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Reference No 463
Pathway Response
1. Service Principles
Pathway will supply all the Office Platform Service equipment
which is required for testing, acceptance and training for those
Services which are provided by Pathway under this Contract. The
charges for such equipment are included in the Service prices. If
additional Office Platform Service equipment is required by
BA/POCL for other purposes, including for example the testing of
Services or systems that are not supplied by Pathway, then Pathway
shall supply such equipment under the normal commercial terms and
prices which are prevailing at the time.
It should be noted that title to all equipment which is provided
as a part of the contracted Services remains with Pathway and the
equipment will be reassigned to operational use by Pathway when it
is no longer needed for testing.
The following paragraphs provide further details of this “service
principle” as it applies to the examples raised by BA/POCL.
2. Acceptance Testing:
Pathway will supply the Office Platform Service equipment that is
reasonably required to test and accept new Office Platform
Services provided that it is:
a) required in support of the Services provided exclusively by
Pathway and
b) required to satisfy the Acceptance Criteria
3. Destructive Testing:
Upon request by POCL, Pathway will supply sample units of the
Office Platform Service Equipment for destructive testing. The
first sample of each generic type of unit will be provided at no
charge to POCL and any subsequent units will be supplied at normal
commercial prices.
4. Other Testing by BA/POCL:
The POCL may require additional Office Platform Service equipment
to support in-house testing or for testing third party
applications, systems or services. Pathway will provide such
Equipment under normal commercial terms and prices.
5. Training:
Pathway proposes a combination of classroom training and on-site
training in post offices. Pathway will provide the equipment for
both class room training and on-site training.
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If additional equipment is required by BA or POCL or third parties
to support training which is not undertaken by Pathway then such
equipment will be supplied on normal commercial terms and prices.
6. Demonstration & Marketing:
Pathway will provide Office Platform Service equipment which is
required to demonstrate and market new Office Platform Services
to clients and prospective clients. The equipment that is required
will be set out in marketing plans which are agreed jointly
between BA/POCL and Pathway.
Pathway Comment
Nil
Reference No 464
Pathway Response
Pathway wishes to form a business partnership with the BA and
POCL. It is agreed that Services which utilise the OPS and TMS may
only be provided subject to the express agreement of BA and POCL.
Pathway Comment
Nil
Reference No 465
Pathway Response
1. Equipment Livery
Pathway will agree with BA/POCL the standards for equipment livery
to be used within OPS. These standards will reflect the POCL
style guide for post offices and will be used as the basis for all
equipment installed in all outlets which provide the OPS.
2. Equipment Appearance
The effort required to maintain the OPS equipment will be minimal
and capable of being undertaken by the local post office staff. It
will be comparable to the cleaning required of any desk-based
office computer system and will typically consist of occasional
dusting and screen cleaning.
3. Cleaning Materials
Pathway proposes that any cleaning materials that are required
shall be supplied in the same way as for other Consumables.
Pathway Comment
In order to take account of the costs of the livery within the
Tender we shall need early access to the POCL Style guide. Pathway
anticipates that one aspect of the standards for equipment livery
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will be the colour of equipment casings. Whilst this presents no
problems in principle the earliest definition of the preferred
choice will be important in order that equipment lead times are
not affected. Pathway would wish to supply standard colour
equipment into the Operational Trial phase should post office
livery equipment not be available at that time.
Reference No 466
Pathway Response
1. Description
Consumables employed at the OPS are as follows
Counter printers
Paper rolls for non-BA counter receipt printing
Slips for BA payment counter receipt printing where these are
needed
Printer Ribbon cassettes for slip printing
Back-office terminals - laser printers
A4 cut sheets
Toner replenishment and cleaner kits
Back-office terminals - impact printers
A4 continuous stationery
Printer ribbons
Video monitor screens
Cleaning wipes and/or sprays
All of the above will be widely available stock items from
wholesale and retail office stationery suppliers.
2. Consumption
Pathway will provide guidelines for postmasters to estimate future
consumables consumption rates to enable them to plan their
replenishment orders in accordance with business volumes.
3. Supply and Replenishment Process
Pathway proposes to provide an initial stock of consumables to
each post office on rollout sufficient for an estimated 4 weeks
consumption. Thereafter, replenishment orders will be the
responsibility of the postmaster. With the agreement of the Post
Office , Pathway proposes to use the existing Post Office
warehousing and distribution facilities for the supply of
consumables to post offices. Detailed specifications/product
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descriptions and guide costs of consumables will be made available
once all options have finally been agreed between Pathway and
BA/POCL.
4. Emergency Supply
Pathway will also maintain a small emergency supply of all
consumables. Postmasters may submit requests for consumable
supplies to the SIS Helpdesk which will arrange for an emergency
delivery within 24 hours. The service will attract premium charge
rates.
5. Charging Structure
Pathway proposes that the price of all consumables should be
separately itemised and invoiced upon delivery.
Pathway Comment
Nil
Reference No 467
Pathway Response
1. Connection of OPS to TMS
The Pathway solution for OPS is based on a PC configuration at
every counter. Each counter configuration is linked to a Local
Area Network within the post office. Each post office
configuration is linked to TMS over an ISDN Wide Area Network.
This connection supports the transfer of authorised data files and
messages in both directions.
2. Data Transfer
The Pathway solution for TMS uses data replication and
synchronisation techniques to ensure that data transfer between
post office counter positions within OPS and between instances of
OPS and the TMS are secure, complete, accurate and robust. In
addition techniques including Cyclic Redundancy Checks, Digital
Signatures and Encryption are used to ensure data integrity.
2.1 Secure Data Transfer
Once a transaction has been settled at a counter position the full
transaction details are committed to that users journal. These
details are automatically replicated to all other PC’s in the post
office to ensure that the data has been securely captured. In
addition these transaction details are automatically replicated to
a remote server within TMS. Data and message transfer may
originate from an individual counter PC (e.g. a bill payment) and
be replicated to TMS or from a POCL Client system (e.g. PMS) which
then uses TMS to distribute data to OPS.
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The OPS PCs and TMS servers are known as nodes which are
logically grouped into a number of work groups.
All messages from a single node are generated in a strict numbered
sequence and with a unique node identification. Any attempt to
introduce a fraudulent message will be detected and rejected. An
additional pseudo random sequence number produced from a
cryptographic algorithm can also be included to provide a very
high level of message integrity when this is required.
This approach is resilient to either network or node failure since
a TMS node and an OPS node will be always aware of each others
state. When the failure condition is resolved the nodes will
automatically synchronise and complete any data or message
transfers that are required to ensure both nodes are ina
consistent state.
2.2 Data Integrity
Three techniques are used to ensure data integrity within the OPS
and as part of data/message transfer between OPS and TMS.
These are CRCs used for all node journal messages, RSA based
Digital Signatures used for all data where assurance of content
and source are required (i.e. Benefit payment records) and Data
Encryption used selectively on certain data fields (i.e. benefit
payment value).
All messages have a CRC applied when they are initially committed
to the journal and this is checked every time the message is
accessed. This protects against accidental corruption and casual
tampering. Any failure of a CRC check will cause the message to
be rejected and retrieved from an alternate node.
When authentication of the origin of data is important (i.e. for
benefit payment records), a digital signature is applied to the
data prior to transmission and then checked upon receipt. A CRC
is generated for the data contents, then one-way encrypted and the
result encrypted using an RSA private key. Upon receipt the CRC
is recovered using the public RSA key and compared with the newly
encrypted checksum from the received data. If the results match
then the data content and its origin are assured.
Data encryption may be used selectively to protect the values of
certain data items, i.e. benefit value.
Thus any attempt to alter the payment data (i.e. to change the
expiry date, or any other value) will be automatically detected
and logged for subsequent investigation.
3. Status of TMS data collection
The Pathway solution for TMS and OPS automatically replicates in
the TMS all of the transaction data which is created using the
OPS. The data is then available for processing by the relevant
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client system which may include Pathway, BA/POCL or POCL client
systems.
The replication period between OPS and TMS is configurable and
will be defined according to the urgency of the transaction data.
Data replication will also take advantage of connections that are
established between TMS and OPS for other purposes. E.g. A card
or payment stop message, foreign payment etc.
This process runs automatically throughout the day and is
optimised to take advantage of any connections that TMS might make
to OPS. The exact status of transactions from one moment to the
next may be different. Consequently a report identifying the
status of transaction data is felt to have little business value.
Pathway believes that the key requirement is to ensure that end-
of-day procedures provide TMS with data in a known state at each
post office and enable Client processing to proceed on a
consistent dataset.
The Pathway solution for EPOS will initiate a connection to
replicate the final end-of-day balances and this process will also
enable the replication of any outstanding transactions that have
not previously been sent to TMS.
Pathway Comment
Nil
Reference No 468
Pathway Response
Pathway’s solution draws upon the experience gained by delivering
field services to Camelot’s National Lottery terminals which are
often sited in locations where space is very limited.
The hardware platform and associated peripherals have been chosen
with minimum maintenance in mind. All faults will be diagnosed
with the aid of expert systems by the SIS Helpdesk and it is
anticipated that fewer than 25% of calls will require a visit by a
field engineer to replace an unserviceable component. It is our
experience that the majority of visits will be completed within 20
minutes of arrival. If the maintenance or repair operation is
predicted to take longer than 20 minutes then Pathway will replace
a whole unit or module to minimise disruption at the counter.
Optionally, a postmaster may elect to defer a visit to a time
which he believes is more convenient for himself and his
customers. For example, in a larger crown office, if a fault
occurred at the busiest time of day and the postmaster preferred
that the engineer arrived later, or even on a different day, then
he could request a deferred visit. In these circumstances, the
request for service would be diagnosed fully but then suspended
until the preferred appointment time. Clearly the time in
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suspension will not count towards down-time for the purposes of
service measurement and performance targets.
Pathway Comment
Nil
Reference No 469
Pathway Response
1. General
The OPS is provided by a suite of software procedures which are
invoked by an Application Programming Interface, and a set of
counter applications which perform specific business functions.
These are all run on a hardware infrastructure provided at each
post office counter.
Pathway will provide the following OPS technical documentation.
2. The OPS Architecture Document
A document which describes the overall systems architecture of
Pathway’s solution and the functionality of the various sub-
systems which comprise the suite of software. This includes a
description of the Counter Applications Architecture which
describes how counter applications utilise the OPS.
3. The OPS API Document
A document which describes the full set of API’s provided by the
OPS. Some of these are used by the counter applications.
4. The Counter Hardware Specification Document
A document which provides a technical specification of the
equipment provided in a post office as part of the OPS.
5. Change Control
It is important that the Contractor exercises his own management
control over the technical design of the Services so that the
operational effectiveness and efficiency of the Services can be
maintained and improved through time. All changes to the
documentation will be passed to BA/POCL for their agreement
however Pathway believes that the final design authority for
technical documentation and changes to them must reside with the
Contractor. Pathway is prepared to discuss particular essential
properties of the technical design which BA/POCL believe must be
preserved through changes to the documentation if this is
considered helpful.
Pathway Comment
The requirement only identifies the need for technical
documentation, it does not directly address the related
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implications of developing and using third party applications or
hardware on the Contractor’s service platform. The Contractor must
ensure that the technical and operational integrity of the OPS is
not compromised by third party applications or hardware. It will
therefore be necessary for any third party applications or
hardware to be verified and approved by Pathway before
installation or connection to the OPS. In addition to the
provision of the technical documentation, Pathway will support
the procurement of third party Applications or Hardware by
offering a design, Integration, Test and Approval Service. The
operational implications of third party applications and hardware
must also be considered since they will utilise resource capacity
of the OPS and perhaps other related Services. Implementation and
ongoing service management for third party hardware and
applications may be required from the Contractor in many cases.
Pathway is prepared to offer commercially attractive services to
meet all of these requirements.
Reference No 470
Pathway Response
1. Technical Documentation
The TMS is provided by a suite of software procedures which
enable counter applications and Client systems to securely
communicate and exchange data in support of a specific set of
business functions. Counter applications invoke the TMS through
the TMS applications Programming Interface. Client systems invoke
the TMS functionality through Agent software.
Pathway will provide the following TMS technical documentation.
2. The TMS Architecture Document
A document which describes the overall systems architecture of TMS
and the functionality of its various software sub-systems . This
includes a description of the Agents which describes how Client
systems utilise the TMS.
3. The TMS API Document
A document which describes the full set of API’s provided by TMS.
Some of these are used by the Client Agents in support of Client
systems.
4. The TMS Hardware Specification
A document which provides a technical specification of the
equipment provided in data centres in support of TMS.
5. Change Control
It is important that the Contractor exercises his own management
control over the technical design of the Services so that the
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operational effectiveness and efficiency of the Services can be
maintained and improved through time. All changes to the
documentation will be passed to BA/POCL for their agreement
however Pathway believes that the final design authority for
technical documentation and changes to them must reside with the
Contractor. Pathway is prepared to discuss particular essential
properties of the technical design which BA/POCL believe must be
preserved through changes to the documentation if this is
considered helpful.
Pathway Comment
The requirement only identifies the need for technical
documentation, it does not directly address the related
implications of developing and using third party applications
which utilise the TMS. The Contractor must ensure that the
technical and operational integrity of the Service is not
compromised by third party applications. It will therefore be
necessary for any third party applications to be verified and
approved by Pathway before connection to the TMS. In addition to
the provision of documentation, Pathway will support such
connections by offering a Design, Integration, Test and Approval
Service. The operational implications of third party applications
must also be considered since they will utilise resource capacity
of the TMS and perhaps other related Services. Implementation and
ongoing service management for third party applications may be
required from the Contractor in many cases. Pathway is prepared to
offer commercially attractive services to meet all of these
requirements.
Reference No 471
Pathway Response
1. Broadcast facilities
Pathway will provide a Broadcast facility which will enable short
messages to be sent to all or a subset of outlets from a central
location. The message will be input into an application running
on the central TMS servers and will be replicated to post offices
as required. At the local post office each counter position can
access these messages and selectively open and view the message.
Once a User has read a message this fact is recorded in the
journal.
The user will be prompted that a message is outstanding by an
indicator on the top of their screen. On selecting the Office
Message icon the user will be presented with a list of messages
with an indicator showing their status (read or unread). The
message can be printed as required.
Pathway will need to agree with POCL the precise mechanisms for
enabling messages to be input into the TMS application and on the
method of grouping PO outlets in order to optimise outlet
selection.
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2. Access to electronic information
Subject to the comment below, Pathway is able to provide an
electronic information facility so that counter staff using the
OPS are able to gain access to information in support of counter
transactions and for general education and information. Such
information may comprise or be derived from sources including
Counter News, Regional Bulletins or Operations Manuals.
Pathway will provide a facility which will enable these and other
documents to be distributed to outlets and viewed locally. The
documents would need to be supplied to Pathway in an agreed format
(e.g. RTF/Microsoft Word). These would be distributed together
with an updated index using Microsoft SMS. Access to these
documents would be via a VB application from the users desktop.
Pathway will agree with POCL or other Clients the retention
periods for these documents.
Pathway will agree a charging structure for this service which is
expected to be based on file size and incidence of distribution.
Pathway Comment
Pathway believes that the second part of the requirement
(paragraph 2 above) is complex both for the Contractor and for the
Authorities who would need to originate the information of
electronic access. It is pointed out that for contingency &
fallback purposes the service documentation must be provided in
paper format anyway and thus two sets of information need to be
maintained incurring additional costs. Pathway would like further
discussions with POCL regarding the business needs. At present
Pathway does not believe the facility is cost effective.
Reference No 472
Pathway Response
1. Introduction
Pathway’s solution for the OPS is based on a set of counter
applications running on processors at every counter position. The
counter applications all operate under Riposte, a suite of
software which provides mechanisms for ensuring data security and
integrity within the OPS and across the network to TMS. In
addition Riposte ensures this distributed architecture is fully
resilient by replication of data across the OPS and TMS together
with effective algorithms for synchronisation whenever the
replicates are out of step.
2. Accurate and Robust Data Capture
The design of the counter applications and the menu structures
have been designed to minimise data input and to ensure that only
valid and accurate data is captured at the relevant point within a
counter transaction.
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The counter applications will be invoked by an event driven
process wherever possible. This will typically be a card swipe, a
bar code read or optionally a single touch on touch screen panel.
The data associated with these actions will be captured
automatically. Some transactions will require no further data
input and the transaction will be completed by invoking a Receipt
(where required) and the Settle function.
Supporting data may be required for some transactions including
quantity, value or transaction specific details such as account
number. Check-digits will be used where this used by a particular
client transaction.
A running total showing quantity and value of each transaction is
visible on the screen, and any errors can be reversed where the
transaction type allows.
3. Integrity and Security of Data
Once a transaction has been settled the full transaction details
are committed to that users journal and Riposte then replicates
these details to all other PC’s in the post office. In addition
the transaction details are replicated to a remote server within
TMS. These PC’s and servers are known as nodes which form a
Riposte workgroup.
All messages from a single Riposte node are generated in strict
sequence and with a unique node identification. The introduction
of an additional stream of messages will be detected by Riposte
and rejected. An additional pseudo random sequence number
produced from a cryptographic algorithm can also be included to
provide complete message integrity.
Three techniques are used by Riposte to ensure data integrity.
These are CRCs (Character Redundancy Checks) used for all Riposte
journal messages, RSA based Digital Signatures used for all data
where assurance of content and source are required (i.e. Benefit
payment records) and Data Encryption used selectively on certain
data fields (i.e. benefit payment value).
All messages in Riposte have a CRC applied when they are initially
committed to the journal and this is checked every time the
message is accessed. This protects against accidental corruption
and casual tampering. Any failure of a CRC check will cause the
message to be rejected and retrieved from an alternate node.
When authentication of the origin of data is important (i.e. for
benefit payment records), a digital signature is applied to the
data prior to transmission and then checked upon receipt. A CRC
is generated for the data contents, then one-way encrypted and the
result encrypted using an RSA private key. Upon receipt the
checksum is recovered using the public RSA key and compared with
the newly encrypted checksum from the received data. If the
results match then the data content and its origin are assured.
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Data encryption mechanisms are available and will be used
selectively to protect the values of certain data items e.g.
benefit value.
Thus any attempt to alter the payment data (i.e. to change the
expiry date, or any other value) will be automatically detected
and logged for subsequent investigation.
Reference is also made to Pathway’s response to Risk 65 and
supplementary questions (PWAY065 and PWAY065a) which concern
security of data from OPS to TMS.
4. Audit trail
All data captured at a post office counter either as part of a
counter transaction (i.e. BA payment, Stamp sale) or as an
administration function (user log-on, teller balance) will form
part of a unique transaction which is given a unique reference
number by Riposte. The format of this journal entry will vary
according to the transaction type but will typically contain :-
Post Office ID
Counter Position ID
Unique Transaction ID
Date
Time
User ID
Application
Transaction Details
Each counter PC contains a journal and all journal entries are
automatically replicated to all other members of the workgroup.
This will include all the counter PC’s in the post office and one
of the remote Servers (known as Correspondence Servers) that form
part of the TMS. This Correspondence Server will in turn
replicate all its transactions to two other Correspondence Servers
located on different sites.
Once data is stored in the journal it is never altered. New
transactions are always appended to the journal. e.g. a card stop
will be applied as an additional journal entry as opposed to
updating the original benefit payment record. Retrieval of data
using a particular key field e.g. NINO will retrieved all entries
containing that field an logically determine the overall state of
the transaction data.
A complete audit trail of all transactions and other significant
events is maintained within the post office systems and is
automatically available for analysis by value added services which
are linked to TMS.
5. Data Security and Integrity following failure
The Pathway solution for OPS ensures that data security and
integrity is maintained in the event of failures of the OPS.
Riposte provides synchronisation facilities which will
automatically check the status of the journal for a node when it
is re-established following failure. Should the journal be out of
step (e.g. through failure of the counter PC) Riposte will
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automatically synchronise the journal and any data files to the
same state as all other journals in that workgroup.
Synchronisation may occur from another counter PC (in a multi-
counter office) or from one of the Correspondence Servers (in a
single counter post office).
The data security features described above are not affected by
this process and no user intervention is required to effect
synchronisation.
Pathway Comment
Nil
Reference No 473
Pathway Response
1. Remote Access to OPS
Users may only log-on to the OPS in their local post office.
Any access to data or services outside of the local post office is
controlled exclusively by the relevant counter application.
2. User Access to OPS
Authentication of all users logging on to the OPS in the post
office is undertaken by the OPS operating system. Full access
control and password management facilities are provided. The OPS
uses this information to ensure that only authorised staff are
allowed access to applications, and then only to those
applications for which they have permission. Each user is
identified by a unique password. The procedure for logging-on to
the OPS is described in the Counter Operations Procedures manual.
In order that a specific role for POCL Auditors can be created
Pathway will need to understand the specific functions that are
required to be associated with this role and where these are
different from the Post master. The normal user hierarchy would
place the Postmaster as the most privileged user with a series of
roles and lesser permission levels subservient to this.
If specific functions are required for Audit that are not
available to the Post master, then the Audit user would require an
independent method of setting the password. In this situation the
approach outlined below for lost password and linked to the Audit
user would be used.
3. Restricted Functionality
Agreement will be required on the Services (e.g. BES, AP etc.)
that are to be provided at an outlet. Where it is known that a
service will never be required in an outlet (e.g. BES in a CRU),
then the counter applications initial build will not include that
service. Where an existing service might be required in
particular outlets in the future, a normal applications build will
be provided but access to the applications will be disabled from
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the user desktop.
as required.
These restrictions may be removed in the future
In addition it will be possible
types in an outlet (e.g. no MVL
disabling the appropriate entry
Pathway understand that service
to restrict certain transaction
sales). This will be achieved by
within the desktop.
or functionality provision / non-
provision is determined at the outlet level, and is not directly
related to User Access.
4, Lost Password
The OPS will provide facilities to enable the Postmaster to
establish new users and set an initial password for all users in
his/her post office. Should a user forget their password the
Postmaster can reset the password. The same procedure applies at
single counter position post offices and multiple counter position
post offices.
For situations where the sole user (e.g. Postmaster in a single
counter office) has lost his password, the OPS will provide the
facility to generate a unique key as part of the log on toa
specific username (e.g. user SETUP). This will be phoned to the
SIS help desk who will provide the corresponding key which when
input to OPS will allow access to the administration facilities.
The user may then reset his user password.
5. Suspend and Resume
A facility which enables users to securely suspend their current
session and then to resume the session is provided as part of the
overall OPS functionality. The suspend function is invoked by the
user using a specific keystroke (e.g. Control + Key) and may be
performed at any time providing that there is no counter
transaction in progress, or where the transaction integrity may be
compromised by allowing a suspension (e.g. part way through a
smart card transaction). The suspended session may be resumed by
the user entering his password.
Further details on secure timeout are now covered in response to
requirement 921.
Pathway Comment
None.
Reference No 474
Pathway Response
1. Health, Safety and Legal on OPS equipment.
1. All OPS Equipment will be continuously rated and capable of
functioning safely and reliably, attended or unattended, for an
indefinite period in outlets.
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2. Each installation of OPS will be physically and electrically
safe and in compliance with relevant legislation and recognised
best practice. It will not cause interference with other devices.
It is noted that the equipment may be installed in premises that
would be classified as residential.
2.1 This includes all relevant UK Regulations and Council
Directives (that is, Directives of the Council of the European
Communities) which are implemented by HMG. The equipment will be
maintained as demanded by subsequent legislation.
2.2 This includes mandatory standards, including all relevant UK
Regulations and Council Directives (that is, Directives of the
Council of the European Communities) which are implemented by HMG.
The equipment will be maintained as demanded by subsequent
legislation including mandatory standards.
2.3 OPS equipment will comply with BS EN60950 : 1992 (BS7002
21992) and any subsequent amendments will be applied there after
to any new OPS equipment deliveries or any repaired and
subsequently re-introduced OPS equipment.
2.4 All OPS equipment comprising AC power adapters will comply
with BS EN60065 : 1993 (BS7002 :1992).
2.5 The workstation aspects of all OPS equipment will comply with
the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992,
which implement Council Directive 90/270/EEC on working with
display screen equipment.
2.6 Any OPS equipment containing laser emitters will comply with
BS EN 60825:1992. (Examples laser printers and laser barcode
scanners) .
2.7 Any OPS telecommunications equipment will comply with Council
Directive 91/263/EEC (the Telecommunication Terminal Equipment
Directive) and have a current BABT certificate or equivalent for
connection to the public telephone network.
2.8 All OPS equipment defined as Machinery will comply with the
Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 1992, which implement the
Machine Directive 89/392/EEC as amended by 91/368/EEC.
2.9 All OPS equipment will comply with the Electrical Equipment
(Safety) Regulations 1994, which implement the Low Voltage
Directive 93/23/EEC as amended by 93/68/EEC.
2.10 All OPS equipment will meet the requirements of the Non-
automatic Weighing Instruments (EEC Requirements) Regulations 1992
Schedule 3 Applications.
2.11 All OPS visual display terminal equipment will comply with
the relevant requirements of either BS 7179:1990 or ISO 9241:1992
(applies to keyboards).
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2.12 All Equipment which falls within the scope of The
Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Regulations 1992, which
implement Council Directive 89/336/EEC (as amended by 92/31/EEC),
will comply with these regulations.
2.13 All OPS Equipment will meet the minimum EMC requirements of
both residential and commercial installations, including
compliance with BS EN 50081 and BS EN 50082 with the following
amended test severity levels and with no degradation of
performance:
IEC 801 part 2 class 3, 6kV contact discharge
IEC 801 part 3 3V/m
IEC 801 part 4 +/- 1kV injected onto mains AC supply
IEC 801 part 5 +/- 2kV.
2.14 All OPS equipment covered by EN45501:1992 will comply with
clause A4.5 (voltage variations) and Annex B of that standard.
2.15 All items of OPS equipment will have an Index of Protection
rating of IP3X as defined in BS EN 60529:1992.
3. The OPS equipment and its installation will not constrain
BA/POCL and its agents from meeting their legal safety
responsibilities as employers.
4. Pathway will prove compliance with legislation or mandatory
standards as and when necessary.
Pathway Comment
1. With respect to those requirements at paragraph 2 above, which
require adherence to “subsequent legislation and standards”, we
have slightly modified the wording to make it clear that the
requirement to modify any existing installed equipment would apply
only in circumstances that the subsequent legislation demanded
such action. We believe that this is the intended meaning.
2. To support the commitments set out above the Contractor must be
empowered to make changes to the equipment and specifications in
line with changing legislation and standards.
Reference No 475
Pathway Response
1. Style Guide
Pathway will produce a Style Guide for OPS which will set out the
general guidelines for the Human Computer interface, including
screen layouts, systems navigation routes and help and manual
entry facilities.
All counter applications developed for BA/POCL by Pathway will
conform to this Style Guide.
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Any changes to the Style Guide documentation will be agreed with
BA/POCL.
2. Human Computer Interface
The HCI for the Pathway OPS is designed to be intuitive and easy
to use. The design principles and user interface functionality
are drawn from the successful operational experience of An Post.
Key facilities that underpin all counter applications are :-
An efficient and intuitive method of transaction selection
exploiting touch-screen and function-key driven techniques
A menu hierarchy based on “most used” transactions
Transaction selection which can be invoked by peripheral events
e.g. card swipe
A seamless link between transaction selection and counter
application
A common and consistent User Interface for transaction selection
and counter applications
These facilities will greatly assist in achieving the objectives
of minimising errors and optimising transaction time.
Pathway Comment
none
Reference No 476
Pathway Response
1. Terminology
Pathway supports the proposed definition of a release. However for
control purposes we believe that the definition of reference data
should be refined to discriminate between Business Reference Data
which is essential to the POCL/BA businesses and Operational
Reference Data which is controlled by Pathway and is relevant to
the management of the Contractors Services.
2. Control of Releases
2.1 Release Principles
The Contracting Authorities require that the Contractor shall
undertake the delivery of the Services to meet demanding business
requirements. Failure to meet contracted performance targets will
incur performance penalties. In order to deliver Services which
meet the contracted requirements and performance levels at an
economic price it is essential that the Contractor is empowered to
manage the all aspects of Service delivery and this must include
the control of new releases. Pathway recognises that BA/POCL has a
legitimate interest in the business functions that are provided by
the Service and needs to be assured that the quality of the
delivered systems meets the contracted requirements. The processes
, tests and quality reviews which are required will be open to the
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BA /POCL and Pathway will particularly seek active participation
in tests of business functionality and the Human Computer
Interface. It is recommended that Pathway takes complete
responsibility for the management of releases in line with the
contractual commitments requested by BA/POCL
This section continues with further explanation of the above
principle as it applies to the headings provided in the
requirement.
2.2 Release Contents
Pathway recommends that the content of a release should require
the agreement of the BA/POCL with respect to the introduction of
new Services or the deletion of existing Services or changes to
existing Services which affect the essential business functions of
BA & POCL. All such changes to Services should be initiated
through contract change control.
For the reasons which are set out above Pathway should retain
clear responsibility for all other changes to release contents.
Such changes may be justified for many reasons but including for
example: contract compliance, quality, technical strategy and cost
control.
2.3 Release Distribution Timing
Pathway believes that there is only one circumstance when the
Contracting Authorities should determine the timing of the
distribution of new releases. That is when a new Client is
connected to the Service for the first time. In all other
circumstances the control of the distribution of releases should
be at the discretion of the Contractor.
2.4 Release Activation Timing
Pathway recommends that the timing of release activation should
require the agreement of the BA/POCL with respect to the
introduction of new Services or the deletion of existing Services
or changes to existing Services which affect the essential
business functions of BA & POCL. This includes the release of the
Business Reference Data which is referred to in Section 1 above.
All such changes to Services should be initiated through contract
change control and it is anticipated that any particular
favourable or unfavourable times for the activation of releases
will be declared in the change request.
Pathway believes that in all other circumstances the
responsibility for the timing of the activation of new releases
should be at the discretion of the Contractor.
3. Release Testing
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Pathway will provide evidence that the each release has been
tested so that it is shown to meet the Service requirements and
service levels. The BA/POCL will be invited to participate in
those tests associated with proving business functionality and
Human Computer Interface aspects of new releases. Other evidence
will be provided in the form of written test reports and
invitations to attend quality review meetings. Evidence of testing
for major releases of new software and functionality will be
provided at the levels of:
Unit Tests
System Test
Representative combinations of hardware and software.
The release testing strategy above is too heavy for testing minor
releases of software or for reference data and appropriate
procedures will be defined for different classes of release.
4. Preparation For Release
Pathway will complete the testing of major new releases in three
steps prior to full distribution of major new releases. These are:
A Test conducted in a simulated post office and operated by
real and representative BA/POCL users.
A test of implementation and live operation in a limited number
of post offices for a limited period before general distribution.
A test of reversion to the previous release.
The release testing strategy above is too heavy for testing minor
releases of software or for reference data and appropriate
procedures will be defined by Pathway for different classes of
release.
5. No Disruption to Users and the Working Environment
Releases of software and and/or reference data will be distributed
across the network and therefore will require minimal user
involvement and no significant disruption to users or to the
working environment.
6. No Corruption to BA/POCL Data
The data within software and/or reference data is protected at
source by a CRC check key which is applied by the Riposte system.
Following distribution of the release, the CRC is checked to
ensure that no corruption of the data has taken place. The release
of software and/or reference data will not cause any corruption to
data held on behalf of BA/POCL.
7. Record of Releases
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A record of the release of software and reference data which is
in use at each post office will be maintained under configuration
control within an asset data base which is maintained by Pathway.
Pathway Comment
1. Pathway’s response is consistent with the assumption that the
BA/POCL require a complete managed service contract which is under
written by penalty payments and capital funded by the Contractor
under the PFI arrangements. If this remains the BA/POCL objective
then it is critical that the Contractor be empowered to manage the
contract so as to deliver the contracted services. If on the other
hand the BA/POCL require to participate in the day to day
operational management of the Services then other contractual
arrangements should be considered and discussed between Pathway
and the Contracting Authorities.
2. In responding to requirement at paragraph 2, 2nd bullet we have
assumed that “the upgrade path for any release “ means new
releases beyond the next release. It is apparent that other
interpretations of the meaning are possible.
Reference No 477
Pathway Response
Pathway will support the management of the Services using an asset
register which will record all of the physical system components.
The asset register will identify all of the Equipment which is
installed at each site. A list of the assets at each site will be
made available to the BA/POCL upon request.
The asset register will contain essential operational information
that will support the management and control of both rollout and
steady state services. Including for example:
site address and contact information
site implementation status details
system configuration details
equipment types and serial numbers
software versions
applications versions.
The asset register will be an integral part of a wider Management
Information System that supports Help Desk functions and the
management of rollout schedules and steady state services.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 478
Pathway Response
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1. The Pathway solution for TMS will link into each instance of
OPS that is to be used for production work using an ISDN network.
2. TMS supports links into other computer systems through client-
specific TMS software Agents. These Agents will reside on the TMS
servers and will manage any client specific data manipulation and
communications links. Pathway will provide those Agents required
to support those host systems provided as part of the overall
Pathway solution.
The specification for additional Agents required to provide links
from TMS to other computer systems, including POCL’s own systems
and those of POCL’s clients, will be agreed jointly between
Pathway and BA/POCL.
3. TMS is linked to PAS and CMS using TMS Agents. The computer
systems that support PAS, CMS and TMS will be co-located ina
datacentre and will linked to same local area network.
4. Data file collection and delivery
4.1 TMS supports the distribution and collection of electronic data
to and from the OPS. This is achieved by the automatic
replication of transactions from the OPS in a post office to a TMS
server. Similarly data provided to TMS from a host system is
replicated to a set of OPS systems in post offices.
4.2 These processes may be initiated by :-
Operator action - This will comprise the normal operational
activities in managing the data transfer from Pathway host systems
to TMS, or will comprise the normal actions of the counter clerk
in carrying out transactions on OPS.
Once a datafile has been passed to TMS or a counter transaction
has been committed within OPS the collection/delivery of this data
is automatic.
Time - The time interval between data replication from OPS to TMS
may be set according to the urgency of the transaction. Pathway’s
solution will optimise any network connection made from TMS to OPS
in a post office by replicating any accumulated transactions to
TMS.
External message - The requirement for an attached computer system
to initiate a data file collection or delivery will be met by the
functionality specified within the relevant TMS Agent.
TMS initiated - The Pathway solution for TMS automatically
provides data collection / delivery to and from OPS.
4.3 The Pathway solution for TMS automatically replicates data
between TMS and OPS, and between individual PC’s within a post
office OPS. Following a failure of either a TMS node or an OPS
node, TMS will automatically synchronise the restored node to an
up-to date state. This will include any data file or transaction
collection/deliveries that are outstanding.
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The recovery facilities available for file transfer between TMS
and an attached computer systems will be dependent on the precise
method of connection and the protocols and file transfer standards
that are used. These will be jointly agreed between Pathway and
BA/POCL as part of the specification for connecting an attached
computer system.
4.4 A TMS node contains a configuration file which specifically
defines the OPS nodes with which it can exchange data. File
transfers to/from attached computer systems will be controlled by
Pathway operational procedures and by the facilities provided in
the jointly specified file transfer method.
5. Messaging capability
5.1 Messaging Switching
TMS will generally provide the facility to pass messages from one
attached computer system to another. Such message transfer will
be predefined in that message format, source and destination,
verification and service levels will have been previously agreed
between Pathway and other appropriate organisations.
Pathway anticipate that this requirement is principally aimed at
enabling communication between OPS and other attached Client host
systems in support of future counter applications (e.g. links
between post offices and DNS to support a savings product) .
Subject to the comments below, Pathway is able to develop a
facility which enables messages created in one post office to be
sent via TMS to another post office. An counter application will
enable authorised Users to create messages and address them to
another post office using the FAD code / name. A TMS agent will
periodically extract these messages and forward them to their
destination using a centrally managed directory.
5.2 Message non-delivery
The TMS message Agent would monitor all message-read messages that
are created by post offices and at periodic intervals (typically
at end of day) reconcile messages sent with messages read. Any
non-read messages would result in an advisory message being sent
to the originator.
5.3 File processing
Pathway’s solution for TMS separates the generic functions of
secure and highly resilient transaction management from the client
specific requirements for data file processing.
The former are provided as generic facilities for all
transactions. The latter are provided in the form of TMS software
Agents which are designed to perform specific functions in support
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of the links and data processing required for individual host
systems.
To facilitate the development of these Agents Pathway will supply
a set of generic Agents which will form the basis for different
forms of host system interaction.
These will include :-
File Distribution - the acquisition of data from client systems
and the creation of files for distribution
Client Processing - the collection and formatting of transactions
for host systems and the transfer of data to/from host systems
On-Line - enabling an on-line connection to be made from OPS via
TMS to a host system
The generic facilities provided by the Pathway Agents will be
customised for each specific host system link and will provide the
following facilities :-
- validation of data files
- consolidation of many data files into one data file
- generating many data files from one data file
- reformatting the contents of a data file
- generating control totals through access to the contents of data
files
- reconciliation of control totals
- produce reports summarising financial transactions
6. All events that occur either in TMS or in OPS are written to a
journal. These journal messages include all the data required to
uniquely identify the user, the location, the transaction and the
date/time of the transaction. Data, once written to the journal,
can never be altered. Information in the journal is available
for analysis as required.
7. ‘The facilities that ensure data transfer in TMS is secure,
complete, accurate and robust are described in Pathway’s response
to requirement 467.
Pathway Comment
Pathway believes that the post office-to-post office messaging
capability (paragraph 5 above) expressed in this requirement is
complex having many characteristics in common with a full E-mail
service, including for example the need for directory services.
The requirement could incur significant costs when applied to
20,000 offices. We believe that the Message Broadcast facility
which is described at requirement 471 may meet many of the POCL
needs. Pathway would like further discussion with the POCL
regarding the business needs. At present Pathway does not believe
the facility is cost effective.
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Reference No 479
Pathway Response
1. Connection of Computer Systems to TMS
Pathway will not connect any computer system to TMS without the
express authority of BA/POCL.
2. Authorised Connections
2.1 TMS connections to OPS
The Pathway solution for TMS is based on a network of servers
which connect to the Pathway OPS equipment in each post office
using ISDN. Configuration files are initially established on each
TMS server which restrict its connection to a fixed set of other
computer systems. These will be the other TMS servers to which
data is replicated and a defined set of post office gateway PC’s.
These form the servers workgroup. Data replication and message
transfer will only occur within this workgroup.
The TMS server configuration files may only be accessed by
authorised personnel within Pathway.
Data encryption mechanisms are available and will be used
selectively to protect the values of certain data items e.g.
benefit value.
Reference is also made to Pathway’s response to Risk 65 and
supplementary questions (PWAY065 and PWAY065a) which concern
security of data from OPS to TMS.
2.2 TMS connections to Host Systems
Systems which are provided as part of the overall Pathway solution
including for example PMS, CMS, MIS and System Management will be
connected to the TMS using network links. Pathway will establish
these systems in secure areas and no unauthorised hosts system
will be connected to these networks.
The physical network addresses of these host systems will be
contained in the configuration files of the TMS servers to prevent
unauthorised access. It is Pathway’s intention to exploit Closed
User Groups when these become available from the network supplier.
3. Identity Authentication
The authentication of computer systems connecting to TMS is
dependant on the protocol used to support the connection to each
Client system and the security facilities that it supports.
The Pathway solution for linking TMS to OPS uses ISDN. The TMS
and OPS systems will use Call Line Identification to provide
assurance that the calling system is from a valid number.
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Pathway will be pleased to work with BA/POCL to design solutions
for Identity Authentication as new Client systems require
connection to TMS.
4. Reports
Pathway will provide reports to BA/POCL of any rejected attempts
of other computer systems to link to TMS on request.
Pathway Comment
Nil
Reference No 480
Pathway Response
The TMS is logically discrete from other services such that, in
extremis, the service could be separately procured. Technical
documentation will be produced which defines the interface with
TMS.
There will be clear documented interfaces between PAS and TMS
functions and between CMS and TMS functions. These interfaces will
include:
specification of any relevant programming interface
specification of any shared data and data standards
specification of any other protocols that exist to allow
communication between functions within the service
specification of any other constraint that enables
interoperability between services.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 481
Pathway Response
Pathway will provide an OPS Operations Guide document that defines
the OPS operating procedures for use by staff at post offices
The guide will include processes for transactions, accounting,
balancing, stock taking and action to be taken in the event of an
emergency such as a system failure.
At present it is not proposed to include documentation of
transactions which are non-automated or which are otherwise
outside of the scope of the contracted Services. This is because
we have no information regarding the intended POCL requirement. In
order to provide a proposal and to estimate the corresponding
costs we would require information regarding the size of the
documentation and how often it is changed.
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Post Shop transactions have not been defined or included
within the scope of the procurement. If such transactions were
defined under contract change control then the operations
documentation would include them.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 482
Pathway Response
Pathway will provide the OPS Operations Guide which will comply
with the POCL identity and communications standards.
Pathway Comment
1. Pathway urgently requests a copy of the POCL identity and
communications standards documents be provided well before ITT so
that compliance can be assured and correctly priced within the
Tender.
2. Pathway is in discussion with BA/POCL to determine the
appropriate Identity standards for the Pathway services. We
believe that this is important with respect to the Services
provided directly to the AUTHORITY’s User community.
Reference No 483
Pathway Response
Pathway will include additional product information within the OPS
documentation as necessary. New information will take the form of
revised or new pages to the existing document.
New information will be provided to Pathway in advance of the
required publication date with sufficient notice to allow
preparation, editing, composition and production of the document
amendments.
Pathway Comment
The requirement as stated is very open ended and has not been
quantified, it could potentially lead to:
A much larger document
A larger distribution list
More frequent amendments
than would otherwise be needed to describe the OPS operation.
Pathway therefore proposes to charge separately for this service
based upon usage rather than to include the costs within the
transaction related charging structure.
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Reference No 484
Pathway Response
Pathway will provide to POCL one paper copy and one electronic
copy of the user documentation for the automated procedures to be
included into the full user manual(s) to be issued by POCL.
Pathway Comment
The requirement to supply OPS documentation to ™“... others as
appropriate” is too subjective to enable a meaningful commitment.
Reference No 485
Pathway Response
The OPS Operations Guide will be updated when necessary to reflect
the new releases of the OPS software so that the information is
always current.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 486
Pathway Response
Pathway recognise BA/POCL right of approval for release of
documentation, as defined in the process within the User
Documentation Service Level Agreement.
Pathway Comment
If we assume that it is the OPS Operation Guide that is addressed
by this requirement then the issue becomes aligned directly with
that of release control and our comments set out in the response
to requirement 476. It is reasonable that the BA/POCL should have
rights to influence and review certain aspects of the use of the
OPS as set out in the OPS Operations Guide. It is not reasonable
that the BA/POCL should have a general right of veto over the
publication of the document. This response together with the
response to 476 should be subject to commercial discussion.
Reference No 487
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will carry out a survey of outlets to
ascertain what modifications are needed to install the office
platform Service.
Pathway Comment
Nil
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Reference No 488
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that the installation and acceptance of the
office platform at outlets will be undertaken in one day.
Pathway Comment
1. Acceptance here is assumed to mean just a small part of an
incremental Acceptance process which has yet to be defined.
2. Discussion with BA/POCL have indicated that some Users may wish
to defer acceptance until training and familiarisation with the
service have taken place, if so then the requirement expressed
above may not be desirable to the Authorities.
Reference No 489
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will disconnect and remove to an agreed
location existing automated equipment as specified by the
Authority. This service will be provided at no additional charge
to the Authority provided that the equipment is specified with
respect to its type, quantity and geographic location prior to the
ITT so that the costs can be included within the Pathway Tender.
Pathway Comment
1. As stated the requirement is completely unbounded and although
we believe that we know what equipment you have in mind the
requirement could not form part of a Contract without further
clarification.
2. We have assumed that the equipment can be disconnected and
removed at the same time as the installation of new equipment. If
this assumption is not valid then significant additional costs
will be incurred.
3. We have assumed that the “...agreed location” referred to is a
POCL supplied location.
Reference No 490
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will install the OPS equipment within the
outlets hours of business.
Pathway Comment
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Discussions with BA/POCL have indicated that there is preference
that some large offices should be installed overnight. This is
apparently precluded from the requirement.
Reference No 491
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will carry out internal office
modification work at all outlets necessary to enable the
installation of the office platform.
The work that will be undertaken at each outlet will be determined
during the survey at each outlet and will include as necessary
the:
installation of electrical wiring back to the outlets power
distribution box
installation of local area network cables and connections
installation of wide area network cables and connections
any carpentry required at counter positions required to position
and connect the OPS equipment.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 492
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will conform to all legislation while
carrying out modification work to outlets.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 493
Pathway Response
1. Pathway confirms that it will remove and fit OPS equipment when
outlets are either relocated or refurbished.
2. Pathway confirms that it will move OPS equipment within post
offices if needed for refurbishment reasons including open plan.
3. Pathway confirms that it will provide OPS equipment at new
outlets and at relocated outlets in line with POCL’s evolving
network strategy.
4. Pathway confirms that it will provide additional OPS equipment
when this is needed.
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Pathway Comment
The requirements as stated are completely unbounded with respect
to the number of relocated outlets, refurbished outlets, new
outlets and additional OPS equipment each year. It is intended
that Pathway’s revenue will be derived from a transaction charge
into which all Service costs are included. If the POCL will
provide estimated volumes for the changes and additional equipment
prior to ITT then the costs can in principle be absorbed into the
transaction prices. If such estimates are not available then
Pathway proposes to charge separately for each OPS change. The
provision of additional OPS equipment will presumably be subject
to a pre-agreed change control mechanism. Given the difficulty of
predicting these changes the Authorities may prefer the latter
approach.
