Oracle announced on October that the Synergy Programme, which will provide shared services for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Home Office, has selected Oracle Cloud to run its shared services platform. The Synergy Programme will create a single operating model with Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) to reduce costs, standardise finance, supply chain and HR data, and transform corporate services.

The Synergy Programme was set up to implement the next generation of shared services across DWP, DEFRA, MoJ and the Home Office. Standardising on Oracle Cloud will enable the Government to transform corporate services across the Departments; enhance finance, supply chain, and HR processes for almost 250,000 civil servants; drive further efficiency; and deliver improved services and value to citizens.

“We are building a common operating model and establishing business processes that will be used collectively across four Departments that employ nearly half of all civil servants in the UK,” said Chris Murtagh, Chief Technology Officer and ERP Programme Director, Synergy Programme. “Oracle Cloud will create a single platform that will expand insights, increase efficiency, and allow us to better meet the needs of citizens.”

The Synergy Programme is implementing Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM), including payroll, and Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM) to increase productivity, reduce costs, expand insights and enhance employee experience. In addition, Oracle Fusion Data Intelligence and OCI will support supplemental analytics capabilities to help glean deeper insight and improve decision making.  The shared services platform will run in the Oracle Cloud for UK Government & Defence.

“Governmental departments are under ever-increasing pressure to make sure they are working efficiently and cost effectively,” said Siobhan Wilson, senior vice president and UK country leader, Oracle. “The move to Oracle Cloud will increase efficiency and deliver more value to UK citizens”

The implementation will be undertaken by DWP, Oracle, and Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) members IBM and Deloitte, in a joint consortium.