KPMG Crimsonwing wins ERP rollout tender with UK police forces
The police forces of Surrey, Sussex and Thames Valley have selected KPMG to design and deliver an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to improve the forces’ service portfolio and efficiency. The new ERP will aim to improve collaboration and flexibility between, and for, the forces’ members.
The police forces in Surrey, Sussex and Thames Valley each cover extensive areas and together guard around 4.8 million people with public safety and crime protection services. The forces, like many across the country, including that of the Metropolitan Police Service, are seeking to modernise their operations by embracing digital ways of working and a range of technological tools. A survey from Accenture held late 2014 showed that the public too expects police forces to speed up its adoption of digital – three out of four UK citizens that participated in the survey said that the police should expand its use of digital tools as this would improve services.
In a bid to procure a supplier to support the modernisation process, the forces ran a competitive tender for an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) transformation. Following a due diligence on several bids that came in, KPMG came out on top as the winner of the procurement process. KPMG Crimsonwing, a subsidiary of KPMG with more than 350 employees*, will work with several service lines of KPMG UK to deploy a Microsoft Dynamics platform that will be used by the forces’ more than 18,000 employees.
Through the platform the forces will be better able to operate and organise their respective organisations, thereby increasing their efficiency. The efficiency is expected to be gained in a number of areas, including improved collaboration through better access to business and management information, as well as more flexible work options, through mobile working, due to the cloud based solution.
The ERP system, based on the Microsoft Dynamics platform, will cover a wide range of distinct functional areas within the wider operation of the police forces, including finance, fleet, procurement, HR, learning and development, payroll, and duty management. Rostering activity will be delivered through a third party solutions provider, Crown Duty Management System. The new system is set to ‘go live’ by the end of 2017.
Jane Harwood, Senior Responsible Officer for Surrey Police – representing the three forces, comments: “Through using this technology, Surrey, Sussex and Thames Valley Police will reduce the administrative burden on officers and staff, enabling the forces to deliver even better policing for their communities. We will undoubtedly continue to see more shared service platforms being delivered within UK policing as forces strive to work together to drive greater efficiency, and indeed in the wider public sector as devolution continues.”
Matthew Payne, UK Director at KPMG Crimsonwing, says: “With organisations in both the public and private sector looking to simplify their systems even as their operations become more complex, there’s a greater call for effective, efficient ERP solutions such as this. By improving back end systems, organisations can deliver better to evolving customer needs.”
* KPMG was formed in November 2014 following the acquisition of Crimsonwing by KPMG.