Reference No 494
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will respond to POCL change requests in
line with the contracted service levels. This includes provision
and installation of equipment in new and relocated outlets as well
as the movement and reconfiguration of equipment within existing
outlets.
Pathway Comment
Referring to the comment in response to requirement 493 it should
be recognised that the price of the service charge will depend
upon the response time required as well as the number of change
requests.
Reference No 495
Pathway Response
Pathway confirm that the equipment will be provided in accordance
with the limits set out in the agreed Schedule, and as per
Pathway’s Tender Response. Deployment of such equipment will be
under POCL control.
Pathway Comment
Reference No 496
Pathway Response
Pathway believes that it is supplying an OPS Service to POCL and
not just equipment. Pathway will supply the equipment at all post
offices and other outlets designated by POCL as a part of an OPS
Service.
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Pathway has proposed to supply equipment for training services in
the response to catalogue requirement 463.
Pathway Comment
1. The requirement for equipment at training centres seems to
overlap with that at requirement expressed 463.
2. Is a Cash Centre the same thing as a Cash Receipt Unit (CRU)?
Although Pathway has proposed Services to undertake stock and cash
management these Services have not yet been defined through the
Authorities Requirements Catalogue. It is not sufficient that the
Contractor provides equipment and although it is anticipated that
the equipment will be of a similar type to the OPS equipment it
should not be assumed that it is identical. Pathway recommends
that we define a CRU Service.
Reference No 497
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will install the office platform
equipment in post office outlets.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 498
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that the existing systems APT, ECCO+, ALPS and
the agreed manual processes will be migrated from current POCL
platforms. Pathway will work closely with POCL personnel to plan
how best to achieve effective migration. The plans will aim to
minimise the work required by post office staff and any necessary
discontinuity of the service to customers or clients.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 499
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that installation will not take place until the
office platform infrastructure and associated support services are
in place.
Pathway Comment
None
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Reference No 500
Pathway Response
Pathway proposes to obtain the agreement of the local postmaster
at each outlet and also the Landlord of the premises at each
outlet. If agreement is unreasonably withheld then the matter will
be referred to the POCL Regional Liaison point for resolution.
Pathway Comment
1. It has been assumed that the modifications referred to here are
to the post office outlets.
Reference No 501
Pathway Response
Pathway will ensure that there is a process in place to ensure
that all outlets and regional liaison points are aware of and
agree the times and dates of all visits to post offices and other
outlets. Any disagreements will be referred to the regional
liaison point for arbitration.
Pathway Comment
1. The existence of Regional Liaison points have not been
discussed previously. We have assumed that a single point of
contact will be provided for each of the seven POCL regions.
Reference No 502
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will be careful to minimise any impact
upon the post office and retail operations at outlets while
carrying out site survey activities. However because the work is
required to be undertaken within normal working hours and because
many offices are small and congested it would be unprofessional
for a Contractor to offer absolutely no degradation of service
during a survey. A low level of service degradation must be
anticipated on some occasions and expectations set accordingly.
Pathway is confident that it can obtain the co-operation of local
post masters through its awareness campaign without setting
misleading expectations.
In accordance with the Installation Service Level Agreement, (Req
945) Pathway agree to achieve a 95% User Satisfaction level based
on an agreed approach and format, to include public reaction where
appropriate.
Pathway Comment
None.
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Reference No 503
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will be careful to minimise any impact
upon the post office and retail operations at outlets while
carrying out site modification activities. However because the
work is required to be undertaken within normal working hours, and
because many offices are small and congested it would be
unprofessional for a Contractor guarantee no degradation of
service during a survey, particularly in a single counter position
office. A low level of service degradation must be anticipated on
some occasions and expectations should be set accordingly. Pathway
is confident that it can obtain the co-operation of local post
masters through its awareness campaign without setting misleading
expectations.
In accordance with the Installation Service Level Agreement, (Req
945) Pathway agree to achieve a 95% User Satisfaction level based
on an agreed approach and format, to include public reaction where
appropriate.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 504
Pathway Response
All existing equipment which matches the specification of the
proposed OPS equipment, or which can economically be made to match
the specification of the proposed OPS equipment will be utilised
by Pathway. Pathway will negotiate any Transfer charges associated
with such equipment with the Authorities.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 505
Pathway Response
Pathway believes that there are important benefits to be gained at
post offices through the synergy achieved by implementation within
geographic areas. There are seven post office regions. Pathway
proposes to rollout the OPS equipment within two regions at the
same time. Within each region the major population centres will be
implemented first.
Pathway Comment
The requirement is oddly expressed and it may be that it has not
been properly understood.
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Reference No 506
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that the limited live trial will take place ina
maximum of three POCL regions, one of which will be South East or
North Thames, but not both.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 507
Pathway Response
Pathway will not install equipment during the peak periods of
Christmas and new year and other peak periods declared by the
Authorities in advance. To plan the installation and to commit to
particular installation dates, Pathway requests the start and end
dates of all such peak periods and, if relevant, the geographic
areas to which they apply.
Pathway Comment
The peak periods have not been defined by the Authorities.
Reference No 508
Pathway Response
Pathway notes the Authorities intentions with respect to the
suspension of rollout. It is assumed that all such conditions will
be included within the terms and conditions of contract as agreed
with Pathway.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 509
Pathway Response
Pathway will ordinarily obtain the agreement of the outlet manager
to the siting of equipment within a post office outlet. The siting
will ordinarily be to specifications prepared by Pathway and
agreed by the Authority prior to award of contract. However in
planning the siting of equipment Pathway will give overriding
consideration to the requirements of Health and Safety legislation
and to ergonomic considerations. That is, Pathway will not agree
to implementations which infringe Health & safety legislation will
not agree to sitings which would not work effectively. It is
anticipated that the Regional Liaison point would be the arbiter
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in exceptional cases where agreement could not be obtained from
the local outlet manager.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 510
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that for the purpose of rollout planning no
particular distinction will be made between main post offices
branch offices, modified sub post offices and franchised post
offices.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 511
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will be careful to minimise any impact
upon the post office and retail operations at outlets while
carrying out OPS equipment installation activities. However
because the work is required to be undertaken within normal
working hours and because many offices are small and congested it
would be unprofessional for a Contractor to offer absolutely no
degradation of service during installation. A low level of service
degradation must be anticipated on some occasions and expectations
should be set accordingly. Pathway is confident that it can obtain
the co-operation of local post masters through its awareness
campaign without setting misleading expectations.
In accordance with the Installation Service Level Agreement, (Req
945) Pathway agree to achieve a 95% User Satisfaction level based
on an agreed approach and format, to include public reaction where
appropriate.
Pathway Comment
None.
Reference No 512
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that rollout will be undertaken as quickly as
possible subject to the over-riding requirement to:
(i) maintain service and client continuity
(ii) maintain the quality of service delivery to clients and
customers
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(iii) appropriate support systems including training - being in
place
(iv) avoidance of damage to POCL’s brand, reputation and
integrity
(v) demonstrate the robustness of the approach to rollout in the
context of
uncertainty and risks
(vi) treat POCL’s staff and agents professionally and with
respect.
Pathway Comment
None.
Reference No 513
Pathway Response
Pathway would ordinarily expect to agree any future upgrades of
the OPS equipment with the Contracting Authority. However, it
should be recognised that the Contractor is required to deliver
service outputs against demanding service descriptions, service
levels and penalties payments. It is possible that at some future
time that the substitution of equipment is required either to meet
the contracted requirements or to achieve cost reductions. It is
not consistent with the proposed form of contract that the
Authorities should retain a right of veto over the substitution of
equipment by the Contractor and Pathway requests that such
agreement shall not unreasonably be withheld.
Pathway Comment
Pathway’s response is consistent with the assumption that the
BA/POCL require a complete managed service contract which is under
written by penalty payments and capital funded by the Contractor
under the PFI arrangements. If this remains the BA/POCL objective
then it is critical that the Contractor be empowered to manage the
contract so as to deliver the contracted service outputs. If on
the other hand the BA/POCL require to participate in the day to
day operational management of the Services then other contractual
arrangements should be considered and discussed between Pathway
and the Contracting Authorities.
Reference No 514
Pathway Response
Pathway proposes that it shall produce a rollout plan and schedule
for implementation at post office outlets which will be agreed by
the Authorities. In addition, the Acceptance Criteria for the OPS
equipment at post offices shall be defined and agreed within the
Contract. Pathway will install the equipment in line with the
agreed plan, schedule and Acceptance Criteria. If subsequently the
Authorities require to modify these, then such modifications may
be at a charge to cover the costs so incurred and loss of revenue,
if the frequency of required modifications exceed one per month.
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Pathway Comment
None.
Reference No 515
Pathway Response
Pathway has proposed a support package to POCL which includes:
Hands-on/classroom training
Post installation training and support visit
Remedial training or coaching visits if necessary.
The Pathway help desk will detect problem sites or users and will
initiate corrective action. The proposal is set out in the
document “Pathway Baseline Training and Awareness Programme”.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 516
Pathway Response
Pathway proposes that it shall produce a rollout plan and schedule
for implementation at post office outlets which will be agreed by
the Authorities. If subsequently, the Authorities wish to change
this plan, then agreement will not unreasonably be withheld by
Pathway. If such changes incur additional costs or delay the
achievement of revenue then Pathway proposes to make a charge to
the Authorities at normal commercial rates to compensate for the
loss.
Pathway Comment
Nil
Reference No 517
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that post office modifications will be completed
in one visit to the outlet.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 518
Pathway Response
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Pathway confirms that post office modifications surveys will be
completed in one visit to the outlet.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 519
Pathway Response
During steady state, Pathway understands that changes will be
required by POCL to the configuration of post offices. Changes
will include the provision and installation of equipment both to
completely new outlets and to existing outlets at counter
positions that were previously unequipped.
Pathway will undertake these changes as directed by POCL in
accordance with the agreed procedures established for roll-out and
contract change control.
The initial Pathway Tender will include the costs of the OPS
equipment that is identified by the Authorities within their ITT.
The equipment will be funded through transaction charges as set
out in the Authorities Pricing structure. Any subsequent
requirements for equipment will be funded either through changes
to the Transaction Charge or through other commercial arrangements
that may be agreed at the time.
Pathway Comment
A list of the outlets together with the number of serving
positions has been provided to Pathway by POCL. This list (or an
updated list provided by POCL) will be used to determine the OPS
contribution to the transaction costs and therefore the Tender
prices. Simplifying the relationship a little, the OPS
contribution to the average transaction cost is proportional to
the number of counter positions divided by the average transaction
rate. Therefore, if Authority were to request an increase to the
OPS equipment without offering a corresponding increase in
transaction volumes then there would be an incremental cost to the
Contractor which could not be recovered through a fixed
transaction charge. The Authority would in principle be able to
exploit this characteristic of transaction charges without limit.
It follows that in order to sustain a fixed transaction charge
then Pathway must be able to control the productivity of the OPS
equipment at counter positions or if this is not acceptable, then
the transaction charge must be variable.
Reference No 520
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that all agreed support services will be
available from day 1 in line with agreed service levels.
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Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 521
Pathway Response
1. Pathway intends that each of the Helpdesks will be provided
with a single telephone number.
2. The telephone number will provide multiple line access to its
Helpdesk in accordance with observed and predicted demand for
service.
3. Each Helpdesk will be served by dedicated Automatic Call
Direction (ACD) equipment which will ensure that calls are
directed to an available Helpdesk operator and answered in
accordance within agreed service performance times.
4. Optionally and at an increased price, all of Pathway’s Helpdesk
services to BA/POCL staff may share a single telephone contact
number. In this case, the caller will be connected to an
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system that will invite the
caller to select the Helpdesk service required.
5. The Card Management System Helpdesk will additionally be
provided with a single dedicated telephone number for public
access.
Pathway Comment
Pathway recommends the lower cost option of providing one
telephone number per Helpdesk, each served by ACD equipment
controlling multiple lines.
Reference No 522
Pathway Response
Pathway recommends that telephone access to Helpdesks should
employ either a ‘0345’ local call telephone number or a ‘0800
free call telephone number.
Pathway Comment
Pathway believes that the provision of ‘0800’ free call
telephone numbers for the CMS Helpdesk would encourage many more
nuisance and mischief calls, leading to proportionately greater
costs. We therefore recommend the lower cost option of providing
only ‘0345’ local call telephone numbers.
Reference No 523
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Pathway Response
Ae Pathway’s support services will provide all appropriate support
necessary to ensure the continuous and efficient operation of both
the Benefit Payment Service and the POCL Strategic Infrastructure
Service at all times from day 1.
2 Pathway will ensure that its services are capable of providing
agreed levels of support to all users that may contractually have
access to its systems.
3 The support services will cover all aspects of Pathway’s
solution from end to end, including the operational interfaces
from Pathway’s systems to those of BA/POCL and their clients.
4 Pathway will provide agreed levels of support to all other
helpdesk operators contractually nominated by BA/POCL that may
require assistance to resolve problems associated with Pathway’s
operational services.
Pathway Comment
1 BA/POCL to confirm the identity and contractual requirements
for the operation of systems interfaces between Pathway and
BA/POCL and their clients.
2 BA/POCL to confirm the identity and contractual requirements
for the provision of Pathway’s Helpdesk service support to other
helpdesk facilities.
Reference No 524
Pathway Response
1. Pathway’s Helpdesk service will deal with all calls relating to
the operation, configuration and end-user support of counter
terminal equipment, their operating systems software, application
software and processes.
2. Requests for support will be categorised according to type such
as hardware, software, network, advice & guidance, configuration,
etc.
3. The Helpdesk service will provide problem and fault diagnosis
and will control any necessary hardware or software maintenance
activities.
4. Each call will be logged and progressed to its successful
resolution within agreed service levels.
Pathway Comment
1. A complete list of ‘call types’ will be agreed with BA/POCL so
that accurate and meaningful descriptions of all calls may be
made.
2. Requests for support services and their resolution will be
analysed regularly so that service problems may be quickly
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identified and actions taken to eliminate them. The analysis will
also readily identify the need for any end-user skills or
awareness training.
Reference No 525
Pathway Response
1. From day 1, throughout the roll-out period and beyond,
Pathway’s Helpdesk service will provide access to additional
agreed services as necessary.
2. These services will include access to training facilities,
training materials and operational support documentation.
3. Supplies of consumables such as special stationery and post
office printer supplies may be ordered through the Helpdesk which
will forward the request to the POCL stationery supplies unit.
4. Small, emergency supplies of consumables may be provided by
Pathway optionally at extra cost. These may be ordered through the
Helpdesk for delivery by courier within 24 hours.
Pathway Comment
1. Pathway proposes that post masters should be responsible for
maintaining an adequate stock of consumable materials.
2. Pathway will analyse post office transactions in order to
develop algorithms, for use by post masters, which can help them
to predict future usage of consumable stock.
Reference No 526
Pathway Response
1. Pathway will ensure that all reported incidents are resolved
within agreed service performance levels and in conformance with
agreed operational procedures.
2. A comprehensive analysis of all incidents, their cause and
resolution and the service levels achieved will be produced at
agreed intervals for review jointly by BA/POCL’s and Pathway’s
service managers.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 527
Pathway Response
1. Pathway will provide a Helpdesk service that encompasses all of
the support requirements of both BA and POCL.
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2. Helpdesks will be staffed by fully trained, qualified and
experienced personnel operating according to agreed procedures and
within agreed service performance levels.
3. All of Pathway’s Helpdesk services will be provided for the
exclusive use of BA/POCL.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 528
Pathway Response
1 Pathway’s helpdesk services will each be interconnected through
their telephony systems.
2 Calls will be accepted and logged by the first Helpdesk
operator to which it is assigned. When a call is discovered by
the Helpdesk operator to have been mis-routed, the caller will be
informed and the telephone call will be transferred to the correct
destination.
3 Mis-routed calls will be handled according to the agreed
service performance levels as though they had been directed
correctly.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 529
Pathway Response
Pathway’s Helpdesk service will comply with agreed standards of
procedure and behaviour.
Pathway Comment
BA/POCL are requested to document their contractual
requirements for help service behavioural standards.
Reference No 530
Pathway Response
Pathway has proposed to implement EPOS as previously requested by
the Authorities. However if the BA/POCL need to defer the use of
EPOS then Pathway will implement the OPS software so that this can
be achieved.
Pathway Comment
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It is not possible to underwrite the operational implications of
this approach without discussion and clarification. For example,
stock accounting and cash accounting are understood to be of
operational importance to the post office and are dependant upon
the EPOS to collect data from the individual transactions. In
deferring the EPOS do the Authorities intend to defer the
availability of these operational features? Discussions with
BA/POCL are needed to understand the business requirement more
clearly and to clarify the solution.
Reference No 531
Pathway Response
Pathway has defined its solution for training in the document
“Pathway Baseline Training and Awareness Programme”. This document
is with the Authorities in draft form for discussion and
agreement. The training package proposed includes:
Standard training for all audiences
Follow-up support and training for individual users
Additional support and training as appropriate.
Pathway Comment
The requirement is very vaguely expressed and Pathway’s solution
is based primarily on its Proposal and clarified through
discussions held during the demonstrator phase.
Reference No 532
Pathway Response
Pathway has proposed to train POCL’s own trainers in the use of
the OPS service for new staff and for minor new releases. Pathway
will undertake additional for major new releases when this agreed
under contract change control.
Pathway Comment
The requirement is very vaguely expressed and Pathway’s solution
is based primarily on its Proposal and clarified through
discussions held during the demonstrator phase.
Reference No 533
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that the solution for training includes the
capability to train users on the live system using a training mode
of operation, which can be invoked at any time, and is a permanent
feature of the system. Training mode operation is protected by
user names and passwords which are separate from those of live
operation. While using the training mode both the users and system
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are prevented from interfering with live data transfer and data
integrity.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 534
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that its solution for training takes account of
automated products and experience of existing system platforms.
The Pathway training needs analysis takes account of the different
kinds of user and their different propensities to learn new
skills. The proposal includes ongoing training requirements and
support for individuals who change their roles. Pathway has
already tabled the document “Pathway Baseline Training and
Awareness Programme”. This document is with the Authorities in
draft form for discussion purposes and for agreement now.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 535
Pathway Response
This is a statement rather than a requirement and the consequences
of the statement are not clear. The requirements for Operational
Trial and the User Service Acceptance phase of such a trial have
not yet been defined and it is not clear how it relates to
schedule B7 - Acceptance Criteria.
Pathway Comment
Pathway provided comments on Acceptance Criteria in its response
dated 20th October the points raised then have not yet been taken
forward.
Reference No 536
Pathway Response
1. Pathway confirms that peripheral input devices supplied as part
of the OPS will be reliable, robust and easy to use.
2. Pathway confirms that peripheral and input devices supplied as
part of the OPS will be capable of detecting contention, premature
removal and swapping of tokens as appropriate.
3. Pathway notes that the above requirements must also apply to
any peripherals that may be transferred from POCL to Pathway. Such
peripherals may potentially include Weigh Scales and APPU’s.
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Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 537
Pathway Response
The Pathway strategy for System Management will comprises a set of
services as follows
Software repository - the storage and maintenance of records
identifying what software versions are stored on what machines
Software distribution - the scheduling of software upgrades to a
defined set of machines.
Event management - the notification of significant events to a
central source
Asset management - the storage and maintenance of information on
the existence / type of machines and associated peripherals
Configuration management - the non-static configuration
parameters that drive the applications and operating system.
In the delivery of these System Management activities as applied
to services provided to BA/POCL, the operational procedures
developed and the technology applied will be exploited to achieve
the required quality attributes including consistency, accuracy,
reliability, speed and agility in responding to failures
For example some of these services provide dynamic information on
the state of operating entities - such as applications and
operating systems. Event management is such a service. Coherence
and consistency within a homogenous set of applications and
operating system is achieved through standard naming conventions
for the identification of applications and standard methods of
invoking the event are obeyed. This will allow for example
selected events to automatically raise Help calls pro-actively
thus initiating a corrective action response.
Furthermore a consistent approach to event management populates
the Help knowledge database with reliable information such that
further similar incidents can be recognised and resolved.
By contrast other services manipulate by comparison various static
data such as the existence of machines and software packages
stored on these machine against the current configuration
parameters associated with these packages. Again a common naming
standard for this persistent data will be adopted to achieve
consistency and coherency.
As such we have opportunities to engineer coherence and
consistency at a meta level above, for example, specific types of
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operating systems. The delivery of this information will be in
databases at the central systems. These will contain a
consolidated central view of the overall system and from this
logical view we can derive ( and automatically deliver) the
parameters required to drive the applications and sub-systems that
work together to deliver the required functionality.
Pathway can thus ensure that if a common configuration is required
for all instances of an application then that configuration is
uniquely defined in the central database or where the
configuration of different applications share common information
that common information is again derived from a common source
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 538
Pathway Response
1. The overall Pathway solution comprises a set of central host
systems running the CMS and PMS services together with a number of
TMS servers. These servers will be installed in two data centres,
each having the capability to provide all the services. The post
office network comprises a PC configuration at every counter
position.
When the central systems are installed rigorous operational
procedures will ensure that all system data, including date and
time, are consistent. The systems management service will have
the facility to interrogate all servers to check for a consistent
date/time. This will typically be done whenever there is a need
to replace equipment, whenever a general clock change occurs, and
as part of regular system housekeeping.
The counter PC’s will have their date/time set prior to
installation in a post office, or prior to any replacement. Upon
installation a link will be established to the central TMS and
System Management Service to download configuration details and
other data.
Facilities within TMS will automatically synchronise the time
between TMS servers and also with the counter PC's.
2. Time changes due to British Summer Time
The PMS and CMS systems will be based on UNIX and the TMS and OPS
systems will be based on Windows-NT. Both of these operating
systems have automatic algorithms for handling clock changes due
to BST. No user action is required.
3. Local Time and GMT
Pathway understand that the requirement for using local time may
arise with certain AP transactions. In this case any adjustments
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for particular AP transactions would be handled within the AP
application. Pathway will require a description of which
transactions are affected and the nature of the adjustment.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 539
Pathway Response
1. Maintenance of reference data
Pathway will support and maintain both system and application
related reference data for an outlet. System related data
comprises information that relates to the state of the outlet and
its associated software base (e.g. event management details,
software version numbers).
Application related data comprises information that relates to
particular transactions
(e.g. price of a stamp, check digit algorithm for an AP client).
1.1 Maintenance of System related reference data
The Pathway Systems Management Service will use Microsoft SMS to
provide the functions required to store and maintain reference
data and to mange its distribution and activation. This will
comprise a single Asset and Configuration database which provides
a central logical view of which systems are associated with which
versions of various files, including reference data. Pathway will
use rigorous change management processes to control the rate and
nature of changes to the software inventory and these will involve
a co-ordinated approach with the originator of any external data
including POCL and external clients.
The SMS supports a central repository, which will contain various
objects including reference data, together with a supporting
distribution infrastructure.
The distribution infrastructure comprises the components that move
those files that constitute a single software package and also the
instructions that prescribe how the package is to be installed.
The software package is stored on an SMS distribution server and
the installation instructions are stored on an SMS log-on server.
An SMS job will invoke the distribution of data, such as new
reference data to those sites that require it, and SMS Client
Software residing on the client system will interpret the
instructions from the log-on server and install the software as
required.
1.2 Maintenance of Application related reference data
Reference data supplied to Pathway by POCL and/or POCL clients
will be stored and maintained in Pathway’s MIS system. Agreement
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will be required on the process and form by which reference data
is supplied to Pathway and the supporting control and validation
processes.
In addition each item of reference data will need to be associated
with a class of post offices, which will have previously been
defined, in order to support the distribution process.
This information will then be processed, as determined by the
effective date of the new or changed reference data, and
introduced to TMS. TMS will then distribute the data where it
will be activated and held within the outlet as a permanent
object.
2. Use of external reference data
Pathway recognise that some reference data will be provided from
external systems (e.g. TIP and client systems). Pathway will
agree the precise form and process by which this information is
made available to Pathway’s software distribution services with
the relevant owner. Operational and technical procedures will be
agreed which will ensure the integrity of data transfer, data
verification and activation procedures.
3. Implementation timescales
Pathway recognise that some reference data items may be subject to
a fast implementation (e.g. as required by a Budget change).
Pathway do not anticipate any significant difficulties with
distributing and activating these changes, as the normal process
would achieve this overnight. Agreement will be needed on the
method of providing such changes to Pathway.
Pathway Comment
An indication of the different forms of reference data and their
owners would assist in the development of the operational
procedures.
Reference No 540
Pathway Response
1. Environmental Considerations
An important factor in Pathway’s selection of equipment suppliers
for OPS has been their approach to environmental considerations
particularly in the materials policy, production processes and
recycling.
Key considerations are that the products should not contain
materials that endanger the user when used in the post office
environment, and that the manufacturing process avoids the use of
toxic emissions and has the capability to recycle as much of the
product materials as possible.
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One of the key components in the OPS is the PC and Pathway have
selected ICL as the supplier. ICL is committed to protecting
every part of the environment by compliance with existing
environmental legislation and anticipating future moves such as
the TCO 6E scheme. Some examples include :-
ICL stopped using PVC many years ago in favour of ABS for the
plastic casings. This avoids the problem of hydrochloric acid
formation when the PVC plastic is burnt. Other components such as
the keyboard also use ABS for the plastic casing and all
components are selected for their ability to be recycled.
Brominated flame retardants have not been used since 1989.
Only capacitors that do not contain PCB and batteries that are
cadmium-free are used.
The majority of the components of the PC can be recycled and
used for making other goods. All plastic parts are labelled with
the type material they are composed of.
Where ICL has responsibility for equipment disposal, the
following process is followed. All parts suitable for spare parts
are removed and reprocessed. The scrap is roughly sorted into
metals, precious metals , glass and plastics. Batteries and some
other items are sent for special treatment. All metals are
processed by specialist firms. ABS plastics are stored at present
awaiting the development of suitable re-cycling process. All
cathode ray tubes go to an aluminium factory for crushing and,
after washing, the crushed grass is dumped.
The production process for the electronic circuit boards
requires that the PCB’s are washed to remove metal chips and
chemical residues. This process does not use either CFC compounds
or Freon based detergents due to the environmental harm these
chemicals can cause. All PCBs are washed in mild detergent prior
to component soldering. The precious metals are separated from
the soldering machine tin ash for reuse.
The equipment is packed in cardboard boxes with styrox packaging
which can be burnt without harmful effects. A self closing box
eliminates the need for glue, tape or staples.
2. Duty of care
Pathway will comply with all relevant environmental legislation
and will generally exercise a responsibility for “Duty of Care”.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 541
Pathway Response
1. TMS scalability
Pathway have submitted a paper to POCL/BA which addresses Risk 9 -
the scalability of the central TMS facilities. Ref: Risk
PWY000009 - Part 3, version 1 dated 8/12/95.
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The analysis in this paper shows that there are no constraints on
the scaling of the central TMS service or of the underlying
network infrastructure to meet the workload volumes projected for
POCL/BA. The modular nature of TMS and the network enables
additional system resources to added to accommodate any workload
growth.
Monitoring of traffic patterns and actual system resource usage
will be undertaken during operational trials and early system
usage. This will be used to ensure the optimum deployment of the
TMS components.
2. Future transaction requirements
Pathway recognise and support POCL’s strategy to introduce new
business transactions and understand that these may require access
to central host systems for authorisation or data access/update.
An example of this type of transaction is in operation now in An
Post (an on-line Savings system) and Pathway would implement such
links using a TMS agent to provide the specific Client data
exchanges.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 542
Pathway Response
Pathway will provide support for all software running on Pathway
computer systems whilst they are supporting services provided to
BA/POCL.
These support services will be managed by Pathway and will be sub-
contracted to a variety of Pathway service providers.
Support to Pathway for core operating systems (e.g. Windows-NT)
will be provided by ICL Sorbus and other specialists within the
ICL group. Recourse to Microsoft where required will use current
well established support routes.
Support for middleware (e.g. TMS and TMS Agents) will be provided
by Pathway’s own support and development resources.
Support for applications software will be provided to Pathway by
the software development sub-contractor. This will comprise
members of the Pathway consortium including Girobank and Oracle
and Pathway’s own support and development resources.
Pathway Comment
None.
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Reference No 543
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that the APS will support the following range of
tokens:
Landis & Gyr PISCES smart Card
GEC Meters WATERCARD smart card
Schlumberger Smart Card for the water industry
Schlumberger Smart Card for the electrical industry
Magnetic stripe card
British Gas Quantum smart card
Bar coded documents.
YOORWNE
It is pointed out that some of the tokens listed above operate to
proprietary standards and specifications also the device driver
software is not currently available to Contractors. Licences,
specifications and software have not yet been provided to Pathway
except for the Magnetic Stripe Card.
Pathway understands that IPR for supporting software of the tokens
1.- 4 above are owned by POCL. The token referred to at 6. is
owned by British Gas. The bar code standards are understood to be
those operated by the Electricity companies.
Support for these tokens is dependant upon receiving the
specifications and the availability of the necessary device driver
software.
Pathway Comment
None.
Reference No 544
Pathway Response
1. The Pathway APS will provide support for all the current
transactions required by POCL’s AP Clients within the counter
application and in the TMS Agent for AP data extraction.
2. The Pathway APS can support the addition, modification or
removal of Clients or Client Service Types. A generic In-Pay data
capture screen is provided which supports the capture of the
specific Client transaction details. Transactions that support
new Client Service Types (i.e. a new OCR bill type, a new barcoded
bill type) can be quickly introduced through a simple
parameterised process which will define details such as format,
validation etc.
Entirely new AP Client transactions (new token type or additional
data items to be processed) may require the development of
additional data capture screens.
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3. Pathway will provide reasonable assistance to POCL in the
implementation of interfaces to additional third party
applications or tokens.
4. Pathway will provide reasonable technical assistance in support
of POCL’s relationship with Clients and potential Clients.
5. The Pathway APS provides a generic method of defining
peripheral types and transaction types. The counter application
is developed using Microsoft Visual Basic. These techniques
enable additional Client Service Types to be added in a cost
effective and efficient manner.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 545
Pathway Response
1. Pathway confirms that it will provide technical and overview
documentation describing the APS. The documentation will be of
sufficient detail so as to allow POCL to market the Service to
Clients and potential Clients and to consider the suitability of
additional services.
Pathway together with POCL will agree the content of the
documentation prior to its production and also prior to
introducing any subsequent changes. Pathway will require the
active participation of POCL to support the production of the
documentation.
2. Pathway confirms that it will produce an Automated Payments
Client specification which specifies the details of each AP
Client and Client Service type of the APS, including the Client
interface specification, the presentation of information on the
OPS, the data involved and any necessary timings.
Client identity and overview
Identifies the client for whom a specific instance of the APS is
to be provided and provides an overview of the business
objectives.
The respective responsibilities of Pathway, POCL and the Client
organisation.
Tokens and Methods of payment
A description of the token(s) that the client requires its
customers to use and the method(s) of payment that are acceptable
to the client.
Technical Specification
Identification of the service and system boundary between the
Pathway service and system and the other services and systems.
Specification of telecommunications links and associated
protocols.
Transaction data
Contents
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Validation
Customisation
Batching
Transfer
Other Data
Contents
Validation
Availability
Operations
Operational hours
Operational procedures
Fault diagnosis procedures
Operational review procedures
Service Levels
Pathway will require the active participation of POCL and the
Client organisations to support the production of the
documentation.
Pathway Comment
None.
Reference No 546
Pathway Response
1. Pathway confirms that it will deliver the APS using the POCL
Strategic Infrastructure, that is the OPS and the TMS.
2. Pathway confirms that the APS shall be available at all counter
positions where the OPS is installed to meet or exceed the
requirement as specified by POCL in the ITT. Subsequent changes to
the initial requirement will require commercial negotiation and
change control. Pathway’s intention will be to install equipment
at the outset which will have as long a useful life as possible to
minimise obsolescence costs and disruption in post offices.
3. Pathway shall ensure that the availability of each Client
Service Type at each Outlet is individually controllable via
reference data records.
Pathway Comment
1. In order to Price the APS service transactions within the
Tender, the Contractor will need to assess future transaction
types and the respective volumes also the number of counter
positions.
2. Pathway may propose limits on the volume of individual APS
components to reflect the defined or assumed business need.
Reference No 547
Pathway Response
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1. Pathway confirms that data will be captured correctly,
accurately and securely.
2. Pathway confirms that the APS will validate data read from
Tokens or entered by the User in accordance with a set of rules
identified in the AP Client Specification document.
3. Pathway confirms that the APS will check data read from Tokens
or entered by the user against any valid Client Data or reference
data for the Client Service Type (e.g. stop lists) and take the
action prescribed in the AP Client Specification or Token
Technology Specification.
4. Pathway confirms the APS shall enable the display of user
instructions specific to a Client Service Type as identified in
the AP Client Specification.
Pathway Comment
1. The purpose, ownership and timescales for availability of the
following documents is not clear and so Pathway has not yet
committed to compliance with them:
APS Generic Rules
Token technology specification.
2. The BA/POCL meaning of the word “robustly” in the context of
data capture is not understood and therefore it has not been
committed.
Reference No 548
Pathway Response
1. Transaction committal
The Pathway solution for AP is provided using a counter
application running on a PC. The User will instruct the
application to commit a transaction by using the Settle facility.
This will comprise a touch panel or a keyboard entry. The AP
transaction is then committed to the local journal. This process
will occur when :-
(i) monies have been accepted
(ii) a transaction has been reversed. It should be noted that
the original transaction is never altered and that any subsequent
and related transactions are added to the journal.
(iii) a Token has been issued
(iv) a Smart Token has been accessed ( including an abandoned or
enquiry transaction).
An additional journal entry, which does not require User action,
will be created when performing a Smart token read. The
transaction will be completed, whether for enquiry only or a Token
write will be Settled by the User in the normal manner.
Pathway Comment
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None
Reference No 549
Pathway Response
1. Transaction Reversals
The Pathway solution for AP provides the facility to reverse
eligible transactions. This process may only take place at the
post office where the original transaction took place.
The behaviour described in response to requirement 804 will also
apply to AP transactions.
The transaction details from the original receipt (principally the
account number) will be used to identify the relevant transaction.
There will be a limited time within which a reversal can take
place and this is expected to be contained within one business day
for the post office.
The process will operate to the rules described in :-
POCL APS Generic Rules
Token Technology Specifications
AP Client Specification
All transactions are progressively replicated to TMS for
processing by the TMS AP Agent. The end-of-day marker from a post
office is used as the trigger for accumulating Client specific
transactions and forwarding them according to the rules in the
above document. The net results of any transaction reversals will
be determined and the relevant details passed to POCL/POCL Client.
2. Audit capabilities
All transactions that occur at every post office are recorded in
the User local journal which is replicated within the post office
and to the central TMS. A journal entry, once written is never
altered. Details can be retrieved from the journal by suitably
authorised personnel to provide a full audit trail of all
activities including transaction reversals.
Pathway Comment
1. The purpose, ownership and timescales for availability of the
following documents is not clear and so Pathway has not yet
committed to compliance with them:
APS Generic Rules
Token technology specification.
Reference No 550
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Pathway Response
1. The Pathway AP system will write data to APS Tokens in
accordance with the rules identified in the appropriate Token
Technology Specification, AP Client Specification and POCL APS
Generic Rules.
Pathway Comment
Pathway understand that the software required to support access to
the PISCES and WATERCARD smart cards and the SCHLUMBERGER Smart
Key will not be provided to the Contractor until after contract
award. The earliest availability of the specifications of this
software would ensure the precise requirements of POCL and their
Clients are met in a timely manner.
Reference No 551
Pathway Response
1. A receipt will be produced for each committed transaction.
2. The receipt will contain information as specified in the
appropriate AP Client Specification and Token technology
Specification.
3. The reversal receipt will be identified as such and will
contain the account number of the original transaction together
with details of the date and time when the original transaction
took place.
4. The AP counter application displays details of the transaction
on the counter terminal. These include transaction type, method of
payment, value and account number. These can be transcribed onto a
manual receipt. Where the transaction is supported by a magnetic
card, these details would be transcribed using a card imprinter.
5. Welsh/English receipts will be produced in all relevant
outlets.
6. The Pathway solution for OPS will retain all transaction
information in the local post office for up to two Cash Account
periods. This will enable information retrieval to take place by
suitable authorised personnel.
Pathway Comment
1. The precise types of information retrieval in the post office
will need to be discussed and agreed with POCL in order that the
appropriate facilities can be provided.
2. The purpose, ownership and timescales for availability of the
following documents is not clear and so Pathway has not yet
committed to compliance with them:
APS Generic Rules
Token technology specification.
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Reference No 552
Pathway Response
1. Pathway confirms that the APS shall maintain and deliver
committed transactions to POCL and Clients in accordance with
appropriate AP Client Specification.
2. The purpose, ownership and timescales for availability of the
following documents is not clear and so Pathway has not yet
committed to compliance with them:
APS Generic Rules
Token technology specification.
Pathway Comment
The documents identified at 2. above have not been identified as
deliverables of the requirements received to date and their role
is not clear.
Reference No 553
Pathway Response
1. Pathway confirms that Data Files from POCL and Clients will be
either collected or received and validated in accordance with the
relevant AP Client Specification.
The purpose, ownership and timescales for availability of the
following documents is not clear and so Pathway has not yet
committed to compliance with them:
POCL APS Generic Rules
Token technology specification.
2. Pathway confirms that Data Files from POCL and Clients will be
available to all groups of outlets or specific outlets in
accordance with the appropriate AP Client Specification.
3. The purpose, ownership and timescales for availability of the
following documents is not clear and so Pathway has not yet
committed to compliance with them:
POCL APS Generic Rules
Token technology specification.
Pathway Comment
The documents identified at 3. above have not been identified as
deliverables of the requirements received to date and their role
is not clear.
Reference No 554
Pathway Response
1. APS fallback strategy
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The Pathway solution for the Automated Payments Service comprises
a counter application and supporting peripherals which operate
within the overall OPS counter applications environment. Each
post office counter is equipped with a PC configuration and each
configuration runs its own copy of the AP application and has its
own set of supporting peripherals.
The failure conditions that will affect the ability of a post
office to provide the AP service are limited to the failure of a
PC at a single counter post office, and the failure of the Smart
Card / Smart Key reader at a counter.
The distributed nature of the Pathway solution means that a single
counter failure in a multiple counter post office will not affect
their ability to provide an AP service from the remaining
counters. the provision of the AP service is not affected by a
failures that may occur in either central systems or the network.
1.1 Single Counter PC failure
A single counter PC failure will result in the post office
providing a manual AP service for transactions supported by
magnetic card or by a paper bill. Magnetic card supported
transactions will be recorded by a card imprinter (zip-zap) onto a
two-part AP voucher. Paper supported transactions will be
recorded by retaining the paper bill.
These paper documents will be forwarded to Pathway for bulk data
capture and subsequent transmission to POCL or their Clients.
1.2 Smart Card/Smart Key failure
No Smart Card/Key transactions can take place until the failed
unit is replaced.
1.3 Failure probability and impact
Failure Incidence Impact
Total loss of PC at single counter post office. The failure rate
of the PC is 4 hours outage every 1200 days, assuming the PC is
not turned off. This equates to one failure per counter every four
years. Manual AP vouchers will have to be produced using the zip-
zap system. These will be sent to Pathway at end of day for
processing.
Loss of Smart Card reader at a counter. The failure rate of the
Smart Card reader is one fail every 300,000 reads or 4 hours
outage every 1800 days. This equates to one fail per counter every
six years. See note below. (assuming 50k reads per counter per
year - Scenario 3 year 2000/01 - Workload Brief version 1.2) No
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Smart-Card transactions can take place while the reader is
awaiting replacement.
Note: A worst case scenario has been assumed for the Smart card
reader, namely that a combined Magnetic card/Smart card reader is
used and that any fail will require a whole unit replacement.
Should Pathway choose to implement a separate Smart card reader,
then the interval between failures will be much greater than the
six years predicted.
Applying these failure rates to the workload volumes provided in
the Workload Brief gives the following.
PC failure Smart Card failure
Year 1996/97 Scenario 1: 76 manual vouchers produced per day;
0.0022 % of total / day; 59 transactions not possible; 0.0009 % of
total / day.
Year 2000/01 Scenario 5 (BA) and Scenario 4 (POCL): 367 manual
vouchers produced per day; 0.0075 % of total / day; 422
transactions not possible; 0.0019 % of total / day.
2. Recovery to a known state
The Pathway AP counter application does not complete a transaction
until the data is known to have been committed to the local
journal. The User is always fully aware of whether a transaction
is complete or not. All transactions, once committed to the Users
local journal are replicated to all other PC’s in the post office
and to the central TMS server. When a failed unit is replaced it
will automatically synchronise with other nodes in its workgroup
and restore all previous transactions.
3. Data Corruption
All transaction details are recorded in the users local journal
and are appended with a CRC. This is checked every time the record
is accessed and in the event that the record has become corrupt it
will be discarded and retrieved from another node within the post
office or from the TMS servers.
4, Lost transaction data
It is not possible for transaction data to be lost within the
Pathway solution for OPS or any of the applications it supports.
Transactions once committed to a users local journal are
automatically replicated to other nodes in the post office and the
central TMS system. Any nodes which have to be replaced are
automatically re-synchronised from other nodes within the post
office or the central TMS service.
5. Re-Input of transaction data
The Pathway solution for AP will only require manual transactions
to be created should a single counter configuration fail. Some
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manually recorded AP transactions that result may be input to the
AP system once the OPS is re-established if required by POCL.
Magnetic Card supported transactions may be input using details
from the receipt. They would be recorded as a keyed entry.
Smart Card/Key transactions cannot take place when a single
counter PC has failed.
6. Data Recovery
Data recovery, or synchronisation, takes place automatically
following the replacement of a counter PC. There will be no loss
of service on any of the other configurations in the post office
while this takes place.
7. Receipts for recovered transactions
The AP system need not produce a receipt for any recovered
transactions.
8. Validation Rules for recovered transactions
The AP system will conform to the POCL APS generic rules.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 555
Pathway Response
1. OPS initial implementation facilities
1.1 All OPS outlets will have the capability to read track 2
magnetic cards complying with ISO 7811 parts 1-4.
1.2 All OPS outlets will have the capability to read/write to Smart
Cards complying with ISO 7816 parts 1 and 2, and/or ISO 7816 parts
1,2 and 3. Future support for ISO 7816 part 4 will be provided.
1.3 Support for non standard cards may be possible and will be
assessed on an individual basis. Pathway would require specific
examples of any Cards which POCL require to be supported in order
to provide a complete impact assessment, but they are not expected
to be very significant. General areas such as non standard
embossing may impact the design of the manual AP voucher. Non
standard data on the magnetic stripe would need to be reflected in
the data validation definition of the relevant application.
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1.4 Pathway will supply a hand held bar code scanner capable of
reading at least 10.9 cm bar codes at 9mils resolution. The codes
supported will be at least Code 128, EAN8, EAN 13, code 39
2. EPOS initial implementation facilities
Pathway confirm that in all outlets where EPOS is required the
Pathway EPOS solution
will :-
2.1 Provide support for manually fed pre-printed forms at the
counter by using an impact slip printer mechanism provided at the
counter as part of the counter PC configuration. The slip printer
will print Girobank summary forms G4631, G4632 and G4633.
2.2 Provide support for Cheque printing together with a range of
other forms is provided at the counter using the same slip printer
mechanism.
2.3 Support the printing of existing Client reports which are
currently printed at the counter including the Girobank Daily
Record forms. Support is provided for multiple font sets and 90
degree rotation printing so that the Girobank forms referred to
at 2.1 above can be printed.
2.4 Support the connection of the electronic weigh scales
including the Avery Berkel D104 and A702. These will be connected
via RS-232 connection to one or two counter PC configurations.
2.5 Support the printing of reports to enable POCL to meet existing
Client commitments. This will be carried out on an A4 cut-sheet
feed printer which will be installed as part of the OPS.
2.6 Support the printing of cash accounts and plain paper summaries
using the above printing facility.
2.7 Support the printing of PDF417 two dimensional barcodes as part
of the back office cash account production process. This will be
done using the above printing facility.
2.8 The counter printer proposed by Pathway is a dot addressable
printer which can support the printing of barcodes on forms and
the tally roll.
Pathway will require further discussions with POCL to discuss the
particular applications or services that require barcode printing
and the types of paper stock that are expected to be used.
2.9 The back office printer can support the printing of barcodes
and will support code 128, EAN 8, EAN 13 and code 39.
Pathway Comment
Pathway would appreciate any examples of non-standard Cards which
POCL wish to be supported.
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Reference No 556
Pathway Response
1. Pathway will support the reading of Schlumberger Smart Keys by
using the existing APPUs developed by POCL. These will be
connected to the counter PC’s by RS-232. Counter positions with
existing APPUs will be retain their units. Any new requirements
will be met from the existing stock of APPUs.
2. Pathway understands that the number of APPUs current and
planned for installation is approx. 250 units. In addition
Pathway understand that the number of APPU units available is
approx. 1000 units.
Should the actual number of outlets that require APPUs exceed the
stock and approach 10,500 then Pathway would wish to discuss with
POCL the use of alternative devices.
3. Pathway understand that POCL will determine those outlets that
require support for Schlumberger Key.
4. The acceptability of an external peripheral device to provide
support Schlumberger Key is noted.
Pathway Comment
Clarification is required on the likely number of smart key reader
devices required when roll-out starts and the likely additional
units that will be required during the contract period.
Reference No 557
Pathway Response
1. Pathway confirms that the OPS will have the flexibility for
additional peripheral types to be added in future including input
devices and printers.
