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CIRCULATION: NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL AR PC NW 06 01
CBICD PC NW 06 01
24 June 1999
CIRCULATION: _ NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
General Secretary: COUN Baxen
Assistant General Secrotaries
Kew Davis + Paut Heasvans
Dear Executive Officer
You will recall at our Special Executive Council Meeting on Friday 11 June the
National President provided POCL with a series of correspondence identifying the
difficulties which have been experienced by subpostmasters trying to manage the
new balancing arrangements on the Horizon platform and other difficulties with the
automation system.
Please see attached a letter from Dave Miller which goes some way to explain the
problems and corrective action which has been taken. This is clearly a subject
which we will remain fully involved and maintain the pressure on POCL to meet the
timescales required.
Further discussions will take place with Dave Miller and we will keep the Executive
Council advised of progress.
GRO
COLIN BAKER
General Secretary
Enc:
A helping hand for SubPostmasters..
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Colin Baker
National Federation of Sub-Postmasters
Evelyn House
22 Windelsham Gardens 22 June 1999
SHOREHAM-BY-SEA
West Sussex
BN43 5AX
Vee ld
Tam replying via you to Jean Kendall who provided us with details of the key concerns
raised by subpostmasters in her area. As you know we have held a series of meetings both
in North East and South West with the offices involved in the initial upgrade to the new
release. Through these meetings we were able to identify the same items you have raised
and these are now all in the process of being dealt with through our negotiations with ICL
Pathway. However, it is also the case that we have some very tight timescales in which to
convert the Heads of Agreement drawn up by the Treasury and the DTI into a revised
contract structure. Unfortunately, our room for manoeuvre has been constrained and we are
working extremely hard to ensure all the key issues are identified as part of the acceptance
process.
That is the context in which we are operating but I would also like to deal with the main
points you have raised in the order you have presented them in your letter.
SURVEYS
lam very sympathetic to the kinds of improvements which subpostmasters would like to
carty out because they represent a significant opportunity to improve the retail standards
across the network. We have tried to give subpostmasters as much information as possible
about the way they will be impacted by the programme through advice given to RNMs and,
of course, the information events to which each subpostmaster is invited when they join the
programme. Once survey dates are confirmed however, we are locked into an agreed
process which sees each office through to eventual go-live. If an office “falls out” at the
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Colin Baker
22 June 1999
survey stage, there is a significant cost implication not only because that part of the process
has to be abandoned but when offices come back into the programme, it will have to be
repeated, Everytime this happens, we are potentially penalising the rest of the network in
terms of the amount available for modifications and in addition, running up a financial risk
to the business in terms of the overall cost.
We have tried to explain this as much as possible but any suggestions about improvements
to communication would be helpful.
Through application of the agreed ergonomic standards, we have tried to ensure an
acceptable working area is always made available but I also accept there may be occasions
where space is constrained. If an office has to go to resurvey, there is always a member of
our staff on hand to provide advice,
MODIFICATIONS
Iam pleased your feedback is that the work is now being carried out well and that is because
we were able to increase the financial headroom available to us through additional
investment by the business. This is being reflected in the installation procedures which
again, for the main part, you regard as proceeding reasonably well.
TRAINING
This is probably our greatest area of concern and is being pursued vigorously with ICL
Pathway. The areas you have identified such as balancing and cash account are part of the
redesign which is currently taking place and is based on subpostmasters real experience.
You have suggested a potential way forward would be to install the kit and provide on the
job training. Although sympathetic to the benefits this would achieve, there is a programme
of training for 72,000 people and doing it office by office would not only extend the
programme but also be prohibitively expensive. We ploughed in an extra £8m some time
ago to extend the training to its current level. Our feedback suggests the transaction based
training is going reasonably well with the outstanding difficulties around balancing which
we will improve.
MIGRATION
This was one of the areas where there was significant risk to underlying office accounting
and the potential time required to complete the data transfer. Our experience suggests this
has been a success with the additional 100 offices completing in significantly less time than
the original 200, where the system had to both download and then reload before it could go
live.
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Colin Baker
22 June 1999
OPERATIONS
Many of the issues concerning the availability of some products on screen have already been
addressed and will be resolved through the application of additional reference data
information which is at the heart of the system. We realised at an early stage that the
records held by the business of which outlets conducted particular product transactions
were inaccurate, Through the work already completed, we now have to resolve only a
relatively limited number of discrepancies including those you have identified.
BALANCING
Your concerns about printing, re-declaration of stocks, the identification of first and second
class stamps and postal orders are already in the process of resolution and a software drop
in July will deal with them. However, there are issues around the balancing process which
are part of the training response and have yet to be satisfactorily addressed by Pathway.
Clearly, this is something on which we will base our decisions about acceptance and rollout.
HELPDESK
The callback issues you have raised are not acceptable and Pathway, through their own
observations, are addressing this. I believe the helpdesk support is fundamental to the
success of rollout and we are well on the way to the establishment of a national business
service centre which will provide the necessary levels of support when we reach the peak
rollout rates in early 2000. The position for on-line lottery offices is also being reviewed but I
cannot at this stage say we have found a solution to this complex issue.
BARCODING
The pressure is being kept up on BA to improve the quality of barcoding and I believe that
will provide an answer. In the meantime I have to reiterate that subpostmasters should
follow the procedures laid down.
Iam keenly aware of the pressures and concerns experienced by the subpostmasters at the
front end of automation. Subpostmasters feelings of incompetence and abandonment really
do hit us hard and understanding their experiences at first hand has been the single most
important lesson we have all learned. It would be wonderful if everything was perfect from
the beginning but one of the reasons for the trial approach was to drive out these issues
before we embark on rollout. From that perspective it has been successful but we never
intended that people should experience such difficulties. As well as trying to reassure
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Colin Baker
22 June 1999
people of the value of their involvement, we are also looking sympathetically at some of the
cost issues and I hope to be able to help in this regard very soon. The issue will be discussed
with you later this week. In addition, we will be setting up user groups in the two regions to
ensure there is an ongoing learning process based on feedback from those in the front line.
It is a huge subject - there is nothing bigger facing us in the business. I hope this response
goes some way towards reassuring you that we will continue to take, and respond to advice
from subpostmasters and their representatives.
fox DAVID MILLER
COPY: Jean Kendall - NESP
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HORIZON WORKING GROUP
SECOND MEETING 22 JUNE 1999
AGENDA
lL. Minutes of first meeting 8 June 1999.
Nn
Report by Post Office on PO/ICL and PO/BA negotiations.
3, Discussion of PO/ICL issues.
4. Conclusions PO/ICL issues.
5. Discussion of PO/BA issues.
6. Conclusions PO/BA issues.
7. DTI - led interdepartmental study of network issues
8. Confirmation of next meetings and business to be taken:
7 July 1999 3pm ; review of likely outcome of negotiations
ia
27 July 1999 3.30pm (?); agreement on milestones for continuing programme
OATEMPEMEETOI DOG os