NHS England (NHSE) has called for tenders to help move and integrate its enterprise resource planning systems to the cloud.
The tenders are for advice regarding the project’s feasibility and he organisation said the ‘Discovery Project’ will build on the work being performed within the Electronic Staff Record [ESR] and Integrated Single Finance Environment [ISFE] programmes.
The NHSE warned that the tenders are “not linked to a contracting opportunity” but to identify the pros and cons of choosing an integrated ERP versus separate finance and ESR systems.
ESR is part of the Workforce Services Directorate within the NHS Business Services Authority, and almost every NHS organisation in England uses ESR to manage payroll and HR records. The current system is based on Oracle’s e-Business suite and is managed by the NHS ESR Central Team, which works in partnership with IBM to oversee the operational delivery of the solution.
The ISFE is the financial platform allows NHSE to run its core financial processes. The key functionalities of ISFE include general ledger and financial accounting; cash management; management reporting; and VAT services.
More than 450 organisations would come under the scope of the new system, including all integrated care systems, foundations trusts and over 1.7 million employees.
The potential functionalities sought in the new system include HR, payroll, finance, procurement, recruitment, learning, talent management, and planning and budgeting.