2. Pathway confirms that at least 4 additional RS-232 connected
peripherals may be added to a counter configuration subject to
commercial considerations.
3. OCR capability
Pathway can supply a single hand-held scanner capable of reading
both OCR code lines and one-dimensional barcodes if this
capability is required. However this same device can not read
two-dimensional barcodes.
If the initial BA/POCL requirement included only the one-
dimensional bar code but the requirement for OCR capability was
identified later then the additional price would include the cost
of writing-off the one-dimensional bar code scanners, the purchase
price of the new equipment and the service cost of physically
replacing the equipment. In addition changes would be needed to
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any counter applications that are required to read OCR data, and
changes would be required to any TMS Agents that are required to
extract this additional data and provide it to POCL or their
Clients.
4. Two-dimensional barcode capability
Alternatively, Pathway can supply a hand-held scanner capable of
reading both two-dimensional barcodes and also one-dimensional
barcodes. However this same device can not read OCR code lines.
If the initial BA/POCL requirement included only the one-
dimensional bar code but the requirement for two-dimensional
barcodes was identified later then the additional price would
include the cost of writing-off the one-dimensional bar code
scanners, the purchase price of the new equipment and the service
cost of physically replacing the equipment. In addition changes
would be needed to any counter applications that are required to
read two-dimensional bar code data, and changes would be required
to any TMS Agents that are required to extract this additional
data and provide it to POCL or their Clients.
5. Teller Cash Dispensers
The Pathway OPS can physically support a connection to a teller
cash dispenser via an RS232 port. The introduction of new
peripherals will be subject to an agreed contract change control
processes.
Pathway Comment
Peripheral connectivity
Pathway currently intend to provide an 8-port serial card on every
PC. This together with two ports on the PC provides connectivity
for 10 RS-232 devices. The following devices are the maximum that
any one counter is currently expected to require :-
Touch Screen, MSR/SCR from keyboard, Wand, Counter printer, APPU,
Scales
Total = 6.
With the minimum three spare ports required by BA/POCL, Pathway
will have one additional port available (i.e. a total of 4 spare
peripheral ports on a fully configured counter configuration).
OCR and Two-dimensional barcode capability
It is not possible to provide a single reading device capable of
reading OCR, one dimensional barcodes and two dimensional
barcodes. Therefore requirements 3 and 4 above are mutually
exclusive. If POCL require a data capture method other than 1-D
barcodes in a single device then either OCR or 2-D barcode
capability must be specified.
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Support for 1-D barcodes can be provided with either of these
choices.
Reference No 558
Pathway Response
1. Pathway fully appreciates the importance of transaction times
to POCL. We believe that we have demonstrated to the POCL that the
Pathway OPS does keep transaction times to a minimum.
2. Pathway confirms that the OPS is capable of supporting all of
the defined business transactions at the current and projected
volumes of business. This is subject to agreement as to deployment
of full peripheral sets and software functionality. If any limits
are to be proposed these will be declared as part of the
“Scorecard” response.
Pathway Comment
None.
Reference No 559
Pathway Response
1. Pathway confirms that the OPS will be provided at each of the
POCL’s outlets.
2. Pathway confirms that the OPS will support the automation all
POCL transactions in due course.
3. Pathway confirms that the initial implementation of OPS will be
capable of supporting APS, BES and OBCS and EPOSS.
Pathway Comment
None.
Reference No 560
Pathway Response
Pathway recognises that technology will change during the period
of the contract and both BA/POCL and Pathway will wish to take
advantage of this.
1. Pathway is required to deliver services outputs to BA/POCL
against the
stated service requirements, against demanding performance targets
and against associated performance penalties. In order to deliver
the services the Contractor must exercise operational control over
all aspects of service delivery (the service inputs).
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This includes the selection and replacement of the equipment which
is required to meet the BA/POCL service requirement. Pathway
requires the right to replace equipment at outlets or to
substitute different equipment during implementation in order that
the contracted requirements can continue to be met.
Pathway recognise that BA/POCL will require assurance that any
technology changes do not adversely impact the usability or
functionality of the OPS. Pathway will provide advance notice to
BA/POCL of any changes that are required to OPS and review any
associated introduction or replacement plans. BA/POCL will not
unreasonably withhold their support for such changes.
2. Pathway confirms that it will periodically review with BA/POCL
the specification of the equipment being used and installed to
ensure that the most appropriate technology is deployed.
Pathway welcomes these reviews as a mechanism to ensure that the
OPS continues to meet Pathway’s service obligations, and to
consider the impact on the OPS specification of any future Service
extensions required by BA or POCL.
Pathway Comment
In a contract lasting many years there are numerous possible
reasons why the Contractor
may need to replace or substitute equipment and not all of the
possible reasons can be foreseen now.
Reference No 561
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will indemnify BA/POCL against any
dispute of the suppliers’ or BA/POCL’s right to utilise the
hardware, software or information used for any of the supplied
services including third party challenges with reference to
licensing or intellectual property rights. In the event of any
dispute Pathway will use its best endeavours to ensure that there
is no impact on service.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 691
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will allow an authorised user to place an order for cash
and stock by denomination as part of the office administration
function. The set of stock and cash comprising an order will be
recorded and identified as a set.
2. EPOSS will allow an authorised user to declare and record stock
and cash transfers into and out of the Outlet. The set of stock
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and cash comprising an order will be recorded and identified as a
set. EPOSS will produce a printed version of the stock and cash
requisition and consignment notes.
3. Pathway assumes that this requirement is referring to the
update of stock and cash levels (rather than stock and cash
reference data). If this is the requirement , then EPOSS will
provide a facility to enable, at a remote location, Outlet stock
and cash levels to be determined and to allow a transfer into or
out of the Outlet to be instigated via TMS or a remote source.
The Outlet will receive details of the transfer via TMS.
4, EPOSS will allow the declaration of physical stock and cash
received to be recorded and reconciled against the consignment
note. EPOSS will allow discrepancies will be recorded in such a
way that the consignment note is explicitly identified.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 692
Pathway Response
1. In general, the outstanding customer session balance can be
settled by a single MoP or a combination of two or more MoPs (e.g.
part cash and part cheque).
EPOSS will be capable of enforcing a set of rules for a
transaction which will determine whether that transaction must be
settled and committed in its own right. For example, a DNS
savings account deposit transaction can be considered to be
committed when the passbook entry is made and stamped. This
suggests that the settlement should be an intrinsic part of the
DNS transaction.
EPOSS will be able to enforce a set rules for any transaction
which will determine the MoPs allowed for that transaction.
2. EPOSS will allow the introduction of new types of MoP by
implementing the MoPs in a generic manner similar to other
products/transactions. As such, EPOSS will allow new MoPs to be
introduced dynamically via reference data and applets.
3. EPOSS will implement EFTPOS, handling debit cards, as a method
of payment from the first quarter of 1997. Consideration will be
given to the support of credit cards from the outset and EPOSS
will have the inherent capability to handle both debit and credit
cards from the start of the EFTPOS service.
The volumes quoted, while not surprisingly high, are nevertheless
high in absolute terms and will generate
considerably higher daytime telecommunications costs for the PFI
service as a whole.
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It is understood that cashback will not be required initially but
might become a requirement in the future. EPOSS will ensure that
cashback can be implemented as and when it is required.
Pathway recommends Girobank as the preferred supplier of the
“Merchant Acquirer” services for EFTPOS. On-line authorisation
will be routed via TMS and EFTPOS transactions and summaries will
also be transmitted via TMS.
EPOSS will provide daily reconciliation of its EFTPOS transactions
against information from the banking/financial clients.
Pathway will consider the storage and access requirements for
signed receipts and will propose a preferred approach shortly.
Currently, Pathway favours the storage of signed receipts
centrally by Girobank as an additional service to the Post
Offices. The storage and retrieval procedures will take into
account the 0.2% receipt retrievals anticipated.
The options for the implementation of EFTPOS are currently under
consideration and will be presented separately on finalisation.
The general benefits of transactions involving EFTPOS are expected
to include:
increased average value of transactions and increased value of
single transactions such as catalogue (e.g. Argos) sales
increased number of transactions - due to attraction of cashback
increase number of customers from higher socio-economic group
earlier payment of MVLs, bills etc.
payment of bills at counters which currently require cash at the
counter or a cheque by post. E.g. Giro transcash foils with
“Cheque NOT Acceptable at PO Counter”
reduced handling costs (compared to cheques
reduced clearing time (compared to cheques)
Pathway Comment
70% (at £15 floor limit) on-line authorisation seems high and
may result in annoying delays and lengthy queues. Stop press -
Girobank state that £15 limit is a Switch rule and that VISA and
Mastercard are higher.
Is cashback very different from a cash withdrawal? Stop press -
Girobank state that card scheme rules preclude cash withdrawal at
retail counters (including post office counter) but cashback is
allowed.
Is POCL expecting to be or to nominate the “Merchant Acquirer”?
Reference No 693
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will allow a VAT style customer receipt to be produced at
the end of the customer session. The receipt will be optional and
will be printed if requested by the operator.
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2. Some transactions will automatically produce a customer
receipt.
3. The format of all receipts will be agreed with POCL.
4. The header/footer will be printed in Welsh and/or English as
required.
5. The facility will be provided for the printing of one or more
copies of a receipt following the end of one customer session and
before the beginning of the next customer session. The second and
subsequent copies of a customer receipt will be marked as
“duplicate”.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 694
Pathway Response
1. All transactions will be recorded using a Point of Sale
function. This function will provide a consistent method for
invoking fixed price product sales, simple open value transactions
and complex transactions. The recording of information for all
transactions will be handled in a consistent manner.
2. Transaction data captured during other services will be
recorded via EPOSS.
3. EPOSS will allow the manual entry of weight values where the
scales are not linked. In fact, EPOSS will allow manual entry of
any information that is normally captured via a peripheral to
cater for the cases where the peripheral is not connected, or has
failed, or is unable to read for other reasons (e.g.
illegibility).
4. Where transaction data will be captured through a peripheral
reading device, the invocation of the transaction will be event-
driven.
5. EPOSS will be able to read data from any appropriate input
device which is part of the OPS.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 695
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will provide a function for declaring actual cash and
stock on hand as part of the stock unit balancing process. Cash
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will also be declared as part of the daily cash locked up function
or an electronic ONCH form.
2. The number of stock units and their setup will be under the
control of the manager of the Outlet as part of the office
administration functions. EPOSS will provide facilities for
creating and deleting stock units as well as setting stock unit
“sharable” attribute to cater for local working practices.
3. The stock unit management facility will allow changes to stock
unit options and assignments.
4, EPOSS will allow stock unit sharing where a stock unit is
attached to more than one user at the same time. This will be
optional so that sharable and non-sharable stock units can be used
within the same Outlet.
5. EPOSS will allow each stock unit to be balanced as often as is
required within a cash account week. Balancing will involve the
declaration of cash and stock by denomination.
Sharing a stock unit results when it is attached to more than one
user at the same time. When sharing a stock unit, a group of
users will be able to divide the administrative functions amongst
themselves. For example, the declaration of cash and stock on
hand can be carried out by each user. Each declaration will
represent that user’s proportion of the total for the stock unit.
The aggregated total for the stock unit will be used for
subsequent balancing operations on the stock unit.
6. EPOSS will allow an office balance to be produced at the end of
the week by amalgamating the stock unit balances.
The system will provide an office level snapshot, at any time, of
transactions, cash and stock levels across all stock units. The
same facility will be available to provide an instant snapshot of
the transactions and contents of any single stock unit.
7. EPOSS will produce an office cash account (conforming to the
approved format) which will include information regarding manual
voucher transactions, automated voucher transactions, suspense
account position, and cash and stock totals. An office balance
brought forward value will be derived for inclusion in the next
accounting period.
8. EPOSS will control access to a stock unit by using an access
level attribute. This will restrict its use to only those users
with an appropriate privilege level. If it is not sharable then a
stock unit can only be accessed by one user at a time. In
addition, each user will be restricted to using only one stock
unit at a time selected from a defined set.
Pathway Comment
None
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Reference No 696
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will produce a daily report showing the cash held in the
office. The format of the report will be agreed with POCL,
although it will show cash held by denomination of bank note and
coin.
2. EPOSS will provide daily and weekly summaries of transactions
by stock unit for those transactions that require such reporting.
3. EPOSS will print on client cut sheet stationery using the
counter printer or, if the physical size or layout of the
stationery demands it, the A4 Outlet printer.
4. Pathway understands that the range of clients and their
stationery varies considerably.
5. The format of all receipts will be agreed with POCL and
bilingual Welsh/English printing of these will be provided as
required.
6. The facility will be provided for printing more than one copy
of a receipt following the end of one customer session and before
the beginning of the next customer session. The second and
subsequent copies of a customer receipt will be marked as
“duplicate”.
7. EPOSS will provide daily and weekly summaries of transactions
by stock unit for those transactions that require such reporting.
8. EPOSS will print on client cut sheet stationery in support of
Girobank and the PDR summarisation.
9. EPOSS will produce reports using the counter printer and the A4
Outlet printer as appropriate to the physical printing
requirement. The reports will conform to client specifications
and will be produced at stock unit and office level as required.
10. EPOSS will allow reports and summaries to be previewed on
screen as well as (or instead of) printed.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 697
Pathway Response
The clause 801 and schedule A3 of the related agreements applies
to this requirement.
Pathway Comment
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None.
Reference No 698
Pathway Response
Pathway shall use all reasonable endeavours to minimise and
control liabilities to itself and the Contracting Authorities.
Pathway will set up an organised security infrastructure covering:
Security Policy
Allocation of Security Responsibilities
Security Education and Training
Reporting security Incidents
Physical Security Control
Virus Control
Business Continuity
Control of Proprietary Software
Safeguarding BA and POCL Records
Information Classification
Compliance with data Protection and other legislation
Information Exchange Control
External Contractors and Suppliers
Compliance with Security Policy
The management of fraud and risk within the solution during
service operation
Pathway confirms that it will comply with BS7799.
For further details of Pathway’s approach to the control and
minimisation of benefit payment-related security risks, we refer
you to the document “Benefit Payment Service - Security Proposal”,
which was submitted to the BPS Security Review Panel on 21/12/95.
For details of Pathway’s approach to providing for integrity and
privacy assurance in services other than BPS refer to requirement
response 952.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 699
Pathway Response
The audit trail comprises two major segments of information
corresponding to the two major elements of the PFI, namely the
Benefit Payment Service and the Strategic Infrastructure Service
together with its Systems Management function. The information
processed by the BPS and SIS partly overlaps as benefit
authorisation and procedural data passes from BPS to SIS and
encashments, expiries and operational data returns from SIS to
BPS. The Systems Management function provides the audit trail
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with a record of operational events, inventory, distribution and
remote operations.
A systematically important place in the system is the junction
between BPS and TMS where data crosses over. In doing so a
logical copy of it is generated such that there is a
representation of it in each element affording reconciliation of
audit. Consistent identity of file, record and field will be
maintained across both environments. As payment authorisation
data is transferred from PMS to TMS service, the transaction log
database within PMS is updated and new authorisation records are
created within TMS. When encashment or expiry transactions are
transferred from TMS to PMS, the PMS transaction log database is
also updated.
The BPS element of the audit trail
1. Transactions, both programmatic and operating, passing through
BPS in normal operation are recorded at the CAPS gateway and at
PMS or CMS, according to content, in the subsystem’s respective
journal. The scope of PMS and CMS extends to their respective
help desks and transactions handled in these sub-services also
similarly recorded. The audit trail is maintained during periods
of fallback and recovery: all BPS equipment is duplicated at
separate geographical sites, each capable of handling the complete
workload in the event the other is not available. Normal,
fallback and recovery transactions are recorded.
The audit log will include the following:
* file receipt from/despatch to CAPS, including file sequence
numbers and record control totals
* file receipt from/despatch to PMS/CMS, including file sequence
numbers and record control totals
* control checkpoints and any restarts during file transfer
operations between CAPS and PMS/CMS
* All exception conditions (e.g. file sequence or control total
failures)
* All systems access via operations staff
Within PMS each individual payment authorisation will be logged in
the database to support transaction level audit and
reconciliation.
Standard reports will include all exceptions events (e.g. sequence
or control total failures), plus daily/weekly/monthly control
summaries.
PMS will produce a full set of operational and audit reports as
specified by the BPS MIS requirements.
The audit log of transfers between CAPS and the File Reception
system will be held at both the CAPS site of operation with a copy
transferred to the Pathway site of PMS/CMS operation. All other
audit log data for BPS will be held at the PMS/CMS site.
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2. The audit trail will record for file based data transfers all
transfers of files at entry and exit to BPS and between subsystems
of the BPS, and the processing of files. For transactional based
data transfers, logging will be at the message level. For manual
actions the audit trail will record the discrete control language
level event.
3. Transactions recorded in the BPS audit trail will identify the
auditable event itself, date and time, and the cause, effect and
owning organisation or individual as appropriate.
4. The audit trail will allow the tracing with certainty of
activities that utilise more than one of the services to be traced
from start to finish, or from an intermediate point in any
direction.
5. The audit trail will provide information to allow the original
transaction to be recreated.
6. The content of the audit trail will be agreed explicitly
between Pathway and BA/POCL.
7. Audit trail records will provide information for a period
consistent with the Companies Act.
8. Pathway will provide BA/POCL with reasonable access to the BPS
audit trail. Facilities will be provided for secure
interrogation of the audit log under appropriate access control
privilege.
PMS will provide secure access facilities to interrogate the
status of all payments during the cycle of payment receipt from
CAPS to return of encashment or expiry data to CAPS. The PMS
transaction log database and related MIS will be available for
access, subject to appropriate security clearance, by standard SQL
tools for query, reporting and data analysis.
9. The audit trail will have a level of security such that it
cannot be altered or deleted. In general journals are written as
append-only files and owned at the system level and protected by
the subsystem’s access control
10. The integrity of the audit trail will be maintained during
periods of partial or complete service loss or failure. Starting
and restarting transactions will make audit trail entries
recording the event and indicating if appropriate what resetting
of the environment left by a failed predecessor it undertook.
Pathway will keep copies of systematically vital files, including
the audit trail at the alternate BPS site.
11. It will be possible to provide a suitable legal assurance as to
the integrity of the audit trail.
12. Any changes to the services provided by Pathway will be the
subject of discussion and agreement with BA/POCL. Technological
change may be one of the implications of a service change (e.g.
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the introduction of a new back-end servers and peripherals). The
ability to maintain the facilities associated with audit will be
one of the acceptance criteria governing the introduction of any
change. In the event that the audit trail medium becomes obsolete
it will be securely copied to a medium that will be serviceable
for the required lifetime of the content.
The SIS element of the audit trail
1. All transactions that pass through TMS are recorded in the
journal. The journal will be maintained on magnetic media within
TMS for a period currently planned to be 90 days. Following this
the journal data will be archived to optical storage. The current
or archived TMS journals can be accessed to provide an audit trail
of all TMS transactions.
Some fallback scenarios will still be capable of recording a
transaction in the TMS journal, e.g. keyed entry of BA card.
Other scenarios will require data capture by alternate means and
subsequent introduction to TMS (e.g. manual AP transactions due to
equipment failure). In these situations the transaction details
will be captured in bulk by Pathway from the paper vouchers and
introduced to TMS typically the following day.
The distributed nature of the Pathway TMS enables an Audit trail
to be maintained and accessed during any recovery of a TMS server.
2. The audit trail provided by the TMS journal will record all
file transfers, messaging or transactions, and the processing that
originated these messages. Processing may either have originated
from a service running on OPS in an Outlet, or be a bulk data
capture process provided in a fallback scenario.
3s Transactions recorded in the TMS journal will contain some
standard information and then variable data depending on the
process that originated them.
Standard data will include :-
Post Office ID - The unique ID of the Outlet
Position ID - A unique ID of the counter within the Outlet
Session ID - A unique ID that identifies an individual
customer session
Transaction ID - A unique ID within the Outlet for a
transaction that forms part of a customer
session
Date
Time
User - A unique user name of the counter clerk
initiating this transaction
Application - An OPS application service
Variable Data will include :-
Transaction details 1
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Transaction Details n
e.g. Transaction details for a BA encashment (Out - payment) would
include :-
Payment ID The unique payment number
Debit Amount Amount Paid
National Insurance Number
Transaction Type Out-Payment
Transaction Code Specific Benefit ID
Receipt Details If one or more receipts were printed
Keyed ID If keyed input took place
Keyed Reason Reason code for keying
4. Activities that use more than one service may be traced from
start to finish with certainty, or from an intermediate service.
A typical customer session in an Outlet may comprise the use of
BES (encash benefit), APS (pay bill) and EPOS (purchase stamp).
All these transactions will be recorded in the local outlet
journal and each will contain the same unique session ID to
identify that they occurred as one set of customer transactions at
the counter. Each transaction will also record data specific to
that transaction (e.g. benefit encashment - see above).
Transactions are then replicated to the central TMS and are
subsequently extracted for processing and dispatch to a variety of
host systems (e.g. PMS, POCL, POCL-Client systems). Each
transaction will retain the attributes that enable its source and
any associated
transactions to be identified (e.g. transaction ID, session ID
etc.). This data may be interrogated, subject to agreed
procedures with Pathway, at any point in this process from
transaction origination in an Outlet to Client specific datafiles
just prior to dispatch.
5. Data recorded in the journal will be sufficient to allow a
transaction to be recreated. Pathway will be pleased to discuss
the recording of any specific data items that may be required by
BA/POCL.
6. The content of the audit trail will be agreed between Pathway
and BA/POCL.
7. Audit trail records will provide information for a period
consistent with the Companies Act
8. Pathway will provide BA/POCL with reasonable access to the
audit trail provided by the TMS journal.
9. Once transactions are written to the TMS journal they can never
be altered or deleted.
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10. TMS comprises a number of servers separated across two
geographically remote sites. The service is resilient against the
loss of individual servers or of a complete site.
Data within TMS is replicated within the local data centre and to
the remote datacentre. When failed servers or a complete site is
restored, all transactions are synchronised to bring each server
up to date. The TMS service continues operating during this
process.
Should both data centres supporting the TMS servers fail, the
Outlets would continue largely unaffected. Transactions (local
benefit encashments, AP and EPOS transactions) would continue in
each Outlet and be recorded in the local journal. When the
central TMS is restored synchronisation would take place with each
Outlet to bring the central TMS up to date.
11. It will be possible to provide a suitable legal assurance as to
the integrity of the audit trail.
12. Any changes to the services provided by Pathway will be the
subject of discussion and agreement with BA/POCL. Technological
change may be one of the implications of a service change (e.g.
the introduction of a new counter peripheral). The ability to
maintain the facilities associated with audit will be one of the
acceptance criteria governing the introduction of any change. In
the event that the audit trail medium becomes obsolete it will be
securely copied to a medium that will be serviceable for the
required lifetime of the content.
The Systems Management function
The Systems Management Service provides a repository for the
recording of all physical events affecting the platforms which
support the SIS, that is TMS and the OPS. All these environments
operate under Windows NT and are managed from the SMS server. The
SMS provides, in conjunction with the native Windows NT and
messaging middleware services, a comprehensive facility for
trapping, recording and interrogating audit events relating to the
operational status of the hardware, software and applications
running within the SIS.
Windows NT auditing features enable the recording of events such
as which users access which objects, what type of access in being
attempted and whether or not the attempt was successful.
Administrative privilege is required for controlling audit and
auditing policies within the Windows NT Registry.
Audit events may be viewed through the Windows Event Viewer with
appropriate access security measures, or may be accessed by
applications to undertake routine audit analysis. Events related
to the router network are similarly forwarded to the network
management server, for storage for audit or operational planning
purposes.
Pathway Comment
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None
Reference No 700
Pathway Response
1. Pathway will supply and issue Benefit Payment Cards to
authorised persons only when notified by CAPS.
2 Changes to personal details will be accepted only via CAPS.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 701
Pathway Response
All Benefit Payment Cards and temporary tokens issued by
Pathway will remain the property of the Secretary of State.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 702
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that Cards will only be used for benefit payment
unless authorised by the Secretary of State.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 703
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that the design of Pathway’s Benefit Payment
Cards will be subject to the approval of the Secretary of State.
Pathway will require a minimum lead time of 4 weeks from such
approval to dispatch of the first cards.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 704
Pathway Response
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Pathway will supply and maintain cards in a reasonable number
(up to 7) of livery and logo styles as requested by the
contracting authorities.
Pathway Comment
Pathway expects this number to be four (4). Pathway affirms that
it would regard a number up to seven (7) as reasonable.
Reference No 705
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that Benefit Payment Cards will show the
following details:
NINO
Authorised Person Initials & Surname
Card ID No
Expiry Date.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 706
Pathway Response
1 Pathway has adopted the financial industry numbering
standards, specified for Benefit Payment Cards.
2 All Pathway cards will bear unique identification numbers.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 707
Pathway Response
1 Pathway’s solution allows for emergency encashments, authorised
by the Benefits Agency, when a valid card is not available.
2 Temporary Tokens may be issued by the Benefits Agency for the
purposes of encashment within an agreed time frame.
3. Stocks of Temporary Tokens (paper based) will be held under
secure conditions in each benefits Agency office - to the same
security standards as currently used for Girocheque stocks.
4. Each Temporary Token will have a unique number pre-encoded.
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5. On issue at the BA office the customer will sign the token in
the clerks presence and nominate a post office for encashment. The
BA office will key into CAPS the details of the token:
- unique serial no.
- customer’s NINO
- amount of payment
These details will be transmitted within 30 minutes to the
nominated post office via PMS.
6. On presenting the temporary token at the counter the pre-
encoded details will be swiped with a light sensitive pen which
will bring up the payment and customer info on the screen.
Security questions will be asked to verify customer bona fides if
not known to the counter staff.
7. The customer will sign the receipt which will be checked
against the signature on the token. Encashment details will then
be updated on the system.
8. Both the token and receipt are forwarded for storage.
9. As an alternative to Temporary Tokens, a replacement card could
be issued urgently for collection by the customer at the nominated
post office if the customer is able to wait before collecting his
payment.
Pathway Comment
Attention is drawn to the Pathway proposals for the management of
emergency payments and temporary tokens contained in the BPS
Stream Paper the most recent version of which is dated 8 January
1996. Pathway would welcome discussion of these proposals leading
to agreement.
Reference No 708
Pathway Response
1 Pathway will conform to the financial industry standards for
Card usage and receipting. Information has been provided in the
document entitled “The Pathway Benefit Payment Service - Security
Proposal” , dated 21/12//95.
2 The life expectancy of Pathway’s cards will be agreed with the
DSS and will be typical of cards used in the finance industry.
Pathway proposes a magnetic stripe card to be renewed every three
years. The solution also supports Integrated Circuit memory cards,
as described in the Pathway Risk Response to risk 78, the life
expectancy is five (5) years.
2 The life expectancy of Pathway’s cards will be agreed with the
DSS and will be typical of cards used in the finance industry.
For magnetic cards the life expectancy is three (3) years. For
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Integrated Circuit memory cards, as described in the Pathway Risk
Response to risk 78, the life expectancy is five (5) years.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 709
Pathway Response
1 Pathway acknowledges that it will migrate to IC Smart Card
technology if required in the future. Pathway anticipates that the
commercial terms for the provision of smart cards will be agreed
under contract change control.
2 Pathway has proposed a flexible technical solution for Benefit
Payment Cards which will readily facilitate this migration.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 710
Pathway Response
AE Pathway’s solution allows for the deployment of successively
more secure anti-fraud measures without significant change to its
proposed architecture.
2 These measures may be introduced through Pathway’s
Flexibility of design
Security and access control mechanisms
Verification and authentication procedures
Card design
3. Please refer to section 12 of the Pathway response to the
security review, Risk reference 12a and Annex 9 of the Pathway
main response which provide more detail.
Pathway Comment
Pathway draws the attention of BA/POCL to, in particular, the BPS
Security Proposal, 21 December 1995, and the Pathway Response to
risk 78.
Reference No 711
Pathway Response
1. The data used for payment verification at the counter comprises
the data on the card, both visible and on the magnetic stripe, and
“verification data” provided for a cardholder by CAPS.
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2. Whenever the cardholder data (i.e. the cardholder as assigned
within CMS) is updated, CMS will, in association with BES, provide
for “old authorisations” to be collectable against the current
valid cardholder profile.
3. The supplementary verification data provided by CAPS comprises
the cardholders address, date of birth and style or title. The
style or title will be used as a piece of information to support
normal visual verification since this will usually correspond to
the customer’s apparent sex. (Style or title will not be included
in the customer’s name printed on the card.)
Elements of the cardholders address (such as the number of street)
or of the customer’s date of birth (such as the month of date of
birth) will be used in formulating “blind verification screens”.
These will be used in higher risk encashment situations only, such
as foreign encashments. BES will prompt the clerk to ask the
customer for such an element which will be checked by the system.
At no point will the whole of the address or date of birth be
visible to the clerk.
This supplementary verification data will be sent from CAPS as an
update to CMS. (Note that enhancements will be required to the
interfaces described in “CAPS Programme CAPS to PMS/CMS
Definitions”, Version 4, 8/11/95, to accommodate the style or
title and date of birth). This data will be used to “enrich”
payment authorisations.
The verification screen will carry the date at which the last
cardholder update to verification data was received. If the
cardholder has recently moved, the Authorised Person can reply in
terms of the correct address, or the clerk can steer him to a date
of birth-based verification question. In this manner, the
Authorised Persons ability to collect an authorised payment will
not be adversely affected or the transaction time extended.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 712
Pathway Response
Pathway’s card design will conform to the relevant ISO and
APACS standards as detailed within the Benefit Payment Card
Technical specification.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 713
Pathway Response
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Pathway’s CMS solution ensures that card renewals at the end of
their life expectancy are automatic unless notification has been
received from CAPS that further cards are not required. The
renewal of the card is effected by CMS passing instructions for a
card to be manufactured, personalised and despatched to the
nominated office some five weeks in advance of nominal expiry. At
the same time a PUN will be produced and sent to the customer’s
address for correspondence. Activation of the card occurs in the
nominated post office, information from the PUN being used to
activate the card. A receipt section of the PUN is retained by
the post office. The activation of the new card causes the
simultaneous stopping of the old card. Benefits can be encashed
by the one currently active card.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 714
Pathway Response
1 During the month prior to the month the card is due to expire,
Pathway’s CMS will automatically trigger its renewal.
2 Pathway’s standard process will ensure that the renewal card is
available for collection at the nominated post office by the
Authorised Person at least five (5) weeks before expiry date of
the original card.
3 Pathway’s solution will ensure that the card renewal process
does not impinge upon the Authorised Persons ability to collect
benefits and there is no impact on DSS offices.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 715
Pathway Response
Pathway will ensure that replacement cards are available for
collection by the Authorised Person within service levels agreed
between Pathway and DSS (e.g. 48 hours) of notification by the
DSS, the post office or the Authorised Person.
2 Cards which are required to be replaced will be invalidated and
may no longer be used. To protect against fraud, this process will
not be reversible, and the Authorised Person must collect a
replacement card.
Pathway Comment
DSS may wish to consider that where a card is to be replaced for a
fundamentally non-urgent reason, such as change of name on
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marriage, a longer period for replacement which could attract a
lesser charge, may be preferable.
Pathway understands that the card type may need to be changed when
a customer’s circumstances change such that a change in card
livery (e.g. to or from War Pension) is indicated.
Reference No 716
Pathway Response
CMS will accept a notification from CAPS when an Authorised Person
no longer requires a card and will send no further cards to that
Authorised Person. For the present, Pathway assumes this
notification will be in the form of an End of Customer Interest
File entry from CAPS as specified by the “CAPS Programme CAPS to
PMS/CMS Definitions”, Version 4, 8/11/95 (Section 4.1.2).
Pathway will remove the data from the operational database and
will store the data archive as defined within the agreed Archiving
Policy between Pathway and procurement.
Pathway Comment
It may be that CAPS would prefer to distinguish between “end of
customer interest” in the sense that the customer details are
certain not to be required in the future, as would be the case on
death or emigration, and “end of card interest” where the customer
is not now, perhaps just temporarily, in receipt of benefits
because of a change in his personal circumstances. If this is the
case then the CAPS interfaces need to be enhanced to this effect.
Pathway would point out that while customer data is being
maintained in this “dormant” state CMS-related charges would be
incurred.
Pathway recommends the following as a consistent descriptive basis
for normal, non-counterfeit card status’s. Ordinary cards in the
inactive and active states can also be suspended or unsuspended.
Cases which apply to ordinary cards are underlined. Cases which
apply to temporary tokens are in italics.
Inactive
Uncollected Yet to be activated, in transit or at
post office
Unissued Yet to be issued by benefit office
Lost Did not arrive by due time
Stolen Stolen from post office or benefit
office
Damaged Could not be activated/issued
Returned Was not activate/issued by due date and
returned
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Active
In use Activated, the normal state
Stopped With reasons reported lost
reported stolen
reported damaged
customer denied use
Dormant Notified no further interest
Shot Used temporary token
Cancelled Dormant card not replaced when
otherwise due
The following “glossary” defines words which have been used from
time to time in this context:
Invalidated = Stopped. A stopped card or temporary token cannot be
unstopped, just replaced.
Terminated = Cancelled.
Reference No 717
Pathway Response
1 When a Card has been renewed, CMS will invalidate the original
card when it expires or when the new card is activated, whichever
occurs first.
2 CMS will not allow the new card to be used until the old card
has been invalidated.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 718
Pathway Response
Pathway will ensure that, subject to the precedence of the
rules expressed in these requirements, the issue of initial,
renewal and replacement cards does not adversely affect the
Authorised Persons ability to collect authorised payments.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 719
Pathway Response
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Pathway’s card distribution method and its security will be
discussed and agreed in advance with the DSS. Attention is drawn
to the Pathway BPS Security Proposal, 21 December 1995.
Cards will emerge from card production batched according to
destination post office and sealed in shrink wrap. Within each
shrink wrap will be a batch summary which will contain the batch
identity in bar code format and the number of cards in the batch.
Transport will be via Royal Mail who will sign for each batch ,
arrange secure delivery and obtain a signature at the post office
on delivery. On arrival at the post office normally the batch
will be “wanded in”, i.e. by reading the bar-code with a light
sensitive pen (if this fails the bar-code number will be keyed
in). The post office clerk will count the number of cards in the
batch and confirm that this agrees with the details on the screen.
If there is a discrepancy each card will be swiped through -
excess cards will be stopped automatically and the cards
destroyed. Cards missing will be automatically stopped and re-
orders placed. Reports will be produced for investigation.
CMS will track the batch into and out of production and,
critically on arrival at the post office. If the batch does not
arrive by the expected time then the CMS Help Desk will prompt
the post office to “wand in” if it has arrived. If the batch
does not arrive by a drop-dead point in time (because of loss,
theft, destruction or inordinate delay in transit) then Pathway
will initiate replacement of the batch and, where necessary,
associated PUNs.
Pathway Comment
This scope of this requirement is assumed to exclude temporary
token management.
Reference No 720
Pathway Response
Pathway will ensure that CMS records the following data
1. The date and the time of the request from CAPS to issue a Card
2. The date, time, and location of a card’s production, and its
destined collection location or Authorised Persons address.
3. Expected date of arrival of the Card at the collection location
or address
4. Method of card delivery
5. The date and time of receipt of a card at its destination
location.
6. Pathway’s proposal for the handling of expired, damaged or
uncollected cards is that the post office should be responsible
for their destruction. The card should be mutilated by hole
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punching the magnetic stripe and then disposed of securely. This
process is similar to that in use currently for the disposal of
Benefit Payment Books and results in a more cost effective
solution with minimised risk of fraud. At the end of each day,
Pathway’s systems will generate a “cards returned” report that can
be checked by the post office supervisor.
7. Pick Up Notice issued date, time, method of delivery and
destination.
8 Pathway’s card collection and activation procedures will
include verification of the Authorised Person. Upon receipt by the
Authorised Person, the appropriate status will be recorded within
CMS.
9. Cards incapable of activation and issue to the Authorised
Person due to being damaged or unserviceable will be recorded
during attempted activation. The system will automatically re-
order a replacement card and PUN.
10 The issue of a reminder to an Authorised Person after
(initially but subject to review) 40 days of non-collection of the
Card requesting that they pick up the Card or contact the DSS to
inform them of any change of circumstances.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 721
Pathway Response
Pathway will ensure that Authorised Persons are notified, where
necessary (cross-refer to Reference No 750 for PUN issue details),
that a new or replacement card is available for collection by the
issue of a pick up notice (PUN). The delivery of the PUN will be
synchronised with delivery of the Card to the collection point so
that the card will be available for collection as soon as the PUN
is received.
The responses to subsequent questions follow:
Where is the PUN sent to?
To the address for correspondence; normally the beneficiary's
home.
Where is the PUN sent to for a customer of No Fixed Abode?
To a specified Benefit Office.
What is meant by synchronised delivery?
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PUN will arrive at the address for correspondence after the card
has arrived at the Post Office.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 722
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that the card authentication method will be
positive rather than negative, resistant to forgery or other
unauthorised manipulation and will include an agreed mechanism for
identifying the attempted use of counterfeit or invalid cards and
temporary tokens. Please see also the document entitled “The
Pathway Benefit Payment Service - Security Proposal”, dated
21/12/95.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 723
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that cardholder verification methods will be
resistant to impersonation and will include an agreed mechanism
for identifying the attempted use of a card or temporary token by
unauthorised persons. Please see also the document entitled “The
Pathway Benefit Payment Service - Security Proposal”, dated
21/12/95.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 724
Pathway Response
Note this requirement and requirement 727 both use the term
invalidation. Please refer to the Pathway notes below for
proposed use of terminology.
Interactive responses should be targeted in terms of percentile
distributions rather than an average or absolute figure.
CMS will in 95 per cent of cases automatically and within two (2)
seconds of receiving a card stop notification stop a card or
temporary token and change and record the new status. This
process will render the card or temporary token status (active),
stopped, with reason customer denied use.
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Pathway Comment
Pathway recommends the following as a consistent descriptive basis
for normal, non-counterfeit card status’s. Ordinary cards in the
inactive and active states can also be suspended or unsuspended.
Cases which apply to ordinary cards are underlined. Cases which
apply to temporary tokens are in italics.
Inactive
Uncollected Yet to be activated, in transit or at
post office
Unissued Yet to be issued by benefit office
Lost Did not arrive by due time
Stolen Stolen from post office or benefit
office
Damaged Could not be activated/issued
Returned Was not activated by due date and
returned
Active
In use Activated, the normal state
Subject to alert monitoring
Stopped With reasons: reported lost
reported stolen
reported damaged
customer denied use
Dormant Notified no further interest
Shot Used temporary token
Expired
Cancelled Dormant card not replaced when
otherwise due
The following “glossary” defines words which have been used from
time to time in this context:
Invalidated = Stopped. A stopped card or temporary token cannot
be unstopped, just replaced.
Terminated = Stopped.
Reference No 725
Pathway Response
1 Pathway confirms that the CMS will invalidate cards / Temporary
Tokens which are notified as being not received within 3 working
days of the expected delivery date.
2 CMS will track the card or Temporary Token batch into and out
of production and critically on arrival at the post office or
benefit office (Temp Tokens). If a card batch is not booked in by
a post office say within 2 days of the expected delivery date, the
CMS help desk will prompt the post office to confirm the batch
arrival and record its arrival into CMS.
In the case of the a temporary token, Pathway will track the batch
movement with the distribution courier and progress any issues
with the both the BA office and the courier by telephone.
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If in any circumstance a batch does not arrive by a drop-dead
point in time ( because of loss, theft, destruction, or
inordinate delay in transit) Then Pathway will initiate
replacement of the batch and where necessary associated PUN’s.
Pathway Comment
Benefit offices will be required to telephone the CMS Help Desk to
confirm arrival of temporary token batches.
Pathway recommends the following as a consistent descriptive basis
for normal, non-counterfeit card status’s. Ordinary cards in the
inactive and active states can also be suspended or unsuspended.
Cases which apply to ordinary cards are underlined. Cases which
apply to temporary tokens are in italics.
Inactive
Uncollected Yet to be activated, in transit or at
post office
Unissued Yet to be issued by benefit office
Lost Did not arrive by due time
Stolen Stolen from post office or benefit
office
Damaged Could not be activated/issued
Returned Was not activated by due date and
returned
Active
In use
Activated, the normal state
Subject to alert monitoring
Stopped With reasons reported lost
reported stolen
reported damaged
customer denied use
Dormant Notified no further interest
Shot Used temporary token
Expired
Cancelled Dormant card not replaced when
otherwise due
The following “glossary” defines words which have been used from
time to time in this context:
Invalidated = Stopped. A stopped card or temporary token cannot
be unstopped, just replaced.
Terminated = Stopped.
Reference No 726
Pathway Response
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1 Pathway will automatically and immediately invalidate a card if
it has not been collected from the collection location by the
Authorised Person within 56 calendar days of the date of the issue
of the pick up notice (PUN).
2 Temporary tokens will be invalidated 7 calendar days from the
date of issue.
Pathway Comment
Immediately is a very subjective term and could be used to
describe a range of timescales ranging from microseconds to days.
In this context we have taken it to mean a few hours.
Reference No 727
Pathway Response
Note this requirement and requirement 724 both use the term
invalidation. Please refer to the Pathway notes below for
proposed use of terminology.
Interactive responses should be targeted in terms of percentile
distributions rather than an average or absolute figure.
CMS will in 95 per cent of cases automatically and within two (2)
seconds of receiving a card or temporary token stop notification,
following a report of loss, theft, destruction or damage beyond
use by the Authorise person or the DSS, change and record the new
status. The process will render the card or temporary token
status (active), stopped, with reason reported lost, or stolen or
damaged.
Pathway Comment
Pathway recommends the following as a consistent descriptive basis
for normal, non-counterfeit card status’s. Ordinary cards in the
inactive and active states can also be suspended or unsuspended.
Cases which apply to ordinary cards are underlined. Cases which
apply to temporary tokens are in italics.
Inactive
Uncollected Yet to be activated, in transit or at
post office
Unissued Yet to be issued by benefit office
Lost Did not arrive by due time
Stolen Stolen from post office or benefit
office
Damaged Could not be activated/issued
Returned Was not activated by due date and
returned
Active
In use Activated, the normal state
Subject to alert monitoring
Stopped With reasons reported lost
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reported stolen
reported damaged
customer denied use
Dormant Notified no further interest
Shot Used temporary token
Expired
Cancelled Dormant card not replaced when
otherwise due
The following “glossary” defines words which have been used from
time to time in this context:
Invalidated = Stopped. A stopped card or temporary token cannot
be unstopped, just replaced.
Terminated = Stopped.
Reference No 728
Pathway Response
Please refer to the Pathway notes below for proposed use of
terminology.
Interactive responses should be targeted in terms of percentile
distributions rather than an average or absolute figure.
CMS will monitor the transit, storage, activation, usage and
status of all cards ensuring in 95 per cent of cases that status
confirmation is available for secure and auditable enquiry by DSS
within five (5) seconds of CMS being notified of a change.
Pathway Comment
Pathway recommends the following as a consistent descriptive basis
for normal, non-counterfeit card status’s. Ordinary cards in the
inactive and active states can also be suspended or unsuspended.
Cases which apply to ordinary cards are underlined. Cases which
apply to temporary tokens are in italics.
Inactive
Uncollected Yet to be activated, in transit or at
post office
Unissued Yet to be issued by benefit office
Lost Did not arrive by due time
Stolen Stolen from post office or benefit
office
Damaged Could not be activated/issued
Returned Was not activated by due date and
returned
Active
In use Activated, the normal state
Subject to alert monitoring
Stopped With reasons reported lost
reported stolen
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reported damaged
customer denied use
Dormant Notified no further interest
Shot Used temporary token
Expired
Cancelled Dormant card not replaced when
otherwise due
The following “glossary” defines words which have been used from
time to time in this context:
Invalidated = Stopped. A stopped card or temporary token cannot
be unstopped, just replaced.
Terminated = Stopped.
Reference No 729
Pathway Response
Pathway will supply management information related to CMS
operations in accordance with the appropriate detailed requirement
defined in the BPS MIS Catalogue.
This response relates to the document “BPS MIS Requirements
Catalogue”, V1.0, 2/11/95 and the Pathway response thereto,
reference - BPS/SEC/8:21/12/95.
Pathway Comment
The BPS MIS Catalogue and Pathway response should be referenced
and the requirements placed under change control.
Reference No 730
Pathway Response
Pathway will provide a customer service helpdesk facility
accessed via a low rate call service, to deal with general
enquiries, reports of loss, damage and theft of cards from
Authorised Persons 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 731
Pathway Response
Pathway will provide secure and auditable access to CMS to
enable authorised DSS staff to notify card or temporary token
termination. Once a card or temporary token has been terminated it
may not be re-instated. This requirement will be satisfied using
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the CAPS interface to CMS prior to an on-line service being
provided direct to BA staff.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 732
Pathway Response
The means of providing on-line enquiries to BA staff remains to be
agreed, particularly with respect to the building IT
infrastructure to be employed. It is not anticipated that on-line
enquiries will be a part of the initial release of the CMS
service. When the specification is complete then Pathway confirms
that the following minimum information will be displayed in
response to enquiries made to the CMS:
authorised persons NINO
card identification number
card status
previous card status and date status changed.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 733
Pathway Response
1 Pathway will provide a help desk facility to support general
and technical enquiries from DSS authorised users as defined
within Service Levels and Remedies Schedule.
2 The availability of the help desk will be subject to review and
may be changed under contract change control.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 736
Pathway Response
1 Pathway will ensure that a logical separation is maintained
between CMS, PAS and POCL Infrastructure.
2 Pathway will maintain a detailed interface specification with
the BA/POCL to describe this. See requirement response 951.
