10 years and AU$752m later, NSW fesses up to LMBR costs

The NSW Department of Education (DET) has revealed the total cost and schedule of its Learning Management and Business Reform (LMBR) project, with all schools to finally be on the system by the end of next year.

"Total costs for the program from its start in 2006 until completion are AU$752 million," DET said in a statement yesterday.

"Capital costs for the program are expected to be up to AU$470 million. Essential operational costs, such as implementation and staff training, which were never budgeted for by the previous government, amount to AU$282 million.

"Costs are associated with seven major IT solutions across schools, TAFE, and corporate offices."

DET claimed LMBR will deliver in excess of AU$100 million in benefits annually, with 426 schools currently on the system, and 1,100 slated by the end of 2016, before the deployment is completed at the end of 2017.

LMBR initially set out to replace the then-15-year-old legacy finance, human resources, and payroll systems with SAP systems in 2006. The system was rolled out to both public schools and TAFE NSW.

Earlier this month, TAFE NSW said it would replace its LMBR system which was deployed in 2009.

"A modern, cloud-based system will enable students to easily manage their training records and TAFE NSW to adapt more quickly to new policy settings," NSW Minister for Skills John Barilaro said.

"The new system will need to effectively support TAFE NSW's financial systems in the new commercial and contestable training environment."