Transition from SAP to Oracle costs 8 million euros more than budgeted

The cost of switching from SAP to Oracle administrative software has risen significantly. The budget has been exceeded by a total of 8.3 million euros, according to an EM calculation. That is 70 per cent more than originally budgeted.

A document submitted to the University Council showed on Tuesday that the bill for the project, codenamed VB26 (Business Operations Renewal 2026), is rising by a further 2.31 million euros.

The unexpected costs stem, among other things, from an analysis by consultancy firm PwC. The analysis concluded that the university had assigned too little project management and support, creating a risk that the project would not be completed properly. The extra staff required cost 950,000 euros. More temporary staff were also hired because it turned out that the university’s own staff lacked the time and specialist knowledge needed to carry out this large-scale project. That cost a further 823,000 euros.

Another major unforeseen expense is the introduction of Youforce payroll software. Funding had been requested for 2025, but was no longer available after the launch of Oracle was postponed by a year – a setback of 473,000 euros. There were other unspecified overspends totalling 292,000 euros. There was one saving: 227,000 euros was saved on communications about the project and staff support.

Delay

There had already been other setbacks before. Oracle was originally due to go live at the beginning of 2026, but the university was not ready in time and had to postpone it by a year, to 1 January 2027. The delay cost the university 4.5 million euros. A further 1.5 million euros is being allocated for continued implementation in 2027. This, too, had not been budgeted for previously. The total overspend is therefore 8.31 million euros, or 70 per cent. The VB26 project was originally budgeted at 11.9 million euros and has will so far cost 20.2 million euros.

There are also the project’s regular annual costs, which are estimated at 2.1 million euros a year.