3 Attention is drawn to Pathway Risk Response 20A which deals
with the separate status if PAS and TMS, and to Risk Response 55B
which deals, inter alia, with the separate status of PMS and
CMS.
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See Risk Response 55b, in particulars, sections 3.7 & 3.8.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 740
Pathway Response
Pathway will ensure that all relevant information produced at
the request of the DSS shall be evidentially admissible and
capable of certification in accordance with the Police and
Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 and the Police and Criminal
Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 741
Pathway Response
1. Pathway confirms that CMS will support the payment of all
existing benefits through a phased programme of development and
implementation. The order of the take-on of existing benefits will
be agreed with BA prior to contract.
2. Pathway confirms that the CMS can be developed to support the
payment of new and changed benefits as these are defined and
agreed.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 742
Pathway Response
Pathway is aware of the requirements imposed by the Welsh
Language Act 1993 and will ensure that CMS has the capability of
producing Bi-lingual cards and collateral material as required for
those Authorised Persons living in Wales.
Pathway Comment
None
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Reference No 743
Pathway Response
1 Management Information and Service Level reports will be
available at least 5 working days before regular Service Review
Meetings.
2 Reports required for ad-hoc meetings will be provided in
agreement with the Authorities.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 744
Pathway Response
Service Level reports will indicate performance against all
service levels detailed in the Service Level Agreement.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 745
Pathway Response
1 CMS will recognise the failure of an Authorised Person to
collect a Card within 40 days of issue and send a reminder note to
the Authorised Person advising them to pick up the Card or contact
DSS within 14 days.
2 Cards remaining uncollected after 56 days from the date of
issue will be automatically and immediately invalidated by CMS.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 746
Pathway Response
The contingency procedures adopted by Pathway were presented and
discussed in some detail during the stream meeting in Q4, 1995 and
were documented in final form in the stream meeting paper dated
21/12/95. The relevant sections are reproduced in full below.
The subject is dealt with in three topics:
Contingency arrangements, failure of service
Further analysis of the impact of Help Desk Authorisation
Discussion points on catastrophic local failures
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The latter topic includes a discussion of what measures might be
taken by POCL and Pathway in partnership in the event that a post
office loses its mains power supply.
Contingency arrangements, failure of the service (updated
following discussions)
The diagram below, based on the Pathway proposal, but updated for
the definition of CAPS and the changes in PMS and CMS platforms,
shows the key points at which a failure can occur:
X1 - loss of a counter position. The office continues normally
with one fewer counter running.
When the counter is available, either repaired or replaced
completely, its filestore is resynchronised from adjacent
counters.
X2 - loss of a single counter office. The office must fall back
to manual procedures and several possible approaches to payment
authorisation have been discussed.
These could be driven from a Payments Payable report, routinely
printed the night before. The Pathway solution provides for this,
but there can be no certainty that the Post Office will have
printed this, particularly if a failure is a rare event. The
content of the Payments Payable Report would also need careful
scrutiny to avoid security risks: for example the expiry date
should not be listed.
The office could use PMS Help Desk Authorisation procedures. Here
the Help Desk acts as a “stand-in” post office with access to the
authorisation data held within TMS, which is updated as manual
authorisations are made. Manual receipts will be issued. (This
solution copes equally with payments at the affected office and
incoming foreign payments from other offices for retrieval from
the failed office.) When the single counter office is available it
restarts with its filestore resynchronised from TMS which has
transiently become the holder of the more current dataset.
The preferred approach is to use the PMS help desk procedure as:
this automatically maintains TMS integrity as manual
authorisations are made
the expected volume of calls is well within the projected
capacity of the help desk -- this is further discussed in the
following section
the resulting increase in counter transaction time, whilst
inconvenient, can be accommodated at single counter offices on the
projected work volumes.
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X3 - TMS server failure. The TMS servers are grouped such that in
a 2 by 2 by 4 formation each TMS server replicates to one in its
own machine area, one on the alternate
machine area in its own geography and one in the alternate
geography. In the event of loss of a TMS server, the offices
normally primed by that server will connect to another server.
When the TMS server becomes available it will be resynchronised
from others in its group and resume priming its office workload.
X4 & X5 - BPS failure. This would be when the PMS/CMS server
fails. All the related workload is shifted to the other
geography. Each geography will have enough power to handle the
complete PMS/CMS workload by itself. Pathway has proposed that
the CAPS Access Server be located on BA premises and that Pathway
take a clear responsibility for the payment authorisation and
returning data streams over the WAN to the BPS server. In the
event of loss of the CAPS Access Server, its BA source/sink, or
its network connection to the current BPS server, then the CAPS
Access Server in the alternate BA geography will take over
together with associated switches of CAPS source/sink and network
connection.
X6 & X7 - Network failures. See also the Pathway response to Risk
#34 which details the fallback methods used during communications
outages of the ISDN connection between TMS and the post office.
In X6, a fail in the ISDN connection, the post office will
continue with local authorisations. Outgoing foreign encashments
and emergency payments which have not reached the counter will
require telephone authorisation. Any incoming foreign payments
which carry a risk of duplicate payment during the network failure
will be halted or heavily scrutinised with additional
verification. This is estimated to be less than 0.001% of
payments. When the network connection becomes available the post
office will resynchronise with TMS (and TMS with the post office
for any foreign encashments authorised under scrutiny).
In X7 the LAN within the processing centre fails. The normal
fallback would be to switch to the other geography and defer all
non-urgent work. On availability of the LAN all the TMS servers
would be resynchronised from the alternate geography and non
urgent work run on the Central Services equipment until a
breakpoint in the schedule is reached and a normal work pattern
resumed. The Pathway proposal includes duplex LANs at each centre
so the incidence of double failures is expected to be extremely
small.
Further analysis of the impact of PMS Help Desk authorisation
It is important to analyse and understand the practical effect of
use of the PMS Help Desk during periods of communications or
equipment outage. These are summarised in the foregoing
discussion but are now gone through in greater detail. There are
basically two cases to examine:
the single counter post office
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handling foreign encashments
(i) Single counter post offices
If the network connection is lost but the counter is running then
just customers coming in for foreign encashments will need to be
Help Desk authorised. (This is estimated to total about 25 calls
a day on average.) If the single counter as a whole is lost then
all transactions will need to be authorised via the Help Desk
(around 160 calls a day). In either case the volumes are small
-- we are talking here only of single counter offices.
(ii) Foreign encashments
Manual authorisation of foreign encashments will be required by an
office of any size, including the largest, if its network
connection is lost. However, in this case it is only the foreign
encashments that need to be authorised by the PMS Help Desk, home
office encashments can continue unaffected by the communications
outage. This results in an acceptably low level of help desk usage
(around 300 calls per day are expected.)
Discussion points on catastrophic localised failures e.g. a
complete power failure - particularly touching on the implications
for reconciliation ( updated for use of equipment sets similar to
that used in satellite offices)
There are several categories of such failures:
Site related
whole areas with many adjacent offices fully or partially
disabled through widespread loss of power due to storm, flood,
terrorism, war, civil commotion
individual offices incommunicado
individual offices with no power (planned or unplanned)
individual offices with fabric affected but on power
individual offices destroyed
Staff related
Postmaster fired for dishonesty office closed by BA/POCL fraud
hit squad
Postmaster/clerks all off ill
Industrial action
Access not possible (e.g. bomb scare)
Hijack/siege
Methods to sustain Benefit Encashment Service in the event of
power loss. Note that in high risk areas the post office
security equipment as well as the counter and other equipment will
need to be powered for the office to be permitted to open.
Manual fallback using paper records - depends on having Payments
Payable Report in place either routinely or brought to office. Use
of paper receipts.
PMS Help Desk Authorisation
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Temporary transfer of ordinary payments to another nearby office
-- note card authorisations on hold. Business rules to not tally
foreign encashments
Emergency power source brought to site
Use of 12V DC inverters brought to site
Use of mobile post office
Temporary use of standby “portable” equipment, such as that
being discussed for use in satellite or part-time offices, at
appropriate, alternative local accommodation.
Implications for reconciliation. Provided the clerks always pay
the authorised payment amounts and provided any manual
transactions are entered before they would have expired either by
the clerk or as a result of the PMS Help Desk operating as a
“stand-in” post office, then payments will always reconcile.
The implications are as follows:
During such fallback operation clerks will issue manual
receipts. From these receipts it will be possible for the clerk
to check that the updates performed on its behalf by the PMS Help
Desk correspond with the manual receipts issued.
It will be necessary for the PMS Help Desk to operate as a
temporary surrogate for the office in manual operation in order
that the office’s subsequent cash account correctly reflects its
actual benefit cash operations (and the consequences that flow
therefrom, notably postmaster remuneration).
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 747
Pathway Response
1 All aspects of Card Management including production, storage,
delivery and destruction of cards will be secure, auditable and
allow the production of audit trails of all cards and collateral
material.
2 With respect to the destruction of expired/returned cards at
post offices, Pathway proposes that the post office should be
responsible for their mutilation and secure disposal.
3. Attention is drawn to the Pathway BPS Security Proposal,
sections 4, 5 and 6, 21 December 1995.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 748
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Pathway Response
1. INTRODUCTION
This response documents the key service design for Pathway’s Card
Management Help desk service.
2.HELP DESK SERVICE
2.1General.
Pathway will provide a Card Management help desk service to answer
80% of calls within 10 seconds as the first point of contact for
customers of the service. Customers include both Benefits Agency
and Authorised Card Holders / Persons although we anticipate that
PO Counters staff will also require access to the help desk in
certain situations. Two levels of service will be provided. The
help desk will deal with card related enquiries such as those
relevant to lost, stolen or damaged cards, non receipt of a PUN,
and card status . An “0345” local call rate number will be
published for card holders / authorised persons and separate
discreet numbers will be used by BA and POCL staff wishing to make
card related enquiries.
2.2.1st.Level Service
Pathway will provide a ist level service for enquiries which can
be resolved within 5 minutes and will cater for 1st level members
being off duty.The lst level member who takes the call will own
the problem / query from initial logging through to resolution to
the customer's satisfaction.
The help desk contact will be over the telephone.Calls will be
managed by an ACD system and help desk staff will have screen
access to CMS card status data with facilities to confirm Card
holder /Authorised Person, BA and POCL staff bona fides, place
stops on lost, stolen or damaged cards and arrange their
replacement. Details of calls will be logged and analysis of these
calls can be provided.
If required the system can also refer reports to BA when card
holders frequently report lost, stolen or damaged cards so that BA
staff may interview them before deciding whether or not to provide
replacement cards.
2.3. 2nd Level Service
Pathway anticipates that only a small percentage of calls will
require more than 5 minutes to resolve at a second level of
service.
Such calls will be referred from the first level service to the
2nd level service. 2nd level staff will progress such queries to
resolution within 30 minutes.
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2.4. Hours of Service
Pathway will provide a continuous help desk service as specified
below :
1st level - 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week; 365 days per year.
2nd. level - 08.00 - 18.00. : Clarification is required about days
of week for level 2 service provision : we recommend 08.00 to
18.00 hrs Mondays to Fridays and
08-00 to 13.00 hrs on Saturdays to answer any enquiries from PO
Counters staff, whilst open for BA business on Saturdays.
Pathway is unable to make an open ended commitment to extend the
level 2 service to whatever is needed at 2 working days notice.
In emergencies Pathway will provide a level 2 service outside
normal hours ,given 5 hrs notice.
2.5. Resilience
Pathway will ensure that a contingency plan is in place to cater
with any help desk incident e.g. loss of staff, loss of telephone
system , loss of problem / configuration management and computer
systems. The contingency plan will be agreed with the AUTHORITIES
and will state how quickly the service will be restored in the
event of an incident. The plan is currently based on two sites for
each help desk with staff multi-skilled in both CMS & PMS help
desks.
2.6. Training
Pathway will comply with training for the AUTHORITIES ' staff as
per our response to Requirements Catalogue number 734. Pathway
will develop training plans for its own staff.
2.7. Personnel
Pathway will ensure that all staff have suitable and appropriate
skills and training and that sufficient skilled resources are
available to cater for holidays, sickness and natural wastage
within the CONTRACTOR's organisation.
3. Service Monitoring
3.1. Service Performance Statistics
ed ale
Pathway’s Help desk service will be monitored and reviewed over
monthly periods. Statistical evidence of its performance against
agreed measures will be produced by analysis of the data captured
by the Help desk system and by the telephony system.
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3.1.2. The analysis will be presented to the Contracting
Authorities in an agreed format within 5 working days of the end
of the period.
3.1.3. Help desk records will be maintained for a period of 18
months.
3.2. Customer satisfaction surveys.
Pathway will be pleased to participate with the Contracting
Authorities in devising and conducting customer satisfaction
surveys.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 749
Pathway Response
If the customer is unable to visit his nominated post office in
person to collect his benefit card, it will be because he is
suddenly, but hopefully transiently, indisposed, although still
entitled to benefit and perhaps with authorisations already
available to him. If the customer is not able to attend the
nominated post office for some time then there is of course no
point in attempting to collect a card for that very purpose and
agent procedures should be, or have been invoked.
The Pathway solution handles this case in the following ways:
1. For existing customers replacing cards routinely:
If the customer is an existing card holder then he will call the
CMS Help Desk explaining his position. The CMS Help Desk will
extend the validity of his current card by a period to be agreed
between BA/POCL and Pathway, and extend the date by which his new
card can be collected to the same date. The old card remains
available for casual agent encashments. New authorisations will
carry a card expiry date which BES will use in place of the expiry
date read from the card.
2. For existing customers replacing cards following card loss or
damage:
If the card has been lost, stolen or damaged, as might be the
case if the customer has been in an accident or suffered an
assault -- the CMS Help Desk will stop the current card and
initiate a replacement cycle providing a longer time during which
he may collect the card.
3. If the customer is not a cardholder, he should first call the
CMS Help Desk
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He is newly enrolled into the benefit system -- the CMS Help
Desk will extend the date by which his new card can be collected.
In cases 2 and 3, the CMS Help Desk will advise the customer to
call the BA office and arrange for a form of agent to be
appointed, if collection of payments is necessary during the
expected period of their indisposition and an agent is not already
appointed. If the indisposition is protracted then a permanent
agent should be authorised, and if necessary be equipped with a
card. If only a short indisposition is anticipated then a casual
agent, a card holder, and possibly one who is an established
member of the local voluntary sector can be identified.
In all cases, the CMS Help Desk will advise the customer that if
it transpires he is not able to get to his post office until after
the extension, then he should contact his BA office towards the
end of the extension period and arrange a permanent agency.
If in the event he recovers before or during the extension period,
he can pick up his replacement card in the normal way, the new
card will be activated and, when appropriate (i.e. in case 1)
the old card stopped.
Pathway Comment
There is no provision in CAPS for the card to be sent other than
to a single class of outlet, in Pathway’s solution this class is
the nominated post office.
Pathway wishes to minimise the extension period consistent with
the need to provide for due payment and proposes two calendar
months.
Reference No 750
Pathway Response to Requirement 750
Pathway proposes that Pick Up Notices (PUN) be issued in the
following situations:
@ All New Cardholders
When New Cardholders are authorised, information is received by
CMS from CAPS. A Card is advised for despatch to the nominated
post office and a PUN for despatch to the Customer.
© card replacement for lost, stolen or damaged cards
When lost, stolen or damaged cards are reported to the CMS Help
Desk, a new Card will be ordered for despatch to the nominated
post office and a PUN for despatch direct to the customer.
In other cases, the procedure for Card renewal will be as follows:
On swiping the old card, the system will inform the Post Office
staff that a new card is available. This will enable the new card
to be identified and swiped; currently proposed extended procedures
(cardholder verification) will be invoked.
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Pathway’s solution will allow for the following situations:
Card pick up notice (PUN) is presented at the post office counter and
there is no valid card available, or when a card is available and the PUN
is lost, not received, etc.
a) Card pick up notice (PUN) is presented at the post office counter and
there is no valid card available. The Pathway solution handles this as
follows :
1. The customer will be directed to the BA office to reapply for a card
and perhaps to obtain a temporary token if he is short of funds but
has authorisations available. If he calls the CMS help desk he will
be referred to the BA office. Where a replacement card is ordered via
the help desk, CMS help desk place a stop on the missing card and
order a replacement card and PUN, the old PUN will need to be
destroyed. The speed of delivery for the new card will be treated as
an urgent card/PUN replacement and will be produced in accordance with
the appropriate SLA.
2.Card damaged at point of pick up
The card has arrived and is available, but is damaged. If the card is
physically defective but distinguishable, or if the card is physically
all right but is magnetically defective then Pathway recommends that
it is activated manually. Supplementary verification will
automatically be invoked as is the case for all card activations. The
manual activation will now cause BES automatically to reorder a card
and PUN replacement as if for a normal damaged card.
b) when a card is available and the PUN is lost, not received, etc.
When a customer has lost his PUN, not received it or it has been
stolen, and the card is available for collection, there are two cases
The PUN in question is the first PUN. In this case the customer will
receive a PUN reminder which can be used to claim the card. The
reminder will have a new CAN.
The PUN in question is the second, the customer not having the first
one either. In this case the customer should call the CMS help desk
which will reorder a third PUN (with a new CAN). On production of a
second PUN reminder, Pathway propose that details of the transaction
are sent to BA via CAPS.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 751
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that Authorised Payment information, forwarded
from CAPS to PAS, will be accepted and available for subsequent
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encashment from the due date until the end of the agreed period of
validity, provided that the information passed from CAPS satisfies
the data validation criteria.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 752
Pathway Response
It is not clear that the requirement as stated is either necessary
or desirable. Pathway understands that CAPS will provide the
payment date for all payments including those that are advanced
due to holidays. There is no obvious purpose achieved by a message
to the post office clerk in these circumstances. PAS has no means
of knowing that the payment has been advanced - and in principle
does not need to know.
It may however be desirable to advise the customer that an
advanced payment will become due using a message which is
displayed when the immediately preceding payment is encashed. In
this case it would be possible for CAPS to use the “Next Payment /
Earliest Encashment Date” together with the “Payment Message
Insert Facility” to cause PAS to display a message to the counter
clerk.
Pathway Comment
In this requirement and in many others relating to PAS the
required functionality extends beyond PAS into related sub-systems
including particularly including the CMS and the BES.
Reference No 753
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS will create, update and delete personal
details in line with the data which is received from CAPS.
Personal details will be archived in accordance with an archiving
policy that will be agreed between Pathway and the Contracting
Authorities.
Pathway Comment
The amount of data to archive and the duration of archive storage
are cost elements that must to be included within the Tender. The
archiving policy must therefore be agreed prior to tender and then
maintained under contract change control.
Reference No 754
Pathway Response
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Pathway confirms that Urgent Payment information, forwarded from
CAPS, will be accepted by PAS and available for encashment within
30 minutes at any post office , provided that it satisfies the
data validation criteria.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 755
Pathway Response
Pathway proposal will allow for CAPS to provide payment stops to
PAS. PAS will match the payment reference number of the stop with
the authorised payment and return either a successful stop or
failed stop, depending upon the authorised payment status. Where
no match is found PAS will send failed stop to CAPS. Should CAPS
provide the payment subsequently as part of bulk data for the day,
PAS will send a correction to the stop failure and a successful
stop confirmation.
Pathway Comment
1. It is not possible to confirm the response times which are
requested at this stage since the CAPS specification does not
include operational information such as the size of the files to
be transferred or the timing of transfers. Clearly the time
required to validate and process a file containing 100 stops would
be significantly longer than for a single stop. Similarly the
assembly of STOP notifications into batches for return to CAPS
will impact on the response time.
2. The CAPS interface is defined as a batch file interface yet the
response times of 2 seconds would be more appropriate to a real
time on line system. We do not believe that a 2 second response
time is necessary or achievable in an interface of this type.
Reference No 756
Pathway Response
New or changed personal details presented in reasonable numbers
and provided through CAPS will take effect within PAS within 30
minutes of receipt from CAPS and thereafter will be taken into
account in any subsequent encashment or enquiry. It is assumed
that the personal details that are changed in this way will not
include data that is held on the magnetic stripe card and there by
cause a verification failure when encashment is attempted.
Referring to paragraph 4.3.6.20 of the SSR the personal details
that may be changed are Nominated Post Office, Restricted Post
Office, Monitor Usage Flag, National Sensitivity Indicator.
Pathway Comment
It is not possible to change personal details instantaneously and
the length of time required to validate and act on the changed
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personal details will depend upon the number of records which are
passed across the CAPS interface. There will then be a short delay
while the changed personal details are applied to the PAS records
following which any subsequent encashment or enquires will reflect
those changes.
Reference No 758
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms it will recognise different types of payments
e.g.
Urgent payments
Regular payments.
contingency payments
stopped payments
encashed payments
uncashed payments
a) received but not due
b) due but not collected and within the validity
period
uncollected payments beyond validity period
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 759
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS support an authentication process to
ensure that valid Cards are accepted and invalid cards rejected.
As part of the counter procedures at the Post Office, Pathway’s
solution will carry out the following processing:
On receipt of the card from the customer, the counter clerk will
following procedures:
swipe the card through the card reader,
visually check the card for evidence of tampering / forgery
match the data presented on the screen (derived from swiping
the card)
with the data embossed on the card
Verify that the card is active
Verify card and details on the system with against card /
customer
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Compare the signature held on the card with that written upon
the receipt,
Where the clerk is satisfied with both the card and customer,
continues with the encashment
Slight variations on the above procedure will exist depending
upon whether Authorised Person is the beneficiary, Appointee, or a
permanent or casual agent.
If the clerk is not satisfied, he can ask further questions, and
if necessary, impound the card and refer the customer to BA.
Cards are authenticated for all transactions regardless of the
availability of payments for collection. Cards checks include
lost, stolen and expiry date. The counter clerk visually checks
the authenticity of the card
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 760
Pathway Response
1. Pathway confirms that following the successful authentication
process to validate the Card, PAS provides the data to support
verification of the Authorised Person identity. PAS obtains the
verification data relating to the cardholder from CMS. This
applies to all Cardholders including proxies except for those
proxies who are Casual Agents and therefore do not have applicable
benefit cards.
2. For all cardholders except for Casual Agents the verification
is carried out against the Payee and the card authentication and
verification of Cardholder identity will be carried out only once
per visit even if multiple payments and multiple beneficiaries are
required.
3. Where the Authorised Person is a Casual Agent the Payee
verification will be made against the cardholder identity for the
beneficiary who is represented. Therefore, we propose that each
casual agent be verified for each beneficiary. Casual agents will
present the following for each beneficiary:
Declaration of entitlement to collect the payment on behalf of
the beneficiary( mandate).
The beneficiary’s magnetic stripe card.
Supplementary authentication & verification of the Payee (e.g.
Own Benefit Card, Driving Licence, Passport etc.).
Pathway Comment
None.
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Reference No 761
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS will have the provision to advise the
post office clerk of the action to be taken when Card
Authentication or Cardholder Verification checks are not
satisfied.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 762
Pathway Response
PAS will respond to CAPS requests for encashment status on
particular payments, with either the relevant encashment data or
with an indicator that the payment has not been encashed. It is
not possible to confirm the requested response time of two seconds
at this stage due to lack of information regarding the “flow
control “ and the sizes of files generated by CAPS.
Pathway Comment
1. It is not possible to confirm the response times which are
requested at this stage since the CAPS specification does not
include operational information such as the size of the files to
be transferred or the timing of transfers. Clearly the time
required to validate and process a file containing 100 stops would
be significantly longer than for a single stop.
2. The CAPS interface is defined as a batch file interface yet the
response times of 2 seconds would be more appropriate to a real
time on line system. We do not believe that a 2 second response
time is necessary or achievable in a system of this type.
Reference No 763
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS will allow for payment of both cash
and tokens as authorised by CAPS.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 764
Pathway Response
1 Pathway will provide the following details on the receipt:
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Beneficiary’s name and abbreviated NINO;
Cardholders name and abbreviated NINO (where different)
Casual Agent presented name and NINO (if possible)
Benefit Payment Description;
Amount (s);
* Signature (space for signature clearly identifiable);
*Time (numerical 24 hour clock);
* Date (DD/MM/YY);
* Due date(s);
* Token Type;
*No of Tokens;
* Code of Post Office of payment;
Predicted due date of next payment;
Total amount encashed;
allowed date for next foreign encashment (optional)
Declaration of Entitlement (combined or otherwise);
Message (subject to physical constraints of receipts and CAPS);
te eH
tee OF
The receipt must also include the following details produced
externally from PAS;
* Unique encashment transaction identifier.
*Unique Post Office counter clerk transaction identifier.
2. The name of the Casual Agent is not known. This information may
need to be captured at the counter and must be typed by the
counter clerk and will affect counter transaction times slightly.
3. It should be noted that the size of the receipt is becoming
very large indeed.
Pathway Comment
Note: There is a potential fraud risk in printing ‘Code of Post
Office of Payment, and Predicted due date of next payment’.
Pathway recommend that this information not be on the receipt from
a fraud perspective as it will allow a potential verification
question to be fraudulently answered. Should the receipt and card
be lost together it will enable an offender to identify the
correct Post Office and date of encashment
Pathway would like the opportunity to discuss the above in more
detail with the procurement.
Reference No 765
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS will support the process to prompt the
post office clerk to issue a copy of the receipt to the Authorised
Person and retain the signed copy for use by DSS. It should be
noted that this function is actually performed by the BES.
Pathway Comment
None.
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Reference No 766
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS will support the process necessary to
allow the encashment to be terminated before it is completed if
the Authorised Person or DSS so requests.
It should be noted that the processing of every transaction has a
natural commitment point after which the transaction cannot be
terminated., For a benefit encashment this point is in reality
the exchange of cash for the signed receipt. The system
recognises this point in time as its response to the settlement
indication from the clerk. The customer or the POCL clerk can
elect to terminate the transaction before this point. A receipt
whether signed or not can be voided and the transaction voided.
An DSS originated stop which is received by the BES will be
actioned up to the point that the settlement indication is
received from the clerk. In an extreme scenario, a payment stop
arriving at BES during the dying moments of the encashment
sequence will be actioned by BES returning a “no-pay” indication
as the response to settlement indication.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 767
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS will support payment to Authorised
Persons as identified within the payment data passed from CAPS and
also casual agents.
It should be noted that the collection of payments by casual
agents is also supported by rules of principle for authentication
and verification of the casual agent and these are enacted in post
offices.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 768
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that as a minimum, any conditions which apply to
the Authorised Person or payments made to them will also apply to
a casual agent encashment.
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Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 769
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS supports the use of Nominated Post
Offices, as notified by CAPS. Appointees, Alternative Payee and
Permanent Agents will have their own Nominated post office for
Card (if applicable) and payment collection, distinct from that of
the main beneficiary.
The nominated post office is assumed to be the same on both the
payment and the card details, particularly for notification of
change of nominated office, for subsequent authorised payment
routing and for card issue.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 770
Pathway Response
Pathway solution will limit the number of Foreign encashments to
(x) in a rolling (y) week period (where (x) and (y) are parameters
to be provided by the DSS, initially (x)=2 and (y)=26), PAS will
prompt the post office clerk to inform the Authorised Person on
the final allowable foreign encashment, of the date of the next
allowable foreign encashment (equivalent information to be printed
on the receipt), and that to collect further payment a change of
post office is required, or return to the nominated post office.
PAS will not identify the nominated post office. Social Fund
payments will be excluded from the rule, except where other
benefits are encashed at the same time.
Pathway’s solution will exclude Temporary Tokens from this rule as
they will have a Post Office nominated by the DSS at the time of
issue.
Note.
The ability to change the nominated office as soon as the limit on
foreign encashments has been reached would cancel the
effectiveness of the control on foreign encashments unless allied
to other measures to prevent abuse.
Pathway Comment
1. The SSR App 3-8 figure 1 excludes Social Fund payments from the
scope of the service and that so far no requirements have been
identified to include these payments.
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2. The ability to change the nominated office as soon as the limit
on foreign encashments has been reached would cancel the
effectiveness of the control on foreign encashments unless allied
to other measures to prevent abuse.
Reference No 771
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS will restrict encashment to a specific
post office for a specific payment based upon details and rules
provided by CAPS. namely, where PAS Customer details record
Restricted Post Office ind = Y
In this case, all the client payments (i.e. all those for which
they are beneficiary) are only encashable at the nominated post
office. The restriction will be in respect of an Authorised
Person, or any person collecting benefit on their behalf.
Where an attempted encashment is made at an alternative post
office, Pathway will:
refuse encashment
the clerk will notify the customer that payment may not be made
at this office ( he will not be in a position to notify the
customer at which post office payment may be made)
The customer will retain his card, Pathway will report an
infringement attempt back to CAPS
(data as per agreed interface specification)
Pathway Comment
This processing is performed by both PAS and BES.
Reference No 772
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS will provide for encashment to proceed
in the event of a card read failure, subject to Card
Authentication and Customer Verification checks being satisfied.
If a magnetic card read failure occurs then the following sequence
of actions is followed:
the clerk will repeat the process of swiping the card (at least
twice) if this fails, the clerk will need to select screen to
manually input card details, i.e. NINO, card issue number, card
expiry date. Should the card details not be accepted, system will
prompt the PO clerk to impound the card.
visually check the card for evidence of tampering / forgery
verify customer id. The PO clerk will be required to either
record that the customer is known or will ask random verification
question (s). (Pathway will need to agree with BA what
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verification questions may be asked and what the verification
process will be where the customer has communications
difficulties). If the verification question is answered
incorrectly, the system will prompt the clerk to impound the card.
match the system data with the data embossed on the card. If
card details does not match, the clerk will impound the card
Verify that the card is active,
Compare the signature held on the card with that written upon
the receipt,
Where the clerk is satisfied with both the card and customer,
continues with the encashment.
The system will record the number of consecutive manually keyed
encashments for each card. Where necessary (after 3 consecutive
key entries ) the system will automatically order a replacement
card. Where an Authorised Person is regularly replacing cards due
to card read failures, Pathway will report this to BA.
Pathway will through its systems management functions be aware if
a particular card reader is apparently malfunctioning and will
monitor its performance and if necessary rectify the fault.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 773
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS will ensure that encashment confirmation
is provided to CAPS for each individual authorised encashment by
23:59 on the day of the transaction. The data to be supplied in
the confirmation are as detailed in the CAPS/PAS Interface
Specification.
Pathway proposes that encashment confirmation shall be passed to
CAPS from time to time during the day and not just at 23:59.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 774
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that Uncollected payments that have reached the
end of their validity period will be made void at 24:00 hrs on
that day and confirm termination by 03:00 hrs on the next working
day. Confirmation of each payment will take the form detailed in
the CAPS Interface Specification.
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Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 775
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will supply management information
related to PAS operations in accordance with the appropriate
detailed requirements defined in the BPS MIS Catalogue once this
document has been agreed. Pathway has provided comments against an
early draft document.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 776
Pathway Response
Pathway has proposed two help desk services which are related to
the PAS. They are:
PAS Help Desk - for the support of benefit payments related
enquiries from DSS staff, POCL staff and customers.
Service Management Help desk - for operational service enquiries
from DSS and POCL staff.
Pathway confirms that these help desks will be available to DSS
staff between 08:00 hrs and 18:00 hrs, Monday to Friday.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 777
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will provide the education and training
of DSS staff necessary for the support of PAS as agreed in the
document “Pathway Baseline Training and Awareness Programme”. This
is currently under discussion with the BA/POCL Programme.
Pathway Comment
There are outstanding queries in the area of DSS staff training
particularly regarding the numbers of staff who require training.
Reference No 778
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Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that any services provided are able to interface
and exchange information with CAPS as set out in the CAPS-PAS/CMS
Interface Specification.
Pathway points out that the interface specification currently
available to Pathway is a functional specification only. It does
not include important technical and operational information which
is needed to ensure the integrity of files which are passed across
the interface. Particular concerns include definitions of the
conditions for delivering and receiving files, flow control of
file transfers and file sizes.
The completion and subsequent maintenance of the interface
document is critical to the success of the project and Pathway
requests that it is included within the change control process for
the document from ITT onwards.
Pathway Comment
For several of the PAS and CMS requirements it is not possible to
commit to requested responses times because of the absence of file
sizes and flow control information.
Reference No 779
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that the Integrity of payment details will be
maintained to ensure data is not alterable once transferred from
CAPS, except where specified in requirement PAS (66).
Pathway Comment
The reference to PAS (66) is invalid.
Reference No 780
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will obtain Police and Criminal Evidence
Act 1984 and Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order
1989 certification to demonstrate services were operating within
normal parameters at the time of an alleged offence.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 781
Pathway Response
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At the post office counter there will be no discernible difference
to existing procedures. There will be no flag set for the counter
clerk, but the verification questions required during an
exceptional encashment will covertly reflect the sensitivity of
the case.
If a call is received by CMS/PMS help desks, either from or
relating to a nationally sensitive customer, then system access
will be restricted, in line with current BA procedures.
Attention is drawn to Pathway BPS stream paper dated 15 November
1995 which deals with the treatment of NSI records in particular
the fact that the NSI status is not used or implicit in counter
procedures, and to risk response 75nn which further clarifies
Pathway’s treatment of such records.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 782
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS can provide the facility to allow the
Contracting Authorities to identify where and when a card or
number of cards are being used. We have assumed that the cards
will be identified by NINO and that the card alert file facility
of the CAPS interface will be used to provide the response. It is
not at this stage possible to commit to a particular response time
until further information is received regarding the specification
of the CAPS interface. Pathway understands from the BA/POCL
service interface definition version 1, 9 February 1996 (SID
section 2.14 that the card monitor alert function is not to be
supported. However Pathway does not recommend supporting this
service through the help desk in view of the cost implications.
Pathway Comment
Details of how the alerts are to be reported to the BA are
required, bearing in mind cost implications of help desk acting as
an interface.
Reference No 783
Pathway Response
1. Pathway confirms that PAS will support the payment of all
existing benefits through a phased programme of development and
implementation. The order of the take on of existing benefits will
be agreed with BA prior to contract.
Pathway confirms that provided the agreed interfaces with CAPS
comprehend the variation of treatment as between types of benefit,
the Pathway PASA, CMS and BES will handle any benefit from day 1
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2. Pathway confirms that the PAS can be developed to support the
payment of new and changed benefits as these are defined and
agreed.
3. Pathway confirms that PAS can support changes to the frequency
of payments.. Pathway’s PAS can accept benefit payment strings of
indefinite length, for example making more economic a relatively
stable benefit type which is paid frequently.
4. A new benefit code can be introduced on payments with immediate
effect. Expansion of that code into meaningful text on screens,
reports and receipts requires the update of reference tables. This
will be achieved through the system help desk.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 785
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that Management Information (as per BPS MIS
Catalogue) and Service Level reports must be received no less than
5 working days before regular Service Review Meetings. Any
Reports required for ad hoc meetings will be provided in agreement
with the Authorities.
Pathway Comment
We need to agree the reporting periods and the frequency of Review
meetings.
Reference No 786
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that the Service Level reports will indicate
performance against all service levels detailed in the Service
Level and Remedies Schedule.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 787
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that where a beneficiary has nominated an
alternative payee who may collect the specified benefit(s), PAS
will ensure that the payment can be collected by either person,
but paid only once.
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The alternative payee and the beneficiary have equal collection
rights. Pathway’s solution provides that whoever collects first
receives the payment.
The payment will have been distributed to the nominated office of
the beneficiary. If either the beneficiary or the alternative
payee attempts to collect the benefit from another office, then
the payment is moved to that office and becomes inaccessible at
the nominated office.
In the event that there is momentary contention for the same
payment only one collection will proceed to conclusion.
The limiting situation, where an encashment attempt in one office
is aborted, and the payment becomes immediately re-available for
collection in the other, is supported.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 788
Pathway Response
Pathway can confirm that where an authorised Person is collecting
on behalf of more than one beneficiary, PAS will allow the
Authorised Person to select the beneficiary for whom they wish to
collect.
For full details regarding the detailed procedures for this
process please refer to Pathway document ‘BA Encashment Service
Requirement Specification’, version 1. This describes encashment
of benefits using cards at the counter including counter
procedures and the appropriate screen designs.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 789
Pathway Response
Pathway can confirm that where an authorised Person is collecting
for more than one beneficiary including potentially himself, PAS
will create a separate receipt for each.
For full details regarding the detailed procedures for this
process please refer to Pathway document ‘BA Encashment Service
Requirement Specification’, version 1. This describes encashment
of benefits using cards at the counter including counter
procedures and the appropriate screen designs.
Pathway Comment
None
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Reference No 790
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that where a system or card read failure requires
a Card number to be manually keyed, the system will check the Card
number in case a mistake has been made. The card number comprises
the 15 digit NINO number provide by the BA plus a check digit
which is added by Pathway and used for validation purposes.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 791
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS will inform CAPS if an encashment is
attempted which would infringe a restriction to a single post
office imposed by DSS. The “Restricted PO Infringement File “ is
passed to CAPS as defined by the CAPS Interface Specification. The
file will contain data for all infringements since the last file
was sent and not just a single infringement. The events or
frequency which cause the batch file to be sent to CAPS are not
defined in the specification and it is therefore not possible to
confirm a particular response time at this stage.
Pathway Comment
Real time response times are requested for the transfer of files
to and from CAPS and these response times are not appropriate to
file transfer type mechanisms.
Reference No 792
Pathway Response
Pathway plans to take advantage of, and build on Girobank’s
existing long-standing relationship and day to day experience with
both the BA and POCL through its provision of storage and
retrieval services for the encashed DSS Girocheques. Currently the
bank processes approximately 500,000 per annum from BA local
Benefit Offices and investigation services and has successfully
undertaken the service for the BA for over 3 years.
Customer receipts will be held by post offices in daily batches as
part of end of day routines and posted weekly to Girobank in
sealed envelopes, bar coded with the post office code and week
number which is an extension of the current system. Transport to
Girobank will be via the existing Post Office Pouch system for
added security.
On arrival at Girobank receipts will be stored in post office code
by week number in secure conditions for a minimum period of twelve
months from delivery at the storage location. This data will also
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be held historically on the Pathway system (PMS/TMS) when benefit
payments are encashed, to aid retrieval.
This system would enable original receipts to be retrieved within
5 days and despatched from a central point within Girobank to the
location specified by the BA investigators and offices, under
controlled conditions.
Pathway Comment
This is a new requirement, which will be cost estimated in the
tender response from Girobank, however the number of expected
retrievals is not high and initial costings for providing a
microfilm copy for all retrievals is expensive. Pathway have now
asked Girobank to tender on microfilming items received from high
risk post offices providing a microfilm copy to BA on request, and
the storage of the paper items for post offices with a lower risk
returning the original on request to BA
Reference No 793
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that where the Authorised Person is already
advised to CMS and is a cardholder a single signature will be
collected via the receipt, including a declaration which will vary
by proxy type.
Where collection is by a permanent or casual agent a mandate
signed by the authorised person will also be required.
Pathway Comment
Receipts are at the encashment level, not the payment level.
Pathway’s working texts are, for normal encashments:
Yr wyf yn datgan fy mod wedi darllen a deall yr holl
gyfarwyddiadau yn fy Hysbysiad Hawl ac imi roi gwybod yn gywir am
unrhyw ffeithiau a allai effeithio ar swm fy nhaliad a bod gennyf
hawl i'r swm uchod. Yr wyf yn cydnabod derbyn yr uchod:
I declare that I have read and understood all the instructions in
my Notice of Entitlement, and that I have correctly reported any
facts which could affect the amount of my payment and that I am
entitled to the above sum. I acknowledge receipt of the above:
and for mandates:
Mae gennyf hawl i fudd-ddl ond ni allaf fynd i'r swyddfa bost. Yr
wyf yn awdurdodi cludydd y gorchymyn hwn i fod yn gynrychiolydd i
mi. Yr wyf yn datgan fy mod wedi darllen a deall yr holl
gyfarwyddiadau yn fy Hysbysiad Hawl, ac i mi roi gwybod yn gywir
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am unrhyw ffeithiau a allai effeithio ar swm fy nhaliad a bod
gennyf hawl i'r swm uchod.
I am entitled to benefit but cannot get to the post office. I
authorise the bearer of this mandate to be my agent.
I declare that I have read and understood all the instructions in
my Notice of Entitlement, and that I have correctly reported any
facts which could affect the amount of my payment and that I am
entitled to the above sum.
Pathway recommends these be reviewed and if necessary revised to
ensure that they handle the legal position of appointees.
Reference No 794
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that, access to the benefit system by customers
within the post office can only be achieved by the use of a valid
and genuine card.
Cards are authenticated for all transactions regardless of the
availability of payments for collection.
A fundamental logical check is whether the card has been stopped.
Checks based on the magnetics include, the card issue number, the
expiry date, the Sherman value. The counter clerk visually checks
the authenticity of the card by matching the visible card details
to those on the screen, the NINO, name, card issue number and
expiry date. In addition the clerk will check the physical nature
of the card, including the inks, plastics and hologram, and where
a signature is produced the signature on the signature strip.
If a magnetic benefit card read failure occurs then:
the clerk will be on his guard that the card may have
deliberately been made defective
BES will prompt the clerk to key the PAN including check digit
from the card
BES will record that a manual entry was required
additional verification processes will be invoked automatically
the clerk will inspect the card’s physical attributes and the
correspondence of its visible data with that presented by the
system and will scrutinise the signature against that on the
receipt
Attention is drawn to the Pathway Security Proposal 21 December
1995 for a comprehensive description of this area.
Pathway Comment
There is no direct access to PAS from a post office . BES is
responsible for benefit encashment processing at the counter.
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Reference No 795
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS will determine the total amount of
benefit available for encashment. The individual amounts (as
supplied by CAPS) and the total will be shown, to the post office
clerk.
Pathway Comment
The reference to PAS 15 in the requirement is not understood.
Reference No 796
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that if no payment is due then PAS will prompt
the post office clerk to return the Card to the Authorised Person
and in cases of dispute or enquiry the clerk will advise them to
contact the DSS.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 797
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that as part of the contingency arrangements for
failure of CAPS, PAS will be able to continue payments to
Authorised Persons based on the most recent payment successfully
passed from CAPS. This facility will be enabled only if and when
explicitly requested by the DSS. Such emergency payment will be
for the same payment value and be due on the “next payment
earliest due date” as specified in the last correctly authorised
payment from CAPS (but only if that due date has not passed). For
a given beneficiary emergency payments will be limited to no more
than one for each benefit type, unless specifically requested by
DSS.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 798
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that a change of a nominated office can be
achieved subject to the card verification checks including the
check for Restriction to a single office. The nominated post
office can only be changed to that in which the request is made.
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The BES prompts the counter clerk to collect the P80MA form from
the customer and the details of the new nominated office are then
typed by the clerk.
This change will take effect within the BES so that any due
payment can be collected during the current session.
The change is notified to CMS and also notified to CAPS using the
Change of Nominated PO file.
Pathway Comment
1. The facility clearly provides a loop hole that could enable a
beneficiary to avoid the limit to foreign encashments unless
allied to other measures to prevent abuse.
2. The response time of 2 seconds to effect the change seems
unduly onerous and cannot be confirmed at this stage.
Reference No 799
Pathway Response
Pathway can in principle provide a facility to manage the receipt
and subsequent issue of APS tokens as directed by POCL This will
be based on an extension of the card issue application that will
support the issue of BA cards.
Pathway Comment
Before a final solution can be defined it will be necessary for
POCL and Pathway to agree the overall token issue process and any
links to the issuing client organisations.
Areas that will need to be covered include :-
Method of dispatch and receipt of tokens to post offices and
subsequent error handling.
Reconciliation of expected and actual token receipt and subsequent
error handling.
Method of issue to customer, verification processes and subsequent
exception handling.
Other exception conditions (e.g. token withdrawal, token non-
collection, token non-arrival).
Information feedback to POCL and / or Clients.
Reference No 800
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will record details of all transactions between the
customer and the clerk. The information recorded will include any
stock and cash items issued or received.
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2. All transactions carried out whilst serving a customer will be
recorded within that customer session.
Corrections to a transaction within the current customer session
will normally involve a simple modification applied directly to
the transaction. But, if the transaction is of a type (e.g. on-
line financial) that has already been committed then it will
corrected by:
a) the reversal of the original incorrect transaction.
b) the addition of the correct transaction.
If a correction needs to be applied to a transaction in a previous
customer session then the following procedure will be used:
a) identify the customer session.
b) identify and reverse the incorrect transaction
c) insert the correct transaction.
Corrections to transactions will not be possible after the cut-off
and despatch of those transactions to the appropriate client
processing centre or accounting report.
A refund is assumed to be distinct from a reversal to correct
errors. It is considered to be a transaction in which a customer
returns an item bought and is given back cash or is credited the
amount. A refund must be supported by proof of purchase, such as
a receipt, which provides a reference to the original customer
session and the transaction.
3. EPOSS will uniquely identify each transaction and each customer
session.
4. EPOSS will provide an explicit “end customer” event which will
only be valid following the settlement of the customer session.
The provision of a running session balance and change calculation
should encourage the use of one session per customer.
Consideration should be given to the provision of information
messages triggered by the number of transactions in the session.
5. EPOSS will indicate the change due to the customer when the
cash taken from the customer exceeds the session balance. This
will be implemented such that the session can be ended as if the
balance was zero.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 801
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will support the current range of business transactions.
Pathway understand that these are generically grouped as:- Value
Stock product; Method of Payment (MoP); Loss and Gain transaction;
Retail sales product; Receipt and Payment transactions.
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2. EPOSS will support fixed price products and variable price
products which may have a default value.
3. EPOSS will support variable price products where:- the value is
entered by the clerk; the price is one of a defined set. In each
case, variable price products can include a default value derived
by look up from reference data or by an “intelligent” guess based
on context. Rules will be allowed for the validation of the value
(this would include check for zero value).
