Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor D Stockton.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

In the interest of openness, Councillor L Gittins declared that she knew the Chairman of Agilisys Ltd.

There were no members of the public present.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 16 April 2018

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 April 2018 be confirmed as a correct record.

To consider a report on the progress being made in implementing a replacement HR and Finance system for the Councils and their partners

The Committee considered a report which detailed the progress being made in implementing a replacement HR and Finance system for the Councils and their partners.

Following the conditional sign off of the ‘build complete’ milestone on 29 March, the programme was on target for a completion date of 31 May for the outstanding activities required to demonstrate that the build had been completed.

Approval had been given to move into the User Acceptance Testing phase of the programme.  This would be managed on a staged basis, with some areas of the system being ready to test, whilst others required a short additional period of preparation before it could begin.    The Joint Committee members asked that they be briefed on how the testing went.

It was proposed that the planned go live date be extended to 1 October 2018 and it was recommended that an additional contingency period of one month be set aside and budgeted for in the event of the revised date becoming unachievable.  An update report would be brought to the next meeting following finalisation and approval of the revised project plan targeting a go live date of 1 October 2018 and would include an update on the programme’s financial position.

RESOLVED:  That the Committee

1        note the current programme status, including the positive progress made in resolving outstanding build activities, the commencement of User Acceptance Testing, and the pausing of other programme activities to allow focus on testing readiness;

2        note the continued business change and engagement activities which are underway to ensure the Councils and partner organisations are aware of and prepared for the forthcoming system change:

3        endorse the proposed extension to the planned go-live date to 1 October, with a further contingency of one month beyond this date being allowed for; and

4        note that funding of £600,000 to meet potential additional costs of this extension has been identified by each Council from existing resources, subject to required formal approvals.

To consider a report which outlines proposals to change the governance arragnements for the Shared Services Joint Committee

The Committee considered a report on proposals to change the governance arrangements for the Shared Services Joint Committee.

A workshop for members of the Joint Committee and officers from the Joint Officer Board had been held on 2 May 2018, which had agreed the following proposals:

·       the Joint Committee to focus on the shared services going through change and transition  - namely ICT Services, Transactional Services Centre, Archives & Best4Business

·       the remaining shared services to produce a short annual update outlining the year’s performance, achievements and any planned significant changes

·       the number of meetings be reduced to two a year plus an informal workshop

·       the Joint Officer Board to retain its role supporting and facilitating the work of the Joint Committee, focusing more of its activity and time on shared opportunities and also reduce its frequency of meetings to mirror the Joint Committee.

The Constitution, Terms of Reference and Financial Memorandum would be updated to reflect the changes.  A comprehensive update report would be brought to the next meeting of the Joint Committee in July setting out the revised governance arrangements, which would come into effect following that meeting.

RESOLVED:  That the Committee

1        agree that the Shared Services Joint Committee moving forward will undertake a deeper focus on those shared services in a state of change and transition (ICT Services, Transactional Services Centre, Archives & Best4Business at this time);

2        agree that the five remaining shared services currently operating in a stable fashion will only produce a short annual update outlining the year’s performance, achievements and any planned significant changes in the future for the Committee;

3        agree to two formal Shared Service Joint Committee meetings per year, taking place in May and November and one informal workshop;

4        agree that if required a Shared Service Joint Committee can be called by exception by the Chair;

5        agree that if required, establish informal joint working groups made up from representatives of this Committee along with officers from both Councils to discuss potential future sharing opportunities; and

6        note these changes would come into effect following the next Shared Services Joint Committee meeting scheduled in July 2018.