ERP/Finance Systems

The request was partially successful.

Date : 02/06/15

Dear Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council,

Please could you provide the following information regarding your ERP / Finance system:

1.What ERP (Enterprise Resource Management) or Finance system is currently used at the council?

2.When does your contract expire?

3.Do you have any planned upgrades of the software? If so, when?

4.Are you planning to go to market for a different ERP/ Finance system? If so, when?

5.How many users / licenses of the system do you have at the council?

6.Who is the person responsible for your ERP / Finance system? Please provide full name, title and contact information if possible.

Yours faithfully,

Katie Green.

Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council

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Dear Katie Green

I acknowledge with thanks your request for information held by Bolton
Council received at this office on .

This request has been considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
and may take up to 20 working days to be processed (although we will
endeavour to provide the information as quickly as possible).

Please be advised that if an exemption applies to the information that you
have requested, the statutory period may be exceeded in accordance with
the provisions of the act.

If a charge is applicable to your request, we will advise you of this in
due course.

Please retain the reference number RFI 6258 for any future enquiries
regarding this matter.

Many Thanks

Freedom of Information Team

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Freedom Of Info, Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council

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Dear Katie Green

 

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

 

Please accept my apologies for our delay in providing an answer to your
request. Bolton Council have received a large amount of requests recently
and this has meant that unfortunately a small backlog of requests has
developed.

In response to your request for information received at this office on
19^th June 2015, please see the councils response below.

 

You requested:

 

Please could you provide the following information regarding your ERP /
Finance system:

 

1. What ERP (Enterprise Resource Management) or Finance system is
currently used at the council?

Answer: Oracle e-business suite

 

2. When does your contract expire?

Answer: The Council has a full managed shared ICT service, delivered under
a contract by Agilisys Limited until June 2020. This is shared with Wigan
Council, Wigan and Leigh Homes and Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust.
However, Oracle Licences are liable each year that the Council is
utilising Oracle software and are renewed annually

 

3. Do you have any planned upgrades of the software? If so, when?

Answer: Bolton Council has considered this part of your request and feels
that the information requested is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”).  It is the Council’s policy only to
apply the exemptions where there is a genuine risk of harm or prejudice.

 

Section 17 of the Act provides that when refusing a request, Bolton
Council must provide a notice which (a) states that fact, (b) specifies
the exemption in question, and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be
apparent) why the exemption applies.

 

In this case, we consider that the exemption under section 31(1)(a) of the
Act applies.  Section 31(1)(a) provides an exemption where the disclosure
of the information under the Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice
the prevention or detection of crime.

 

We are aware that Oracle as a system is a specific target for security
exploits and hackers and consider knowledge of our current systems version
number and future upgrading details would be useful to those looking to
exploit and attack our IT systems and services.

 

Releasing this knowledge could assist criminals attempting to gain
unauthorised access to council systems, which is a criminal offence under
Section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990
([1]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990...)

 

The council is a custodian for a great deal of valuable and personal data
and authorities across the country are already targets for malicious
activity as the recently publicised case in the following link
demonstrates:

[2]http://www.localgov.co.uk/Thousands-of-e...

Any attempted breach of our security and our systems could have a
significant impact on our ability to conduct business and deliver services
to the public and staff. Furthermore these systems include amongst other
things highly sensitive information of a personal nature such as financial
details and health details of both public and staff. The breaching of
which would undermine the confidence both public and staff have in the
council.

As Section 31 is a qualified exemption, we are also required to decide, on
a case by case basis, whether the public interest in maintaining this
exemption outweighs the public interest in its disclosure. When assessing
whether or not it was in the public interest to disclose the information
to you, we took into account the following factors:

 

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure

 

o There is public interest in transparency and accountability of the
council,
o Disclosure may promote public understanding
o There is public interest in good decision-making by public bodies

 

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information

 

o The consequences of a targeted attack aided by the disclosure of
this information could seriously disrupt the Council’s ability to
provide
statutory / core services on which the public rely upon.
o The Council has a duty to protect the sensitive personal data
of its own citizens and it is in the public interest of these very
same citizens that the authority undertakes to maintain the integrity
and security of the infrastructure on which that data sits. 
o A breach in the security of this data due to disclosure of information
relating to the ICT infrastructure could result in a substantial fine
being levied on the Council; something is not in the interest of
Bolton ratepayers.

 

We therefore believe that the balance of public interest clearly lies in
not disclosing the requested information and so allowing us to effectively
maintain security of the data held about the public and to facilitate
public service.  In accordance with the Act, this email constitutes a
refusal notice for this part of your request

 

 

4. Are you planning to go to market for a different ERP/ Finance system?
If so, when?

Answer: No

 

5. How many users / licenses of the system do you have at the council?

Answer: Approx 500 professional users 4500 self service users

 

6. Who is the person responsible for your ERP / Finance system? Please
provide full name, title and contact information if possible.

Answer: Tony Glennon, Corporate Financial Services Manager 01204 331723

 

 

Documents that we provide in response to your request are protected by
copyright. You are free to use them for your own use, including for
non-commercial research purposes. They may also be used for news
reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example by publishing
the document or issuing copies to the public will require the permission
of the copyright owner.

 

Should you disagree with our decision, you may appeal to:

The Borough Solicitor, Bolton Council, 3rd Floor, The Wellsprings, Howell
Croft South, Bolton, BL1 1US

Email:  [3][email address]

 

Should you further disagree with the decision following the appeal you may
wish to contact the Information Commissioner:

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

[4]www.ico.gov.uk

 

Tel: 01625 545700, Fax: 01625 524510

 

 

Should you have any queries, please contact [5][email address]

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Mark Allen

Corporate Information Officer

Corporate Information Unit

 

[6]www.bolton.gov.uk

 

 

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