RT\u00c9 Statement<\/p>\n
“The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project is one of the projects that was funded from the proceeds of RT\u00c9’s land sale in 2017, the initial business case for the project having been approved in September 2016. Its purpose was to replace five disparate, legacy systems that were used for Finance and HR which were at or near end of life (one of them having been installed in 2001, another two installed in 2003).<\/p>\n
This project was one of 39 capital projects completed or being implemented by RT\u00c9 since January 2020 and which cost in the region of \u20ac0.5m or more. The total spend for all such projects comes to c.\u20ac57m overall, with a total variance to the initial budget approved of less than \u20ac0.5m.<\/p>\n
By way of background, following an extensive public procurement process in 2018, two suppliers were appointed, Lot 3 in the original tender. Furthermore, theirs was the cheapest proposal and it was considered that this proposal would be the most economically advantageous to RT\u00c9.<\/p>\n
However, issues arose almost immediately, and the project was, by January 2019, already behind schedule. These issues were largely due to a lack of resources provided by those parties to the project, resource constraints within RT\u00c9, the build quality of the product in testing which did not meet expectations and over-ambitious timelines.\u00a0 This was compounded in 2020 with the outbreak of Covid 19 and the disruption caused by same.<\/p>\n
As a results of issues arising, the contract was terminated with one of the appointed suppliers This was the subject of a Settlement Agreement which is the subject of a confidentiality clause.<\/p>\n
RT\u00c9 then engaged extensively with the other supplier to agree a plan that would facilitate the supplier delivering the maximum possible value of the contract. Ultimately, in August 2022 the project restarted following a phased approach with an initial finance implementation followed by subsequent phases for HR and other auxiliary functionality.<\/p>\n
The finance system went live in March 2023. RT\u00c9 did not ultimately proceed with the HR modules. In accordance with accounting\u00a0standards\u00a0RT\u00c9 was required to review and record impairments\u00a0in respect of this project\u00a0from 2019 to\u00a02023. The majority of the impairment relates to the effort to deliver the HR part of the project, amounting to \u20ac2.3m. The remaining \u20ac1.3m related to the delay and effort in delivering the Finance element of the project.\u00a0Impairments were noted\u00a0in RT\u00c9’s approved Annual Accounts\u00a0during the years 2020-2023, but more specific details relating to this project have been disclosed to the Minister as part of the review of capital projects.<\/p>\n
This impairment is very much an exception in the context of extensive projects delivered annually by RT\u00c9. This is evidenced by the fact that in Q1 2023 RT\u00c9 recognised that this project was an \u2018outlier\u2019 and had commissioned consultants (Ernst & Young) to conduct a review of it so that lessons could be learned to minimize the risk of recurrence. The Ernst & Young report was presented to the RT\u00c9 Board’s Audit and Risk Committee at its meeting on 20th April 2023 and discussed. It was also discussed by the RT\u00c9 Board at its meeting on 27th April 2023.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the corporate governance reforms introduced by RT\u00c9 over the past 18\u00a0months are designed to mitigate against the risk of recurrence of such issues.<\/p>\n
The HR tender was designed to replace the existing legacy HR systems with one modern, scalable, and secure solution that can support all the HR functions and processes of RT\u00c9. This system will enable RT\u00c9 to address legacy workflows and reporting issues and be fit for purpose for the future.\u00a0 Recommendation 22 (HR Information Systems) made in the Expert Advisory Committee’s Independent Review of Contractor Fees, Human Resources (HR) and Other Matters in RT\u00c9 published by Minister Catherine Martin TD last year recommends that RT\u00c9 prioritise the proposed investment in new HR information systems.”<\/p>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RT\u00c9 Statement “The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project is one of the projects that was funded from the proceeds of RT\u00c9’s land sale in 2017, the initial business case for the project having been approved in September 2016. Its purpose was to replace five disparate, legacy systems that were used for Finance and HR which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2001959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21,22,91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2005849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-media-centre","category-press-releases","category-statements-and-speeches"],"yoast_head":"\n