Bureau of Statistics kicks off HR overhaul

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) plans to replace a 10-year-old, customised HR system with off-the-shelf Oracle software in an effort to speed up its upgrade and patching processes.

The People@ABS project aims to provide a standardised, flexible and integrated HR and Payroll system that would be deployed by June 2012 and remain in place for 10 years.

New Oracle eBusiness Suite components would replace a Rainbow HR management and payroll system, PRISM reporting system and Lotus Domino-based self-service applications.

New components include Oracle HR; Time and Labour; Employee/Manager Self Service; HR Analytics; and Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE).

The ABS this week sought an Oracle eBusiness Implementation Partner to assist it with deployment under a contract worth up to $2.4 million.

According to tender documents, “the current systems were developed in-house and have been in place since the early 1990s ... It is no longer feasible to maintain the existing systems."

The new HR solution will support 3,000 office-based staff, 600 Census-data processing centre staff and 600 population survey operations staff.

It would also have to handle some 40,000 Census field staff, employed for six-week periods every five years.

New components were to be integrated with ABS’s current IT environment, including Oracle eBusiness Suite v11.5.10.2 software, a corporate directory, recruitment system, and Payroll Operations Disbursement System.

People@ABS was also required to support any legislative changes and future projects, including a planned upgrade to Oracle Financial v12 (from v11).

“It is essential that the [implementation] ... incorporates steps to ensure the Financials upgrade does not require any significant work or rework of the HR/Payroll implementations,” ABS wrote.

“ABS wishes to implement a solution with minimal customisation ... ABS is willing to consider changes to processes wherever practical to minimise the need for solution customisations.”

Applications for the tender are due on 29 June.