4. ‘Composite’ products will be implemented using product
categorisation and grouping. This will allow the sale and
declaration of products by denomination.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 802
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will record the issue and receipt of any stock and cash
items associated with a transaction against a stock unit. This
will result in the increase or decrease of stock and cash levels
within the stock unit as appropriate. This will allow the current
stock position for a stock unit to be reported on request.
2. Discrepancies between the actual stock and cash on hand and the
system’s view of stock and cash in a stock unit will be resolved
by the stock and cash on hand declaration function. This will
synchronise the system’s view of a stock unit’s contents with the
actual stock unit’s contents. This will take care of these types
of discrepancies (compensating or otherwise) without carrying out
a transaction or a reversal.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 803
Pathway Response
EPOSS will implement mechanisms to safeguard against recording
one-sided transactions.
EPOSS will maintain a disk-based log of transactions within a
customer session. Each transaction is added to this session log
as it is completed. At the end of the session all of the
transactions will be transferred (committed) to the journal. When
all transactions have been safely committed the session log is
cleared.
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If failure occurs after the session has ended but before all
transactions have been committed a cleanup procedure will use the
(uncleared) session log to complete the commit process.
A transaction that requires it will be settled and committed when
it is completed (i.e. before the end of the session). Obviously,
this type of transaction does not need to be transferred and
committed to the journal at the end of the session. For the
purposes of recovery this type of transaction is treated as a
session in its own right. It is marked “committed” after it has
been successfully committed but is not cleared until the end of
the session.
If failure occurs before the end of the session, none of the
transactions will have been committed except for those that had
been committed on completion as described above.
The implementation of these measures will ensure that a balanced
status is maintained in the event of interruption or failure.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 804
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will maintain a journal of all transactions and a
facility will be provided to allow the user to search and “browse”
previous transactions. The user will be able to restrict the
scope of the search.
2. All transactions will identify the stock unit and the balance
period to which they apply.
3. It must be stressed that transactions, once committed to the
journal, are NEVER deleted or modified by counter or office
functions. The original transaction is always maintained and a
reversal transaction negates the effect of the original. The
transaction reversal process is described for the following
scenarios:
Scenario 1. The transaction is in a previous customer session
within the current stock unit balance period. The transaction has
not yet been despatched (i.e. client cut-off) from the office.
The user will be able to browse the transaction journal in order
to find and select the transaction for reversal. A loss or gain
transaction may need to be generated to account for any cash (or
other MoP) involved in the transaction. Any client summary will
need to be re-printed to reflect the reversal.
Scenario 2. The transaction is in a previous stock unit balance
period. The transaction has not yet been despatched (i.e. client
cut-off) from the office.
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The reversal must be carried out by the office manager within the
office administration function - accounting adjustments. The
manager will select the stock unit balance period and browse the
transaction journal in order to find and select the transaction
for reversal. A loss or gain transaction may need to be generated
to account for any cash (or other MoP) involved in the
transaction. The stock unit balance report and any client summary
will need to be re-printed to reflect the reversal.
Scenario 3. The transaction is in the previous cash account period
(i.e. the stock unit has been rolled over). The transaction has
not yet been despatched (i.e. client cut-off) from the office.
As above, the reversal must be carried out by the office manager
within the office administration function - accounting
adjustments. The manager will select the stock unit balance
period and browse the transaction journal in order to find and
select the transaction for reversal. A loss or gain transaction
may need to be generated to account for any cash (or other MoP
involved in the transaction. The stock unit balance report and
any client summary will need to be re-printed to reflect the
reversal.
Scenario 4. The transaction has already been despatched (i.e.
client cut-off) from the office.
The transaction is not reversible. The error will probably result
in the receipt of an error notice from the client.
Note
There is a distinction between a reversal for accounting
corrections, such as the loss of a foil or stub, anda reversal
due to a transaction refund (e.g. when a customer changes his
mind).
4. Use of the transaction journal to resolve enquiries will be
supported.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 805
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will maintain a journal of all events such as logon,
attach to stock unit, declare stock and cash and so on. The
journal entry information will include the user and the stock
unit.
2. The journal entries will identify the stock unit and the
balance period to which they apply.
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3. A facility will be provided to allow the user to search and
“browse” the events in the journal using specified search
criteria.
4, Use of the event journal to resolve enquiries will be
supported.
Pathway Comment
None.
Reference No 806
Pathway Response
1. The time and date will be maintained centrally and will be
transmitted to EPOSS via TMS thus ensuring that all Outlets are
synchronised
Pathway Comment
None.
Reference No 807
Pathway Response
The transfer of stock between stock units will be conducted in the
following way:
a) The requesting user (i.e. the one receiving the stock items)
will verbally agree with the sending user that the items can be
transferred.
b) The requester will use a Transfer Request function (a form) to
identify the sender and the stock items required.
c) The sender will use the “Transfer Out” function to view and
confirm the stock items. When this is completed a “Transfer Out”
receipt slip is printed by the sender . This process generates
transfer out transactions and decreases the stock units stock
levels.
d) The requester will use the “Transfer In” function to view and
confirm the stock items. When this is completed a “Transfer In”
informational slip is printed by the requester. This process
generates transfer in transactions and increases the stock units
stock levels.
e) The physical exchange of stock is accompanied by the signing of
the Transfer Out receipt slip by the requester. The sender keeps
the signed receipt as proof.
1. EPOSS will record the movement of stock and cash between stock
units (i.e. transfers) within the same post office. The details
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of each transfer will be recorded in the journal and will identify
the stock units and their respective balance periods.
2. Each transfer will comprise a set of one or more stock and MoP
products.
3. The mechanism for entering the details of a transfer will
resemble a form filling (P119) method rather than a serving
session.
4. EPOSS will automatically adjust the stock and cash levels of
the corresponding stock units to take into account the transfer.
5. The transfer will be recorded as occurring within the
respective balance period of each of the stock units involved.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 808
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will support the receipt, maintenance, return and issue
of serial numbered stock items and tokens. Where the serial
numbers are identified at the point of service (i.e. issue) EPOSS
will support the recording of “spoiled” items. EPOSS will provide
reconciliation functionality for serial numbered items.
Reconciliation will be by volume and stock unit as follows:
Number brought forward + Number received
equals
Number on hand - Number issued ( or spoilt or returned)
Where the movement of individual serial numbered items is not
recorded EPOSS will provide manual bulk entry facilities for
reconciliation.
2. EPOSS will support a suspense account mechanism whereby items
not cleared during the accounting period will be carried forward
to the next.
3. EPOSS will provide a snapshot representing the office balance
position derived from all of the stock unit balances completed
within the current accounting period. The format of the snapshot
report will be agreed with POCL.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 809
Pathway Response
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1. The EPOSS desktop will provide customer session management
which will maintain:
a) a log of all of the transactions performed since the start of
the customer session
b) the session balance in the form of an amount to “take in” or
“pay out”
c) the allowable methods of payment for settlement
2. Transactions recorded in the journal will be identified by
customer session.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 810
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will allow reversals and refunds. These operations will
only be possible if POCL and Client accounting and business rules
allow them.
2. The behaviour of transactions will be governed as far as
possible by reference data parameters.
3. EPOSS will allow ‘rate shopping’ for those transactions which
involve value-added associated services. For example, insured,
registered and recorded delivery services against an inland letter
transaction.
In addition, EPOSS will allow a total value to be input against a
fixed price product. It will calculate the whole number of items
that may be purchased for the amount specified. For example, if
£1.00 is entered against second class stamps (19p each) the system
will resolve this to 5 second class stamps with a total amount of
95p.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 811
Pathway Response
1. The passing of information to TMS is not strictly an EPOSS
function. EPOSS will be responsible for recording information to
the journal, but the subsequent replication and transmission of
that information is then handled by the TMS functions.
2. EPOSS will support the introduction of new Client services.
These will be integrated into the EPOSS product set so that they
can be invoked by the appropriate event.
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In most cases the introduction of a new product will be achieved
through the distribution of reference data updates via TMS. In
addition to reference data updates functionality can be introduced
dynamically using applets (and again these can distributed via
TMS).
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 812
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will allow customer transactions to be reversed. EPOSS
will also implement a mechanism to allow corrections to stock and
cash transfers within the Outlet or between the Outlet and a
remote location.
2. EPOSS will allow reversals to transactions providing that POCL
and Client accounting and business rules allow them.
3. EPOSS will allow “accounting adjustments” in the form of
correction transactions which are not necessarily mapped to
specific transactions in the journal.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 813
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will allow revaluation of fixed price value stock and MoP
products. Revaluation of a product would normally be achieved
through a reference data change delivered via TMS. The
implementation of these types of products will be such that the
new version will be distributed to Outlets in advance, and will
coexist with the current version, only coming into effect on a
specified “activation date”. The activation date is part of the
reference data (as is the expiry date of the superseded version).
2. Pathway acknowledges the possibility of future alternative
currencies and EPOSS will implement MoPs accordingly.
3. The inclusion “uprating” and “downrating” accounting entries
will allow for changes in stock product prices to be balanced.
4. EPOSS will implement revaluation of generic stock products in
an appropriate and efficient manner.
5. The reference data for each value stock product will contain
information which determines the accessibility (or sellable
status) of the product.
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Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 814
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will provide a cash on hand declaration function
analogous to the filling of a paper form.
2. This function will allow the cash on hand to be declared by
denomination (including coin) for the purposes of daily cash
reporting and as part of the stock unit balancing process.
3. The cash on hand declaration can be invoked at any time but
will normally be carried at the end of a stock unit balance period
and always as part of the end of day process.
4, The EPOSS system only accepts two-sided transactions so that it
is always in a balanced state as far as the information it
processes is concerned. In reality, the system will sometimes be
out of balance due to physical misplacement of cash, value stock
or any other transaction related vouchers.
It can also be logically balanced but physically in error as a
result of mis-keying (e.g. MoP as cash instead of a cheque). In
this case there may be a discrepancy between the system view of
total cash and the actual cash on hand, but it will not
necessarily result in a loss or gain being generated.
EPOSS will generate a loss or gain when:
Total Receipts (including Opening Stock and Cash)
does NOT equal
Total Payments (including Stock and Cash on Hand)
5. EPOSS will issue an appropriate warning message when the cash
on hand declaration total differs from the expected figure as
maintained by the system.
6. EPOSS will permit the declaration of a zero value of any (or
all) cash denominations.
7. EPOSS will carry forward and default to the denomination values
from the last known declaration when no activities have occurred
to alter these. A message will be issued to ensure that the user
is aware of this when the cash on hand declaration function is
invoked. Under normal circumstances the values will be set to
zero to try and ensure that the user explicitly declares each.
8. In a Team Working office the cash declaration activity could be
shared by any (or all) of the users attached to each particular
stock unit.
Pathway Comment
None
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Reference No 815
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will allow stock units which have not being used within
an Outlet accounting period to be “rolled-over” to the next
accounting period.
2. All stock units within the Outlet which contribute to the Cash
Account must be rolled-over before the production of the Cash
Account. This applies to dormant stock units a well as those that
have been used during the period.
3. The office manager will control the roll-over of the dormant
stock units.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 816
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will have access to a full set of outlet records for a
rolling period of 18 months.
2. Information will be retrieved as complete set of records for
the specified outlet account period.
3. The information for the previous two outlet accounting periods
will be available for review on demand. Information dating back
further than this will be available at 24 hours notice.
4. EPOSS will record all significant events and all data entries.
5. EPOSS will implement a tiered level of access control. Each
facility will have an associated access level and the user will
require a corresponding (or better) privilege level to access the
facility. Combined with the user logon requirement, this will
provide a controlled environment for all users of the system.
6. EPOSS will provide the facility for an authorised user to
maintain information about the users. This facility will allow
the introduction of new users, the modification of user attributes
(including password and privilege level), the deletion of users,
and the suspension of a user’s access to the system.
There will be a similar facility for stock units.
Pathway Comment
None
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Reference No 817
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will allow discounting for those products which are
defined to be discountable in the reference data.
2. EPOSS will implement an appropriate discounting mechanism for
each discountable product. In it’s most generic form this will
take the form of a user specified percentage at the time of
transaction. In specific transactions, a percentage will be
derived from the reference data as the default. The application
of a user specified percentage discount for all discountable
products in a customer session will be supported.
3. In a similar way to above, allow a user specified discount
value at the time of transaction. In specific transactions, the
value will be derived from the reference data as the default. The
application of a user specified discount value for all
discountable products in a customer session will be supported.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 818
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will have access to reference data imported from TIP via
TMS. EPOSS will support date and time stamping of reference data
in the form of activation and expiry dates. The activation and
expiry dates are part of the reference data.
2. EPOSS will produce a report of the reference data in use at an
Outlet. The format of the report will allow recent changes to be
presented clearly. Changes (and notification) will normally be
delivered to the Outlet electronically.
3. EPOSS will maintain reference data used to control the
behaviour of most aspects of EPOSS and transactions. EPOSS
functions will be driven by reference data parameters whenever the
functionality can be generalised. This will allow many aspects of
the behaviour of EPOSS to be modified via reference data changes
rather than software.
4. EPOSS will maintain the consistency of reference data to report
on and warn of errors. Interdependencies between reference data
elements will dictate whether reference data record deletions (and
other operations) are possible.
The distribution of reference data to other counter workstations
is the responsibility of the TMS/Journalising middleware.
Similarly, reference data record integrity is handled by the
TMS/Journalising middleware.
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Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 819
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will support the different cash account formats (i.e.
London, Provincial, and CRU) currently used. The use of spare
cash account lines to report on new products will normally be
facilitated by reference data changes distributed via TMS. The
cash account tables and validation rules applying to individual
cash account lines will be maintained as part of the EPOSS
reference data.
2. The mapping of the cash account lines to product and
transaction data will be maintained as reference data.
3. EPOSS will maintain the cash account period numbers and their
associated start and end dates as part of the reference data. A
cash account period is normally a week. To cater for those
occasions when the Outlet is authorised to combine two or three
weeks into a single accounting period EPOSS will produce a single
cash account report covering all transactions in the combined
period. It is proposed that the cash account week number of the
final week is associated with this cash account report.
It is understood that some client reports require the actual cash
account week number to be identified. EPOSS will print the actual
cash account week number for these reports.
4. EPOSS will initially produce a printed and an electronic
version of the cash account report.
5. EPOSS will include a 2D bar-code on the printed report. The
format of the data contained within the barcode is to be specified
by POCL, but it is anticipated that it will contain a data-
compressed set of all of the cash account report.
6. EPOSS will allow trial cash accounts to be produced.
Production of the final cash account can be followed by an end-of-
week facility which will ‘move’ the outlet forward into the next
accounting period.
Note. Stock units will normally have been rolled-over into the
next accounting period before the trial and final cash accounts
have been produced. This is necessary in order to allow the staff
in the Outlet to continue with their everyday tasks.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 820
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Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will implement a tiered level of access control. Each
facility will have an associated access level and the user will
require a corresponding (or better) privilege level to access the
facility. Combined with the user logon requirement, this will
provide a controlled environment for all users of the system.
2. EPOSS will not hinder the Outlet’s ability to maintain trading
if the OPS is not available.
3. Following an Incident, EPOSS will:
a) allow the user to return to a recent trusted position
b) implement appropriate measures to reduce the risk of data
corruption
c) resume operation in a controlled auditable way as quickly as
possible.
4. Backup of data will be handled by the data replication
facilities of the TMS/Journalising middleware. This will allow
seamless recovery from Incidents such as localised failure. A
return to a known and trusted reference position will be provided
by the setting of appropriate data markers.
5. EPOSS will implement measures to provide a robust committal
process that reduces the risk of unrecoverable system errors.
6. EPOSS will implement measures to reduce the amount of data re-
entry following recovery from a system failure.
7. EPOSS will monitor the integrity of the data and will inform
the user of any implications with respect to the state of the
data.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 821
Pathway Response
1. Pathway recognises that the centralisation of the
administration of local schemes is a complex problem and needs
extensive investigation to assess whether it is operationally
achievable in an efficient manner. Therefore, it is proposed that
local schemes will be implemented as a set of blank template
products that can be tailored and activated when required.
Facilities to account for and report on these transactions will be
provided.
EPOSS will be configurable such that it could:
a) restrict the availability of specific transactions for an
Outlet.
b) allow the use of specific transactions to be optional for an
Outlet.
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c) allow local tailoring of specific transactions for an Outlet.
d) introduce new functionality as agreed with POCL.
2. EPOSS will ensure that transaction data and data derived from
transactions is in the appropriate form for use by systems outside
of OPS. It will also provide facilities to read and interpret
data originating from systems outside OPS.
Pathway Comment
The following information is provided in order to assess the
complexity of administering local schemes centrally.
Currently there are seven regions each administering approximately
20-30 schemes as indicated in the following table:
Region Approx. No. of Clients Approx. No. of Schemes
North East 25 26
North Wales and North West 24 24
Midlands 18 21
Scotland and Northern Ireland 13 14
South East 22 22
South Wales and South West 27 27
North Thames and East Anglia 22 23
Total 151 157
In general, all post offices within an area will offer the local
schemes. A few offices within the area may be excluded from the
scheme, and a few offices from neighbouring areas will be included
in the scheme.
The FAD code of an office is a seven digit number of the form 000
AAA C
where 000 = Numeric Office code
AAA = Numeric Area Code
C = Check digit
An analysis of the FAD codes has provided the following
information:
1. There are a total of 145 areas in all regions.
2. The largest number of offices in an area is 404.
3. The average number of offices in an area is 135.
4, The smallest number of offices in an area is 4.
For a centralised administration and reference data distribution
function for local schemes to be implemented, with each
participating office in each scheme being individually identified,
a database estimated at 30,000 to 40,000 records is required.
Each local scheme will consist of approximately 150 records with a
maximum of almost 500 records.
Reference No 822
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Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will support IM. It will allow goods to be ordered,
received and despatched by consignment. It will allow the receipt
and/or return of cash, value stock and security stock products as
managed by the POCL Inventory Management System.
2. EPOSS will provide the IM system with information about the
replenishment needs of an Outlet via the declaration of cash and
stock on hand.
3. EPOSS will record and account for an external transfer within
the office and an affected stock unit.
4, EPOSS will allow the Outlet to order goods at product level for
specified ‘required by’ delivery date. It will produce a
supporting order note. EPOSS will be notified by the IM system
confirmation of receipt of the order including the consignment
order number and the proposed despatch date.
5. On receipt of the goods, the EPOSS will allow the accompanying
documentation to be reconciled against the system held order
details. EPOSS will record the receipt of goods as a remittance
within the appropriate stock unit, and its cash and stock levels
will be adjusted accordingly.
6. EPOSS will support the receipt of advisory office level stock
adjustment messages from IM.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 823
Pathway Response
1. The storage of EPOSS transaction data and data derived from
transactions is the responsibility of the TMS/Journalising
middleware. It is the responsibility of this middleware to ensure
that the data is made available to other Services which require
access to the data.
2. EPOSS will implement appropriate measures in an attempt to
maintain the integrity of data in the event of an Incident and
avoid corruption of data due to interruption of an incomplete
process.
In addition to the actual data to be recorded EPOSS will include
information which is used to ensure the integrity of the data.
The additional information consists of a message sequence number
and a message CRC check digit.
Pathway Comment
None
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Reference No 824
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will allow the price of posting a mail item to be
determined from information including the class of mail, the
weight, and (if not inland) the destination. The weight will be
provided by a connected electronic scale. Where the scale is
shared between counter positions, it will be the responsibility of
the scale to handle contention and accept or deny a connection to
a counter workstation.
2. EPOSS will ensure that a connection to the scales is only
requested when needed by a transaction and will proceed with such
a transaction when the connection is made. EPOSS will ensure that
the connection to the scale is released promptly when it is no
longer required.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 825
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will record all sales. All transactions will be
recorded using a Point of Sale function. This function will
provide a consistent method for invoking fixed price product
sales, simple open value transactions and complex transactions.
The recording of information for all transactions will be handled
in a consistent manner.
2. Where transaction data will be captured through a peripheral
reading device, the invocation of the transaction will be event-
driven.
3. Each counter transactions will be maintained within its
respective customer session.
4, Transaction data captured during other services will be
recorded via EPOSS.
5. Transactions recorded in the journal will be identified by
customer session.
6. The EPOSS desktop will provide customer session management
which will maintain:
a) a log of all of the transactions performed since the start of
the customer session
b) the session balance in the form of an amount to “take in” or
“pay out”
c) the allowable methods of payment for settlement
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7. %In general, an outstanding customer session balance can be
settled by a single MoP or a combination of MoPs (e.g. part cash
and part cheque). In some circumstances a transaction (e.g.
savings account deposit) can require settlement in its own right
irrespective of other transactions in the customer session. In
addition, EPOS will enforce a set rules for a transaction which
will determine the MoPs allowed for that transaction.
8. EPOSS will allow the introduction of new types of MoP by
implementing the MoPs in a generic manner similar to other
products/transactions. As such, EPOSS will allow new MoPs to be
introduced dynamically via reference data and applets.
9. EPOSS will support multiple simultaneous customer sessions at
the same counter position. It will allow a customer session to be
suspended and resumed as required. When one or more customer
sessions are suspended the clerk can continue to start and end
further sessions for other customers.
10. EPOSS will provide a Void (or cancel) facility for the current
customer session. Some transactions in the session may not be
“voidable” due to accounting or business rules.
11. EPOSS will allow reversals and refunds. These operations will
only be possible if POCL and Client accounting and business rules
allow them.
12. EPOSS will support primary products with associated mandatory
and optional products. For example, the £1.00 postal order
product will have an associated 25p postal order fee product, or
the association of a product representing the notional value of an
MVL disc for accounting purposes. EPOSS will support the linking
of as many associated products to a primary product as is
appropriate.
EPOSS will support cross-selling in the form of messages and
prompts associated with selected products. For example, the
selling of theatre tickets could prompt the question: “And how are
you travelling there, sir/madam?” which could result in the sale
of a bus or rail ticket.
132. EPOSS will have the facility to read data from all the
input devices (and their storage media) that are part of the OPS.
143. EPOSS will allow the manual entry of weight values where
the scales are not linked. In fact, EPOSS will allow manual entry
of any information that is normally captured via a peripheral to
cater for the cases where the peripheral is not connected, or has
failed, or is unable to read for other reasons (e.g.
illegibility).
154. EPOSS will support the introduction of new Client services.
These will be integrated into the EPOSS product set so that they
can be invoked by the appropriate event.
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In most cases the introduction of a new product will be achieved
through the distribution of reference data updates via TMS. In
addition to reference data updates functionality can be introduced
dynamically using applets (and again these can distributed via
TMS).
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 826
Pathway Response
The Pathway solution for OPS is based around a PC configuration at
each counter position. Each PC will have a number of spare RS232
ports and these may be used for the connection of future
peripherals. Connection to Avery-Berkel Parcel Scales has already
been demonstrated.
Pathway confirms that the OPS will be capable of connecting to
specialist peripherals which support dual connection. The
capability for such peripherals to be dual connected is primarily
a function of the design of the peripheral, its physical
connections and supporting firmware.
Access to these peripherals will be restricted to those counter
PC’s which are suitably configured.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 827
Pathway Response
1. The overall Pathway solution can be developed to provide
support for a variety of authorisation methods including stop
lists, go lists and other forms of authorisation in support of
future POCL products. Detailed discussion would be required with
POCL and/or the Client on the form of such authorisation processes
and the precise maintenance and usage of all supporting data.
Where such products exploit the “nominated post office”
relationship between a customer and a specific post office the
design of any authorisation process would seek to hold such data
locally to reduce network costs and optimise transaction times.
2. The Pathway solution can support links to external computer
systems. Such links are already in existence and are achieved
through the use of a service specific TMS agent.
Pathway Comment
None
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Reference No 828
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will maintain the confidentiality,
integrity, validity and completeness of data throughout all
storage, processes and transmissions, including during periods of
service failure and recovery from service failure.
The techniques that have been proposed by Pathway in particular
circumstances, include physical and personal security measures,
file integrity checking, data encryption, digital signatures, CRC
checking, disk encryption, systems design for selective management
and visibility of data.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 829
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will ensure that all relevant information
produced at the request of the Authorities shall be evidentially
admissible and capable of certification in accordance with the
Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 and the Police and
Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989
Pathway confirms that at the direction of the Authorities and
subject to reasonable regard to the data volumes and storage
durations incurred, audit trail and other information necessary to
support live investigations and prosecutions will be retained for
the duration of the investigation and prosecution irrespective of
the normal retention period of that information.
Pathway Comment
1. It is understood that PACE does not apply under Scottish law
but similar arrangements will be made for outlets in Scotland.
Reference No 830
Pathway Response
1 Contingency plans
Pathway will, in co-operation with BA/POCL establish comprehensive
plans that:
will ensure that all services are supported by contingency
plans, including where appropriate, fallback transactions, that
will minimise or negate the impact of failure in any part of the
services
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will ensure that such plans are compatible with an overall PFI
service continuity framework
are based on impact and risk assessments agreed between Pathway
and BA/POCL
identify ownership of all plans
include activation procedures and time periods within which
contingency measures will be activated
include a testing strategy for both initial testing on
implementation and deployment and for regular testing during
normal ongoing operations
include:
prevention measures
preparedness measures
contingency measures
recovery of normal service
change control procedures
contact lists
service levels including contractor liability per associated
agreements
be subject to joint review by Pathway and BA/POCL
tee eH HF
2. Contingency designs
Pathway has described the contingency arrangements for BPS that
will be used to ensure continuity of service to the Authorities.
Please refer to document entitled Stream Meeting Notes dated
19/12/95, the section on Contingency.
In addition Pathway confirms that it will provide contingency
within PAS for non-availability of the CAPS system by producing
payment authorisations on CAPS’s behalf in response to such an
order. The PAS system has been redesigned to produce potential
strings of payments from CAPS input. The strings will be logically
of two payments, the second being transcended by new input or held
in readiness in the event that BA order that payment
authorisations be produced. The design provides for payment
strings of any length.
Pathway is mindful that such situations may apply to other of
the Authorities’ systems and undertakes to seek agreement on
comparable measures.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 831
Pathway Response
This response refers to the version of requirement 831 received as
part of spr016 which superseded that received in spr010. In
addition reference is made to Interface Specification, POCL
Interface Requirements for BA/POCL System, Version 1.2, 31 January
1996
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PATHWAY SOLUTION:
Pathway will develop the necessary systems and operational
processes to support the interfaces as specified in this
requirement and the POCL Interface document. Pathway’s initial
response and associated costing will be based on the interfaces
specified in version 1.2 of this document.
Pathway assumes that subject to the comments made below this
document (or an agreed successor) will form the basis of the ITT,
Tender and a subsequent Contract. Following Contract award it will
become subject to joint change control between the Authorities and
Pathway.
Pathway recognises from section 1.2.2 of the POCL Interface
document that further functionality may be required and will be
pleased to discuss the necessary operational and commercial
implications as details become known.
The development and implementation of POCL interfaces will
principally take the form of TMS Agents which act upon
transactions originated within the Outlets or which receive
transactions or data from POCL or Client systems.
Transactions from Outlets will be generated either as a part of
the counter application (e.g. BES, AP) or from a local OSS counter
application (e.g. Purchase Order).
The detailed formats of all interfaces will be agreed with POCL.
Pathway notes the requirement in section 2.1.2 and D5 of the POCL
Interface document that the ARTS model will be used where
applicable as the standard for record interfaces.
Specific Interface support
1. Inventory management (IM) to/from Outlets via TMS
Interfaces will be provided to support the transmission from
outlets of:
purchase orders
consignments received and sent
consignment enquiries
stock declarations
and the receipt at outlets of:
purchase order confirmations
consignment details
stock adjustment
in respect of:
money
value stock
security stock (including foreign exchange)
retail stock
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Pathway confirms that it will provide for the addition or other
stock types, specifically including forms and leaflets, and other,
non-trading, items (which may include consumables, furniture
etc.). Pathway notes that the degree to which the details of such
additional types will be available for data input assistance and
validation shall be negotiable. Pathway will also provide for the
removal of such stock types.
The linkage between TMS and IM will be supported by an IM specific
TMS Agent. This will periodically extract any IM specific
messages from Outlets and forward them to IM.
This IM TMS Agent will also receive messages from IM, reformat
them as required by TMS and dispatch them to the relevant Outlet.
The IM TMS Agent will run continuously during agreed hours
providing an on-line level of service.
2. Transaction Information System (TIP) system interfaces to/from
TMS and outlets.
Interfaces will be provided to support the transmission from
outlets of:
TMS Transactions (POCL Client summary returns)
Automated Product data (Authorisations within outlet within POCL
client)
Outlet Transactions
and the receipt at outlets of:
Reference data about outlets
Reference data for TMS, the IM interface, APS and EPOSS
error notices
texts and/or files for distribution to outlets (instructions,
procedures etc.)
Pathway will support this requirement by a TIP specific TMS Agent.
This will undertake the periodic processing of the TMS journals on
the Correspondence Servers to provide the outputs to TIP. Data
will be passed daily at time or times to be agreed.
The TIP TMS Agent will normally receive a daily file of data from
TIP at a time to be agreed. Exceptionally it will receive
messages from TIP, the messages being emergency-type reference
data updates, at a time or times to be agreed.
Note: it is understood that an electronic cash account will not be
transmitted to TIP.
3. Interfaces between outlets (via TMS) and POCL Clients
Interfaces will be provided to support the transmission from
outlets of:
Transaction data
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Authorisations Requests
Authorisation Confirmations/Exceptions
and the receipt at outlets of:
Authorisations
Client-specific Reference Data
Pathway will support this requirement by a POCL Clients specific
TMS Agent. This will undertake the periodic processing of the TMS
journals on the Correspondence Servers to provide the outputs to
POCL Clients. For each POCL Client a single file of Transaction
Data will be passed during an agreed daily time window. The POCL
Client TMS Agent will send authorisation requests and
confirmations/exceptions in an on-line manner to be defined.
The POCL Client TMS Agent will also receive from each POCL Client
messages containing either authorisations or client specific
reference data in an on-line manner to be defined.
Pathway notes the formative and proprietary nature of these POCL
Client requirements. See Pathway comment regarding the
distributed nature of PAS authorisations in the Pathway solution.
4, TIP/TMS interface for authorisation data
The capability for POCL to effect reconciliation between itself
and its clients is provided by the TMS outputs to TIP for
Automated Product Data (C1.2), Outlet Transactions (C1.3.5.5),
with reconciliation totals in C1.2.7 & 8, see Section 2 above.
Pathway notes the exclusions both in requirement 831 and the POCL
Interface document.
From requirement 831
EFTPOS (although stated as not part of the initial procurement
Pathway notes the terms of requirement 692).
Benefit receipt/declaration storage facilities. Pathway intends
to agree procedures with BA and POCL for the handling of benefit
receipts, mandate-receipts, temporary tokens and PUN receipts.
Reconciliation and exception reporting. Pathway’s proposals
were developed during the stream meetings and were last documented
in the BPS Stream Paper dated 8 January 1966.
Operational management information.
Inspection of transaction and event logs for audit and security
purposes.
Transitional arrangements in relation to the automated
payments/ALPS host. Pathway is planning on the basis that the
data transfers described in 3 above will be with the APT Host
initially. Requirement 899 specifies that the stop lists for OBCS
will be transferred from DSS to TMS.
Transitional arrangements for cash account processing.
Pathway’s proposals are also contained in the BPS Stream Paper
dated 8 January 1966.
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From the POCL Interface document (where not stated in requirement
831)
File and message switching interfaces. These are covered in
requirements 471 and 478.
Links to BA’s Card Management System. The links are supplied by
Pathway’s Card Management Service and Benefit Encashment Service.
Pathway intends to agree procedures with BA and POCL for the issue
of cards.
Pathway confirms that all interfaces will be agreed with POCL and
notes that the associated specifications are subject to change.
Pathway Comment
General
Pathway’s solution will be implemented in ORACLE7. Pathway notes
the expectation that the IM application will be based on ORACLE7
and the possibility that the TIP1 application will be similarly
implemented. Economies of operation based upon use of ORACLE7
functions should be considered.
Pathway would welcome discussions on the development strategy and
timescales for the development of the overall IM system. The
development of counter applications and TMS links will need to be
closely co-ordinated with POCL’s own programme. Pathway would
also anticipate that an incremental development programme could be
achieved with the level of automation available in the Outlet
progressively increasing.
Specific
(2) In sections C1.2.4 and C1.2.5 of the POCL Interface document
reference is made to the use of the Beneficiary NINO as a means of
identifying a customer. Pathway assumes that the customer
identity for an automated payment transaction will be that by
which the customer is known to the POCL client, the identity drawn
from the magnetic or smart card, or smart key forming the token
for this class of transaction.
Appendix (C 2.2.x) does not contain an entry for the interface
structures for text and/or files.
(3) The distributed nature of the Pathway solution for benefit
payments does not use the model of payment request followed by
payment authorisation. The authorised payment record, as
logically issued by CAPS, is held locally in the outlet.
Completed payment transactions or exception transactions (e.g. for
expired payments) are recorded in the journal. These will form
the basis of the response to TIP as described in C1.3.5.4.
Clarification is sought as to the applicability and usage of
payment transaction data (C1.3.5.6) to hold information in
relation to inpays and BT Bills. Certain forms of Girobank inpays
comprise many associated documents (e.g. Business Deposits
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supported by cheques). Is it the intention for such supplementary
information to be captured?
How will the purchase order (which uses outlet order id) and the
consignment received (which uses consignment id) be linked ?
(C3.1&2)
A copy of the Workload Brief referenced in section 1.5.1 of the
POCL Interface document would be appreciated. Details of volumes
would be appreciated, particularly in a form corresponding to that
described in the POCL Interface document. (The future volumes in
the BA/POCL workload brief (currently version 4.1, 22 January
1996) are by function not transaction.)
Reference No 832
Pathway Response
The automation of transaction processing at the counter will allow
the following business processes:
1) The data captured at the Outlet will be complete and accurate
within the context of the activity being recorded. For example,
transaction data will include information which uniquely
identifies each transaction.
2) The transfer of data will be handled by the TMS/Journaling
middleware. It will ensure that the data transfer is secure,
complete, accurate and robust.
3) EPOSS will provide validation of transaction data for both
format and content. Validation of the format of data will
normally be handled at the data entry level by the EPOSS Desktop
using information from the product definition reference data.
EPOSS will also support the validation of the content of the data
in on-line and off-line operation.
4) EPOSS will record transactions and events in a way that is
resistant to tampering. In the event of fraud, this information
will be used to establish that the service was operating as
intended.
5) EPOSS will support transactions which force the printing of a
customer receipt. A copy of the receipt will be printed for
retention in the Outlet. All of the transaction details will be
recorded in the journal and these can also be used for the
resolution of problems.
6) The Outlet, stock unit, and user will be all be identified when
recording transactions and any activities involving cash and value
stock. This will enable accountability to be maintained for the
handling of cash, value stock and transaction documentation.
7) EPOSS will record a complete set of transactions for a customer
session at the point of sale. This will include all methods of
payment.
8) EPOSS will implement a tiered level of access control. Each
function will have an associated access level and the user will
require a corresponding (or better) privilege level to access the
facility. Combined with the user logon requirement, this will
provide a controlled environment for all users of the system.
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EPOSS will also provide the facility for an authorised user to
maintain information about the users. This facility will allow
the introduction of new users, the modification of user attributes
(including password and privilege level), the deletion of users,
and the suspension of a user’s access to the system. There will
be a similar facility for stock units
9) The TMS/Journaling middleware will provide transparent data
replication within the Outlet and transmission to TMS. This will
provide a robust environment for Outlets with two or more counter
positions. For Outlets with a single counter position EPOSS will
augment the transmission to TMS with transparent replication of
data to an auxiliary storage device (e.g. diskette drive).
Recovery will also be free of operator intervention. EPOSS will
rebuild the system using the data from TMS and will augment this
with information from the auxiliary storage device. The process
described above removes the need for staff to perform back ups.
10) Each user, counter position and counter equipment device will
be uniquely defined within the Outlet.
11) EPOSS will allow each stock unit to be balanced as often as is
required within a cash account week. Balancing will involve the
reconciliation of transaction data, cash and stock movements
against the actual cash and stock held. The balancing process
will provide the opportunity for review and amendment before final
review and authorisation.
12) Transaction data will be transmitted to TMS in a timely and
efficient manner using a secure method.
13) Transaction data that has not been transmitted to TMS will be
clearly identifiable.
14) A recorded transaction will be reconcilable against any
supporting vouchers (i.e. stubs, forms, counterfoils) generated or
collected during the transaction. Where necessary the vouchers
will be made available for central processing and validation.
15) EPOSS will maintain an up-to-date record of each stock unit’s
contents. It will provide facilities to report the current
balance position of each stock unit. It will also provide an
instant office snapshot facility which will provide a view of the
last known office balance position on demand.
16) All movements of cash, stock and other items will be recorded
and clearly identified. See responses to requirements 691, 807
and 822.
17) EPOSS will produce all specified summaries when required. If
required, summaries will contain only those transactions not
already summarised. The process will take into account the client
cut-off’s such that transactions already reported and despatched
prior to the cut-off are not included on subsequent summaries.
18) EPOSS will support and identify items posted to suspense
accounts.
19) Pathway will ensure that the system complies with all the
appropriate legislation.
20) The Outlet will continue to operate using the fallback
procedures following a system failure. This will include the
manual recording of all events and transactions, and this can be
considered to be an “audit trail”. On recovery, the system will
record the fact that the system failure took place, and any events
(such as transaction entry) which are part of the recovery process
will be identified as such.
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Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 833
Pathway Response
EPOSS will support a training mode. It will support “trainee”
users and “training stock units”. Operations on training stock
units and any associated transactions will be recorded. Balancing
of training stock units will be permitted but this information
will be excluded from the office balancing and accounting process.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 834
Pathway Response
1. Adequate Contingency
The Pathway solution and supporting services provide comprehensive
contingency arrangements for all outlets. These include :-
A distributed design which insulates the majority of counter
transactions from any failures external to the Outlet.
Comprehensive Help desk support to provide transaction
authorisation where an Outlet is out of action.
Highly resilient designs for TMS, PMS and CMS including multiple
servers and resilient local and wide are networks.
Transition of a post office will be undertaken on a “whole office”
basis and will be capable of being performed at any point during
the weekly cash account cycle. The sooner after the weekly cash
account is struck the less the retrospective re-application of
transactions will be required, whether this re-application is
manual or automated.
Because of this approach, contingency during transition of a post
office does not represent a discrete requirement.
Facilities will be provided to enable information from offices
with ECCO+, Capture, PO Balancer (and similar programs) to be
extracted, converted and used as part of the automation
initialisation process. The automated migration of such data will
be implemented if sufficient information is available about its
storage and the number of offices affected is large enough to
warrant the creation of the appropriate migration software.
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The extraction of data from the office’s existing systems will be
carried out in a non-intrusive manner such that the integrity of
the systems being replaced will not be is not compromised and
will be available for live use until the manager is satisfied that
the new system has been adequately established. In particular
systems will permit more than one migration sequence to be
attempted such that a failed attempt does not compromise the live
system.
It is envisaged that all cash account products will be
“transactable” (in at least a minimum form) as soon as the office
EPOSS automation is operational.
2. Implementation of parent and satellite offices
The roll-out plan will be jointly agreed with BA/POCL and will
take account of relationships between Outlets (e.g.
parent/satellite).
Where a post office is automated prior to one or more of its
associated satellite offices it will be provided with a facility
for the entry of paper-based information received from the non-
automated satellite offices.
Where a satellite office is automated prior to its parent office
it will be provided with a facility to produce paper-based reports
for its parent office.
3. Plain Paper Summaries
Each Outlet will be equipped with a back-office printer capable of
producing plain paper summaries. The content of these summaries
will require discussion and agreement with POCL.
4, 2-D barcodes
Each Outlet will have the ability to print a 2-D bar code on the
plain paper summary. the content of the barcode will require
discussion and agreement with POCL.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 835
Pathway Response
1. Benefit encashments and other automated products will be
integrated into the EPOSS Desktop and will utilise its customer
session management and transaction recording facilities such that:
a) The EPOSS Desktop will automatically record the transaction
details.
b) A local transaction record will be stored for summarisation and
balancing.
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c) The information recorded locally will be consistent with the
information provided (via TMS) to PAS and other systems.
d) Transaction times will be minimised. The transaction
application will be invoked automatically on the peripheral device
read event. Transaction data will be obtained during the device
read such that manual data entry is reduced. In the case of
benefit encashment transactions within a nominated post office the
payment authorisation information will be available locally, so
that external data communications are avoided.
2. EPOSS will support the provision of transaction summaries for
comparison with other records. It will provide summaries showing
detail and totals for the following items:
a) motor vehicle tax discs on hand;
b) milk tokens on hand;
c) cheques;
d) benefits transactions made via BES.
3. Summaries will be enhanced in the process of automating
transactions to show information about items issued, held,
received, returned and spoiled. Individual serial numbers will be
included where appropriate.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 836
Pathway Response
1. Pathway will investigate and assess the level of integration
that can be achieved between the CRISP system and EPOSS. In the
case where the CRISP system is truly standalone it is anticipated
that the sharing of information will be achieved via file or
communications media. If the CRISP system is to coexist with
EPOSS on the same windows NT platform then integration will take
the form of sharing data via OLE automation.
2. There is a very broad range of secondary businesses run by
Agents in post office Outlets. This means that it is probably not
a good approach to attempt to cater for every type of business as
an integral part of EPOSS. The facility will be provided to
allow appropriate applications for other business to coexist with
EPOSS on the same Windows NT platform. Transactions from these
applications will be identifiable as separate from EPOSS
transactions particularly with respect to accounting procedures.
3. The information recorded for each transaction will be dependent
on the transaction itself. In general, it will include the
following:
a) Outlet, clerk, and counter position.
b) Date and time.
c) Unique Product Identifier.
d) Value.
e) Quantity.
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f£) Product, client and/or scheme reference codes (if applicable)
g) Various customer details (if applicable)
h) Methods of payment. In many cases the settlement will be
applied to the whole customer session rather than individual
transactions.
4. EPOSS will support the introduction of new Client services.
These will be integrated into the EPOSS product set so that they
can be invoked by the appropriate event. In most cases the
introduction of a new product will be achieved through the
distribution of reference data updates via TMS. In addition to
reference data updates, functionality can be introduced
dynamically using applets (and again these can distributed via
TMS).
Pathway Comment
We should beware increasing the complexity and therefore the cost
of the OSS to all post offices for the benefit of just a small
number of post shops. At present the contractor has very little
information on the CRISP system (2 pages in the SSR) and this is
not sufficient to formulate a specific response to the
requirement. Pathway would like to discuss the CRISP requirement
with the Programme to take this forward.
Reference No 837
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will support the production of the following predefined
reports:
a) Transaction level reports by stock unit printed on clients’
stationery using the counter printer or, if the physical size or
layout of the stationery demands it, the A4 Outlet printer.
b) Transaction level reports by stock unit printed on plain paper
using the counter printer or, if the physical size or layout
demands it, the A4 Outlet printer.
c) Reports on the current level of value stock products by stock
unit.
d) Reports of transaction volumes and values.
e) EPOSS will produce cash account reports.
f£) Reconciliation reports.
g) Reports on cash and value stock movements.
h) Ad-hoc MIS reports as agreed with POCL.
2. EPOSS will support the printing of reports in accordance with
POCL and Client requirements on frequency subject to the capacity
of the printer provided. The printing or output of reports will be
at the users discretion. Client reports will be produced on a
daily and weekly basis and it where appropriate the facility will
be provided to print several weekly reports within a accounting
period.
Pathway Comment
None
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Reference No 838
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will allow the entry of additional information associated
with transactions. It will permit some of this information to be
entered at a later time. EPOSS will not permit information to be
entered which will compromise the integrity of any balancing or
accounting processes. EPOSS will support the post-event entry of
transaction information such as the weekly total of inland parcels
posted as prepaid by franking meter label.
2. EPOSS will support the entry of data for transactions
(including local schemes) where the only volume is recorded for
accounting purposes.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 839
Pathway Response
EPOSS will provide retail functionality similar to that used in
PostShops. This will be available for delivery at a later date to
be agreed with BA/POCL. The retail functionality will:
support the existing post shop products
be extendible to allow for the introduction of new retail
products and other changes in the product range
allow retail items to be mixed with non-retail (e.g. BES
transactions at the counter within the same customer session
record the sale of each retail product as a separate transaction
against the user and the stock unit
support price (and other information) lookup for retail products
adjust the office retail stock levels in real-time in response
to receipt, return and selling of retail items.
allow office stock level interrogation on demand
support a weekly office “stock-take” activity
reconcile retail transactions as a single line entry in the
Receipts table in the stock unit balance, office balance and the
cash account
It is understood (from Req 836) that the integration of the CRISP
system used in PostShops and the EPOSS system will be assessed.
EPOSS will also endeavour to provide the type of retail
functionality which will support the following:
a) Till functionality.
b) Discounting.
c) Coupon management.
d) Multibuys.
e) Promotions.
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f) Marketing.
g) Reporting.
Note
The retail product set is considered to be separate from the stock
unit product set and will be maintained and accounted for on an
office wide basis.
Pathway Comment
We should beware increasing the complexity and therefore the cost
of the OSS to all post offices for the benefit of just a small
number of post shops. At present the contractor has very little
information on the CRISP system (2 pages in the SSR) and this is
not sufficient to formulate a specific response to the
requirement. Pathway would like to discuss the CRISP requirement
with the Programme to take this forward.
