Council replaces legacy IT systems

The Northern Ireland council is working with TechnologyOne to replace legacy IT systems with the new industry-leading OneCouncil SaaS solution.

The mobile-enabled system will help transform the council’s digital experience by bringing together finance, HR, payroll and procurement systems into a single, enterprise solution. This will allow the council to improve efficiencies, by reducing manual data inputting and improving data quality, analytics and reporting.

Replacing legacy Totalmobile on-premise software with TechnologyOne’s SaaS OneCouncil solution, the Council will simplify how its 800 employees access financial, HR and payroll systems.

Employees will be able to access business tools and information using any device, anywhere and at any time. This will make it easier for them to update and view their personnel records, including payslips and holiday entitlement, and request annual leave online self-service. The reduction of paperwork will also be in line with a key Council objective – the protection of our environment.

Kieran Carville, Interim Head of Finance at Mid & East Antrim says the council chose TechnologyOne because its OneCouncil approach provided a single, integrated solution for day-to-day operations. The council was formed in 2015 following the merger of Ballymena, Larne and Carrickfergus borough councils, which has led to it inheriting and having to operate a number of separate IT systems.

“The linking of HR, payroll and finance systems in one place will be a huge benefit to us,” said Carville. “By digitising and automating workflow process we will bring new efficiencies and savings for the council. It’s a massive leap forward from where we currently are. All our admin will be automated giving us much more time to focus on more useful work and continuing to deliver improvements for our citizens.”

By replacing aging IT systems and moving them on to a highly secure SaaS platform, the council also expects to reduce the burden of managing technology systems, while also improving flexibility and better facilitating remote working.

“We wanted to move away from server-based systems and COVID-19 has really emphasised the importance of this. Our employees are having to work from home and are currently needing to use VPNs to connect, so TechnologyOne’s SaaS systems will be hugely beneficial going forward,” he said.

TechnologyOne’s partnership with Mid & East Antrim Borough Council marks further growth for the technology company in Northern Ireland. Last year TechnologyOne announced Mid Ulster District Council signed a SaaS deal to help transform its council operations.

TechnologyOne CEO Ed Chung added: “A growing number of councils in Northern Ireland are switching to our OneCouncil SaaS solution as they realise that by removing the burden of managing their own technology environment they can focus on delivering better services to both their employees and the community.”

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