Los Alamos selects vendor for Integrated Business Management System

Contact: James Rickman, elvis@lanl.gov, (505) 665-9203 (01-121)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Nov. 27, 2001 -- The U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory has selected Oracle Corp. of Redwood Shores, Calif., to supply software that will help integrate, unify, modernize and streamline Los Alamos’ administrative operations. The contract is worth nearly $4 million over four years.

The Laboratory is in the process of standardizing its operations through an Enterprise Resource Planning system — a computer-based system that will improve the way the Laboratory handles administrative functions, including financial records, time-and-effort reporting, project management and facility maintenance. Choosing Oracle as software vendor for the ERP system is the first step toward improving Laboratory administrative functions.

“We are looking forward to having Oracle as a key player in our efforts to re-engineer the Laboratory’s business practices,” said Director John Browne. “Oracle has an outstanding record and we believe they will provide important assistance to us.”

The Laboratory began the process of implementing an ERP system in August. A team of Laboratory employees led by Charles Slocomb, ERP Project director, has been evaluating how best to design and implement an ERP system. Selection of the software vendor is the first milestone in the process.

“The ERP Project team has done a remarkable amount of work since it was given the go ahead in August,” said Slocomb. “Oracle was unanimously selected by the team, which included representatives from the Laboratory’s Human Resources, Business Operations, Facilities Management, Project Management and Information Management divisions.

We had the right people involved in the selection process — people who represent the primary users of the ERP system. We look forward to moving ahead rapidly in the ERP system implementation process.”

The next step for the ERP system project team will be to select computing hardware that will modernize the Laboratory’s administrative computing infrastructure and will maximize the performance of the Oracle software. The hardware selection will be made in the near future. Following this step, the project team will go through the process of selecting an external integrator to work side-by-side with the Lab project team.

Implementing an ERP system will help the Laboratory meet its objective of being a customer-focused, unified laboratory. An ERP system will allow the Laboratory to integrate business practices and financial controls and give managers access to timely data and facts.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.