University Accuses Oracle of Extortion, Lies, ‘Rigged’ Demo in Lawsuit - moodyolded1943

Recently details take over emerged in Montclair State University's lawsuit against Oracle in connection with a troubled ERP (enterprisingness resource preparation) visualise, in a court filing that includes more info about Prophesier's alleged failings and too accuses the seller of extortion as well as "inducement" the institution to exact on the implementation.

Montclair's amended ailment, which was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Territory of Garden State, states that Oracle made an array of "intentionally false statements" regarding the functionality of its base ERP system, the amount of customization that would be required, and the amount of "time, resources, and force that the University would possess to devote."

"Ultimately, after missing a critical go-live deadline for the University's finance system, Oracle sought to extort millions of dollars from the University by advising the University that it would not complete the implementation of the … project unless the University united to pay millions of dollars more than the nonmoving fee the University and Seer had previously agreed to," it adds.

Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger declined comment.

In a reaction earlier this twelvemonth to Montclair's original charge, Oracle said the university was to blame for the project's woes.

"When issues arose during the naturally of the undertaking, information technology became light that MSU's leading did non adequately understand the technology and the steps necessary to complete the project," it stated. "Or else of cooperating with Oracle and resolving issues through discussions and collaboration, MSU's undertaking leading, motivated by their own schedule and fearful of being blamed for delays, escalated obedient differences into major disputes."

Only more than equal its original filing, MSU's revised ill tells a overmuch different tale.

MSU wanted to replace its bequest systems with a new uncomparable requiring minimal customization, according to its revised charge. The school spent a year developing a detailed requirements list that concluded heavenward totaling some 3,200 items.

This name was given to vendors, including Vaticinator, who responded to the school's original quest for project bids several years ago, it adds.

In January 2008, Oracle told the school that its base PeopleSoft system for higher education institutions would satisfy 95 percent of MSU's business enterprise requirements, the ailment states. "This representation was false."

Before IT South Korean won the bid, Oracle also conducted live demonstrations of its software that used test scripts prepared by the university. Unmatched monstrance involved "a robust on-line applications programme process for Undergrad and Graduate Admissions … that it falsely represented was an existing part of the establish system and satisfied the University's requirements," the complaint states.

But in point of fact, "Oracle's last-ditch execution plan was to sell the University a third-party merchandise called 'Embark' to fulfill those requirements, suggesting the initial 'live' demonstration was rigged," it adds. A "substantial" amount of customization was needed in the end, according to the ailment.

Oracle also misled Montclair State about how long the project would take, saying it could be done quickly through a methodology IT had developed, the complaint states. At the same time, Seer was elaboration a contract with the Lone Virtuoso College System to install a similar set of software, it adds. Oracle repeatedly told MSU that the Lone Star cast was comparable its own plans, accordant to the complaint.

In fact, "the number of personnel department and resources useable to the Lonely Star College System to complete its execution … was tetrad times greater than the personnel and resources obtainable to the University to implement its ERP system," the complaint states.

Ultimately, most of the work Prophet performed, for which the university has professional much US$6 million, won't be reclaimable, according to the ailment. Depending on which seller MSU hires, the cost to finish the project will exceed Oracle's original $15.75 million bid away prepared to $20 million, Montclair has same.

The revised complaint also includes a partial list of MSU's contrive requirements and in all runs 60 pages, nearly twice as many as the original filing.

"This is a textbook exercise of how to file a action against a vendor for failure to deliver," aforementioned psychoanalyst Ray Wang, CEO of Configuration Research, WHO reviewed the updated complaint on Wednesday.

MSU made some smart moves to protect itself, much as documenting all conversations and interactions with Prophesier, and working out an escalation procedure in the event the project ran into problems. It also was informed use concrete-life history use cases for the demonstrations, Wang added.

"The documentation on this charge is solid," he said. "Whether it's true Oregon not, we'll have the courts decide."

Another expert pointed out that IT stiff to be seen whether MSU Beaver State Oracle is responsible for the problems.

"The fact that Montclair produced a detailed list of Oracle project issues does support their claim that work was not completed as expected," said Michael Krigsman, CEO of Asuret, a consulting company that helps organizations conduct IT projects with success, in an electronic mail.

"However, the careful fact list does not show cause," he added. "The case hinges along the respective roles, responsibilities, and expectations of the parties in driving successful project results. Intrinsically, the mere fact that something went wrong does not help us understand either wherefore the problem occurred operating theatre which party was responsible."

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology break newsworthiness for The IDG News show Service. Chris's e-chain mail address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com