Finance System for the County of Powys

Powys County Council is in the market to procure a Corporate Finance system that will integrate with other systems used by the services within the Council. The long term aim of the Council is to reduce the number of systems, avoid duplication and reduce the manual manipulation of data.

The system that will be implemented in April 2026, needs to facilitate the changes in processes and behaviours that will move the Council to a position that will enable a full ERP system to be implemented. Powys County Council are required to make significant savings whilst maintaining and improving the services provided.

To make these savings we need to ensure the ICT systems we are using are both fit for purpose and cost effective. Financial systems are at the core of all systems and processes within the council and underpin a range of tasks - managing payments.

System rationalisation has been identified as a key movement towards reducing the amount of systems we support and maintain with the aim of reducing contract fees, resource intensive manual work arounds and maintaining and improving the functionality required. Powys County Council Finance System currently consists of a core system with supporting integrated modules; E-procurement (an electronic ordering system) and Collaborative Planning (for budget monitoring and forecasting), as provided by OneAdvanced, (formerly Advanced Business Solutions- ABS).

There are approx. 10 additional interfacing systems and 1 system operating stand alone. There are approximately 50 staff in the finance support service, consisting of 11 sub-teams each with their own set of requirements and system functionality.

In most cases, each service area comes with its own set of systems to meet the specific requirements of that area. Historically integration of these systems and transference of data has been problematic, preventing consistent and accessible data with senior level management not having access to the required data to make informed decisions.