Defence defends MILIS ERP issues

The Department of Defence has defended its new inventory management system, stating that 250 active problems with the system compared “favourably” to other IT implementations of that size.

Fairfax Media today reported that the Military Integrated Logistics Information System (MILIS) had attracted “hundreds of complaints” since it was deployed last July.

MILIS had more than 9,000 users in 160 locations, and was used to manage demands, purchasing, warehousing, distribution and maintenance of Defence’s military inventory.

It tracked 650,000 types of equipment, worth over $9 billion, and currently supported operations in the Middle East, East Timor and the Solomon Islands.

According to Fairfax journalist Dan Oakes, defence personnel complained of delays in purchasing and demand management, and problems that could “affect the capability of naval aviation squadrons”.

A Defence spokesman told iTnews that the problems could be due to “business processes, user actions, and/or the system”.

“The number of problems we have experienced compares favourably to other information system implementations of similar size and complexity,” she said.

“Problems are routinely addressed through scheduled code fixes and through ongoing training and support to provide improved user knowledge and confidence.”

MILIS was conceived in 2003 to bring together more than 100 different logistic information systems in five phases.

It was based on a military off-the-shelf Mincom Ellipse system, expected to be supported by the vendor under warranty.