GN begins move to Oracle for information, money management
Cloud platform to eventually replace existing payroll system
The Nunavut government has begun phasing in a new software program to manage financial data, invoice payments and eventually payroll. (File photo)
The Nunavut government is rolling out new software to manage invoice payments, job competitions and — eventually — payroll.
The Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning Platform is scheduled to go into effect at the Government of Nunavut this month, said Hala Duale, spokesperson with the Finance Department.
“This will replace the aging financial and [human resources] systems we have been using for over 20 years,” she said Friday in an email to Nunatsiaq News.
The government will use the system to manage internal day-to-day operations, such as paying invoices, collecting revenues, managing assets and tracking job competitions.
“We are not releasing anything to do with payroll now,” Duale said.
“Later, many months from now, the GN plans to release modules related to payroll, time, and attendance. These are complex, and it is important we give ourselves the time to develop and test them thoroughly.”
Oracle is a U.S.-based cloud computing company.
Several government organizations use Oracle for data management, including Ontario and Nova Scotia’s health systems. Other customers include the cities of San Francisco, Tampa and Memphis, the Panama Canal, and Port Authority of Jamaica, according to the Oracle website.
“This is a big change,” Duale said of the government’s adoption of the new software.
“It will take a while for the GN to get comfortable with the system.”
The Nunavut Employees Union is monitoring the rollout of the new system.
“We advocated for training on the new system and were told no jobs would be lost in its implementation by the employer,” said Jason Rochon, the union’s president, in an email to Nunatsiaq News.
“While we cannot comment on the new payroll system, which is yet to be implemented, our hopes are that it better supports GN employees, many of whom are our members, instead of making things more difficult like the Phoenix system did federally.”
The Phoenix system is a software platform for managing payroll implemented by the federal government in spring 2016. Its introduction almost immediately caused many tens of thousands of federal workers to be paid incorrectly over two years, including unionized public servants in Nunavut.
The union plans to listen to its members as the payroll system rolls out and will take “necessary action” if the system fails government employees, Rochon said.
The Nunavut Employees Union represents more than 4,000 of the territory’s public servants, excluding teachers, who have their own agreement with the government.
Human Resources Minister Pamela Gross announced the change Nov. 1. At the time, she heralded the new software as “state of the art” and a “milestone.”
In addition to cutting back on paperwork, Gross said the system will “significantly improve the quality, quantity and timeliness” of workforce data management.
Watch the GN crumble in to pieces with this new high technology 🤣 it’s not like they were keeping up with the old system 😂
Isn’t the Government of Nunavut (GN) falling behind on almost everything? Education, infrastructure, healthcare, family services, and child protection—just to name a few. Nunavut continues to struggle while the federal government hands out millions for feasibility studies and program implementation through Inuit organizations and the GN. Yet, where is the real action?
Take housing, social services, and healthcare, for example—so much money is spent on planning, but little meaningful progress is made. What’s being implemented now was planned five years ago, and by the time new initiatives roll out, they’re already outdated. QEC, CGS, and the City of Iqaluit employ highly paid engineers and project managers, yet we see few visible improvements.
Family Services is given deadlines to improve child protection, but children are still suffering in unsafe situations. Education in Nunavut is so far behind the rest of Canada that many young people struggle to qualify for the careers they aspire to in the south. Meanwhile, nurses and doctors are underpaid compared to contractors, making it more appealing for them to work through agencies instead of committing to Nunavut’s healthcare system.
And then, during election time, we hear all the right promises from politicians—how they plan to improve things, how they will bring real change. I can name a few who are genuinely making a difference for Nunavummiut, but why aren’t more of you taking action now, while in office? Why does it take an election to talk about fixing these ongoing issues? Nunavut deserves better than empty promises. We need action—not just words when you’re seeking a seat.
Congratulations to the GN on entering the future of cloud computation… Oracle circa 2010
Oracle is not known for managing money.
Oracle is known for taking your money, and taking more of your money, and then taking even more of your money.
If you just lease an Oracle database, you pay through the nose for every employee you have.
If you go for Oracle Cloud with customized applications, you are looking at an up front cost in the 10s of millions of dollars. Then comes the “per seat, per year” billing. And then comes the “Oracle Audit”, for even more money.
Instead of paying to buy what the GN needs, the GN has opened up a direct money pipeline to Oracle headquarters.
Oracle makes one of, if not the, best enterprise databases. Any of them is expensive to acquire and maintain. I’m not sure what you’d choose in it’s place.
MariaDB is one of 25 open-source databases available for free and described at https://geekflare.com/dev/open-source-database/
“MariaDB is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) developed as a substitute for MySQL by its original creator, Michael “Monty” Widenius. This software is trusted by big brands like Wikipedia, WordPress.com, and Google.
It is a fast, scalable, and reliable solution for transforming data into structured information. Perfect for banking systems, websites, and beyond, MariaDB efficiently handles diverse applications. As a drop-in replacement for MySQL, it delivers exceptional flexibility through its advanced storage engines, plugins, and tools.”
It supports tables up to 64TB (terabytes) in size. With 5000 employees, the GN’s data requirements are trivial by comparison.
The only reason for wanting an “enterprise database” is to pad one’s resume or to have someone to blame if things go wrong. For that the GN is paying many 10s of $1,000,000 – and will go on paying, forever.
This guy speaks like a true person who has used Oracle before. As a DBA myself, your not wrong. LOL
This is the system used by GNWT for their payroll. You enter your time and are approved or not approved, no nonsense like filling out a time sheet that gets scanned and reentered by your Dept’s corporate division that has an army of data entry people. No lost sheets. No errors in typing it back in. The GN will actually have to pay nurse shift differentials and managers OT is approved or not on the spot.
The roll out of this is going to be an absolute sh*tshow. Popcorn anybody?
Have you used it yet? How does it look?
“Have you used it yet? How does it look?”
It looks like I won’t get paid because my supervisor has not approved my time card because…
I went to the courthouse a few weeks ago and had to pay my filing fee with, and I quote, “cash, money order, or certified cheque.” Then the poor guy had to scramble to get me change.
Yeah … a complex, cloud based financial IT service is EXACTLY what we need to focus on right now.
If you’ve ever wondered what a spurious relationship is, check this out.
End of day one and barely a lick of training. Not sure how it’s going for everyone else.
Just get an election for new leaders for Nunavut. And get a new mayor for Arviat. Now GN are saying these, should’ve been done long time ago and they say they are working on it now. For sure there is illegal activity inside the government Nunavut. And when the community justice of Nunavut says reports are going down in Nunavut and Arviat don’t even have any community justice that’s why there’s not much report. No community justice because this mental health worker in Arviat is refusing to sign application form authorization signature. I guess I will just wait for new PM and I will talk with him and show him the information I try to send and give a tip to the people who are the pretenders in the work place.