How Arribatec Supported Canterbury Christ Church University in Their Migration from Unit4 Milestone 6 to the Cloud
In July 2025, Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) was faced with a problem. When Unit4 announced the need to move from their on-premise Unit4 ERP system to Unit4 Cloud they faced an issue: a distinct lack of resources. “We have a small internal team with significant operational responsibilities, so we recognised early on that we would need specialist support to deliver a programme of this scale successfully,” said Marie Dyball, Assistant Director of Finance at Canterbury. “They’re great, but having a few people looking after our whole finance system isn’t ideal for a full update.”
CCCU is a major UK university, employing 500 staff across its campuses and professional services. Modernising a complex, business‑critical finance system with extremely limited internal resources without external support would be an impossibility, especially without disrupting the day to day running of their processes.
A Longstanding Relationship and a Growing Need
CCCU had known of Arribatec for several years, having asked for their support in the late 2010s, but since then they’d gone their separate ways. Their finance systems lead first encountered Arribatec at a conference, where he was impressed by the company’s expertise and approachability. As Marie Dyball, Assistant Director of Finance – Operations, explained:
“The arribatec team demonstrated both technical expertise and a collaborative approach, which gave us confidence that they would be the right partner for a future cloud migration.
And when the notification came from Unit4 that they’d need to move to the cloud, she knew exactly who to call.
After speaking with Robert Tiley, Arribatec suggested that they run a comprehensive service review led by consultant Mike Dardis, a familiar face to CCCU from his earlier work in the sector. The review identified several areas requiring attention before a cloud migration could be attempted. As Marie explained, “
The review identified several areas that required attention before migration. We needed to modernise elements of our authorisation structure and complete the required upgrade path (milestone 6.0 to milestone 7.13) before moving to Unit4 Cloud.
The Upgrading Begins
The upgrade was delivered efficiently by Arribatec’s team of experienced consultants, and the experience was far smoother than CCCU had anticipated. “They got to work really quite quickly,” Marie said. “The consultants were knowledgeable, responsive and easy to work with throughout the project. She noted that even the post‑upgrade issues were resolved promptly. “The upgrade was considerably smoother than we had anticipated, with issues resolved efficiently and minimal disruption to business operations.”
This contrasted sharply with the university’s experience of other company’s support processes. “One aspect that particularly stood out was Arribatec’s responsiveness. Queries were addressed promptly, helping us maintain momentum throughout the programme.” Marie observed. Arribatec’s responsiveness became a defining strength of the partnership.
The cloud migration began shortly after the upgrade, with a new project manager, Carien, and technical consultant, Mike Quinn. But despite some external pressures and complications, Marie found the migration painless. “Given our internal capacity constraints, Arribatec provided the expertise and support needed to ensure a well-managed and successful migration.”
She praised the consultants’ technical and interpersonal strengths. “Mike’s technical expertise was invaluable in helping us navigate the cloud migration successfully” she said, adding that Johannes and Mike together formed an exceptionally capable team. Corinne’s project management also stood out: “The project management was particularly strong, with clear communication, effective planning and good stakeholder engagement throughout.” After only a few weeks work, the system was fully migrated and live. But that isn’t the end of Arribatec’s work.
Training, knowledge transfer, and ongoing support
Arribatec ensured CCCU were not only migrated but equipped to operate confidently in the new environment. Carien coordinated all required training, ensuring the university’s small team could manage the system effectively. With the help of Matt Volpato, Arribatec’s training specialist, CCCU “The team quickly identified our training requirements and coordinated the appropriate support to ensure a smooth transition.” Marie recalled.
One of the strongest themes throughout the project was CCCU’s appreciation for Arribatec’s service desk. Marie highlighted the speed and quality of responses. Once the project was completed, the service desk’s reliability became a cornerstone of CCCU’s confidence in the project and in their ongoing relationship with Arribatec.
Reflecting on the entire project, Marie summarised her view simply: “The migration to Unit4 Cloud was a significant programme for the University. Arribatec brought the technical expertise, project management and support that enabled us to deliver it successfully while maintaining our day-to-day operations. The team worked collaboratively throughout the project and helped ensure a smooth transition to our new environment.
The project established a strong and collaborative working relationship, and we look forward to continuing to work with Arribatec as we develop our systems and deliver future improvements”.
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