Reference No 840
Pathway Response
The BES will provide the facility to check card validity using the
following tests against CMS data:
card status must be active
Sherman value must equal the issued value, recorded within CMS
card must not have expired
card issue number must be equal to the current issue number
The BES will provide the facility to verify the identity of the
customer presenting the card by testing one or more of the
following personal detail attributes supplied by CAPS:
date of birth or elements thereof
postal address or elements thereof
sex, aS implied from style & appearance or title.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 841
Pathway Response
1. The benefit encashment procedures require a payee to sign the
receipt of payment and confirmation of entitlement in the presence
of the clerk and for the clerk to check the signature against that
on the payee’s card.
2. Pathway confirm that verification of an authorised person will
only be required once per counter visit to enable that person to
collect all valid payments to which he/she is entitled
3. The benefit payment procedures may require different levels of
customer verification according to customer role, e.g. beneficiary
or agent, or the office at which collection is made (nominated or
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foreign office). Where a customer is acting in different roles
within a single counter visit, additional verification may be
required to support payment collection in certain roles. This will
not require any re-verification of information already provided
during a session but may require the provision of additional
verification information later in the session if, for example, a
customer initially collects payment as beneficiary and then
collects payments for another beneficiary as an agent.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 842
Pathway Response
BES will provide cardholder verification methods as described in
Req. ref. 840 (i.e. using elements of the CAPS supplied data on
cardholder date of birth and address). Some or all of the
information may be requested from the customer according to
encashment circumstances. This procedure will be automatically
invoked by BES for certain agreed classes of higher risk
transaction (e.g. foreign payments, or following a card read
failure) and may also be invoked by the counter clerk by touching
a "button" on the screen for use in any transaction where the
clerk is suspicious (e.g. following an indistinct signature
match).
At the appropriate point in the encashment dialogue, BES will
prompt the counter clerk to ask up to two questions relating to
elements of the verification data; these will be chosen so as to
avoid set patterns of the same question and to minimise input from
the counter clerk e.g. by use of check boxes or small numbers of
characters to be entered. (It will be possible to request a
further verification question should the counter clerk have
incorrectly keyed the answer.)
The use of cardholder verification methods will be fully covered
within the system training and will be explained to customers
positively within the literature accompanying card issue.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 843
Pathway Response
1. The BES application will prompt the counter clerk to impound
the card under agreed circumstances, for example when the card has
been previously reported to CMS as stolen. There are additional
circumstances where the card should be impounded but which will
not automatically be known to the BES application (e.g.
inconsistencies between embossed card details and magnetically
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encoded details). In these circumstances the counter procedures
will incorporate checks on certain aspects of card usage and the
BES application will provide information to the counter clerk to
support these procedures.
Both sets of circumstances will be agreed with the contracting
authorities; Pathway’s initial proposals are provided below.
2. Card impounding instructions issued by BES. Our initial views
on circumstances which would lead to a prompt for card impounding
are as follows:
card status set as reported lost, stolen or permanent card
stop/withdraw issued
failure to match Sherman value (indicating forged card)
obsolete (i.e. superseded) issue number present on card
(indicating fraudulent use of an old card)
card expiry date passed
3. Card impounding within the counter procedures. Other
circumstances in which the card should be impounded are:
mismatch of card embossed details and customer details provided
by BES (indicating reprogrammed card magnetic data)
visible card defacement or alteration, such as additional
overlaid signature strip.
4, Normal issue of replacement cards is also expected to include
the retention of the expired card.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 844
Pathway Response
BES will present details of all payments to which a particular
customer is entitled. This will include (as appropriate) payments
of all benefit types made to the customer as beneficiary,
appointee or agent.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 845
Pathway Response
The BES application will allow termination of the transaction by
the counter clerk prior to the point of transaction commitment.
This is the specific point in the transaction sequence, following
the customer signature for entitlement and receipt and its
checking against the card, at which the transaction encashment
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record is committed to the journal and the physical transfer of
payment to the customer occurs.
Besides being able to terminate the transaction prematurely at the
request of the customer, the transaction may be terminated
prematurely by the POCL clerk if he is not satisfied that the card
is genuine, if the customer fails verification checks, if the
system notifies him that the card should be impounded, or if the
signature on the card does not match that on the receipt.
A receipt, whether signed or not can be voided and the transaction
voided.
In the case of a voided transaction where a receipt has already
been printed, BES will prompt the clerk to enter the receipt for
overprinting as void and retain a copy. The clerk will be prompted
to enter a reason code.
Where BES prompts the counter clerk to retain the card, for
example if it has been reported lost or stolen, it will also
produce a receipt for the clerk to sign and pass to the customer,
with a copy retained for storage.
Pathway Comment
The BES counter procedures will accommodate requirements for the
appropriate retention / storage / disposal of any printed receipts
produced prior to a transaction termination. [See also Req. Ref.
No 850]
Reference No 846
Pathway Response
The BES counter application will record every encashment in the
local journal, which will be replicated to the central TMS, from
whence it will be reported to PAS and TIP.
The encashment records will be matched against the original
authorisations, producing a file of matched payments and a
separate file of any unmatched payments for further investigation.
Pathway have proposed that these files of matched and unmatched
payments are transferred to TIP. These files will also form the
basis of the encashed payment report returned to CAPS.
Pathway’s solution takes several steps to ensure that this
transport of encashment data (and expiry data) is reliable, based
upon replicating journal entries within a group comprising the
post office counters and three correspondence servers.
In multi counter offices there is the inherent resilience in the
multiple system units with their journal entries replicated.
In single counter offices the fixed disk drive on which all
journal entries are made can be removed to a replacement system
unit without loss of data. To cover the possibility that the
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replication of journal entries to the TMS layer may not have taken
place when a disk drive fault is encountered by software, the
unreplicated journal entries will be explicitly replicated from a
main store area before software halts the system.
At the TMS layer the grouping of correspondence servers allows for
a post office’s data to be held on the “home” correspondence
server for that office, another in its geography but in a separate
fire protection zone, and a third in another geography.
PAS itself is duplicated over two geographies.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 847
Pathway Response
The BES counter application will provide a commit function to
allow the clerk to indicate confirmation of transaction. This
function will include all necessary prompts to the clerk to retain
the signed top copy of the receipt and issue a copy to the
authorised person.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 848
Pathway Response
The BES will enable customers to encash their benefit entitlement
when due. Benefit authorisation data will normally be held within
BES for a day or two before the entitlement due date and the
authorisation data incorporates a payment validity start date
which precludes payment prior to that date. The transfer of the
majority of payment authorisations from CAPS to PAS will be timed
to support the above schedule.
There are circumstances involving the late notification of “next
day” payments up to 0400 on the day of collection where Pathway
may be logically unable to enable a customer to encash at a
particular time on the due date. However, Pathway will make
available all accepted payments for collection by 0800 that day
subject to agreed volumes of late notifications. Pathway will use
all reasonable endeavours to make payments available by the start
of BES business in each office. Clearly for offices that operate
BES during the period from 0000 to 0800 on the day collection is
due it will not be possible to guarantee their availability, and
accordingly Pathway has no alternative but to lodge a formal non-
compliancy. The time within the date due at which a payment
first becomes available may also need to be agreed if different
offices operate different opening hours and foreign office
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collections are permitted. The Pathway solution will allow for
this need.
Pathway Comment
This is provided in more detail in requirement response 757
together with proposed modus operandi.
Reference No 849
Pathway Response
The payment authorisation data provided via PMS and used by BES
will include information on the dates of the last (x) foreign
payments made, so as to enable BES to calculate which payments are
available for valid collection away from the customers nominated
office. The BES application will limit foreign encashments to (x)
within a rolling (y) week period. Values of (x) and (y) will be
set by the Contracting Authorities.
Payments forwarded from CAPS which have the restricted post office
indicator (RPOI) set will override the above mechanism. This will
have the effect of restricting such marked payments to the
customer’s nominated post office, irrespective of current (x) and
(y) values. Pathway assume that no further action is implied by
this indicator, for example BES is not required to exclude any
such payments from the count of (y) to be used in the calculation
of any future restrictions relating to foreign encashment (where
RPOI is not set).
Note that foreign encashments will not be permitted to casual
agents.
Following a search for local payment authorisation data within the
encashing office, BES will request the Correspondence Server layer
to search for valid payments due to the Authorised Person. When
payment(s) are located the correspondence server will affirm the
continuing validity of the authorisation by retrieving the current
payment authorisation from the Authorised Person’s nominated
office.
Note that this requirement is met by a combination of BES and PAS
facilities (described in Req. Ref 770
Pathway Comment
Where a payment may also be collected by proxies with different
nominated offices to the beneficiary, there is the question of
whether such transactions conducted at other offices will cause
the foreign payment count relating to the beneficiary to be
incremented; clarification is required from BA on this point.
Reference No 850
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Pathway Response
The BES counter procedures include the local storage of receipts
during the counter sessions and the BES application will produce
batch headers providing details of receipts generated within the
particular sessions. Procedures will be agreed with BA/POCL for
the local batching and filing of such receipts and their dispatch
to secure storage.
The batch headers will provide counts of receipts to facilitate
checking.
Pathway Comment
Further discussion is required to define the appropriate
procedures for receipt batching, filing and storage, in
particular whether there is any requirement for receipts to be
batched and stored by benefit type (or types), within FAD code or
other office identification.
Further discussion is required to set formal cut offs to the BES
business day so that these end of day tasks can be conducted.
Reference No 851
Pathway Response
Under normal circumstances the encashment transaction data is
recorded on the local journal (outlet transaction file) and this
information is replicated to the central TMS service and
transferred to PAS.
Under failure conditions using manual authorisations at the PMS
help desk, encashment authorisation data is written to the central
TMS service and replicated to the local outlet journal immediately
after the failure is rectified. BES will use this data to support
matching of centrally authorised transactions with the local
office encashment details of the same transaction set. Where
encashment transactions were manually recorded at the outlet
(e.g. following failure of the OPS platform) this matching will be
performed manually using the local receipt copies against the
transaction list transferred to the office from the central TMS
records. Where encashments were recorded locally by BES (e.g.
where the ISDN has failed but the OPS is operational) this
matching process can be automatic. In both cases any
inconsistencies will be flagged for investigation and
rectification.
In all cases the outlet transaction data will be the source of
encashment reporting to PAS and CAPS and also the local cash
account.
Pathway Comment
None
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Reference No 852
Pathway Response
The Pathway distributed solution provides a high degree of backup
capability to support continuity of benefit payments processing in
the event of failure of all, or any elements, of BES. Within the
post office each counter position can operate independently using
local payment authorisation data replicated between counters. PMS
is based upon resilient hardware configurations and has a complete
backup centre to protect against major failure. The solution is
designed to minimise the impact of network failures so that only
exception transactions such as urgent or foreign payments are
likely to be affected by a failure of the network connection to a
particular outlet.
Manual backup processes are defined using authorisation via the
Help Desk, located across 2 geographic sites, to support those
situations where the non-availability of counter equipment or ISDN
network connections may compromise the encashment service.
Pathway have proposed migration to an IC memory card, which offers
the ability to securely hold certain elements of PAS data
enabling encashments to continue in the event of widespread
disruption to public infrastructure or a prolonged outage of CAPS
or Pathway central services.
A comprehensive discussion of failure scenarios and the levels of
fallback authorisations have been provided in one of the Pathway
papers to the demonstrator BPS and End-End strands (ref: Pathway -
BPS Stream Papers dated 19/12/95)
Pathway Comment
Detailed descriptions of fallback and contingency arrangements for
BES are provided in the above document, which may be read in
conjunction with this response.
Reference No 853
Pathway Response
BES makes use of the underlying Office Platform Service which
provides for a separate PC configuration at every working counter.
In the event of a failure of some or all of the OPS equipment, the
following recovery procedures will support the auditable recovery
of benefit data.
Counter failure in multiple counter offices
In multiple counter offices, the normal benefit payment service
will continue as the priority function on other operational
counters. Failure of a counter PC will be recorded at the SIS
help desk and will result in the unit being replaced. Following
unit replacement all data for that counter (e.g. benefit data,
counter transactions, reference data etc.) will be automatically
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replicated to it from the other counter PCs prior to returning the
counter to normal operation.
The replacement of a PC (or any item of OPS equipment) is also
recorded in the Pathway Asset Register maintained by SMS. This
together with the Help Desk records, will provide an audit trail
for any recovery of BES data resulting from OPS failure.
Where the OPS failure involves the PC supporting the ISDN gateway,
or if there is a separate failure of the ISDN service, exception
transactions such as foreign and emergency payments will be
authorised centrally via the PMS help desk using telephone
contact. Authorisation data (code and payment value) will be
recorded centrally within the TMS journal and entered into the BES
application locally by the counter clerk. All other aspects of the
transaction will handled normally, including receipt production
and writing the local encashment record to the journal.
Counter failure in single counter offices
During an OPS failure in single counter offices, all payments will
be authorised and recorded centrally via the PMS help desk in a
similar manner. Receipts will be produced and issued manually at
the local office.
General
In all cases, once the failure has been rectified, authorisation
and encashment data is replicated between TMS and the outlet
counter PCs so that the journals are consistent prior to service
recommencement on the failed unit. Reconciliation of any manually
produced receipts and centrally authorised transactions is
provided by BES and is described in more detail in requirement
response 851.
Pathway Comment
Attention is drawn to the BPS stream paper description of
contingency procedures, the most recent version being dated 8
January 1996.
Reference No 854
Pathway Response
BES will provide arithmetic checks to ensure that the sum of
individual encashment amounts equal the total encashment figure,
where multiple benefits are being encashed.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 855
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Pathway Response
The data within BES is not accessible to the PO clerk. Payment
authorisation data is digitally sealed prior to transfer into BES
and cannot be altered by the post office clerk. Encashment data is
written to the journal by the BES application based upon the
authorised payment(s) made to a customer. Once written to the
journal this data cannot be accessed by the clerk and is not
accessible to other applications or to users within the local
office.
Data entered into BES by the clerk under failure conditions (e.g.
a payment value provided manually by the PMS help desk) will be
reconciled against the central TMS records created via the Help
Desk system to ensure integrity.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 856
Pathway Response
BES will support encashment, subject to additional personal
verification checks, following a card read failure. In these
situations the card details are manually keyed by the counter
clerk. BES activates the personal verification check automatically
and then retrieves any payments due to the customer in the same
way as a normal (card swipe) transaction. Any transaction of this
type will be recorded in the journal with the keyed data flag set.
The clerk will have been instructed to be especially vigilant in
exception situations (e.g. card read fail) and will closely
examine the physical attributes of the card and the signature.
Examples of valid cards will be included in the counter procedures
and supporting information to assist in this process.
A card stop will be detected in the normal manner following the
keyed entry. The clerk will also be able to contact the Help
Desk for guidance as required.
Where repeated read failure of the same card occurs (proposed
limit is 3) a new card will be issued automatically. It is also
intended that patterns of frequent keyed data entry without
associated hardware fault will be reported for investigation (see
Req. 895).
Pathway recommends that the keyed data should be the PAN plus’ the
check digit, card issue number and expiry date, the latter item
being checked for validity.
Pathway Comment
See also requirement response 772.
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Reference No 857
Pathway Response
Sponsors have clarified (fax Dave Pryce 5:22pm 23 February 1996)
that the use of the word confirmation means confirmation before
authorisation.
Accordingly Pathway confirms that in the Pathway solution benefit
transactions are authorised locally within BES (or under certain
failure conditions via replicated authorisation data within TMS).
Consequently there is no requirement for a confirmation
transaction from the outlet to PAS before authorisation.
Pathway Comment
This particular requirement is not applicable to the Pathway
solution. The fact that in approximately 95% of cases one or
more on-line exchanges are not required at the time of
authorisation is a major advantage both in terms of response times
and communications costs.
Reference No 858
Pathway Response
Where a foreign encashment is attempted BES will retrieve the
appropriate payment(s) due after checking the encashment rules
(see Req. Ref. 849). It is intended that this happens
automatically after the local search within BES indicates that
this customer is not at his nominated office. The counter clerk
will be informed that payment details are being retrieved from the
customer’s nominated office, but the identity of this office will
not be displayed. In the event that no payments are due to the
customer, or that the foreign encashment limit has already been
reached, BES will advise the clerk accordingly to inform the
customer.
Pathway Comment
Pathway will provide that the messages output both to the clerk
and, if required, on the receipt may be readily modified.
Reference No 859
Pathway Response
BES will transfer encashment data from the outlet to PAS (see Req.
Ref. 846). This will include data specified by the Contracting
Authorities.
The data transferred is expected to be that defined in the CAPS
to PAS/CMS interface definition, Version 4, 8/11/95 specified as a
single encashment group, one or more encashment payment groups and
zero or more Tokens groups.
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Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 860
Pathway Response
Pathway will provide help desk facilities to support the operation
of BES. The PMS help desk will provide facilities to support
queries from counter clerks, particularly where equipment failure
precludes normal system operation, and to support specific queries
from BA staff which cannot be dealt with via the CAPS or other
system interface. The CMS help desk will provide facilities to
support queries relating to lost, stolen, damaged or stopped cards
and facilities for ordering replacement cards where necessary. The
POCL Strategic Infrastructure help desk will deal with queries
relating to equipment malfunction in the underlying OPS.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 861
Pathway Response
BES will provide support for alternative payee arrangements, where
specified by the DSS. This will enable valid benefit cards of
either the beneficiary or the alternative payee to be used to
encash a payment. Alternative payees will be subject to the same
encashment procedures as the beneficiary, including personal
verification data where appropriate (e.g. keyed card data entry or
foreign encashment) .
Pathway Comment
Further controls on alternative payee arrangements have been
discussed with BA (e.g. requirement to provide a mandate of
authority from the beneficiary) but these have been agreed to be
unnecessary. It is assumed that the primary beneficiary can
exercise sufficient control over encashment arrangements by the
inclusion or exclusion of an alternative payee on the benefit.
Reference No 862
Pathway Response
If no payment is due to the customer, BES will prompt the clerk to
return the card to the Authorised Person. Where disputes or
enquiries arise the clerk will advise them to contact their local
Benefit Office. (Note that in certain exception conditions the
clerk may be instructed to impound the card rather than return it
to the customer - Ref. Req. 843)
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Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 863
Pathway Response
The BES system can only be accessed by a genuine and valid benefit
card or temporary token. BES will check the following attributes
of the benefit payment card for consistency and integrity against
the CMS details:
PAN
Sherman number
Issue number
Expiry date
Cardholder name will be displayed for checking against the
embossed name on the card.
When card data is manually keyed the Sherman number cannot be
entered but additional personal verification checks are made
automatically through the use of “blind verification” screens (see
Ref Req 842 for details of cardholder verification methods).
BES will similarly check the equivalent attributes provided on the
temporary token via suitable encoding (e.g. barcode), covering:
Unique token id
Expiry date.
Pathway Comment
Pathway has proposed methods to support the use of temporary
tokens and the implications of this on the data flow from Benefit
Offices to PMS/CMS. In particular the requirement to link the use
of a temporary token to a specific emergency payment (or for
emergency access to a normal payment following card loss) will
require an agreed system data flow between benefit offices and
PMS/CMS, for which the currently specified system interfaces
require enhancement. Pathway’s solution incorporates these
methods.
Reference No 864
Pathway Response
BES will only permit encashment using data transferred to it from
PMS which is secured using digital signatures. BES will not permit
the substitution of other data within the local office environment
and uses the security measures provided within Riposte and Windows
NT to maintain payment data integrity. The system also uses ISDN
calling line identity checking and PPP authentication support on
the communications sessions used to transfer payment data to BES.
Pathway Comment
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None
Reference No 865
Pathway Response
BES will accept and process payment authorisations for appointees
as for normal beneficiaries. BES will also accept payment
authorisations which include permanent agents in addition to the
beneficiary. In this case PMS will have added card and personal
verification details for all authorised payees and will have
transferred this information to BES.
In the case of collection by a permanent agent BES will display
those beneficiaries for whom the agent is entitled to collect
(including the beneficiary himself). BES will prompt the clerk to
ask the customer to select the beneficiary for whom the permanent
agent wishes to collect and to check the associated mandate.
For the beneficiary selected BES will retrieve, display and
process the payment(s) in the normal way using the mandate form as
the basis of receipt.
Encashment by casual agents is supported, subject to additional
personal verification checks, when they present the beneficiary’s
card, supplementary identification and the appropriate
authorisation signed by the beneficiary. The appropriate form of
receipt is generated and the transaction recorded with the casual
agent flag set. Casual agent encashment will be restricted to the
nominated office of the beneficiary.
Pathway recommends that an appointee’s role is recorded on the
receipt to allow the beneficiary and appointee declarations to be
merged.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 866
Pathway Response
The payment authorisation data provided from CAPS via PMS will be
used to determine which customers should be issued with milk or
other tokens and the number required. BES will indicate this
information to the counter clerk alongside the payment amount and
will be printed on the receipt. The number and type of tokens
issued will be recorded by BES in the benefit encashment journal
entry within TMS and the payment of tokens will be reflected in
the stock unit maintained by EPOSS.
Pathway Comment
None
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Reference No 867
Pathway Response
BES will allow customers to make changes to their nominated post
office, subject to subsequent BA approval.
The customer will either ask for a change in nominated post office
by presenting himself at his new chosen post office or, if he is
also notifying a change of address, will also present a completed
form (P80MA equivalent). If the customer is notifying only a
change in his address, then no further action is taken by Pathway:
conveying changes in address is not part of the PFI requirement,
although POCL will have a separate responsibility to transfer
forms to DSS.
Changes of nominated post office will be actioned at the counter
incorporating a swiping of the customer’s card to identify the
customer. The change will be notified to CAPS in the position
within the payment notification stream at which it occurs, for
subsequent acceptance or denial by DSS. Changing the nominated
office will reset the foreign payments count to zero. BES will
retrieve outstanding payments from the former nominated post
office if an encashment are now required, these payments not
being deemed foreign ones. The change of nominated office will be
recorded in PMS and CMS to direct future payment authorisations to
the new office and any future card / PUN reissues to the new
office.
A customer who is subject to restricted post office procedures
will not be permitted to change his nominated post office.
Pathway recommends that a change of nominated post office
transaction will count as a “card event”, such that after a
permitted number (say 3 within 18 months) BA can identify the
cardholder for interview.
Pathway Comment
In this style of operation, there is a need to agree the mechanism
which ensures consistency of data between CAPS and PMS/CMS. The
BA/POCL Service Interface Definition Version 1, 9th Feb 1996
includes a specific acknowledgement which will serve this purpose.
There is a requirement to formalise this mechanism with agreed
interface formats.
Pathway would welcome further discussion on the procedures by
which address changes will be conveyed to DSS.
In certain cases, for example where a replacement benefit card is
awaiting collection at the old post office or is in the process of
issue and despatch to that office or a PUN is in delivery to the
old customer address, immediate transfer of benefit collection
operations to the new nominated office will require supporting
actions.
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Reference No 868
Pathway Response
The design of BES within the overall automated benefit payment
procedure is aimed at minimising customer enquiries. In particular
the provision of supporting information within leaflets and the
provision of full payment data and next payment due date on the
receipt will reduce enquiries. Where a card is presented at the
normal post office and payment is not due information can be
provided to the customer via the clerk to avoid further system
dialogue and enquiries. This can include the date and place of
last payment and due date of next payment (see also Ref. Req. 881)
The proposed solution as deployed by An Post has experienced a low
level of associated customer enquiries.
The system will aim to strike the appropriate balance between the
provision of adequate information to the customer during normal
interactions, the requirements to maintain system security over
payment related information and the need to avoid spurious use of
BES where no payments are due.
Pathway Comment
Technical Design - Is customer statement request still
intended to be provided ? and if so could be mentioned. What else
falls into this category?
Reference No 869
Pathway Response
1. Pathway notes that BA/POCL are not concerned with the
performance of individual subsystems per se, but that their
primary concern is with the overall performance of the service as
it impacts upon their own systems, clients staff, agents and
customers. Pathway notes that targets for the level of internal
performance between its subsystems will therefore not be set by
BA/POCL , but that internal subsystem performance will be judged
by BA/POCL as it affects overall service performance.
2. Pathway will specify the internal performance requirements of
any subsystem that is re-tendered. Pathway will maintain and
report actual measured performance for TMS in respect of its
interfaces with other subsystems.
3. Pathway will specify the performance requirements and
tolerances for
3.1 Hours of operation of the TMS
3.2 Response time required between TMS and
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3.3 The number of outages of TMS, identifying types of
outage monitored
3.4 The availability of TMS.
4, Pathway confirms it will report against all the requirements
and tolerances identified in (3) above.
5. Pathway will maintain detailed technical documentation of the
interfaces from TMS to PAS, CMS, OPS and all attachable computer
systems. In the event of any changes to any interface to TMS,
this will be notified to BA/POCL in advance with updates to
technical documentation made within 10 working days of the change
being implemented.
Pathway Comment
The paragraph numbering in at section 3 has been rationalised.
Reference No 870
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will be implemented such that it operates efficiently and
accurately with the minimum of user interaction with the keyboard
and other devices. It will endeavour to reduce the transaction
times wherever possible such that the serving of a customer is not
slowed down overall. The system response to peripheral input will
be maintained at an acceptable level.
2. EPOSS will provide summarisation and balancing facilities in an
efficient manner so as to avoid unnecessary re-processing due to
data adjustments.
3. Normally, EPOSS will record the time of completion for each
transaction. This means that the time from the end of one
transaction to the end of the next can be measured. EPOSS will
also record the beginning of a customer session as the point where
the first transaction is invoked. Whilst this does not provide a
strictly accurate measure of transaction time it can used for
simple analysis. It is recommended that the analysis of
transaction times be carried out centrally using information
extracted from TMS. This will allow transaction times to be
compared across Outlets so that averages, trends and substantial
performance deviations can be reported.
If a higher level of detail is required then mechanisms can be
implemented to capture all recordable user and system events
(device input/output, keystrokes etc.). It is recommended that
this is type of mechanism is only used on a temporary basis for
monitoring purposes.
4. EPOSS will perform transactions in a predictable and consistent
manner such that the elapsed time from invocation to completion
for the same transaction (i.e. same type, similar data entry,
similar office size and office load conditions) does not vary to a
statistically significant extent. Where the transaction time does
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not meet this criteria then Pathway and BA/POCL will investigate
and agree an appropriate course of action.
Pathway Comment
The requirement that transaction times at an outlet shall be no
more than 10% greater than the average across all outlets is not
acceptable. The measurement of the requirement would be a
formidable task. The EPOSS only makes a contribution to overall
transaction times and it is not therefore clear what would be
measured. An unscrupulous supplier could meet the requirement by
slugging the EPOSS response times to achieve consistency of
response time overall.
Reference No 871
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will be implemented such that the version of any
reference data being referenced from outlets will be the latest
applicable version of such reference data. The version of such
reference data will be considered fully updated when all
applicable updates have been applied. If one day’s worth of
updates have not been applied then the version will be deemed to
be one day behind and so on.
On any business day:
95% of outlets will be referencing a version which is fully
updated
99% of outlets will be referencing a version which is no more than
one day behind
100% of outlets will be referencing a version which is no more
than two days behind
2. Transaction data will normally be forwarded to POCL central
systems (e.g. TIP) soon after the completion of the business day
on which the transactions occurred as part of one or more batch
communications transmissions. Transaction data not available for
the first transmission will be included in a subsequent
transmission.
Data which is included in the first batch transmission to take
place after the time of the completion of the business day will be
deemed to be in the first batch transmission and so on.
Transaction data from the outlets will reach POCL central computer
systems as follows:
the data from 90% of outlets will be contained within the first
transmission
the data from 90% of outlets will be contained within the first or
second transmission
the data from 90% of outlets will be contained within the first
second or third transmission
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3. Batch transmission times will be agreed for each POCL central
system, but will not be scheduled to complete before 0430 on the
morning of the day following the business day in question.
For each POCL client:
99% of all transactions must complete within the first
transmission
100% of all transactions must complete within the first or second
transmission
Pathway Comment
It will be necessary to define the time or times when the business
day is deemed to end.
It will be necessary to define the start and finish times for the
first, second and third transmission windows.
Pathway notes that the definition of transmission of batched
transaction data does not anticipate transmission to commence
before the end of the business day in which the transactions
occurred.
Where an outlet does not report end of day by the time the latest
time for this signal then Pathway will compile the transaction
record on the basis that end of day was signalled at that time.
It will be necessary to define the time or times for the signal
which may or may not be the same as end of business day.
Reference No 872
Pathway Response
All Personal Details records, and any associated data, passed to
Pathway and marked as Nationally Sensitive will be handled in
accordance with the latest version of the DSS IT Security
Standards.
The national sensitivity indicator will not be used in any way to
support counter processing.
The verification process at the counter will not include sex, as
NSI procedures are often attached to transsexuals. Instead style
or title will be used which has a high but not perfect association
with sex. The guiding principle shall be that an individual who
is subject to NSI procedures shall not be distinguishable at the
counter from one who is not.
The NSI indicator will only be accessible to BA and Pathway staff
accessing the PMS and CMS help desks. Access to an NSI record
will only be available to a minority of BA and Pathway staff with
a sufficient clearance for whom lists will be maintained. Access
will be enforced by role management. Such staff will be
positively vetted.
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Access to NSI records will by default fail and cause reference to
a supervisor and an explicit auxiliary procedure by a cleared
member of staff will be required to access the record. In other
respects the record will not be distinguished. The reason for
default failure will itself not be disclosed.
No information will be passed over the telephone by Pathway staff
on such records, even to BA staff.
The NSI will be set and unset only by BA staff with sufficient
clearance.
Pathway Comment
During the transitional period when CAPS will not provide support
to immediate enquiries payment transactions it will be necessary
to agree a modus operandi for authorised access to NSI records.
On the one hand the long term formal security standard requires
that Pathway pass no information over the phone even to BA staff,
however, fraud investigation for example will require access to
this information.
An approach whereby list of authorised BA personnel who may be
provided with NSI record information can be provided to Pathway to
allow this selective access.
A similar authorised list approach may be suitable for notifying
Pathway of records on which the NSI attribute should be set and
unset. (In the normal steady state only BA personnel with
sufficient clearance will have access to this facility.)
In any case Pathway will operate role management within its PMS
and CMS Help Desk staff such that only those cleared to do so may
access NSI records.
Reference No 873
Pathway Response
Pathway’s solution for BES provides a flexible and secure
environment for a wide range of counter applications. A modular
design enables new counter applications to be introduced in some
or all Outlets as required by POCL and to use the general security
and resilience features provided by BES.
The introduction of new services will be based on discussion and
agreement between Pathway and POCL supported by the necessary
commercial and operational agreements.
The impact of the introduction of any new service, as it may
effect the existing systems and procedures in an Outlet, will be
assessed by Pathway and a systems and service introduction
strategy will be agreed between Pathway and POCL.
Outpayment services may be introduced within the same BES and TMS
architecture as are used for all other services. These
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transactions will use the generic transaction replication and
recovery facilities provided by TMS. Where required TMS Agents
will provide links to the POCL Client for inward and outward
dataflows.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 874
Pathway Response
The process for terminating a card will be initiated when CMS
receives a card control transaction with the appropriate card
status field set. Upon receipt a card status record will be
created and sent to the nominated home post office of the card
owner. These will cover the variety of card status conditions
(e.g. stopped, suspended, terminated) where some action is
required in the Outlet.
The presentation of a card initiates the retrieval of benefit
payment records (if present) and any card status records into the
BES application.
Where a card status of terminated is found the counter clerk will
be instructed to
carry out the actions as previously agreed with BA.
Pathway intend that a card status record of terminated will remain
in the home post office until the card expires and the record will
then be automatically deleted.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 875
Pathway Response
Temporary Tokens are issued by BA offices either in support of an
urgent payment or as a substitute for a lost/stolen/damaged BA
card, where the card holder requires a “card” in advance of normal
card re-issue.
In this latter case the reporting of the original card loss etc.
will result in a card stop being issued to protect any outstanding
payments.
Should it be necessary to impound a temporary token (e.g. due to
loss/stolen/damage etc.) then the beneficiary will report this
fact to the issuing BA office. The BA office will contact the CMS
help desk who will issue a change token status record (e.g. stop /
suspend etc.) using the same procedures as are routinely used for
card stops. This will prevent malicious use of a lost etc. token.
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Should such a token be presented BES will check for any such token
status records and prompt the clerk to carry out the associated
instructions agreed with POCL/BA.
Pathway Comment
Temporary Tokens are issued by BA offices either in support of an
urgent payment or as a substitute for a lost/stolen/damaged BA
card, where the card holder requires a “card” in advance of normal
card re-issue.
In this latter case the reporting of the original card loss etc.
will result in a card stop being issued to protect any outstanding
payments.
Should it be necessary to impound a temporary token (e.g. due to
loss/stolen/damage etc.) then the beneficiary will report this
fact to the issuing BA office. The BA office will contact the CMS
help desk who will issue a change token status record (e.g. stop /
suspend etc.) using the same procedures as are routinely used for
card stops. This will prevent malicious use of a lost etc. token.
Should such a token be presented BES will check for any such token
status records and prompt the clerk to carry out the associated
instructions agreed with POCL/BA.
Reference No 876
Pathway Response
BES provides a generic set of facilities to pay benefits
irrespective of type or value of individual benefit.
Pathway do not anticipate any significant changes being required
to BES to support the introduction of new or changed benefits
providing the general use of the record structures, data fields
and counter procedures remains consistent.
Pathway and BA will jointly discuss the introduction or change of
any benefit. Pathway will conduct an impact assessment to
determine any commercial, system or operational implications and
review the results with BA following which an introduction plan
will be agreed.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 877
Pathway Response
Pathway will provide a Token Management System which will support
the receipt, local management and customer issue of BA cards.
The facilities that will be provided include :-
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Receipt of bar-coded card batches, identifying intended post
office and quantity
On-line activation to CMS
Customer issue supported by PUN
Local reporting and administration to support card withdrawal
prior to issue, card non-collection etc.
Pathway anticipate that any card issue requirements for other POCL
clients can use these facilities providing the overall card
processes are consistent.
Pathway and POCL will jointly discuss the introduction of any new
card issue service. Pathway will conduct an impact assessment to
determine any commercial, system or operational implications and
review the results with POCL following which an introduction plan
will be agreed.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 878
Pathway Response
Benefit encashments will be integrated into the EPOSS desktop and
will utilise its customer sessions management and transaction
recording facilities such that
The EPOSS desktop will automatically record the transaction
details
A local transaction will be stored for summarisation and
balancing
The information recorded locally will be consistent with the
information provided (via TMS) to PAS and other systems
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 879
Pathway Response
Benefit Payments details are held within the beneficiary’s
nominated post office. When an encashment occurs various details
are written to the journal which include :-
Post Office ID
Position ID
Transaction ID
Authorisation ID
Date
Time
Clerk
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etc.
For payments made in the nominated office, these local details
will be recorded in the encashment record which is written to the
journal.
For foreign payments, a link is established from the foreign
office, via TMS, to the nominated office (which holds the payment
details) and a similar encashment record is written to show that
the payments have been encashed in a foreign office. This
encashment record will now contain the Post Office ID etc. of the
foreign encashing office and ensures that no local encashment can
take place should the Authorised Person’s card subsequently be
presented at the nominated office. There will be another record
written in the foreign office of encashment; it is on this record
that the payment notification to PMS and CAPS and local cash
account processing will be based.
Subsequent processing of an Outlet’s encashment records can
identify which payments were encashed by a foreign post office.
Encashment recording under failure conditions, using authorisation
via the PMS Help Desk, is covered in Ref. Req. 851
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 880
Pathway Response
Transaction data from the Outlets and sent to TIP via TMS will
follow the specifications defined in the BA/POCL Interface
Requirements document.
Pathway’s initial response and associated costing is based on the
interfaces specified in version 1.1 of this document supported by
version 1.8 of the System Strategy Infrastructure : Interfaces
diagram; however this document is missing much of the information
required.
Pathway Comment
Pathway would welcome the earliest availability of the missing
information that relates to the three interfaces described in
version 1.1 of the Interface Description document. This will
enable the final operation and commercial implications to be
defined.
Reference No 881
Pathway Response
BES will be capable of producing a nil receipt when, following a
card swipe/keyed entry, no benefits are found to be due.
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Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 882
Pathway Response
BES will be capable of producing a replacement receipt to satisfy
a customer request. This facility will be selected by the counter
clerk and will then require the customers card to be swiped/keyed.
This facility will be limited to the outlet where the original
encashment took place and will be restricted to the most recent
encashment.
The wording to be used for a replacement receipt will need to be
agreed between Pathway and BA, as will the period of time
following an encashment during which a replacement receipt can be
issued. Pathway currently expect to retain a local copy of
transaction data in the Outlet for approx. two weeks.
The issuing of a replacement receipt will be recorded in the
journal.
Pathway Comment
Agreement on wording and time validity will be required. Also the
counter procedures relating to the office copy of a replacement
will need to be agreed with BA/POCL.
Reference No 885
Pathway Response
1. Pathway endorses the principle that service targets should
relate to the operation of the system as a whole as perceived by
BA/POCL as overall service performance at the PFI service
boundaries.
2. Pathway will specify the internal performance requirements of
any sub-system that is retendered. Pathway reserves the right to
modify service targets for overall performance at the PFI service
boundaries in the event that such a subsystem is retendered
and/or let to a third party. Pathway will maintain actual
measured performance for PAS and report it where it interfaces to
the PFI boundary.
3. For PAS Pathway will specify performance requirements and
tolerances for:
3.1 Hours of operation and function provided by PAS in support of
other internal subsystems. (Note that hours of operation of PAS
and certain functionality is the subject of requirement 884.)
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3.2 Response time required between PAS and:
TMS
CMS
3.3 The number of outages of PAS, identifying types of outage
monitored.
3.4 The availability of PAS
4. Pathway will report against all performance requirements which
represent a PFI boundary service target.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 887
Pathway Response
1. Pathway endorses the principle that service targets should
relate to the operation of the system as a whole as perceived by
BA/POCL as overall service performance at the PFI service
boundaries.
2. Pathway will specify the internal performance requirements of
any sub-system that is retendered. Pathway reserves the right to
modify service targets for overall performance at the PFI service
boundaries in the event that such a subsystem is retendered
and/or let to a third party. Pathway will maintain actual
measured performance for PAS and report it where it interfaces to
the PFI boundary.
3. For CMS Pathway will specify performance requirements and
tolerances for:
3.1 Hours of operation and function provided by CMS in support of
other internal subsystems. (Note that hours of operation of CMS
and certain functionality is the subject of requirement 886.)
3.2 Response time required between PAS and:
TMS
PAS
3.3 The number of outages of CMS, identifying types of outage
monitored.
3.4 The availability of CMS
4. Pathway will report against all performance requirements which
represent a PFI boundary service target.
Pathway Comment
None
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Reference No 888
Pathway Response
1. INTRODUCTION
This response documents the key service requirements for Pathway’s
Payment Authorisation Help desk service.
2.HELP DESK SERVICE
2.1General.
Pathway will provide a Payment Authorisation help desk service to
answer 80% of calls within 10 seconds as the first point of
contact for customers of the service. Customers include Dss /
Benefits Agency and PO Counters staff .Two levels of service will
be provided.
2.2.1st.Level Service
Pathway will provide a 1st level service for enquiries which can
be resolved within 5 minutes and will cater for 1st level members
being off duty.The lst level member who takes the call will own
the problem / query from initial logging through to resolution to
the customer's satisfaction.
The help desk contact will be over the telephone.
2.3. 2nd Level Service
Pathway anticipates that only a small percentage of calls will
require more than 5 minutes to resolve at a second level of
service.
Such calls will be referred electronically from the first level
service to the 2nd level service. 2nd level staff will progress
such queries to resolution within 30 minutes.
2.4. Hours of Service
Pathway will provide a continuous help desk service as specified
below
lst level - )8.00 - 18.00
2nd. level - 08.00 - 18.00.
Clarification is required about days of week for level 1 level 2
service provisions : we recommend 08.00 to 18.00 hrs Mondays to
Fridays and
08-00 to 13.00 hrs on Saturdays to answer any enquiries from PO
Counters staff, whilst open for BA business on Saturdays.
Pathway is unable to make an open ended commitment to extend the
level 2 service to whatever is needed at 2 working days notice.
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In emergencies Pathway will provide a level 2 service outside
normal hours ,given 5 hrs notice.
2.5. Problem and Query Management
Pathway will provide a problem / query management system to record
/ query details such as:
-unique problem / query serial reference, generated
automatically by the problem / query management system;
-customer reference ,contact,address , location and telephone
number ;
-help desk contact;
-description of the problem/query, including frequency of
occurrence;
-serial references of similar faults and previous occurrences;
-problem / query category;
-estimated elapsed time to solve problem/query;
-any change of referral point;
-date and time of referral.
PATHWAY will update the problem /query management system with the
following information, as appropriate
-date and time of update;
-help desk contact updating record;
-textual description of the work done,or the fact that the
problem /query had to be referred elsewhere and who has taken it
on;
-date and time problem/query was cleared;
-date and time the solution was accepted by the customer (
although we will need to agree a definition for “accepted” )
-actual elapsed time to solve the problem / query.
Pathway will manage the resolution of any problem using documented
procedures agreed with the AUTHORITIES. These procedures will be
comprehensive in that they will cover all aspects of problem
resolution from initial logging through to closure. Escalation
procedures will be included. A problem / query will only be
cleared when a customer has confirmed satisfaction with the
resolution.
2.6. Resilience
Pathway will ensure that a contingency plan is in place to cater
with any help desk incident e.g.. loss of staff, loss of telephone
system , loss of problem / configuration management and computer
systems. The contingency plan will be agreed with the AUTHORITIES
and will state how quickly the service will be restored in the
event of an incident. The plan is currently based on two sites for
each help desk with staff multi-skilled in both CMS & PMS help
desks.
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2.7. Training
Pathway will comply with training for the AUTHORITIES ' staff as
per our response to Requirements Catalogue number 734. Pathway
will develop training plans for its own staff.
2.8. Personnel
Pathway will ensure that all staff have suitable and appropriate
skills and training and that sufficient skilled resources are
available to cater for holidays, sickness and natural wastage
within the CONTRACTOR's organisation.
2.9. Service Targets
Pathway proposes that service targets should be established as
follows
- 80% of calls answered within 10 seconds
- >99% of calls answered within 30 seconds
- abandoned calls (where the caller rings off) < 5%
- 95% of calls assigned to level 1 within 5 minutes
->99% of calls assigned to level 1 within 10 minutes.
- 95% of calls assigned to level 2 within 30 minutes
->99% of calls assigned to level 2 within 45 minutes.
3. Service Monitoring
3.1. Service Performance Statistics
3.1.1.
Pathway’s Help desk service will be monitored and reviewed over
monthly periods. Statistical evidence of its performance against
agreed measures will be produced by analysis of the data captured
by the Help desk system and by the telephony system.
3.1.2. The analysis will be presented to the Contracting
Authorities in an agreed format within 5 working days of the end
of the period.
3.1.3 The data upon which the analysis is made will be maintained
within a relational database system supporting SQL type enquiries.
This will enable Pathway to view the data in a flexible way and
provide reports as agreed with the Authorities.
3.1.4. Help desk records will be maintained for a period of 18
months.
3.2. Customer satisfaction surveys.
Pathway will be pleased to participate with the Contracting
Authorities in devising and conducting customer satisfaction
surveys.
3.3. On -line Access and Ad - hoc reports.
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3.3.1. Pathway will be pleased to discuss the provision of on-line
access to its problem management systems for named representatives
for the purposes of planned audit and inspection.
3.3.2. Reasonable requests for single ad-hoc service reports will
be welcomed and will normally receive a response within 3 working
days.
Pathway Comment
1. Need to clarify reason(s) for Authorities’ request for on line
access to the Problem Management System and take into account the
limitations of the Data Protection Act. See para 8 of Authorities’
Responsibilities section below.
2. Authorities may wish to consider a less expensive option to the
Problem Management System as described above. See para. 1 of
Significant Costs section below.
3. The number, nature and frequency of requirements for ad hoc
reports needs further clarification.
Reference No 889
Pathway Response
1. INTRODUCTION
This response documents the key service requirements for Pathway’s
Card Management Help desk service.
2.HELP DESK SERVICE
2.1General.
Pathway will provide a Card Management help desk service to answer
80% of calls within 10 seconds as the first point of contact for
customers of the service. Customers include both Benefits Agency
and members of the public although we anticipate that PO Counters
staff will also require access to the help desk in certain
situations. Two levels of service will be provided.
2.2.1st.Level Service
Pathway will provide a 1st level service for enquiries which can
be resolved within 5 minutes and will cater for lst level members
being off duty.The lst level member who takes the call will own
the problem / query from initial logging through to resolution to
the customer's satisfaction.
The help desk contact will be over the telephone.
2.3. 2nd Level Service
Pathway anticipates that only a small percentage of calls will
require more than 5 minutes to resolve at a second level of
service.
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Such calls will be referred from the first level service to the
2nd level service. 2nd level staff will progress such queries to
resolution within 30 minutes.
2.4. Hours of Service
Pathway will provide a continuous help desk service as specified
below
lst level - 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week; all year round ( Xmas Day
excepted)
2nd. level - 08.00 - 18.00. : Clarification is required about days
of week for level 2 service provision : we recommend 08.00 to
18.00 hrs Mondays to Fridays and
08-00 to 13.00 hrs on Saturdays to answer any enquiries from PO
Counters staff, whilst open for BA business on Saturdays.
Pathway is unable to make an open ended commitment to extend the
level 2 service to whatever is needed at 2 working days notice.
In emergencies Pathway will provide a level 2 service outside
normal hours ,given 5 hrs notice.
