Still Sapping Somerset

If Bullying is the hallmark of Excellence in Somerset, then surely SAP must be its pinnacle. An enterprise-wide solution (aka "a Problem in Disguise") costing tens of millions of pounds, being managed by a foreign body, is held up as the ultimate achievement of the Excellence Years (2003-2009).

So it was a bit of a disappointment to be joined by someone claiming to be a "School Bursar" when we were discussing it down at the Dog & Duck last night.

A growing number of regulars work for organisations who are owed money by SAP but have not been paid, ("it's getting silly!" is the sort of facile statement we are having to put up with from ignorant yokels who do contracting or whatever for the Council).

'You think you've got problems,' said the Bursar, 'schools haven't been able to reconcile SIMS to SAP since the beginning of the year!'

'Huh?' chorused the ignorant yokels.

'What's that got to do with how I'm supposed to pay my wages tomorrow?' yelled some lout from the bar.

'What's a SIM?' asked Daffer.

'SIMS' the Bursar corrected him. 'It's the schools' management system, what we do our accounts on.'

Now, if Albert Einstein were still with us, he would have understood immediately. But for the rest of us, this poor Bursar chappie had to spell it out before we would allow him to go back to drowning his sorrows at the bar.

It seems that the County spends most of our money (hundreds of millions a year, in fact) through schools, and the schools all do their own budgeting. Now, due to the SAP débâcle, none of them can check that they've got it right this year, and if they haven't .... well they won't find out about it until it's too late anyway.

None of which will explain how SAP's creditors are supposed to pay their wages this week ... :-(

What the SAP ...

... is all this about?

Blaming computers for staff stress and political change in Somerset?

And can't any of these techies speak English?

More gobbly-gook here.

A farewell to Excellence?

It has been pointed out to us that without Bullying we may also have to say au revoir (sorry, that should read “adieu”, get it right Duck!) to our old friend Excellence.

As for whatever it was that would have lain “Beyond Excellence”, well without the Bully Boys to tell us we’ve reached it, that will return to the realms of Scientific Impossibility. (Hey! Maybe that will speed Albert Einstein’s return from the Loony Bin! Ed.)

You see, as we have hinted in the past (but not properly explained – yet), there is an inextricable link between Excellence and Bullying in Somerset. It’s to do with these people from London and Brussels and places like that, who send little men called “inspectors” to Somerset. We’ll get Carla to explain how it works – next time she is in Somerset.

Meanwhile, we just hope that the new members will realise that the ignorant yokels won’t even notice if they shed the plus, or even a star or two. In fact, if it means more resources for libraries, PMCs, roads, achievement, care, etc. …. then we may actually welcome it!

A farewell to Bullying?

When new Leader Ken Maddock interviews Jonesy later on today, we hope he will make one thing, above all others, absolutely clear.

There must be no more bullying at SCC. No bullying of staff, and certainly no bullying of Councillors.

You see, the recently consulted electorate has a right to expect its representatives to ask questions of senior managers - however “unhelpful” such questions are considered to be.

We also have a right to expect that our representatives can ask questions without fear of incurring a trawl of the thousands of SCC employees to see whether they might have ever said, done or thought anything that anyone could possibly consider to be inappropriate, unhelpful, rude, exasperated, or downright despairing.

Not many people on God's Earth could survive such a trawl unscathed, and unless Ken gets this straight right from the start, then we really did waste our time at the booths on Thursday.

Thanks Ken!

Cultural Bullying?

Now that the elections are all over, the landlord is allowing us to post again. Hurray!

So … regardless of who wins the elections (party-wise that is), we feel that the issue of Bullying ought to be addressed by the new members. You see, down at the Dog & Duck we agree with Sir Chris Clarke that this sort of thing is a bit unhealthy, and really shouldn’t be allowed.

Some of the latest raw material can be found in this article, which needs reading ...

Expect more on bullying from the Dog & Duck in coming weeks, drawing on the archives and personal experiences of the regular and casual clientèle.