Fujitsu confident of meeting IT system deadline

The £66 million project deal between Fujitsu and the council will see the company replace and maintain equipment such as computers and printers in all the local authority’s schools and offices.

The project has already been fraught with delays and missed deadlines and the company came under further fire today from councillors.

It emerged that since schools re-opened this week, there have been 80 reported incidents to the company’s helpdesk regarding the rollout. Difficulties include problems in logging on to the new system, data migration and accessing printers.

Councillor Drew Hendry (Aird and Loch Ness) acknowledged that some progress had been made to address the delays but said it was evident that Fujitsu needed to put in more resources to deliver the project. “It beggars belief that we now have the start of the school term and schools are not set up with all their kit,” he told the council’s resources committee.

Afterwards, Muhunda Satchithananda, the project’s account director, said the company was putting in a significant amount of financial resources and at least an additional 20 staff to complete the project on time. “We are very serious about delivering our obligations,” he said.

* For more on this story, read Friday’s The Inverness Courier.