BU spends $6M on failed computer system

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This article was published 28/02/2024 (614 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon University has pulled the plug on a four-year, multimillion-dollar contract with a Florida-based computer firm after the company failed to deliver a new digital system to run the university’s academic and administrative records.

The contract was connected to the “Renew BU” project, which involved the development and implementation of a new digital enterprise resource planning system to replace the university’s aging homegrown system that was created in 1978.

Following the hiring of a consultant in 2018, and an RFP process to find a suitable company, the contract was awarded by Brandon University’s board of governors to a firm in Orlando called Campus Management in January 2020. That company would later become known as Anthology.

The project started work on March 20, 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. But after spending millions in local staff salaries and fees to Anthology toward the system’s development — more than $6 million combined — Scott Lamont, BU’s vice-president (administration and finance), said it had become clear in late 2023 that Anthology was not going to complete the project.

“At a certain point, we have to say we’re just not going to get there,” said Lamont, who has also been the executive project lead. “It’s an unfortunate outcome. We’re not happy about that. Anthology is not happy about the situation. We’re all disappointed that this is where we’ve ended up.”

The university indicated to Anthology that a decision would have to be made by the end of 2023 on whether to continue with the project. Following a conversation in January, the implementation committee provided a recommendation to the board of governors. The board considered it on Jan. 27, Lamont said, but moved a final decision to Feb. 24 after asking for more information.

“At that point, the decision was made that we would stop this project, working with Anthology,” said Lamont, who broke the news to Anthology on Tuesday. “It doesn’t mean that we’re going to stop the project overall. We still have a legacy system — the old homegrown system that we’ve got that is reliable, just lacks capability compared to most modern systems.

“And so we’re in the process of making sure that it’s going to be stable and able to operate as long as necessary, in order for us to go out and find another ERP supplier that will hopefully better meet our needs this time.”

News of the pending termination of the contract was brought to the Sun’s attention earlier this month by David Huberdeau-Reid, a member of the board who resigned from his post last week — less than a year into his appointment to the institution’s governing body.

Huberdeau-Reid’s resignation letter to Advanced Education Minister Renée Cable — a copy of which was provided to the Sun — cited the university’s mishandling of the contract to develop the new digital ERP system among his reasons for leaving.

His resignation letter referenced a lack of enrolment growth, limited process in research and “a notable failure in fiscal stewardship pertaining to a $6 million ERP system launch.”

Speaking to the Sun by phone from the United States last Friday, Huberdeau-Reid said it was revealed to the board of governors in January that Anthology had yet to provide any results from their work and that three alternatives were pitched: continue with Anthology, continue with a reduced scope, or cancel the project and work on it in-house.

Additionally, he said administration and the rest of his colleagues on the board were unwilling to accept his recommendation that the project be reviewed by a third party.

“How I understand it is, the chair of the board brought up the status … of the project and I think it forced administration to come up with a response,” Huberdeau-Reid said, adding that administration wanted to decide that day on moving forward with an alternative solution. However, he said the decision was pushed off until last Saturday’s special in-camera board meeting.

Huberdeau-Reid questioned whether any part of the fees paid to Anthology could be recouped, and whether the university would even consider court action should it be necessary.

“If we cancel the contract, then do we sue?” Huberdeau-Reid said.

For the moment, however, Lamont said the money spent on the project with Anthology is part of the discussion as the university deals with “ending the relationship.”

“We need to find a way to end the relationship that is fair and reasonable to both parties,” Lamont said. “Both parties worked very hard to get this project done. As you think about how you end a relationship, it’s important that you take into consideration that both entered into this contract in goodwill, and conducted themselves in goodwill. And we hope to end it with goodwill.”

Huberdeau-Reid asserted that costs related to the project have snowballed because of a lack of oversight. Due to the structure of the board, he said, it has been unable to assess the situation in a timely manner and he doesn’t believe he can be part of a solution as a board member, hence the resignation.

“I don’t see the board having significant influence over the governance of the university,” he said. “I think they rubber stamp what the administration does and I don’t see a way that I can effectively change it.”

His resignation, he said, was an attempt to get the provincial government to understand the severity of the situation.

But Lamont said it was an unfair statement for Huberdeau-Reid to suggest that there was any financial mismanagement, either by the company or the university’s staff and administration.

“You keep working your way through, toward the goals you had, and you try to hold people accountable. You have to recognize that the product is what it is … We did adjustments that we could make as we went forward.”

The university had expected the project to cost “roughly” in the $4-5-million range. Had it finished as expected in 2022, it would not have cost as much as it did, Lamont said.

“It’s a ballpark number for the implementation costs,” Lamont said. “It includes everything from our own staff costs, consultants, what’s been paid to Anthology. The full.”

The Renew BU project was meant to completely overhaul the university’s internal software systems, to help move the institution to a modern, digital experience for students, faculty and staff. A new system was required to streamline the application, admission and registration processes, improve transparency around student fees and help the university communicate with everyone from applicants to alumni.

The project has been partially funded through fees paid by BU students. The undergraduate fee table for domestic students for the 2023-24 academic year lists a “Renew BU fee” of $33.60 per every three credit hours of courses a student takes. In the 2022-23 fee schedule, domestic students were charged $32.70 for every three credit hours.

The student fees, Lamont said, were meant to be perpetual service costs even after the project was completed. The fact that the project has come to a crossroads doesn’t change the fact that the goal of modernizing the computer system will continue, and that the student fees will continue into the future.

Reached by email last week, board of governors chair Julee Galvin declined comment.

“I am not available to make any comment,” she wrote. “I know nothing of this resignation letter.”

Also by email, Minister Cable said she thanked Huberdeau-Reid for his time on the board.

“We are reviewing the board member’s letter of resignation and taking the concerns he raised seriously,” Cable said.

The Sun was unable to reach a representative from Anthology, following multiple attempts to reach the company over the past week.

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