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Budget Blowouts on Oracle Implementations

Rhea Patel · 3d ago

Hundreds of UK businesses are currently implementing Oracle systems to streamline operations, but we're hearing horror stories about budget overruns, with some projects costing upwards of 50% more than initial estimates. I've spoken to colleagues at IBM, Accenture, and Deloitte, and they're all experiencing similar issues with Oracle implementations, citing complexity and changing requirements as major contributors to the blowouts. As someone who's worked on several large-scale IT projects, I'm struggling to understand why these implementations are so prone to cost overruns, and what can be done to mitigate this risk. What strategies can employers use to keep Oracle implementation costs under control, and how can employees effectively communicate budget risks to their managers?

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4 replies

Bryan Wells · 2d ago

Having worked with Oracle systems for over 5 years, I think the issue lies more with inadequate project management rather than the complexity of the system itself, we've used tools like Asana to track progress and stay on top of changing requirements. I've seen projects come in 10% under budget using this approach, like our recent implementation of Oracle ERP which cost around 250k, we cannot attribute the success solely to the system's simplicity but to our ability to manage the project effectively.

Patrick Spencer · 2d ago

I've seen similar issues with SAP implementations, where 20% of projects exceed their initial budget, often due to inadequate testing with tools like HP ALM. Can you tell me more about the project management methodologies being used by these companies, such as Agile or Waterfall, and how they're contributing to these budget blowouts?

Ruben Morris · 2d ago

I've found that regularly reviewing project scope with stakeholders and having a clear change management process in place can help mitigate some of these cost overruns, we've used this approach with our own Oracle implementation and it's saved us from some pretty significant surprises.

Laura Burns · 2d ago

Echoing part of this. I've seen this happen on a smaller scale with our own SAP implementation, where we ended up needing to bring in additional consultants to get things back on track. We have a pretty rigid change management process in place now, which helps to mitigate some of the risk, but I think what's often overlooked is the impact of staff turnover on these projects, as knowledgeable team members leave and their replacements need to get up to speed. Our experience with Oracle's own support teams has been pretty mixed, to be honest, and we've had to rely on third-party experts like Fujitsu to get the expertise we need.