An independent review of lessons learned from the procurement and implementation of the Arcus Place business system, will be considered by Bracknell Forest Council’s Governance and Audit Committee next week.
The report provides an account of the programme, the challenges experienced following implementation, and the lessons that can be learned for future technology projects.
Arcus Place replaced the council's previous system and supports a range of services including planning, building control, local land charges, highways, mapping and address information.
An independent review was commissioned following significant problems affecting the local land charges service after the system went live. The review examined programme and procurement records, risk and decision information, incident reports and interviews with council and supplier representatives.
The review found that problems affecting local land charges were linked to issues with the migration of data from the previous system and identified a wider range of contributing factors. These included the council’s understanding of legacy data, testing, readiness, risk management and programme capacity. It did not identify a defect in the Arcus software as the direct cause of the issue.
The committee will be asked to consider the findings of the review. The recommendations include developing a single council-wide standard for managing significant technology change and carrying out a risk-based review of the council's major business systems.
The report also highlights the work undertaken by council and supplier staff to restore the local land charges service and reduce the backlog that resulted from the disruption.
Susan Halliwell, chief executive at Bracknell Forest Council, said:
"We acknowledge that we did not meet the standards people rightly expect from us, or the standards we set for ourselves, and we apologise to everyone affected.
“We take these issues very seriously. We have looked carefully at what happened, the lessons learned from this experience and have already put changes in place to strengthen the way we manage major technology projects in the future.”
Cllr Helen Purnell, leader of the council, said:
“I am truly sorry for the inconvenience and frustration this issue caused residents, businesses and professionals who rely on local land charges services.
“This independent report, requested by the Cabinet, has raised challenging questions for the council about the procurement and implementation of new software and how operational issues are managed. I will ensure all recommendations from the report are robustly implemented, so residents receive the high standard of service they rightly expect from us in the future.”
Peter Dewsbury, CEO at Arcus Global, said: “We understand the frustration the disruption to local land charges caused residents and businesses. We committed substantial technical resource to work alongside council colleagues to address issues with the council’s legacy data as quickly and safely as possible, to restore the service to its full capacity. We welcome the review and will continue to support the council as it takes forward the recommendations.”
Further information will be shared following the meeting. The agenda and reports can be found on the council's website.
