West Sussex's Oracle rollout pushed back again as costs balloon 15 times

West Sussex County Council has once again delayed the implementation of Oracle Fusion for HR and payroll – set to replace an aging SAP system – following a series of setbacks that have seen expected costs swell to more than 15 times the original estimate.

In a notice to schools, the council said the program team had reviewed the previously planned April implementation date and confirmed that Oracle Fusion would now be implemented in October 2026.

"This revised timeline reflects the scale of the change, impacting over 20,000 users, and the need to ensure a safe, stable system with a reliable and accurate payroll, particularly for schools and term-time employees," it said.

In January, the council's Performance & Finance Scrutiny Committee said the Oracle Fusion finance and procurement system was deployed earlier that month to 917 users in line with the "approved timeline," which was itself a revised timeline. It ...