2.5. Problem and Query Management
Pathway will provide a problem / query management system to record
/ query details such as:
-unique problem / query serial reference, generated
automatically by the problem / query management system;
-customer reference ,contact, address , location and telephone
number ;
-help desk contact;
-description of the problem/query, including frequency of
occurrence;
-serial references of similar faults and previous occurrences;
-problem / query category;
-estimated elapsed time to solve problem/query;
-any change of referral point;
-date and time of referral.
PATHWAY will update the problem /query management system with the
following information, as appropriate
-date and time of update;
-help desk contact updating record;
-textual description of the work done, or the fact that the
problem /query had to be referred elsewhere and who has taken it
on;
-date and time problem/query was cleared;
-date and time the solution was accepted by the customer (
although we will need to agree a definition for “accepted” )
-actual elapsed time to solve the problem / query.
Pathway will manage the resolution of any problem using documented
procedures agreed with the AUTHORITIES. These procedures will be
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comprehensive in that they will cover all aspects of problem
resolution from initial logging through to closure. Escalation
procedures will be included. A problem / query will only be
cleared when a customer has confirmed satisfaction with the
resolution.
2.6. Resilience
Pathway will ensure that a contingency plan is in place to cater
with any help desk incident e.g.. loss of staff, loss of telephone
system , loss of problem / configuration management and computer
systems. The contingency plan will be agreed with the AUTHORITIES
and will state how quickly the service will be restored in the
event of an incident. The plan is currently based on two sites for
each help desk with staff multi-skilled in both CMS & PMS help
desks.
2.7. Training
Pathway will comply with training for the AUTHORITIES ' staff as
per our response to Requirements Catalogue number 734. Pathway
will develop training plans for its own staff.
2.8. Personnel
Pathway will ensure that all staff have suitable and appropriate
skills and training and that sufficient skilled resources are
available to cater for holidays, sickness and natural wastage
within the CONTRACTOR's organisation.
2.9. Service Targets
Pathway proposes that service targets should be established as
follows
- 80% of calls answered within 10 seconds
- >99% of calls answered within 30 seconds
- abandoned calls (where the caller rings off) < 5%
- 95% of calls assigned to level 1 within 5 minutes
->99% of calls assigned to level 1 within 10 minutes.
- 95% of calls assigned to level 2 within 30 minutes
->99% of calls assigned to level 2 within 45 minutes.
3. Service Monitoring
3.1. Service Performance Statistics
Secale
Pathway’s Help desk service will be monitored and reviewed over
monthly periods. Statistical evidence of its performance against
agreed measures will be produced by analysis of the data captured
by the Help desk system and by the telephony system.
3.1.2. The analysis will be presented to the Contracting
Authorities in an agreed format within 5 working days of the end
of the period.
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3.1.3 The data upon which the analysis is made will be maintained
within a relational database system supporting SQL type enquiries.
This will enable Pathway to view the data in a flexible way and
provide reports as agreed with the Authorities.
3.1.4. Help desk records will be maintained for a period of 18
months.
3.2. Customer satisfaction surveys.
Pathway will be pleased to participate with the Contracting
Authorities in devising and conducting customer satisfaction
surveys.
3.3. On -line Access and Ad - hoc reports.
3.3.1. Pathway will be pleased to discuss the provision of on-line
access to its problem management systems for named representatives
for the purposes of planned audit and inspection.
3.3.2. Reasonable requests for single ad-hoc service reports will
be welcomed and will normally receive a response within 3 working
days.
Pathway Comment
1. Need to clarify reason(s) for Authorities’ request for on line
access to the Problem Management System and take into account the
limitations of the Data Protection Act. See para 8 of Authorities’
Responsibilities section below.
2. Authorities may wish to consider a less expensive option to the
Problem Management System as described above. See para. 1 of
Significant Costs section below.
3. The number , nature and frequency of requirement for ad hoc
reports needs further clarification.
Reference No 890
Pathway Response
1. AP transactions
All transactions that take place in an Outlet will be
automatically and securely replicated to TMS throughout the day.
Transactions, once committed locally as part of a customer
session, will be immediately replicated to any other counter
position PCs in the outlet and periodically to central servers in
TMS. Each transaction will have a unique and increasing sequence
number and TMS facilities ensure that transactions cannot be
replicated out of sequence.
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The end of day process in each Outlet will transmit any remaining
transactions, any end of day control totals and an end of day
marker.
TMS Agents will extract information from the central TMS journal
and prepare the files (including transaction and value totals) for
subsequent dispatch to POCL and their Clients. Any outlets for
which an end of day marker has not been received will be
identified and investigated.
2. POCL and Client synchronisation
It is anticipated that the AP datafiles will be accumulated during
the day by the TMS Agent and that the files for POCL (i.e. for TIP
or equivalent) will be generated following Outlet closures.
Transactions for POCL clients (e.g. AP Clients) and for POCL are
all derived from the same source data (in TMS) and will there fore
be consistent. File dispatch to POCL and POCL Clients will be
determined by the operational windows agreed with these parties
but will always occur at least once every 24 hour period.
The agents which extract and transmit TMS data to clients and TIP
act independently and can access the same source data
simultaneously. This ensures that the data received by TIP is
entirely consistent with the data transmitted to the clients.
In addition to the outlets’ transaction records, client cut-off
records will be transmitted to TMS from outlets (by stock unit and
by balance period). The client cut-off records will indicate the
despatch of foils, stubs and vouchers to the appropriate
processing centre. These client cut-off records can be used to
control the extraction and transmission of TMS data by the agents.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 891
Pathway Response
1. General requirements
1.1 Pathway will ensure that all captured data (that is inward data
across service interfaces) is complete, and accurately reflected
in the appropriate outward interfaces. These specifically to
include:
transaction data of all transaction types and modes including
stock and money levels
reference data changes, both local (from an individual outlet)
and from an authority
from BA in respect of PAS and CMS
from POCL TIP except for any transient arrangements, e.g.
OBCS stop lists
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such data consistency will be maintained at the levels of
interface and across interfaces according to requirement, e.g.
data captured in EPOSS is accurately reflected in the interface
between OPS and TMS
1.2 Pathway will provide for the synchronisation of data flows and
storage, by applying timing data (date and time stamps) and time
sentinels (end of day records) as appropriate. This specifically
to include:
monitoring data transfers and accounting for data brought
forward, received, passed on and carried forward across the PFI
service boundaries
monitoring data transfers and accounting for data across
interfaces internal to Pathway
for example, EPOSS transaction data transferred to TMS and
subsequently transferred to TIP
where a single data stream is “switched” to more than one
recipient, Pathway will reconcile or eliminate any differences due
to timing between transfers, providing information to each
recipient such that they can reconcile with other recipients of
the same data even though such recipients may process the data at
different times and frequencies
for example, POCL will require (at least) daily volume and value
totals of APS transactions sent to its clients, by batch-within-
client optionally subtotalled by service-within-batch, such that
POCL may reconcile at these total and subtotal levels
independently.
1.3 Pathway will ensure that data is consistent between the levels
where transaction or stock and money level data is held,
maintained or transferred at more than one level. This
specifically to include:
transaction data and summaries of it
It should be noted that the Pathway solution maintains transaction
data in its original, non-updated and most finely divided form
within TMS both at the post office and correspondence server
layers, and that all derivations are from this invariant base.
1.4 Pathway will perform daily cut-over reconciliations for any on-
line interfaces with external systems, for example between TMS and
any EFTPOS merchant acquirer. In particular, interfaces with POCL
clients which transfer data up to declared cut off points will
contain reconciliation data to check that the data received
corresponds with that sent.
1.5 Pathway will report reconciliation results to the relevant
Authority(ies) including any discrepancies and doubtful items and
reports on progress on resolution of outstanding items. These to
include reconciliation results:
between Pathway and the Authorities
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between Pathway and other external interfaces (e.g. POCL
clients) to enable the Authority(ies) to maintain their commercial
relationships
between Pathway internal service components (to inform/assure
the Authorities on status
1.6 Pathway will apply appropriate integrity controls at all
interfaces and provide information demonstrating integrity.
Pathway and the relevant Authority for each interface will agree
protocols and controls.
1.7 Pathway will control the implementation of configuration
changes, including changes to reference data. This to include:
checking and reporting the implementation of changes against
instruction
maintaining the integrity of other reconciliation processes
across configuration changes, including demonstrating this in
testing
1.7 Pathway will meet all reconciliation requirements in
contingency situations as well as in normal working.
1.8 Targets for all reconciliation requirements are:
full reconciliation with 100% of items accounted for
provision of reconciliation at detailed levels, for example at
transaction level for transaction data
Pathway will resolve any differences, doubtful items, or errors
produced by its reconciliation processes
Pathway will provide reconciliation reports and identification
of doubtful items to the relevant Authority(ies) by 9 am of the
day following that in which the reconciliation exception occurred
Pathway will use all reasonable endeavours to resolve any
doubtful items and errors promptly
2. Post Office Outlet Reconciliation Requirements
2.1 Pathway will ensure that stock and money levels are reconciled
with transaction data. This will be:
at the transaction level
at the customer session level
at the stock unit level
at the outlet level
Note: the requirements for balancing within an office are defined
in the EPOSS and OSS requirements, those for stock and money
movements between offices will be reconciled by the POCL Inventory
Management System using data provided to it from EPOSS and OSS via
TMS.
2.2 Pathway will provide the fundamental controls for stock and
money brought and carried forward, transaction data and transfers
to/from suspense as detailed in the EPOSS and OSS requirements as
well as facilities to allow permitted reversals and
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rectifications. Such controls will be available in fallback or
recovery after failures.
2.3 The reconciliation of stock and money for transactions will be,
in effect, instantaneous, with a record of the levels of stock and
money within a stock unit being maintained as the transaction is
committed.
3. BPS reconciliation requirements
3.1 Pathway will reconcile tokens by type as well as monetary
amounts. At present two types of milk tokens are defined.
3.2 Pathway will identify any differences between entitlements
passed by CPCS to PAS and encashments received by PAS on an
individual item basis (Authorised Payment Id) supplied by CPCS.
These will include:
amounts encashed as notified by TMS in normal circumstances
any adjustments raised directly by Pathway to resolve errors or
due to maintenance activities (e.g. removal of time expired items)
actual payment amounts encashed where there are any unresolved
errors, by Authorised Payment Id, making clear the actual amounts
paid (whether rightly or wrongly) so that BA can deal properly
with beneficiaries
3.3 Pathway will reconcile the payment amounts authorised to
offices by PAS via TMS against amounts encashed as advised by
offices via TMS to PAS.
Pathway will notify both BA and POCL of any adjustments made to
PAS resolving errors.
the methods of processing any Pathway corrections will be agreed
between Pathway and the Authorities
it may be necessary to or desirable to pass some through
service components and/or to agree timing or provide cross
references , and so forth
. it will be necessary to agree the notification channels for
different cases, e.g. what should be notified to POCL via TIP
Pathway will handle the small number (less than 10 per day) of
encashments reported after nominal expiry, either because of the
office being off-line or because a customer could not obtain
payment at an unexpectedly closed office on the payment’s last day
of validity.
3.4 Pathway will provide a common basis for settlement between the
Authorities:
ensuring that the amounts encashed as received by PAS via TMS
are reflected unchanged in the EPOSS transaction records as
delivered to TIP via TMS
any data recovered from other records, e.g. receipts must be
verified against other sources such as the TMS record of the
authorisation as well as reconciled with the PAS record
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this may include identification and resolution of any
differences by individual item (i.e. by “Authorised Payment Id” as
supplied by CPCS)
synchronising the PAS and TIP streams to agreed settlement
process deadlines
the basis for settlement of benefit transactions will be payment
authorisations versus benefit encashments/expiries (plus
reconciliation exceptions).
3.5 Pathway will ensure that any archived transaction-related
documentary evidence (e.g. receipts) held by Pathway is held so as
to facilitate retrieval:
ensure the accuracy and completeness of the records as defined
by the automated streams
retrieve 99.99% of signed receipts on request from Pathway-
managed archive within five days.
The form in which receipts may be stored (microfilm and paper in
addition to direct access disk, optical WORM,) and the
corresponding service levels are the subject of an added value
service in course of proposal by Pathway.
(The key or keys used to retrieve receipts will include NINO and
encashment identifier. Several payment authorisations of several
benefit types are required to be handled in one encashment).
4. TMS reconciliation requirements
4.1 Pathway will maintain controls on operations including
connection to and loss of communications with offices or with
other service components to alert Pathway operational management
to situations and/or events requiring its attention.
4.2 Pathway will apply controls on file and data transfers at all
technical levels and, using relevant counts and financial totals,
at business levels. Pathway notes that POCL will rely on
information provided via TMS interfaces to its TIP and IM systems
for reconciliation and control of various office business
processes.
4.3 Pathway will ensure that information provided to POCL via TIP
makes explicit what transaction data has been sent to its clients.
5. Card management reconciliation requirements
5.1 Pathway will reconcile BA card and management actions against
instructions received from BA and via the CMS Help Desk.
details of the Pathway solution will be agreed as between
Pathway and the Authorities
the scope will include both normal benefit cards and temporary
tokens
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5.2 Any POCL role as a subcontractor in card management processes
will be agreed separately between POCL and Pathway including any
reconciliations required as part of that process.
6. Commercial reconciliation requirements
6.1 Pathway will provide information to enable reconciliation of
services provide by Pathway with charges made by Pathway, for
example Pathway may need to account to BA for the number of cards
issued, and in various other states, in order to agree charges.
6.2 Pathway will act, and be seen to act, as an agent for the
relevant Authority(ies) in reconciliations with other parties
including the Authorities themselves, and provide the necessary
information for them to exert appropriate management control over
operations performed on their behalf:
Pathway will undertake the operational aspects and take
responsibilities as each defined in the Contract
Pathway will ensure that the commercial relationships between
the Authority(ies) and third parties are not compromised.
Pathway Comment
Attention is drawn to the stream paper entry for system
reconciliation which was last discussed on 8/1/96 and which is in
course of revision.
The treatment of data flow synchronisation has been substantively
reworded hopefully to define more closely the requirement.
The distinction between the terms of paragraphs 3.2 and 3.3
requires clarification. Pathway cannot discern the distinction in
intent.
Pathway expects that there will be cases of reconciliation
exception relating to apparently correct data accepted on day ‘x’
which are discovered on day ‘xtn’. An example is a payment
authorisation defined for a nominated office which was in being
when the payment was accepted and processed but which had been
closed before the payment could reach it. Thus report of
reconciliation exception is related to time of discovery, not time
of acceptance of the data on which the discovery is made.
Office level stock and money movements are defined in the OSS.
Manual receipt checking on recovery from failure will initially be
against the TMS record created by the PMS Help Desk.
Receipts are for encashments which may cover several payment
authorisations and benefit types.
Much card management activity will emanate from the CMS Help Desk.
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Reference No 893
Pathway Response
1. Pathway will ensure that all transaction references, such as
encashment identifiers and payment authorisation references,
beneficiary identities and associated time stamps and equipment
identities, are consistent across all interfaces to enable
efficient communication about particular items in reconciliation
and settlement processes:
the EPOSS transaction identifier will be included with the
benefit encashment identifier as passed to PAS from EPOSS and
thence to CPCS. If the encashment relates to more than one
payment authorisation then these shall be linked to the EPOSS
transaction reference and the benefit encashment identifier.
the EPOSS journal and the corresponding data sent to TIP shall
include:
- the Authorised Payment Ids passed by CPCS to PAS
- the NINO of the beneficiary in addition to any agent collecting
in order to help BA access the payment authorisation in their
system
- the payee role provided by CPCS
Pathway will ensure that the BES receipts will contain the
encashment identifier and the associated EPOSS transaction
identifier to enable payment authorisation(s) to be traced in both
BA and POCL records. These identifiers will not be intrinsically
meaningful to members of the public.
Note: the EPOSS session summary receipt will contain sufficient
information to allow any individual transaction to be identified.
This means that a specific BES encashment transaction and its
constituent payments can be located using the session receipt.
Pathway Comment
This has been reworded to include further distinguishing
transaction identifiers and to make explicit the distinction
between transactions and encashments and encashments and payment
authorisations.
Both beneficiary and collecting agent identities will be returned.
The term Agency code identifies the Paying Agency (DSS, WPA, SSA).
Reference No 894
Pathway Response
1. Pathway’s Management Information System (MIS) will capture the
data necessary to facilitate effective contract and service
management. It will employ exception reporting for business
performance and monitoring reviews.
1.1 Contractual information presented via the business review route
will embrace:
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a) Service Level Performance (by event, priority,
classification and type)
b) Service Delivery Analysis (by product, function, outlet and
role)
c) Contractual Alerts and Escalations (by Red, Orange and
Amber classification)
d) Systems Operation (by type, performance and availability).
1.2 Information relating to business reviews will be analysed via
exception reporting during the life of the event. Where this
relates to alerts and escalations it will be supplemented by a
declared owning problem/project manager. Critical dependent
systems will be subject to full SLA monitoring and reporting via
the review forum.
2. Requests by POCL for information during the life of the
contract, and relating to service management of the contract, will
be handled and processed in an effective and efficient manner.
Formal requests for information will be via the business review
route and delivered against pre-declared agenda requirements.
Please note that Pathway does not commit to providing an MIS
service after the life of the contract unless provision for this
is explicitly made within the Contract.
2.1 Special and ad-hoc information needs would have to be fully
understood and sized before contractual commitment can be made.
The scope, volume, timing and frequency of such requests would be
part of the task activity before such commitment. Currently this
is neither defined or qualified.
3s Pathway will provide information that would facilitate
infrastructure activities by POCL in matters embracing resource,
network and productivity. Where these topics are an integral part
of service delivery events they will automatically be included in
the business review forum. Additional or supplementary requests
would fall under the criteria of paragraph 2.1 above.
3.1 Data will be available that enables service analysis against
the key attributes of POCL outlets. Flexibility will be
maintained by making data organisationally independent. Thus any
organisational based information will be defined and qualified by
construct at the time of information search enquiries.
4. Pathway will, via the review forum, provide service
delivery information that would facilitate extrapolation for
marketing planning activity. Full trend and plan projections
against forecasts and budget could result. Pathway EIS would be an
enabler for the task but not a deliverer of it; limited by current
defined requirements. Future needs, by definition, are not known.
Pathway Comment
1. Note the caveat at section 2 relating to MIS service after the
life of the Contract. What would be the commercial basis of a
service “after contract”?
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2. There are one or two areas where apparently “open ended”
commitments have been requested.
Reference No 895
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that the BPS will be capable of monitoring and
reporting upon irregular encashment patterns. BES will provide, in
addition to the immediate monitoring of various encashment
conditions, a range of information relating to individual
encashments which is returned to PMS/CMS. This data will be used
in various analyses within PMS to detect and report upon the
requested encashment patterns.
The manner in which such encashment reports will be transferred to
POCL DSS and audit/ Security/Operations will need to be agreed.
Such data could be transferred electronically if appropriate or in
the form of printed reports. Elements of this data lie beyond that
which is specified for reporting to CPCS via the defined PAS/CMS
to CPCS interface.
Responses to the specific requirements follow:
1. Non encashment of a means tested benefit for a period of (4
weeks).
2. Non encashment of a non means tested benefit for a period of (6
weeks).
If the duration of the payment validity period (i.e. up to the
payment expiry date) is greater than the period of monitoring (4
or 6 weeks), this test would be implemented as an additional check
in the same way that uncollected payments are checked against
expiry date. However, there may be some merit in ensuring that the
validity period and encashment monitoring period are aligned.
Pathway also note that, based upon the payment data sent by CAPS,
there is currently no way of identifying whether a particular
payment authorisation is for a means tested benefit or not. To
enable the service provider to make the above checks the data sent
from CAPS will need to include a flag indicating whether this
payment relates to a means tested benefit or not.
3. Change of nominated post office and encashments for a period of
(6 weeks) where there is no notification of address being received
by CMS from CPCS.
Pathway have made various comments and proposals about the
procedures for notification to, and confirmation by, CPCS in
respect of changes to nominated post offices (Ref Req: 867).
Pathway confirm that subject to the satisfactory resolution of
those comments, the BPS will provide the facility to monitor and
report on encashments following such a change of nominated post
office.
4. High Risk transactions
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High risk transactions have flags associated with them which are
acted upon or set by BES; certain combinations are excluded from
payment collection (e.g. foreign encashment by casual agent). The
incidence of all such high risk transactions, and combinations
thereof, can be recorded within PMS and appropriate reports
generated. However, as certain reports require the maintenance of
payment history records or conditions within PMS, Pathway would
wish to agree the specific conditions which are to be monitored
and the length of associated history so that the appropriate
transactions can be implemented without the general and open ended
requirement to maintain history transactions for all payments.
5. Encashments where a stop is in operation
After acceptance of a payment stop, all attempted encashments
against that payment will be refused and exception reports
generated.
After acceptance of a card stop, all attempted encashments using
that card will be refused and exception reports generated. This
will not prevent valid encashment of a payment by alternative
payee or permanent agent using their own cards.
6. Encashment of a payment where a subsequent loss report is
received
It is assumed that this condition relates to a subsequent reported
card loss after a payment encashment using that card. BPS will
detect and report on this, although in general it will not be
possible to determine with certainty from the encashment data
whether the payment was fraudulently encashed. In general PAS is
not required to maintain a history of transactions, so the above
facility is provided for card loss where this occurs before the
encashment has been reported back to CPCS (i.e. normally within
the same working day). In particular this caters for the case
where a card loss is reported and a fraudulent encashment made in
the short interval prior to the confirmed placement of the stop
Where subsequent investigation of the encashment is required
(after the encashment details have been reported to CPCS), the
transaction retrieval facilities within TMS will provide full
details of the counter operation(s) related to the encashment.
7. Presentation of a non genuine card
BES will identify and report attempted usage of a non-genuine
card, that is a card for which the card data is internally
inconsistent and/or inconsistent with CMS data (Ref req 863
confirms the checking operations which will be carried out). Where
such use is detected within the counter procedures, for example by
inconsistency between the embossed and magnetic details (as
displayed on the screen), BES will provide facilities for the
clerk to enter this fact which will be reported within the
irregular encashment mechanisms.
8. Apparent presentation of a duplicate card
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This will be detected by multiple attempts to retrieve the same
payment, causing the system to flag an encashment irregularity.
9. Keyed transactions and out-of-hours operation
These events will be reported. It is suggested that consideration
be given to reporting any BES transaction occurring outside
specified service hours, not just those involving keyed
transactions.
10. Multiple keyed or telephone authorised transactions
These will be recorded and reported unless there is consistent
error report of equipment or service failure at the outlet
concerned.
11. Transactions at non-live or out-of-commission post offices
Attempted transactions at such offices will be recorded.
12. Usage of duplicate clerk ids
The OPS will not permit log-on of users with identical
identification devices or numbers. Such attempts will be monitored
and reported for investigation
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 896
Pathway Response
Pathway will develop an electronic publishing and communications
strategy jointly with POCL to establish the business requirements
and feasibility.
You will see by reference to our response to requirement 471, that
at first sight that electronic information is not cost effective
and does not meet requirements for fallback operation or for
situations when staff will wish take paper documentation home to
read in their leisure time.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 897
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it’s security objectives are in conformance
with the security objectives stated in the BPS Security Statement
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There will be an appropriate countermeasure to each relevant
threat identified in the security statement.
Pathway has already tabled the document “BPS Security Proposal”
version 1 dated 21/12/95.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 898
Pathway Response
1. OBCS will be implemented using TMS and OPS and will based on
the current ESNS in use in ALPS post offices.
2. The implementation of OBCS will comply with the Style Guide.
3. Help Desk support will be provided to all users of OBCS.
4. OBCS will be available at every counter position in every
automated outlet during the normal opening hours of that
outlet.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 899
Pathway Response
1. Local Stop List proposal
Pathway propose that a local stop list strategy be adopted in
order that the risks and costs associated with maintaining and
accessing the entire stop list at every outlet are removed. Each
post office will have a local stop list relevant to Order Book
beneficiaries who have nominated it as their home post office.
Foreign Order Book encashments will be checked against remote stop
lists accessible via TMS.
1.1 Receipt of Stop List
Pathway’s preferred approach would be for the DSS ESNCS system to
add the nominated post office details to each stop notice record.
Alternatively, Pathway will add the home post office details for
each stop list record by reference to data supplied by CAPS for
CMS/PMS.
This will then be sorted and distributed to each post office using
the same distribution process as will be used for the electronic
benefit payments.
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1.2 Local stop list processing
The OBCS counter application will maintain its local stop list
using these updates. The stop list for each post office will also
be held within the central TMS system and used when a foreign
order book encashment is required.
This approach significantly reduces the number of post offices
requiring a daily update and the amount of local processing
required for each update.
1.3 Local NINO file
In addition each post office will be established with a file of
all beneficiaries who have nominated it as their home post
office. This will be derived from the data supplied by CAPS to
CMS and will be established during the initial roll-out period.
The OBCS application will use this file to determine whether a
foreign encashment stop list search is required.
Updates to this file will be derived from changes notified to CMS
using either “new beneficiary”, “no further interest” or “change
of nominated post office” notifications. These will be
distributed and applied locally.
2. A communications link will be established between the Pathway
stop list system and the DSS computer every night to receive the
stop list file. Processing of this file will then take place
followed by distribution to the affected outlets via TMS.
A specification of the network interface to be used and the
criteria for acceptance or rejection of this file will be required
by Pathway.
3. Stop list updates will be processed, distributed and locally
applied in the order in which they are received. In order that
the version of the stop list is unambiguous, Pathway request that
a version number or equivalent is supplied within the header of
each stop list file.
4. Pathway understand that the maximum size of the stop list will
be 1.5 million entries.
5. Pathway understand that the maximum size of a stop list update
will normally be 100,000 entries. The Pathway solution for the
OBCS stop list is not as sensitive to the size of the stop list as
other solutions, such as that used by ESNS. Pathway would require
notification if DSS expected the stop list size to exceed 100,000
entries.
6. Pathway understand that a null content file may be sent
comprising solely of header and footer records.
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7. Pathway will provide comments on the stop list update interface
document when it is made available.
Pathway Comment
In proposing this solution to OBCS Pathway have adopted an
approach which exploits the distributed architecture of OPS and in
addition minimises the volume of data transfer and local
processing.
In order that minimum network access occurs it will be necessary
for each outlet to have a local file of Order book NINO’s which
should ideally have been prepared prior to roll-out.
Accordingly Pathway request that a file of Order Book beneficiary
NINO’s together with their nominated home post, such as would be
supplied to CMS, be provided in order that this preparatory work
can be undertaken.
Should this approach not be possible, an alternative approach
might be feasible which would involve each outlets local NINO list
being constructed incrementally as Order Books are presented and
issued.
Pathway would welcome discussions on these proposals in order that
the optimum approach to OBCS can be agreed.
Reference No 900
Pathway Response
Pathway will quote for OBCS as a separate service.
The functionality required of OBCS will be provided in a local
counter application which will run on OPS and will conform to the
same technical architecture as other OPS supported counter
applications.
The Pathway OBCS application will provide a facility to deal with
barcoded order books presented for payment for encashment of
benefits at automated outlets.
The general model for OBCS is as follows :-
When an order book is presented the bar code is read and checked
against the local stop list. If a match is found then the
relevant action is taken.
If no match is found the barcode value is checked against the
local NINO file. If an entry is found the OBCS transaction is
valid and can proceed.
If no entry is found, this usually indicates a foreign payment
encashment. OBCS will then initiate a search on the stop lists
held within TMS. If an entry is found then the relevant action is
taken. If no entry is found then the OBCS transaction is valid.
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1. The barcode will be scanned, validated and checked against the
stop lists :-
- whenever the order book is received at the outlet
If during this process no entry is found on the local NINO file a
flag will be included in the OBCS transaction. This will indicate
that there is an inconsistency between the CMS supplied data and
the order book data. This situation will be investigated by
Pathway and BA.
- when the order book is issued to a beneficiary
- when the order book is presented for payment
2. Whenever the barcode on an order book is scanned OBCS will
provide a visual and an audible indication of the result of the
scan.
The audible indicator will differentiate between “success/normal”
and “failure/exception” based on the absence or presence of a stop
list entry. Whilst the preferred location for the counter PC is
close to the clerk (typically under the counter), there may be
some post offices where this is not possible due to the
construction and layout of the counter environment. In these
situations the audible indication may not be as effective.
Consequently the principle method of advising the clerk of the
outcome of a barcode scan is the visual indication provided by the
OBCS application. This will present the clerk with the results
of the scan and present the allowable options (e.g. impound or
cash & impound).
3. OBCS will provide the facility to enable order books to be
scanned upon receipt and checked against the local stop list.
The results of these scans will replicated to the central TMS
server throughout the day and will be extracted and transmitted to
the DSS computer. This will conform to the format and service
levels specified in <document reference to be supplied by DSS>.
3.1 If the order book is on the local stop list OBCS will instruct
the clerk to impound the book, hole punch the book and return it
to DSS.
3.2 OBCS supports the recording of re-direction of an order book to
another outlet or its return to DSS.
3.3 Following three successive barcode read failures OBCS will
instruct the clerk to enter the barcode information manually.
Subsequently the clerk will be informed to hole punch the book and
return the book to DSS. OBCS will record the book as unreadable.
3.4 OBCS does not impose any limits on the number of books that can
be processed in a day.
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4, When an order book is issued the bar code will be scanned and
OBCS will check this against the local stop list. A transaction
record will be created, replicated to the central TMS and these
records subsequently extracted by a TMS OBCS Agent for
transmission to BA.
OBCS will support the rules for making payments and retaining
order books as shown below :-
4.1 missing
4.2 OBCS imposes no limits on the number of order books issued at a
post office.
5. When an encashment is made the bar code will be scanned and
OBCS will check this against the local stop list (for a home
encashment) and against the remote stop lists (for a foreign
encashment). A transaction record will be created, replicated to
the central TMS and these records subsequently extracted by a TMS
OBCS Agent for transmission to BA.
5.1 Pathway is unclear how OBCS can determine that a barcode is not
valid (other than its presence on a stop list) or that an order
book is counterfeit simply from scanning the barcode.
Is it the intention that the clerk should have the ability to
record that they have determined the bar code is invalid or the
order book is counterfeit ? If so, a requirement describing the
data that OBCS should capture and any instructions to be given to
the clerk should be provided.
5.2 If the order book barcode is not on a stop list, OBCS will
instruct the clerk to pay and prompt for the number of vouchers to
be encashed. This will be a default of one (1) which the clerk
can override with any valid number. The clerk will also be
prompted to enter the benefit service code which will be used by
EPOS for subsequent outlet accounting etc.
5.3 If the order book barcode is on a stop list and shown as
recalled OBCS will instruct the clerk to pay up to the date
supplied in the recall record on the stop list. OBCS will prompt
for the number of vouchers to be encashed. This will be a
default of one (1) which the clerk can override with any valid
number including zero (0).
5.3 (duplicate) If the order book barcode is on a stop list and
shown as stopped OBCS will instruct the clerk to impound the book
without payment, hole punch the book and return it to BA. The
transaction will be recorded and sent to DSS as described above.
5.4 If there are three consecutive failures to read the barcode
OBCS will prompt the clerk to key the barcode information. If the
barcode is on a stop list then the previous processes (5.3, 5.4
will apply. The system will instruct the clerk to pay one
voucher, hole punch the book and return it to DSS.
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6. Pathway will respond to this requirement upon receipt of the
interface document.
Pathway Comment
Some clarification required as indicated, together with general
comments in Req 899.
Reference No 901
Pathway Response
1. Pathway request clarification of the activities that would
determine an order book is counterfeit and the role that OBCS is
required to have in this process. If required, OBCS can support a
transaction which would enable the clerk to record that an order
book is believed to be counterfeit. It is not clear what
information is required to be recorded about this event.
2. When an order book with no barcode is presented for encashment
OBCS will prompt the clerk to enter the number of vouchers to be
encashed. A default of one (1) will be presented which the clerk
can override.
36 As part of the end of day process, each outlet will calculate
the number of vouchers encashed for non-barcoded order books.
This will be replicated to central TMS which in turn will return
this information to DSS.
3. (duplicate) This information will be supplied in accordance
with the interface specification ref. < to be supplied by BA>.
Pathway Comment
Some clarification required.
Reference No 902
Pathway Response
1. As stated the process for logging of order books will be
largely dominated by the physical actions of handling order books.
Pathway cannot provide a transaction cycle time for a process
which is dominated by non-system activity. In addition, for this
service level to assume that the order book does not appear on the
stop list would seem to at odds with the normal operation of OBCS
and in particular contrary to requirement 3 of
Req Ref No: 900.
OBCS will take no longer than 1 second for 95% of reads and no
longer than 5 seconds for 99% of reads to notify the clerk that
an order book is valid, measured from the time the barcode is read
to the point when OBCS displays the results of the barcode scan.
2. This requirement would seem to be logically inconsistent in
terms of the use of the stop list.
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When issuing an order book, OBCS will check the local stop list as
per requirement 4 of Req Ref No: 900. OBCS will take no longer
than 1 second for 95% of reads and no longer than 5 seconds for
99% of reads to notify the clerk that an order book is valid,
measured from the time the barcode is read to the point when OBCS
displays the results of the barcode scan.
3. When making an encashment, OBCS will check the stop lists as
per requirement 5 of Req Ref No: 900. OBCS will take no longer
than 1 second for 95% of reads and no longer than 5 seconds for
99% of reads to notify the clerk that an order book is valid,
measured from the time the barcode is read to the point when OBCS
displays the results of the barcode scan.
Pathway Comment
Clarification required as described above
Reference No 903
Pathway Response
1. Pathway propose that a local stop list strategy be adopted in
order that the risks and costs associated with maintaining and
accessing the entire stop list at every outlet are removed. The
OBCS stop list process will be implemented such that the local or
remote stop lists being referenced by an outlet have been updated
by stop list updates supplied from the DSS computer.
Each post office will have a local stop list relevant to Order
Book beneficiaries who have nominated it as their home post
office. Foreign Order Book encashments will be checked against
remote stop lists accessible via TMS.
Further details of Pathway’s proposal for the OBCS stop list are
contained in the response to Requirement Reference 899.
Pathway propose the following service levels :-
The OBCS local stop list in any outlet will be defined as up to
date if any changes for that post office contained in the last DSS
stop list file, received by Pathway within the agreed service
levels, have been applied by the start of that outlets business
day.
On any business day 99% of outlets will be able to access an up to
date local stop list (for home encashments) and an up to date
remote stop list (for foreign encashments).
2. OBCS transactions will recorded locally in the outlet and
replicated to the central TMS servers throughout the day. An OBCS
TMS Agent will extract OBCS transactions, perform any
consolidation processing and forward the file to the DSS computer.
This will be done in accordance with specification ref.<BA to
supply>.
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Pathway propose the following service levels :-
On any business day 99% of all OBCS transactions that occurred on
that day will be transmitted to the DSS computer.
The time by which this transmission should take place is subject
to discussion and agreement with DSS. Agreement is also required
on the ownership and specification of the network connection to
the DSS computer.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 904
Pathway Response
1. Collection of all payments
The Pathway solution for PAS, comprising the central PMS system
and the local BES application, will allow collection of all
payments that an Authorised Person is entitled to collect and will
ensure that :-
each payment is cashed once, and the encashment amount as
advised by CAPS is notified to the clerk.
partial encashment for a single payment is not permitted.
2. Encashment rules
The local BES application will enforce the following rules.
2.1 All payees must encash all moneys due if the total is less than
the BA encashment limit (currently £1000, subject to change by BA
as required): or elect to make no encashment.
2.2 If the total exceeds the encashment limit BES will provide the
following choices :-
(i) The customer may take all moneys due
(ii) The customer may take nothing
(iii) The customer may take payments , in multiples of weekly
entitlements, oldest first, up to but not exceeding the encashment
limit.
2.3 The exceptions to the above are :-
(i) Social fund payments
(ii) Alternate Payee’s
In these cases BES will allow encashment of all moneys due
irrespective of the BA encashment limit. BES will also allow
these cases to choose not to encash all moneys due.
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3. Agent selection of beneficiary
When an Agent presents their card, BES will retrieve all payment
records that the Agent is entitled to collect. Where payments to
more than one beneficiary are found, BES will present the clerk
with summary details (NINO and Name) of the beneficiaries and
require the Agent to select for whom they wish to collect. The
payment process will then proceed normally followed by a further
selection if required.
Pathway Comment
Reference No 905
Pathway Response
The Pathway solution for the OPS system includes a facility for
linking associated services and product offerings with any
particular transaction type, such that the User is prompted to
offer customers such services at the time of transaction.
The extent of such additional services to be provided will be
agreed with the Authority.
Pathway will accept full responsibility for the accuracy and
integrity of data supplied to the User through the OPS. The
accuracy and integrity of product information and data supplied by
BA/POCL and faithfully represented to the User by the OPS shall be
the AUTHORITY’s responsibility and liability.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 906
Pathway Response
Pathway's roll-out strategy is based upon a geographic area-by-
area approach. This enables the speedy and reliable introduction
of BES cards to recipients within a complete area, without the
need for further customer analysis. That is, no qualification is
needed to ascertain if the intended recipient's normal Post Office
has been automated. Pathway will begin the introduction of cards
to recipients as soon as the counter infrastructure in an area has
been completed. The harmonisation of card roll-out is further
enhanced by a public awareness campaign which is co-ordinated with
roll-out to each geographic area. The public awareness campaign
will not discriminate against non-card holders.
Pathway's implementation programme effects delivery and
installation of counter equipment on the same day unless
specifically requested otherwise. This may be the case for example
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in large offices where we understand that a weekend installation
is preferred.
Referring to the text of the requirement, it should be noted that
we have not interpreted "new" terminals to mean "unused"
terminals. Pathway may supply equipment which has been used in
other post offices, particularly in the case of office relocation,
upgrade or other changes.
Pathway confirms that Installation covers physical placement
connection to the system and testing.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 908
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that BES will produce a receipt containing
information as specified in requirement 764.
Additionally a clerk identifier and the time of the transaction
will be recorded.
Additionally a unique transaction identifier will be generated and
recorded to enable recovery following equipment failure.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 909
Pathway Response
Pathway has proposed a solution to this general requirement based
upon a permanent agent taking on a group collection
responsibility, but a number of concerns and questions will
require further discussion and agreement.
1. General
In the context of benefit encashment for a group of beneficiaries,
it is proposed that the Authorised Person will require pre-
registration as a particular class of proxy able to operate in
this group collection mode. This pre-registration is necessary to
link the Authorised Person's collection rights to the group of
individual benefit payments for which he is an authorised payee,
to facilitate collection by an agent on the Authorised Person's
behalf and to enable appropriate mandate and receipt/declaration
procedures to be supported.
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Pathway would wish to discuss and agree the precise interpretation
that should be placed on the term Authorised Person when acting in
this group collection capacity.
2. Collection by Permanent Agent
A Permanent Agent (e.g. a nursing home manager) will be identified
in the payment records
of beneficiaries (e.g. residents of the nursing home) through his
NINO being present as an authorised payee in each beneficiary’s
payment record. In order that a different payment process can be
undertaken by BES from a normal agent encashment it will necessary
for CAPS to identify that this relationship is different from any
other Permanent Agent relationship that the same customer may have
(e.g. Son as an agent for his parents).
Pathway believe that this can be achieved by introducing a new
class of permanent agent - a
permanent group agent. Such an agent would have been approved by
BA and would have an agreed set of beneficiaries registered in his
group. All beneficiaries within the group, plus the permanent
group agent, would share the same nominated post office;
encashment at foreign offices would be precluded for such group
collections. A beneficiary could only assign one permanent group
agent; although other proxy relationships could be retained, if
required.
With this new flag set in the payment authorisation record BES can
now distinguish payment records that are to be grouped together
for payment purposes. After reading the permanent group agent's
card BES will provide a list of beneficiaries within the group,
for whom payments are available, for checking against the
mandate (s).
Any other process requiring the counter clerk to select payment
records which are to be grouped as part of the encashment process,
or separately to create a beneficiary group, is believed to be
error prone and time consuming, particularly with regard to
mandate and receipt procedures.
Furthermore, the requirement to support collection by an agent of
the Authorised Person requires a means of identifying the
relationship between the agent and those beneficiaries for whom
the Authorised Person would collect. This will need to be
distinguishable from any possible casual agent relationship(s)
with individual beneficiaries on a one to one basis. This
requirement can also be met by the use of the permanent group
agent.
3. Use of Mandates
Pathway was notified during the BPS strand meetings that
collection by an Agent will require use of a Mandate. This is
signed by the beneficiary and entitles the Agent to collect a
specific encashment on behalf of the beneficiary. Discussion with
BA is required to understand whether such individual encashment
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mandates are required for beneficiaries who are associated with a
group agent. The principle of transferable authority will need to
be considered as well as the likelihood of still requiring
individual beneficiary receipts containing the benefit value. It
would be possible to introduce a form of group mandate with space
for multiple signatures on a single document, although this would
preclude the option of printing an individual receipt on each
mandate as proposed for other forms of agent collection.
The permanent group agent would not be required to sign the
individual mandate receipts but would be required to sign the
single summarised receipt (see below).
If mandates are to be used then the counter procedure will need to
be agreed concerning any printing that is required and the method
of linking the BA copy of each mandate to the summarised receipt.
In addition the normal process by the clerk of ensuring that all
the mandates were present for the payments due would be necessary.
If each mandate is to be receipted then BES could print the unique
transaction number on each one and on the summarised receipt.
4. Summarised receipt
If the above approach to grouping payments is accepted the BES can
provide an extended payment process. A single summarised receipt
will be produced which will identify each beneficiary on whose
behalf the transaction has occurred and payment made. A single
declaration will be printed on the summarised receipt for
signature by the group agent. Discussions will be required to
agree the precise wording that should be used.
5. Collection by Casual Agent
The proposed approach is based upon the casual agent operating as
an agent of the Authorised Person and hence as an indirect agent
to the beneficiaries. This enables use to be made of the pre-
defined relationship between the Authorised Person and the
beneficiaries, which would not be possible if the casual agent
operated individually on behalf of each beneficiary.
In these circumstances, the casual agent would produce the
Authorised Person's card, plus beneficiaries mandate(s), if
required, plus a separate mandate from the Authorised Person
conferring his group collection rights to the casual agent. In all
other aspects the system would function as described above, with
the possible exception of the declaration wording and the
requirement for additional personal verification checks. Pathway
proposes that casual agents operating in this mode would require
to produce two independent identity documents, one including a
photograph.
Pathway Comment
This requirement requires further discussion to understand how the
beneficiary grouping required might be achieved. Agreement will
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also be needed on the new counter procedures, mandate usage,
receipt wording and receipt handling.
Pathway would also like to understand the precise role of casual
agents in these circumstances and any limitations that might be
desirable. In view of the substantial payment value which could be
involved there are clearly significant fraud risks associated with
collection by casual agents. An alternative approach which Pathway
would wish to discuss is the (pre-) nomination of an alternative
payee to act on behalf of the permanent group agent, when
indisposed, for such group collections. The alternative payee
would have a card in his own right, be previously known to the
system and use the same nominated office for added surety.
Reference No 910
Pathway Response
1. BES will access a local reference value to determine the BA
encashment limit. Amended values may be provided by BA.
Agreement will be required on the mechanism by which a revised
value is provided to Pathway.
2. Pathway understand that some encashments will not be limited
(see response to Requirement 904). Those benefit types that are
not limited by the general encashment limit will be determined by
BES by access to local reference data. Amended values may be
provided by BA. Agreement will be required on the mechanism by
which revised values are provided to Pathway.
Pathway Comment
Agreement required on the mechanisms to update these variable data
items.
Reference No 911
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that its will maintain accounting and reporting
integrity across changes in the versions of operating software and
hardware. Such changes will include upgrades or rollbacks of
whole services or other subsystems, changes to software and
reference data, operating controls and so forth.
This will include implementation of changes to effect rollback to
a previous version, and operation of the whole PFI service where
parts have been updated or rolled back. Reference data shall be
upgraded or rolled back in step with the objects or operations to
which it refers.
Attention is drawn to the Risk Responses 40 and 48 which deal in
detail with the logistics of new software introduction and
software update and distribution respectively.
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Each transaction will be matched against the version of the
product that was active at the time of the transaction. This link
will be maintained to allow transactions against different
versions of a product to coexist and be correctly accounted for.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 912
Pathway Response
1 Pathway will arrange for the electrical safety testing of all
of its equipment installed on Contracting Authorities’ sites
enabling the Contracting Authorities and Postmasters to meet their
legal obligations under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.
2 The Regulations
2.1 The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 are a statutory
instrument arising from the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The purpose of the regulations is ‘to require precautions to be
taken against the risk of death or personal injury from
electricity in work activities’.
2.2 The regulations impose duties on employers in respect of
‘systems, electrical equipment and conductors and in respect of
work activities on or near electrical equipment’.
2.3 To meet the requirements of the regulations, which came into
force on 1st April 1990, it is necessary to assess all electrical
equipment, including information technology equipment, with a view
to eliminating possible hazards. In practice this will usually
necessitate a program of recorded inspections and where
appropriate, tests.
2.4 Full and accurate records must be kept, if for no other reason
than the ‘duty holder’ can demonstrate that ‘all reasonable steps
were taken and all due diligence exercised to avoid the commission
of an offence under the Act’.
2.5 The onus for compliance is with the employer, who is
responsible for the correct use of the equipment and the safety of
employees. The regulations define the employer or his nominated
employee(s) as the duty holder.
3 Scope of the service
3.1 The Electricity At Work Inspection And Test Service enables
Pathway’s customers to meet their legal obligations under the
Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.
