Wellington upgrades to retain PeopleSoft support

Wellington City Council is upgrading its PeopleSoft implementation after Oracle retired support for PeopleSoft 8.4.

The council is on “sustaining support” and any changes to its environment will not be supported by Oracle in the event of an issue with PeopleSoft, tender documents say.

The council comprises over forty business areas and teams that perform a wide range of functions from the provision of core infrastructure services, such as roads, water and waste services, to developing the arts and preserving Wellington's cultural heritage.

Wellington City Council uses Oracle’s PeopleSoft for its financial and supply chain (FMIS), human resources (HRIS) and enterprise performance management (EPM), according to the tender. The HRIS and EPM systems are currently version 8.9 of the applications and underlying middleware.

After the takeover of PeopleSoft by Oracle in December 2004, Wellington's support policies included: premier support, for maintenance and support of Oracle database, Oracle Fusion middleware, and Oracle applications for five years from their general availability date.

Extended support provided an extra three years of support for specific Oracle releases for an additional fee.

Sustaining support provides technical support for as long as the council operate PeopleSoft — including access to online support tools, knowledgebases, pre-existing fixes and assistance from technical support experts.

The purpose of the tender is to upgrade PeopleSoft FMIS from version 8.4 to version 9.0 to provide up-to-date, tight financial control, integrity, reliability and financial management, the tender says.

"This upgrade will enable three-way matching and provides a solution platform for e-procurement projects that will be undertaken by the council. In addition, there is a requirement for all customisations and systems to be documented to the council standards," it says.