Re: Birmingham City Council chose Oracle, went broke because of it ;)

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From: Dave Page <[email protected]>
To: Chris Travers <[email protected]>
Cc: Benjamin Scherrey <[email protected]>
Cc: Magnus Hagander <[email protected]>
Cc: Justin Clift <[email protected]>
Cc: PostgreSQL Advocacy <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Birmingham City Council chose Oracle, went broke because of it ;)
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2023 10:54:02 +0100
Message-ID: <CA+OCxoyQ_OnGBY5B=sjXk03CEWjQGRV2hV60wfLJKWD_JD0Dkw@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAKt_Zft+B7KBw-PcBH0FuhOyfUZy=e_Z-4H64OqJM8p1QLeSJQ@mail.gmail.com>
References: <[email protected]>
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On Thu, 7 Sept 2023 at 10:51, Chris Travers <[email protected]> wrote:

> An important lesson here is to always sit down with a client and
> understand their needs before selling an ERP.......
>

Meanwhile, there's a sales guy (well, team) somewhere feeling very happy
about all the consulting hours they're booking and what their commission is
going to be...


>
> On Thu, Sep 7, 2023 at 3:51 PM Benjamin Scherrey <
> [email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Well a) the costs of the system (still undelivered) is 4x the initial
>> contract ; and b) they've determined that the ERP was incapable of
>> performing the functions of the contract because it orientation for
>> manufacturing rather than HR. So not even Oracle has a competing product!
>>
>> On Thu, Sep 7, 2023, 4:28 PM Dave Page <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, 7 Sept 2023 at 09:23, Magnus Hagander <[email protected]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Thu, Sep 7, 2023 at 1:49 AM Justin Clift <[email protected]>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> > Heh Heh Heh.  This is pretty funny:
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/05/birmingham_city_council_oracle/
>>>> >
>>>> >    "Birmingham City Council, the largest local authority in Europe,
>>>> has
>>>> >     declared itself in financial distress after troubled Oracle
>>>> project
>>>> >     costs ballooned from £20 million to around £100 million ($125.5
>>>> > million)."
>>>> >
>>>> > Wonder if they'll make the smart choice next time around, and choose
>>>> PG
>>>> > + a decent vendor instead? :)
>>>>
>>>> In fairness, that project is about Oracle Fusion, not the database. So
>>>> PG doesn't have a competing product. There are opensource ERP products
>>>> out there, but I'm not sure they're advanced enough to handle
>>>> something like that...
>>>>
>>>
>>> Indeed. It also only amounts for a fraction of the council's
>>> liabilities. The vast majority is from an equal pay judgement against them,
>>> which iirc, totals a couple of billion pounds (of which they've paid off
>>> over half in the last decade I believe).
>>>
>>> So, yeah, the Oracle thing is a massive screw up. But it's not what
>>> caused the majority of their problems.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Dave Page
>>> pgAdmin: https://www.pgadmin.org
>>> PostgreSQL: https://www.postgresql.org
>>> EDB: https://www.enterprisedb.com
>>>
>>> PGDay UK 2023, September 12, London: https://2023.pgday.uk
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
> --
> Best Wishes,
> Chris Travers
>
> Efficito:  Hosted Accounting and ERP.  Robust and Flexible.  No vendor
> lock-in.
> http://www.efficito.com/learn_more
>


-- 
Dave Page
pgAdmin: https://www.pgadmin.org
PostgreSQL: https://www.postgresql.org
EDB: https://www.enterprisedb.com

PGDay UK 2023, September 12, London: https://2023.pgday.uk

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