TAFE NSW has reinforced its commitment to an Oracle-based student management system replacement, despite fielding an unsolicited bid from a rival technology company to step in with its own solution.
The vocational training institute is modernising its student platform, work it kicked off back in 2017.
The intent is to swap out its existing Tribal EBS student management system with one based on Oracle software.
Oracle was picked by the NSW educator back in 2017.
While the project has experienced some delays - which saw accountability for the last part brought back in-house - guidance by the project team in mid-last year was that it would be completed in September 2023.
A TAFE NSW spokeswoman told iTnews it is “still on track for a September release”.
In addition, the spokeswoman confirmed that TAFE NSW is still backing the Oracle technology and had no plans to change it.
Earlier this month, solutions provider TechnologyOne took the unusual step of making a public, unsolicited bid for the modernisation work at TAFE.
“We can all see this long outstanding issue for TAFE and its students urgently needs to be resolved, and as the leading provider of this solution in the education sector, we had no choice but to help,” TechnologyOne’s chief operating officer Stuart MacDonald said in a statement.
TechnologyOne pointed to the upgrade being delayed for several years, and was $32 million over budget.
In its proposal, TechnologyOne promised to provide "a true SaaS solution and industry-leading technology platform at no risk to NSW TAFE [sic], while supporting delivery of the government's skills agenda and save taxpayers $300 million."
But TAFE NSW's spokeswoman told iTnews that it “has no plans for changing the platform from Oracle”.
TechnologyOne has had prior business with Australian universities and TAFEs, in competition with Oracle.
According to MacDonald, TechnologyOne's software is used by two out of every three Australian TAFEs, and almost half of Australian universities.
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