Payment
Please send a cheque made payable to the
University of Glasgow to the Freedom of
Information Office at the above address.
c. Payments to other external consultants recruited for the implementation of the
Finance System. The University of Glasgow does not hold the information that you have requested and
is not aware of any other public authority that could respond to your request. Section
17 of FOISA states that where public authorities receive requests for information that
they do not hold, they must issue a notice advising that they do not hold the requested
information.
d. Costs of computers procured for the Finance System. No PC’s were purchased specifically for the use of Agresso.
e. Cost of University staff working on implementation of the Finance System. The University of Glasgow does not hold the information that you have requested and
is not aware of any other public authority that could respond to your request. Section
17 of FOISA states that where public authorities receive requests for information that
they do not hold, they must issue a notice advising that they do not hold the requested
information.
f. Salary cost of the department of Finance. The University of Glasgow does not hold the information that you have requested in
any report and is not aware of any other public authority that could respond to your
request. Section 17 of FOISA states that where public authorities receive requests for
information that they do not hold, they must issue a notice advising that they do not
hold the requested information.
However, it may be possible to retrieve the information by interrogating the Human
Resources system to identify salary by individual, and cross reference this to
departmental employment information during this period. It would then be necessary to
analyse the data to isolate any severance payments made during this period. Analysis
of the Agresso system to isolate any payments to contract staff made during this
period would also then be required. The time taken to carry out this exercise is detailed
below:
DATA PROTECTION AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OFFICE
Main Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ
Data Protection: Telephone: 0141-330-3111
E-Mail: [email address]
Freedom of Information: Telephone: 0141-330-2523
E-Mail: foi@gla.ac.uk
The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401
Projected costs
The estimated costs likely to be incurred in answering your information request are as follows:
Item
Details
Cost (£)
Staff costs (£15 per hour)
21hrs @ £15 per hour
315.00
Minus initial £100 costs
- £100.00
-100.00
Total Projected Costs
£ 315.00
215.00
Chargeable amount
10% of costs
21.50
Total chargeable amount
21.50
Please see above (
question 4a & b) for advice on Fee Regulations under Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Please advise whether you would like us to proceed on this
basis.
Method of Payment
As previously advised, please send a cheque made payable to the
University of Glasgow to
the Freedom of Information Office at the above address.
5. For the current Financial Year, please provide the following information for the
period 1st August 2008 to 31st January 2009
a. Payments to the supplier of the Finance System for the procurement of
software. For the current year we have made approximately £37.7k’s worth of payments to
Agresso for software.
b. Payments to the supplier of the Finance System for the procurement of
consultancy services. For the current year we have made approximatley £19.5k’s worth of payments to
Agresso for consultancy services
c. Payments for other external consultants / temporary staff recruited for the
implementation of the Finance System. Agresso was implemented in 2001, not during the current financial year.
d. Cost of computers procured for the Finance System.
No PC’s were bought specifically for the use of Agresso.
e. Cost of University staff working on implementation of the Finance System. Agresso was implemented in 2001, not during the current financial year.
f. Salary cost of the department of Finance. The basic salary cost for the Finance office for the six months to 31 January 2009 was
£1,126,589. Note we are able to give out this cost info for the current year as this
DATA PROTECTION AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OFFICE
Main Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ
Data Protection: Telephone: 0141-330-3111
E-Mail: [email address]
Freedom of Information: Telephone: 0141-330-2523
E-Mail: foi@gla.ac.uk
The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401
information is easily gathered due to our ledger structure and coding in this current
fiscal year not in existence previously.
6. Please provide me with a copy of your cost savings analysis for the implementation
of the Finance System.
No cost savings analysis was prepared for the implementation of the system in 2001.
7. What are the outstanding areas that the Finance System's implementation requires to
address? Agresso was implemented into the University in 2001. We continue to further develop and
upgrade Agresso on an ongoing basis. Currently plans are to roll out a new sales invoicing
module, E procurement module, E expenses module, Budgeting module and a restructure of
our general ledger.
8. When will the implementation of the Finance System be completed and what is the
anticipated future costs of this implementation? Agresso was implemented in 2001 and is upgraded and further enhanced/ developed on a
continual basis. Future costs for enhancement/ developments as discussed in section 7 have
not yet been collated.
The supply of documents under the terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
does not give the applicant or whoever receives the information any right to re-use it in such a
way that might infringe the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (for example, by making
multiple copies, publishing or otherwise distributing the information to other individuals and the
public). The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (Consequential Modifications) Order
2004 ensured that Section 50 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (“CDPA”)
applies to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (“FOISA”).
Breach of copyright law is an actionable offence and the University expressly reserves its
rights and remedies available to it pursuant to the CDPA and common law. Further information
on copyright is available at the following website:
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/copy.htm
Your right to seek a review
We note your message of 25 March 2009, requesting a review of our actions due to the late
response to this request. In light of the response (above), please advise whether you still wish
us to carry out a review.
Should you be dissatisfied with the way in which the University has dealt with your request,
you have the right to require us to review our actions and decisions. Please refer to the
Review Procedure (http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/dpfoioffice/policiesandprocedures/foisa-
complaintsandreview/) for further information. All complaints regarding requests for
information will be handled in accordance with this procedure.
DATA PROTECTION AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OFFICE
Main Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ
Data Protection: Telephone: 0141-330-3111
E-Mail: [email address]
Freedom of Information: Telephone: 0141-330-2523
E-Mail: foi@gla.ac.uk
The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401
Yours sincerely,
Data Protection and Freedom of Information Office
DATA PROTECTION AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OFFICE
Main Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ
Data Protection: Telephone: 0141-330-3111
E-Mail: [email address]
Freedom of Information: Telephone: 0141-330-2523
E-Mail: foi@gla.ac.uk
The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401
