Oracle announced it has agreed to acquire RuleBurst Holdings Limited, the parent company of Haley Limited, a leading provider of policy modelling and automation software, to create an end-to-end solution for social services agencies.

Social service agencies are moving to commercial software to automate entitlements. With limited resources to serve a growing constituency, these agencies need to administer and distribute entitlements consistently and accurately as defined by the underlying legislation. Haley's policy automation platform translates legislation and policies into defined, automated rules that are deployed in an application.

Together with Oracle’s ERP and Siebel CRM applications, Oracle expects to create the first packaged software solution for social services agencies with an enhanced case management application utilising Haley to drive eligibility determinations.

The Haley policy automation platform is also used in other industries that are highly regulated, such as financial services and insurance, to implement and manage complicated and rapidly changing policies in common language without the need for specialised software programming.

Haley management and employees are expected to join Oracle to form a global business unit focused on enterprise policy automation solutions across multiple industries. Haley’s CEO Dominic O’Hanlon is expected to lead the business unit as Senior Vice President and General Manager.

The transaction is subject to stockholder and governmental approvals and other customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of calendar 2009. Until the deal closes, each company will continue to operate independently. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Supporting Quotes

“Governments and businesses face significant operating challenges with demographic shifts, globalisation and budget constraints. Haley’s patented technology simplifies the process of managing complex legislative and business policies," said Oracle President Charles Phillips. “For more than 20 years, Haley has helped some of the world’s largest government, financial services and insurance institutions to rapidly implement policy rules and determinations and reduce IT costs.”

“Today social services and other government agencies face increasingly difficult challenges in delivering mission critical services to its citizens," said Oracle Senior Vice President of CRM Anthony Lye. “By acquiring Haley, Oracle is accelerating its investment in public sector to create an integrated solution, and bring faster time to value for our customers.”

“Haley complements Oracle’s industry-focused applications strategy,” said Dominic O’Hanlon, CEO of Haley. “We are excited to join Oracle as a new global business unit and believe the combination will empower customers to more quickly and effectively implement, manage and ensure compliance with policies, regulations and legislation.”

ENDS