ERP Systems

The request was partially successful.

Dear Student Loans Company Limited,

o What ERP system are you running for
o Finance
o HR
o Payroll
o Project
o CRM
o Manufacturing
o Sourcing
o BI Tool
o Config Snapshot
o Invoice Scanning Tool

o What versions of the above Applications are you running?
o When was your last Application upgrade?
o Are you planning another upgrade in the next 12-18 months?
o Do you have an Oracle support partner for applications? If so who?
o What is the value of the application support contract?
o When does it expire?

o Are you running any Oracle Databases?
o If so what versions are you currently running?
o What applications are being run on these Databases?
o Are you planning another Database upgrade in the next 12-18 months?
o Do you have an Oracle support partner for Databases? If so who?
o What is the value of the database support contract?
o When does it expire?
o Where are the databases held? Hosted, onsite/offsite?

o Where do you advertise any Oracle procurement opportunities?
o Who is responsible for looking after the contract for the Oracle estate?
o Who is responsible for looking after the licenses for the Oracle estate?
o How much do you pay annually for Oracle Support & Maintenance?
o When does this contract renew?
o Do you work with off shore partners?

Yours faithfully,

Emily Hill

FOI Publication Scheme, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear Ms Hill

Thank you for your email dated 03/12/2015 requesting information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your request has been logged under reference 192-15. Please quote this
reference in future communications.

A full response will be issued in due course.

Yours sincerely

Louise Chapman
Legal Executive
Student Loans Company Limited
100 Bothwell Street
Glasgow
G2 7JD

Tel: 0141 243 3062 (ext 33062)

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FOI Publication Scheme, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear Ms Hill

I refer to your email dated 03/12/2015 requesting the following information
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”):

o “What ERP system are you running for
o Finance
o HR
o Payroll
o Project
o CRM
o Manufacturing
o Sourcing
o BI Tool
o Config Snapshot
o Invoice Scanning Tool

o What versions of the above Applications are you running?
o When was your last Application upgrade?
o Are you planning another upgrade in the next 12-18 months?
o Do you have an Oracle support partner for applications? If so who?
o What is the value of the application support contract?
o When does it expire?

o Are you running any Oracle Databases?
o If so what versions are you currently running?
o What applications are being run on these Databases?
o Are you planning another Database upgrade in the next 12-18months?
o Do you have an Oracle support partner for Databases? If so who?
o What is the value of the database support contract?
o When does it expire?
o Where are the databases held? Hosted, onsite/offsite?

o Where do you advertise any Oracle procurement opportunities?
o Who is responsible for looking after the contract for the Oracle
estate?
o Who is responsible for looking after the licenses for the Oracle
estate?
o How much do you pay annually for Oracle Support & Maintenance?
o When does this contract renew?
o Do you work with off shore partners?”

Response

I can provide the following response to your request for information from
the Student Loans Company Limited (“SLC”):

What ERP system are you running for:

Finance - Oracle E-Business Suite

HR - Oracle E-Business Suite

Payroll - SLC does not run an ERP system for payroll

Project - SLC does not run an ERP system for project

CRM - SLC does not run an ERP system for CRM

Manufacturing - SLC does not run an ERP system for manufacturing

Sourcing – N/A

BI Tool - Oracle E-Business Suite

Config Snapshot - SLC does not run an ERP system for config snapshot

Invoice Scanning Tool - SLC does not run an ERP system for invoice
scanning

What versions of the above Applications are you running?
11.5.10.2.

When was your last Application upgrade?
2007.

Are you planning another upgrade in the next 12-18 months?
Yes.

Do you have an Oracle support partner for applications? If so who?
Yes - Version 1.

What is the value of the application support contract?
We are currently considering the public interest test in regards to the
qualified exemption under section 43(2) of the FOIA (prejudice to
commercial interests).

Once the public interest test has been fully considered our response to
this part of your request will be issued separately.

When does it expire?
Renewal 31/01/2016 for 6 months.

Are you running any Oracle Databases?
Yes

If so what versions are you currently running?
SLC are running Oracle Database versions 8i, 9i, 10g and 11g.

What applications are being run on these Databases?
The databases are front ended by Oracle Application Server and JBoss
delivering Portal services to students and educational organisations

Are you planning another Database upgrade in the next 12-18 months?
There may be another database upgrade within this period.

Do you have an Oracle support partner for Databases? If so who?
No.

What is the value of the database support contract?
For the last three years the total cost was £325,069.63, this figure has
been taken from the Purchase Orders.

When does it expire?
See above.

Where are the databases held? Hosted, onsite/offsite?
The databases are held onsite.

Where do you advertise any Oracle procurement opportunities?
Oracle procurement opportunities are through Crown Commercial Services
Framework. All opportunities are advertised at the following website:
https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

Who is responsible for looking after the contract for the Oracle estate?
The Commercial Team

Who is responsible for looking after the licenses for the Oracle estate?
The Databases and Mid Tiers Team look after the Oracle estate.

How much do you pay annually for Oracle Support & Maintenance?
As detailed above, for the last three years the total cost was
£325,069.63, this figure has been taken from the Purchase Orders.

When does this contract renew?
See above.

Do you work with off shore partners?
No.

Internal review process

I trust that my answer to you is satisfactory; however, if you are unhappy
with the decisions made by me in relation to your freedom of information
request, you may ask SLC for an internal review.

Any such review would be conducted by the Head of Legal & Corporate
Services, 100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JD. You may request a review
by writing to the Head of Legal & Corporate Services or by emailing the FOI
Office ([SLC request email]). In the event that the Head of
Legal & Corporate Services took part in the original decision, then the
Executive Director of Finance, Strategy and Corporate Services, will
conduct the review. SLC will only consider requests for internal reviews
which are made within 3 months of the date of our original response (except
in exceptional circumstances).

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Dona Marie Steele
Legal Executive
Student Loans Company Limited
100 Bothwell Street
Glasgow
G2 7JD

Email: [SLC request email]

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FOI Publication Scheme, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear Ms Hill
I refer to your request dated 03/12/2015 and our response dated 06/01/2016
in which we advised that in regards to the question, "What is the value of
the application support contract?" we were considering the public interest
test and once this was considered we would issue our response to you.

Response

What is the value of the application support contract?

We have considered whether this information may fall to be exempt from
disclosure under section 43(2) of the FOIA. Section 43(2) states that:

“Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would,
or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person
(including the public authority holding it).”

As section 43 is a qualified exemption, the public interest must be
applied.

The justifications for releasing the information is disclosure would
promote openness and transparency. The justification in favour of
withholding the information is that disclosure of the requested information
would harm SLC’s own commercial interests and the commercial interests of
one of our current suppliers. By their very nature, support contracts
operate in a very competitive market, and if information relating to a
current contract were to be released into the public domain, this could
cause both SLC and/or the supplier a detrimental impact and weaken both
parties’ position in a competitive environment by revealing commercially
sensitive information. The information could potentially be used by the
supplier’s competitors. The release of this information could also damage
other public organisations ability to negotiate competitively if the value
of the contract was disclosed.

Having weighed the arguments for disclosing the information against the
arguments for withholding the information, I have concluded that the
information is considered exempt under section 43(2) of the FOIA.

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