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3.2 The service provides for inspection, test and labelling of each
item of electrical equipment. Full records will be presented to
the customer on completion of the service.
3.3 During the service, the Pathway service deliverer will carry
out the following activities:
Visual inspection of all Pathway installed equipment and mains
cords on the customer site
Tests systems on the customer site using appropriate tools and
test equipment. Testing of each item is undertaken by application
of the relevant test procedure
Attaches a colour coded sticky label to each item inspected and
tested to indicate success (of inspection and relevant test) or
failure
Replaces faulty detachable mains cords, incorrect value fuses
and damaged plugs
Re-terminates plugs where necessary
Renders inoperative any electrical item which fails the
inspection and test and brings this to the attention of the
customer and arranges for its replacement
Records test results against a unique identifier for each item
3.4 Once these activities are complete the service deliverer
provides the Postmaster with the test results. Test results will
also be made available to the Contracting Authorities and will be
maintained in Pathway’s database.
3.5 The service is delivered during normal office hours, however
Pathway may agree to provide the service outside those hours on
request. The schedule for safety test visits will be agreed in
advance with Postmasters and the Contracting Authorities’ Service
Managers.
3.6 All remedial maintenance work carried out on site will comply
with the standards prescribed and will ensure that the
requirements of the Act continue to be met upon return to service.
3.7 Pathway will report on the progress of its safety test schedule
at each monthly service review meeting.
Pathway Comment
The regulations apply to all items of electrical equipment on
the site. Pathway will be pleased to quote for the extension of
this service to cover all other electrical items not supplied by
Pathway.
Reference No 913
Pathway Response
1. Introduction.
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Pathway seek clarification on a number of points relating to this
requirement. "Comprehensive" user documentation does not specify
the required level of detail which Pathway is being asked to
provide. Please specify any and all expectations in this regard.
"Other Users" is too open-ended to be meaningful please quantify
and qualify who these users are.
Pathway believes the requirement is addressing the need for two
different types of documentation - a "Technical" manual, covering
all aspects of the automated platform, and an "Operations" manual
covering POCL (and client?) procedures. Please confirm that this
is correct.
2. Availability
2.1 Users of the automated platform
100% availability whilst the automated platform is in use implies
an expectation that (at least some of) the documentation is on-
line i.e., accessed via the automated platform. Is this a
requirement?
Pathway presume that if the system is unavailable (scheduled or
otherwise) users may still require access to the documentation.
Given the interpretation of the requirement for Technical and
Operations manuals, is there a common medium requirement? (i.e.,
one or both on-line/paper?)
2.2 Other users
This requirement would seem to inhibit documentation availability
only to those times that the automated platform is in use? Whilst
this is presumably not the requirement, some of the "other users"
would not have access to the automated platform at their normal
place of work. Pathway wish to know the total number of
documentation users over and above those counter staff and other
nominated recipients of the automated platform.
What are the expected volumes for the technical and operations
manuals?
Is distribution to be made to individuals, counters, offices or by
some other criteria? Pathway wish to know the expected staff
turnaround within the documentation user base.
Pathway wish to understand the current user documentation set that
is to be replaced/replicated, and the current distribution
thereof.
2.3 Contingency/disaster recovery arrangements
Whilst Pathway will advise and recommend arrangements, there are
clear POCL business guidelines that must be adhered to for
disaster arrangements. Please provide current expectations and
guidelines.
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3. Content of User Documentation
To provide documentation which covers "all business transactions
at Post Office sites" is far wider than the expected brief for
documentation relating to the automated platform. Pathway would
wish to set up and agree a framework for user documentation in
order to develop a documentation strategy that covers the
requirements of both Technical and Operations manuals. The
documentation strategy would seek to identify which aspects of the
total documentation requirement can be met on-line, and those that
would be best served via a paper medium.
Is the content of the current Post Office Operations manual to be
replicated? Do POCL Users have views on desirable changes to the
content and format of the manual that Pathway is requested to
consider?
4. Accuracy
Pathway recognise the importance of assuring accuracy of
documentation and will be responsible for the accuracy of the
documentation pertaining to the automated platform. However,
accuracy of data relating to Post Office procedures and
information relating to other business transactions, supplied by
POCL, will be the AUTHORITY's responsibility.
Pathway seek to understand the process for documentation approval
to be adopted by POCL and the timescales associated with this.
5. Design of documentation
Sed Visual identity
Pathway request a copy of POCL's "Design Applications Guidelines"
and "Visual Identity" policy. To what extent must application UMI
conform to these policies? As far as is possible, Pathway confirm
that documentation produced for counter staff (and other staff
usage will conform to the agreed design and visual identity
policies.
Pathway wish to clarify whether the Pathway logo is permitted on
any/all documentation produced by Pathway.
5.2 Communications Policy
Pathway would be pleased to receive a copy of the "A guide to Head
Office Communications Team" document as soon as possible to
establish whether proposed documentation conforms.
5.3 Environment Policy
Pathway user documentation will comply the relevant parts with the
Post Office environmental policy summary document which has been
lodged with Pathway during the procurement.
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6. Documentation for a new product/service
Pathway will produce and agree with the AUTHORITIES a
Product/Service Introduction Plan (P/SIP) for each new product or
service to be introduced on to the automated platform. Part of
the P/SIP will address new or amended documentation needs, and
their timescales for development and production. It is not
practical to contract to a specific number of days notice by
either party for documentation as it will vary by the extent of
the new product or service.
Comments relating to understanding of documentation approval
process at (4) above, apply here also.
The statement at 6.4 of the requirement that documentation should
be available immediately prior to the service going live is
impractical and needs clarifying. Pathway suggest the removal of
the word "immediately" from this requirement.
7. Updating User Documentation
Pathway expect most planned documentation changes to be the
subject of a P/SIP. Where documentation changes are not as a
result of any such new product or service, then the extent of
notification will clearly vary by the extent of the proposed
change and the impact/urgency of the change.
Drafting and Approval process requirements of POCL have already
been requested above, and apply here also.
7.2 Emergency Updates
Pathway cannot commit to making available documentation changes of
undetermined size to all users within 24 hours of notification.
Pathway seek clarification of what might be deemed an "emergency
update" in order to scope and propose a suitable response.
8. Requests for new/replacement copies
This requirement is too open ended for an affirmative response.
Pathway seek some restriction on user-requested copies, and wish
to understand how current requests are satisfied.
9. User satisfaction
Pathway understand the importance of establishing and maintaining
a satisfied user base, but seek clarification on a number of
issues associated with this particular requirement, as follows:
a) Who is to conduct the user survey, and what process, format and
sample size is required?
b) Many of the topics to be covered relate to subjects expected to
be covered in POCL's style guide(s) - to what extent will this
affect Pathway's compliance?
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c) What penalties (if any) are imposed should the survey result
not reach the required 90% target?
d) How are results expected to be presented and used?
Pathway Comment
The requirement is too open ended in several areas to allow a
compliant response.
Reference No 914
Pathway Response
1 Introduction
1.1 This response documents the key service characteristics of
Pathway’s Operational Systems Helpdesk service.
2 Helpdesk Service
2.1 General
2.1.1 Pathway’s Operational Systems Helpdesk will provide a
single point of contact providing assistance and fault management
to all customers of this service. Customers will include both
Authorities’ staff and those of POCL’s Clients with access to the
services supported.
2.1.2 The Helpdesk service will embrace fault management, advice
and guidance and overall operational service management,
information and administration. It will operate a full call
logging service 24 hours per day, 365 days per year (except
Christmas Day).
221.3 Contact with the Helpdesk will be by ‘local-call’ telephone
(e.g. an 0345 number). The average response time will be targeted
at 95% of all calls answered within 10 seconds and the remainder
targeted to be answered within 20 seconds. A target of less than
% of calls during peak hours will be abandoned calls.
2.1.4 Three levels of service will be provided extending from
Level 1 addressing simple calls through more complex level 2 calls
to level 3 calls which involve support from outside of the
Helpdesk environment.
2.1.5 Operational Service availability, details of scheduled
interruptions and progress towards full service resumption will be
communicated by the Helpdesk to its customers. The Helpdesk
management team will assist BA/POCL in negotiating scheduled
interruptions to service with their customers.
2.2 Level 1 Service
2.2.1 Level 1 calls may be categorised as those which are
relatively simple and straightforward to explain and diagnose and
which can be fully resolved in less than 10 minutes by the call
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taker who will have sole responsibility for the call’s progress to
resolution.
222 +2 As end-users become more familiar and experienced with
Pathway’s systems, the time required to explain simple resolutions
will decrease and may approach an average of 5 minutes. Calls
taking longer than 10 minutes to resolve will be categorised
either as Level 2 or will signify a potential skills problem
within the Helpdesk or the post office. Calls identifying
potential skills problems will be evaluated by Pathway and raised
for discussion at the monthly service review meetings.
2.3 Level 2 Service
Zedal Level 2 calls will generally be more complex problems and
potential faults. Pathway’s Helpdesk will make extensive use of
‘Expert Systems’ diagnostic tools to assist in their resolution
and these may require more detailed and extensive analysis, taking
more time.
2.342 Calls are transferred to Level 2 electronically within the
same Helpdesk Call Management System. All of the details of the
call are preserved and available at Level 2. Calls at all levels
are presented to the diagnosticians in the form of a prioritised
stack of outstanding work-in-progress.
2233 Typically, Level 2 problems will take less than 30 minutes
to resolve but in extreme cases may take longer, up to one hour.
Much of the diagnosis will be carried out ‘off-line’ from the
originator, and may involve one or more interim telephone calls
from the Helpdesk to clarify symptoms or elicit extra information.
2.3.4 Level 2 calls will be analysed to identify trends and
patterns which may indicate the need for improvements in the
diagnostic process. New problems identified will always be
analysed to determine whether an appropriate Level 1 solution is
possible to save time in future instances.
2.35145 As for Level 1, Level 2 calls which take longer than 1 hour
to resolve will be categorised either as Level 3 or will signify a
potential skills problem within the Helpdesk or the post office.
Calls identifying potential skills problems will be evaluated by
Pathway and raised for discussion at the monthly service review
meetings.
2.4 Level 3 Service
2.4.1 Level 3 service is invoked when the call can not be fully
resolved wholly within the Helpdesk but requires escalation either
to a higher level of technical support or to an engineer to
perform a maintenance visit.
2.4.2 Calls will be transferred to Level 3 support electronically
complete with all of the details of progress made at levels 1 and
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2. Calls will be prioritised and categorised so that they can be
actioned within standard agreed timescales.
2.4.3 All level 3 calls will be monitored to ensure that the
Service Level Agreement is met. The call will also continue to be
monitored post resolution to ensure that repeat or intermittent
failures are identified as quickly as possible.
2.4.4 Level 3 calls will be analysed to identify patterns and
trends of failure either within specific post offices or with
system items.
2.5 Hours of Service
2.B01 Pathway will provide a continuous call logging service 24
hours per day every day of the year except Christmas day.
2ZeDa2 Level 1 and level 2 service will be available between 0500
and 2400 every day of the year except Christmas day.
2.5.3 Calls may be received directly from users or from POCL help
desks and help lines. Calls received which are outside of the
responsibility of the Helpdesk will be transferred to the
appropriate authority.
2.5.4 The hours of service may be changed on request given 2
working days notice. Emergency cover may be provided at 5 hours
notice.
2.6 Problem Management
2.6.1 Pathway will employ a specially developed Problem
Management System to log and manage all calls to the Helpdesk. The
system is an enhanced version of one of ICL’s current call
management systems.
2.6.2 The system data model is comprehensive and records all of
the necessary data associated with calls during their life. Call
data is recorded as a collection of ‘progress details’ each date
and time stamped and ‘signed’ by the call taker providing a
complete audit trail.
2.6.4.3 The system will maintain call details including the
following
Problem Site Identifier
Call serial number (combined with Site ID provides unique call
identifier)
Site details such as address, telephone number and Postmaster’s
name
Site contact name
Date and Time problem occurred
Date and Time problem reported
Helpdesk contact
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Problem description
Problem Type (such as Hardware, Software, Advice & Guidance
etc.)
Identity of any equipment or software associated with the
problem
Reported and assessed impact on the customer’s business
Priority of the call
Estimated Fix time (for level 3 calls)
Current actionee within Pathway
Referral details
Progress information (date and time stamped and attributed)
Call resolution actions
Date and Time equipment returned to service
Date and time call closed (accepted by the customer)
2.6.4 The Helpdesk system also contains details of engineer
schedules. It provides an interface to the 2-way radio paging
system used to assign calls to engineers and to the spares system
used to control the allocation of spares.
2.6.5 The problem management system will also be used to record
and manage incidents relating to systems operational problems
including those associated with the uploading and downloading of
data to post offices and interfaces to BA, POCL and POCL Client
systems.
2.6.6 All calls will be given one of three priority
classifications depending upon the impact and urgency of the
problem with respect to the caller’s business
A Caller’s business is disrupted and cannot continue normal
working
B Caller’s business is impaired but a work around is available
C Caller’s business is suffering only minor inconvenience
2.6.7 Throughout the life of a call, Pathway’s Helpdesk staff
will monitor its progress. The customer will at all times know
precisely what is expected to happen next by regular updates of
progress. The Helpdesk will always advise the customer of any
changes.
2.6.8 All aspects of the operation of the Helpdesk will be
comprehensively documented in a manual of procedures which will be
agreed with the Contracting Authorities and which will be
maintained in accordance with Pathway’s objective of registration
to IS09000 quality standards.
2.6.9 Major incidents, such as the total failure of systems
within a post office, will immediately be classified as alerts and
will be assigned to a problem manager. All alerts will be managed
in accordance with agreed documented procedures covering all
aspects of the fallback operation of the post office, including
the re-allocation of its responsibilities to other post offices.
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2.6.10 A problem will remain open at the Helpdesk until agreed
with its originator that is has been resolved satisfactorily. The
call will continue to be monitored even after closure to ensure
that a repeat or consequential problem is not reported.
2.7 Systems and Services Supported
2.741 In addition to the problem and call management database,
Pathway will create and maintain databases containing user, asset,
configuration and change management information.
2.8 Resilience
2.8.1 The Helpdesk will operate a fully resilient service across
two geographically remote sites with duplexed database servers,
networks and telephony systems and separate telephone exchanges
and electrical power supplies.
2.8.2 Each site will normally accommodate half of the Helpdesk
staff and management team but will have spare capacity to accept
increased workload in the event of disaster at the other site.
2.8.3 The sites will be served by dual telephony and Automatic
Call Direction equipment which will perform call load balancing
between them.
2.8.4 Each site will be connected with Pathway’s central systems
via dual high speed carriers and will be resilient to single
network, system or site failures.
2.9 Training
2.9.1 During roll-out, Pathway will deliver training to BA and
POCL staff. This will include guidance on how to make most
effective use of the Helpdesk services.
2.91.2 Simple step by step instructions will be documented in the
Pathway Operational Procedures Manual, a hard copy of which will
be located in each post office and BA office.
2:93 Pathway’s Helpdesk staff will receive in depth training in
all of the operational systems.
2.9.4 The staffing levels at the Helpdesk will be set to
accommodate peak workload resulting in periods during the shifts
where activity is relatively light. These periods will be used by
staff for skills development and training.
2.10 Personnel
2.10.1 Pathway will ensure that all Helpdesk managers and staff
have the appropriate skills and experience. Each member of staff
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will receive in depth training in Pathway’s solution and
operational procedures.
2.10.2 All staff will have individual personal development
programmes and training plans recording their progress in
achieving progressively higher standards of skills.
2.10.3 Staffing levels will be set to accommodate workload peaks,
staff absence due to sickness and holidays and natural wastage.
2.11 Service Targets
2.11.1 Pathway proposes that service targets should be established
as follows.
90% of calls answered within 10 seconds
>99% of calls answered within 30 seconds
Abandoned calls (where the caller rings off) < 5%
95% of Level 1 calls resolved within 5 minutes
>99% of Level 1 calls resolved within 10 minutes
95% of Level 2 calls resolved within 30 minutes
>99% of Level 2 calls resolved within 60 minutes
3 SERVICE MONITORING
3.1 Service Performance Statistics
3.1.1 Pathway’s Helpdesk service will be monitored and reviewed
over monthly periods. Statistical evidence of its performance
against agreed measures will be produced by analysis of the data
captured by the Helpdesk system and by the Telephony system.
Bed a2 The analysis will be presented to the Contracting
Authorities in an agreed format within 2 working days of the end
of the period.
3eds3 The data upon which the analysis is made will be maintained
within a relational database system supporting standard SQL
enquiries. This will enable Pathway to view the data in a flexible
way and provide reports based on problem type, customer group and
location, closure time, etc.
3.1.4 Pathway will make extensive use of this data to identify
actions to improve process efficiency and effectiveness.
3.1458 Helpdesk records will be maintained for a minimum of 18
months.
3.2 Customer Satisfaction Surveys
3.2.1 Pathway will be pleased to participate with the Contracting
Authorities in devising and conducting quarterly customer
satisfaction surveys.
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3.3 On-line Access and Ad-hoc reports
3.3.1 Pathway will be pleased to discuss the provision of on-line
access to its problem management systems for named representatives
for the purposes of planned audit and inspection.
3.302 Reasonable requests for single ad-hoc service reports will
be welcomed and will normally receive a response within 3 working
days.
Pathway Comment
1 It is not clear from the requirement what is the purpose of the
Authorities’ request for on-line access to the Problem Management
System.
2 The number, nature and frequency of the requirements for ad hoc
reports is unclear and needs further clarification.
Reference No 915
Pathway Response
1. Introduction
The CONTRACTOR and AUTHORITIES shall define and agree training
requirements for both POCL and BA training. Key measures
identified by the CONTRACTOR and agreed with the AUTHORITIES will
be used to assess the effectiveness of the training programme as a
whole.
2. Training Services
2.1 General
The CONTRACTOR and the AUTHORITIES shall agree acceptable
standards of competencies in the use of the automated platform.
The CONTRACTOR will be responsible for training POCL and BA
Trainers to an acceptable standard. However it will be the
responsibility of the AUTHORITIES to ensure quality and competence
levels are maintained both by non CONTRACTOR Trainers and their
delegates.
The CONTRACTOR will be responsible for designing and developing
course materials/training event to POCL/BA's approval. Any
Updates to training or additional supporting documentation will be
supplied by the CONTRACTOR and approved by the AUTHORITIES.
2.3 Specific Responsibilities
It is not envisaged that "day to day" development of training
materials will be required although ongoing quality assessment and
maintenance will be undertaken by the CONTRACTOR.
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The CONTRACTOR will ensure that all nominated parties are advised
of training activities. Such periods of notification, content
thereof and identification of nominated parties shall be the
AUTHORITIES responsibility prior to Contract Award.
Management of training will be the responsibility of the
CONTRACTOR in liaison with the AUTHORITIES. However Training
Invites, Site selection/preparation and provision of Kit will be
the responsibility of the CONTRACTOR.
Management Information (Training) will be the responsibility of
the CONTRACTOR. Information passed to POCL/BA will shall be
defined by the AUTHORITIES and subject to change control
procedures.
Attendance of regular training review meetings will be the
responsibility of the CONTRACTOR and will be part of the overall
implementation review process. Training is an integrated part of
the implementation and roll-out programme therefore it is not
envisaged that the training will be isolated from project reviews.
Agreement and sign off by the CONTRACTOR will be part of the
implementation plan.
Monitoring and review of performance will be jointly undertaken by
the CONTRACTOR and the AUTHORITIES.
Identification of improvements to the training programme will be
part of an approved quality process and is part of the
CONTRACTOR's responsibility.
3. Key Measurables
3.1 Timeliness
The CONTRACTOR shall ensure that training is delivered in
accordance with the roll-out of the automated platform. Such
training will be delivered no more than 5 working days before live
usage.
3.2 Quality
Course delegates will be requested to complete a questionnaire on
the training environment, and the CONTRACTOR shall ensure an 85%
positive response.
The CONTRACTOR shall not be responsible for adverse comments/user
dissatisfaction relating to AUTHORITIES premises.
The CONTRACTOR shall agree positive training matrices with the
AUTHORITIES prior to Contract Award. The CONTRACTOR shall ensure
95% compliance with these matrices as measured through
satisfaction questionnaires.
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(Drafters Note): CONTRACTOR seeks clarification of penalties
imposed for non-achievement of performance matrices.
3.3 Cycle Time
Training should take no longer than a period of 4 hours to enable
a delegate to achieve the minimum standard of competence. It is
the CONTRACTOR's responsibility to achieve the overall agreed
level of competence e.g. 90% for knowledge related areas for
transactions of the automated platform.
After implementation, ongoing training will be the responsibility
of the AUTHORITIES any update training will be the responsibility
of the CONTRACTOR.
3.4 Contingency/disaster recovery
Notification of course cancellations by the AUTHORITIES must be
issued within an agreed timescale between the CONTRACTOR and the
AUTHORITIES. A minimum of 48 hours notice must be provided for
98% of cases. The same will apply if the CONTRACTOR cancels a
course with notification of an alternative date.
The CONTRACTOR shall not cancel more than 2% of the scheduled
courses in accordance with the implementation roll-out plan.
However if an installation is cancelled due to POCL/BA changes
then this is the responsibility of the AUTHORITIES and should not
be included in the 2% targeted for the CONTRACTOR.
It is the CONTRACTOR's responsibility to reschedule alternative
training venues if a site becomes inoperative at no extra cost to
the AUTHORITIES.
3.5 Data Accuracy and integrity
There will be no reduction in system performance as a result of
training mode being used. Training mode will be used in the same
way as live mode with the exception of "training" stock data.
It is the CONTRACTOR's responsibility to ensure there are no
factual errors at the time of acceptance and release.
3.6 Competence levels
It is the CONTRACTOR's responsibility to meet the agreed
objectives/competence level of the course and for delegates to
demonstrate this capability as part of an end of course review. A
competence test will be carried out at the after care visit to
meet the agreed competence level of 90% for knowledge related
areas for transactions of the automated platform.
The CONTRACTOR shall agree competence matrices with the
AUTHORITIES prior to Contract Award. The CONTRACTOR shall ensure
90% compliance with the matrices as measured through a competence
test/questionnaire.
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(Drafters Note): CONTRACTOR seeks clarification of penalties
imposed for non-achievement of competence matrices.
The CONTRACTOR has the responsibility to meet level 1 of the
standard Kirkpatrick model. This will be achieve by the end of
course review/appraisal. Level 2 of the standard Kirkpatrick
model will be met by the after care visit/competence test.
However if the standard Kirkpatrick model has been adapted by
POCL/BA then details shall be provided to the CONTRACTOR by the
AUTHORITIES.
4, Communication
It is the AUTHORITIES' responsibility to provide agreed format on
performance criteria along with written permission from Multiples
that assessments can be carried out on their staff.
Distribution and format for providing this information shall be
agreed between the CONTRACTOR and the AUTHORITIES prior to
Contract Award.
Regional Office status reports will shall be defined by the
AUTHORITIES and agreed with the CONTRACTOR. Status reports will
be provided by the CONTRACTOR in a timely manner to a nominated
contact. This will be distributed within 5 working days after
each training event.
It is the CONTRACTOR's responsibility to provide training invites
to a nominated contact within the Post Office 4 weeks prior to the
proposed training event. It is also the CONTRACTOR's
responsibility to confirm attendance in writing at least 1 week
prior to the training event.
5. Monitoring Training Services
Monitoring of training Services will be carried out as part of the
implementation programme. It is the CONTRACTOR's responsibility
to supply information to the AUTHORITIES in an agreed format and
to agreed measures. This format will be subject to change
control.
6. Training Review Meetings
It is the CONTRACTOR's responsibility to hold regular management
meetings to review progress and performance. This will be carried
out on a regular basis and to an agreed timetable.
Regular review meetings regarding implementation should be the
responsibility of both the CONTRACTOR and the AUTHORITIES.
7. Escalation Procedures
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Failures in service levels will be the responsibility of the
CONTRACTOR and the AUTHORITIES's nominated SLA manager to resolve.
Issues or actions which fail to be rectified will be passed to the
agreed CONTRACTOR and AUTHORITIES Service Management Team for
escalation.
8. Change Management
This will be managed as part of the implementation programme and
will be the responsibility of the CONTRACTOR.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 916
Pathway Response
1. SUMMARY
1.1 Pathway is in broad agreement with the objectives detailed in
the Programme’s Marketing and Education Plan 1996.
1.2 Pathway proposes that the objectives are achieved using an
integrated customer education campaign which is based on the
effective layering of a wide range of Public Relations and
Advertising media including:
= TV (National and Regional)
= Radio (National and Regional)
id Ad-shells Posters
= National Press Briefings/Interviews/Press Releases
- Local Press Briefings/Interviews/Press Releases
- National Press Adverts
= Local Press Adverts
- Point of Sale Leaflets and Posters for Post Offices, Benefit
Offices, Doctor’s Surgeries, etc.
= Direct Mail
- Card Merchandise (e.g. plastic wallet to hold card/information
leaflet/receipts)
- Launch Events
1.0 Pathway’s integrated campaign recognises that raising
awareness of the new service is not sufficient. The campaign must
ensure that all the target audience know how the new service will
effect them, when the new service will effect them, and understand
the new activities required of them.
1.4 The specific objectives and activities of the campaign will be
agreed as part of the process started on 31 January 1996 with Pat
Dugdale and the BA/POCL Communications Team.
1.5 Detailed costings will be provided as part of the response to
the ITT.
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2. INTRODUCTION
Pathway understands BA’s key drivers of right money, right person,
right time and right place, and we recognise that this can not be
achieved wholly without comprehensive product education. BA is
responsible to a number of high profile individuals and groups
(e.g. Secretary of state, DSS, Parliament, Statutory & Voluntary
Groups, and the taxpayer) making the successful implementation of
new products all the more important. In addition, a successful
product education campaign should integrate with BA’s core values
of Customer Service and Value for Money.
3. OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the Pathway product education activities are:
3.1 Educate and inform opinion formers to overcome anxiety relating
to change on behalf of the special interest groups they represent.
3.2 Create awareness amongst customers of the new products being
introduced, explain the rationale behind them, and how they, the
customer, benefit.
3.3 Educate customers as to the “hows and whens” relating to the
new products thus enabling a swift and efficient take up.
3.4 Create an overall positive environment of goodwill towards the
new products within society.
3.5 Minimise the cost of achieving these objectives.
4, KEY ISSUES
The key issues for product education are the diversity and
vulnerability of the target audience. Our research has shown that
the new products will effect a wide spectrum of individuals, ina
wide spectrum of circumstances, showing a wide range of emotional
intensity with respect to both the current and the introduction of
new products. Accordingly, it will not be a straight forward task
to develop consistent education messages which are equally
relevant and popular with all customer groups.
In addition, for many of the target audience a highly charged
emotional state surrounds the anticipation of receiving their
benefit. They fear the loss of livelihood if their benefit is
delayed, as in some cases they are entirely dependant on the
benefit moneys, and in many cases are already in arrears in lieu
of their benefit. Clearly, with such a highly anxious state of
mind being prevalent, and with such high levels of dependency, the
product education campaign must be extremely comprehensive, and
ensure understanding and acceptance in all the target audience.
Finally, all product education will need to be progressed in all
appropriate languages as agreed with BA.
5. THE PATHWAY APPROACH
To ensure messages get to all the target audience, and to minimise
costs, we propose the use of an integrated campaign which can pull
together a blend of advertising media including national and
regional TV, direct mail letters and leaflets, radio, ad-shells,
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national press, card merchandise (plastic wallet to hold
card/leaflet/receipts), and point of sale posters and leaflets for
Post Offices, BA Offices, Doctors’ surgeries, etc. This approach
ensures that we reach the highest number of customers whilst
minimising the costs and establishing a consistent message across
a diverse customer base.
In addition, it allows us to maximise the effectiveness of each
media type, allowing each media to be used for the role to which
it is most suited (i.e. television is effective at increasing
awareness, but is not as effective as a direct mail pamphlet for
allowing the customer to become familiar with the mechanics and
details of the new product). An integrated campaign also gives
flexibility, allowing us to learn as we progress from region to
region and from product to product, and to update the product
education media quickly and cost effectively. Clearly a campaign
heavily dependant on TV would not have that flexibility and would
incur significant costs for any changes.
The agency we are working with is McCann-Erickson (Manchester) who
we feel are uniquely qualified to meet the objectives of the
campaign, and indeed this was evidenced in October when they were
awarded top prize in the Integrated Advertising category at their
industry awards.
However a cost effective and flexible campaign by the recognised
leaders in this field is not enough in itself. Incorrect or badly
received product education messages would be very damaging, so
Pathway is keen to base all our messages on themes which we can
prove will be effective and well received. Accordingly our
messages and themes will be built on the comprehensive research
of; customers of BA, customers of POCL, the general public, the
voluntary groups, and community leaders.
Pathway recognises that research is not a one-off, tick-box
activity, it is a long term commitment. Accordingly, research is
on-going and will continue to be important, forming a key part of
product education to ensure we are getting it right, and that we
are learning any lessons which emerge from the implementations,
and especially the pilot. Feedback from the public, from Post
Office Counters Staff and Benefits Agency staff will be vital to
our long term success, and their involvement and views are a key
aspect of the Pathway approach.
In summary, an integrated approach maximises the ability of the
campaign to reach different types of people. The research will
identify messages with which the public can identify, and it will
provide valuable feedback throughout the campaign. Through the
flexibility of the integrated campaign and the feedback from our
on-going research, we will be able to tailor the messages of our
campaign to ensure we benefit from lessons learnt in each
implementation and are able to address new issues as they arise.
Finally our approach will allow us to maximise the value for money
you get by delivering high effectiveness and the lowest cost. We
believe that these benefits are essential to the public, to BA,
and to POCL, and because of our comprehensive approach, and in-
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depth understanding of the task required, we believe they are
unique to Pathway.
5. IMPLEMENTING THE PATHWAY APPROACH
The involvement of voluntary groups and opinion formers is
crucial. Their input and enthusiasm for the new products is
essential to the success of any product education campaign.
Accordingly Pathway is building relationships with these groups
and indeed has invited their representatives to our Feltham
offices to review and input to our solution, to ensure it best
meets the needs of the customers they represent. As the voluntary
groups are often the first port of call for the public when they
are experiencing difficulties, their understanding of the new
products and involvement in the up-front development will be key
to successful product education.
Prior to the pilot, creative strategy will be developed for all
media, and qualitative research carried our to ensure the creative
strategy and concepts will be effective and well received. This
will include such activities as generating and researching further
card names and colour schemes as appropriate (e.g. a separate
product identity for pensioners).
In order to develop a point of view on the most appropriate pilot
sites, Pathway will be using the Mosaic demo-graphic profiling
system to undertake an analysis of the Newcastle area households
which have children. This system was demonstrated to
representatives of the BA/POCL programme team on the 12th and 20th
of December last year.
Pathway believes that successful product education will require a
partnership between BA, POCL and ourselves. The three
organisations have a wealth of expertise and experience to draw on
for this type of activity, and to preclude the involvement of any
one of the three in contributing to product education would reduce
the effectiveness of the campaign.
Once the strategy for the pilot has been agreed, Pathway would
propose the following activities:
5.1 Review product education media planning in liaison with POCL
and BA. Confirm pilot and roll-out regions.
5.2 Quantitative test of product education concepts for impact and
communication.
5.3 Confirm communications programme.
5.4 Develop ancillary creative materials.
6. CONCLUSION
Pathway understands the business drivers of BA and POCL and will
integrate these drivers into the product education campaign. Our
approach is based on establishing a Product Education Partnership
between BA, POCL and ourselves in order to ensure that we utilise
all the experience of these organisations in getting the campaign
right. An integrated approach is essential in order to maximise
effectiveness and value for money, and in McCann-Erickson we
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believe we have the agency best able to deliver this type of
campaign successfully.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 917
Pathway Response
PATHWAY SOLUTION:
1. The objectives detailed in section 2 of the Programme’s
Marketing and Education Plan 1996 do not cover this requirement.
2. The specific objectives and activities of the campaign will be
agreed as part of the process started on 31 January 1996 with Pat
Dugdale and the BA/POCL Communications Team.
3. Pathway proposes that the objectives are achieved using an
integrated customer education campaign which is based on the
effective layering of a wide range of Public Relations and
Advertising media including:
- TV (National and Regional)
- Radio (National and Regional)
- Ad-shells Posters
- National Press Briefings/Interviews/Press Releases
- Local Press Briefings/Interviews/Press Releases
= National Press Adverts
= Local Press Adverts
- Point of Sale Leaflets and Posters for Post Offices, Benefit
Offices, Doctor’s Surgeries, etc.
- Direct Mail
- Card Merchandise (e.g. plastic wallet to hold card/information
leaflet/receipts)
- Launch Events
4. Pathway is aware that POCL has commissioned a new Advertising
Agency for their next campaign. To avoid the cost and confusion
arising from overlap, clarification is sought between the
boundaries of this requirement and the brief for POCL’s new
Advertising Agency.
5. Detailed costings will be provided as part of the response to
the ITT.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 918
Pathway Response
PATHWAY SOLUTION:
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1. Pathway recognises the importance of a partnership approach to
communications, marketing and education, and we are keen to
establish a close working relationship with the BA/POCL
Communications team who will be managing this activity on behalf
of the AUTHORITIES.
2. The key premise to this partnership is that each partner should
focus on their respective areas of expertise. The synergy of this
approach will result in a campaign which is more effective than
that which could have been managed by either the AUTHORITIES or
Pathway on its own.
3. Pathway recommend that the central core of communications,
marketing and education activities will be managed by McCann-
Erickson (Manchester), who will be responsible for the creative
and delivery elements of all communications, marketing and
education material. They will respond and contribute to the
briefs agreed by the partnership, and be subject to its sign-off.
4. Pathway recognises the strategic need for the partnership to be
responsive to events as they occur, and accordingly we recommend
that the partnership is empowered to a level agreed between the
AUTHORITIES and Pathway.
5. The partnership will need to be comprised of suitable staff
from the BA/POCL Communications Team and Pathway.
6. Pathway recommend that the terms of reference and split of
responsibilities for the partnership are agreed as part of the
process started on 31 January 1996 with Pat Dugdale and the
BA/POCL Communications Team.
7. Detailed costings will be provided as part of the response to
the ITT.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 919
Pathway Response
1. The Programme’s Marketing and Education Plan 1996 makes
reference to reaching recipients using proven channels used by the
sponsors. Clarification is sought of the current methods of
reaching Welsh speaking recipients used by the sponsors.
2. Girobank produces all its product marketing and education
literature in Welsh as well as English. Pathway will leverage the
experience of its share-holder, Girobank, to ensure all Marketing
and Education material is compliant with the Welsh Language Act
1993.
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3. Detailed costings will be provided as part of the response to
the ITT.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 920
Pathway Response
1. Pathway recognise the importance of providing high quality
advice, information, and materials to DSS and SSA staff, POCL
employees, subpostmasters and other agents and their staff.
Accordingly this activity is part of the Pathway Management of
Change Programme.
2. Pathway recognise that such advice, information, and materials
will be required on a number of levels depending on the role of
the DSS and SSA staff, POCL employees, subpostmasters and other
agents and their staff.
3. The detailed planning of this activity will need to be done in
partnership with the BA/POCL Communications Team.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 921
Pathway Response
1. The Pathway solution for OPS will provide a secure timeout
facility for counter PC’s and Back-Office PC’s. This will
comprise a user activated timeout which will enable the user to
clear the screen and leave the terminal for a short (configurable)
period. The user session is reactivated by the user entering
their password. Any applications are left active.
2. The clerk will reactivate their session by entering their
password.
3. The display presented when the timeout facility is activated
will be different to any normal desktop or application screen.
4, Should the clerk who initiated the timeout be unable to re-
activate the facility, the following actions may be taken :-
After a configurable period of time during which there is no
active session it will automatically log-out. A journal message
will be created indicating this.
The postmaster may assume responsibility for any uncompleted
session, the stock unit or share thereof, by entering his own
user name / password.
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Once the terminal has logged-out any authorised user may then
use that terminal.
All the above events will be written to the journal.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 922
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that the acoustic noise emission of any item of
OPS equipment supplied by Pathway will not exceed 60dB(A) measured
at a distance of 1 metre.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 923
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it will agree with the Authorities the User
service acceptance criteria for the operational trial. Acceptance
Criteria for the Operational Trial must be agreed before signature
of contract.
Pathway Comment
Acceptance Criteria must be defined and agreed prior to award of
contract.
Reference No 924
Pathway Response
The Pathway solution maintains within CMS a record of cards in
production, in despatch to an outlet and held at the outlet, prior
to issue and activation. Cards are despatched to outlets in secure
batches, comprising one or more cards, each with a bar coded batch
record including the number of cards within the batch. The bar
code information is scanned into the system at the outlet to
indicate the arrival of a batch and then each card is checked by
“swiping” them through the card reader.
In the event of discrepancy or if a separate reconciliation of the
card stock is required at any time, facilities are provided to
read each unissued card at the outlet and compare the individual
card identities with those recorded on the system as held unissued
at the outlet, providing details of any unmatched cards for
investigation or audit.
Pathway Comment
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None
Reference No 925
Pathway Response
Pathway recognise the two elements to the requirement covering
Operational Trial and Steady State testing, and would respond as
follows to the AUTHORITY’s alphabetic paragraph numbering:
A. The CONTRACTOR shall comply with the AUTHORITY's approach to
and measurement of the operational trial and acceptance testing.
Each operational trial shall cover the three phases as listed
below:
1. A Technical Test that confirms the underlying systems function
correctly.
2. A model office test that simulates the service provision
from end-to-end.
3. A live trial that tests the service with live data and true
users and customers.
Pathway recognise that the second stage (or phase) may start
before the first has finished.
B. The CONTRACTOR shall undertake the technical test, which shall
be overseen by the AUTHORITY, in accordance with the procedures
identified in Control document Ref 011.
Cc. Testing shall continue for the life of the Contract, and the
introduction of any new or amended service shall be the subject of
the three-phase testing strategy outlined above.
D. The CONTRACTOR shall produce all of the deliverable
documentation agreed as part of the testing strategy in accordance
with control document ref 011.
E. The CONTRACTOR shall produce all required test scripts as
requested by the BA/POCL test team. Any unplanned additional
testing requirements identified by the BA/POCL test team which
change the testing schedule shall not give rise to CONTRACTOR
liabilities.
F. The CONTRACTOR shall support the testing taking place in the
POCL Model Office to the extent that this is quantified and
qualified in the control document ref 011.
G. The CONTRACTOR shall install the required hardware,
communications and software and commission the test equipment in
the agreed configuration at the model office. The AUTHORITY shall
not stipulate any test conditions that would require the repeated
replacement of all or part of the configurations supplied by the
CONTRACTOR.
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H. The AUTHORITIES and the CONTRACTOR shall agree the location and
types of outlets for the live trial phase of the operational
trial. It is understood that the initial trial shall take place
in 10 outlets, expanding to 60.
The live trial shall include, but not be limited to:
Training of users
Installation processes
Synchronisation of services
Live data handling from end to end
WN
I. The CONTRACTOR confirms that all new or current products to be
migrated on to the platform must undergo a technical test, a model
office test and a live trial. The parameters for the live trial
phase will be agreed between the AUTHORITIES and the CONTRACTOR.
K. Notwithstanding the conditions of clause G above, for
maintenance and upgrade purposes the CONTRACTOR shall proceed as
agreed in close liaison with the AUTHORITIES during the
Operational Trials phase, and subsequent to that stage, regard the
model office in all practical respects, as an outlet.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 926
Pathway Response
1. Pathway confirms that all rollout plans and changes to the plan
will be agreed with the AUTHORITIES, subject to note (a) below,
but the Authorities shall not unreasonably withhold consent and
shall not in any case withhold consent if so doing would cause
Pathway to fail to meet its obligations under the Contract.
2. Pathway reserve the right to change functionality at its
discretion, subject to maintaining contractual obligations and
service levels.
3. A Change Control procedure shall be defined for the Rollout
programme, which should embrace any expected change to service
aspects.
4. Service Level measurement during rollout will be skewed due to
instability; suspension of rollout based on failure to meet
service levels needs to account for this and the AUTHORITIES
should advise which Service Levels will determine rollout
suspension prior to contract award. See also note (b)
Notes:
(a) Pathway wish to understand the business and operational drivers
that determine the rollout plan(s) to be agreed with the
AUTHORITIES. This is to avoid any nugatory detailed work prior to
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rollout, and to best prepare contingency plans and operational
approach to rollout.
Pathway wish to be clear on the above such that any conflict of
priorities between the contracting AUTHORITIES can be avoided.
(bo) In as much as the AUTHORITIES reserve the right to determine
the strategy and pace of rollout, the affect on service levels,
public and user acceptance cannot be quantified by Pathway until
such time as the strategy has been agreed and evaluated. Pathway
reserve the right to reject an implementation strategy which it
cannot sustain or which would give rise to unacceptable
contractual, operational or financial constraints.
(c) Pathway reserves the right to modify its Prices if the rollout
assumptions that are built into it’s Tender are modified by the
Authorities post Tender.
Pathway Comment
1. The rollout plan is key the Contractor. If the plan is not
established in the requirements prior to ITT then the Contractor
will have to build his own assumptions regarding the rollout
strategy and the financial consequences into his Tender and his
associated business plan. There may be price implications if the
Authorities wish to change those assumptions post Tender.
2. If the Authorities wish to influence the rollout strategy then
the requirements should be expressed prior to ITT.
Reference No 927
Pathway Response
Pathway shall provide sufficient documentation to enable DSS to
understand what happens at a Post Office and what problems
customers are likely to encounter, within 21 days of Contract
Award. A process will be agreed between the CONTRACTOR and
AUTHORITY for updating this information.
Pathway will agree a process with the AUTHORITIES for updating
information in the procedure manuals, forms and leaflets, so the
information will be available, where timescales allow four (4
months before the proposed change.
Pathway Comment
Reference No 928
Pathway Response
Pathway agree to make available copies of the Service Architecture
and Design documentation set in a form to be agreed. Pathway
propose that the release content and date will be determined as
part of the Operational Trials phase.
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Pathway will ensure that all registered copy holders of the
documentation set are supplied with updates and as when published.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 929
Pathway Response
The CONTRACTOR shall ensure that from the start of use of the
Benefit Payment Service it will be possible for an authorised
person to be paid using a card at his/her nominated Post Office.
Procedures will also be in place for the authorised person to be
paid using his/her card at any other automated office and/or in
any of the nominated main Post Offices in Schedule xX, in
accordance with the rules for Foreign Encashments.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 930
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that if the solution requires any activity within
DSS nominated sites then the relevant parts of the Rollout
schedule will be agreed with the DSS. The DSS will not
unreasonably withhold their consent from the Rollout schedule.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 931
Pathway Response
Pathway will provide all specified support services as part of the
Operational Trials, which include "Limited Go Live". It is
expected that the entry and exit criteria for this phase will be
demonstrable adherence to the required service levels.
The support services listed under this requirement will be
generally available during the counter infrastructure rollout,
which is expected to precede card rollout by at least three
months. However, any specific requirements relating to DSS staff
should be explicitly identified beforehand in order that Pathway
can ensure support availability. In particular, Pathway wish to
know the size and locations of all "DSS nominated sites" and the
required service for each position so nominated.
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Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 932
Pathway Response
Pathway will provide all training material and deliver training to
all users of the system to a defined Service Level Agreement (req
915). Availability of course material and other documentation 21
days after contract award is neither necessary nor reasonable,
given that Operational Trials will at that time have only just
started, and are unlikely to affect DSS staff directly.
Any specific training requirements for CAPS training development
staff should be explicit in Req 915 where these are in addition to
Pathway's "train the trainer" event(s).
Updates to documentation and/or training material shall be
identified as part of any new Product/Service Introduction Plan.
Pathway Comment
The timescales set seem to be entirely arbitrary and outside the
context of an overall implementation plan.
Reference No 933
Pathway Response
Pathway understands that it is the AUTHORITY’s intention to
produce the ‘Service Definitions’ and agree the ‘Acceptance
Criteria’ during a 90 day period following Award (i.e. clause
201). In that event, it is difficult to see how the system could
be subject to all stages of the Operational Trial (technical,
model office and live trial) and still be ready to support the
roll-out commencing January 1997. In order to achieve this it
would be necessary to enter the first phase of testing sometime
in April 1996, several months before the end of the 90 day period.
Pathway agrees that it is possible to overlap the 3 phases of
Operational Trial but this overlap must be carefully managed and
would offer limited opportunities for compressing the timescales.
For example, it would not be sensible to commence the Live Trial
phase before the UAT had been formally signed off.
Pathway proposes to implement a ‘Pre-Release’ version of the
system, based on the current understanding of the requirement,
between September and December 1996. It will not contain all of
the functions and features which have been identified.
It will not be possible to modify the functionality of this ‘Pre-
Release’ version to reflect the agreed ‘Service Definition’ and at
the same time achieve these dates. This version will therefore
serve as an illustration of how the service will appear to the
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customer and POCL staff but it would not form the basis for an
acceptance test as defined in the Operational Trial.
Development and testing of Release 1 of the system would proceed
in parallel and the implementation schedule would be agreed
shortly after the end of the ‘Service Definition’ period referred
to in the Contract. However, it is unlikely that the logical
sequence of life cycle stages could be completed before March 1997
and this assumes no major changes to the Pathway solution.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 934
Pathway Response
Business supported across the boundary
Pathway confirms that it will support the following data transfers
originated by CAPS:
Personal details notification. Where this data transfer is an
initial one (Initial or Revised Broadcast =‘I’) Pathway will
facilitate the customer’s use of CMS supported services and use
the customer details supplied. Once accepted on to the CMS
Pathway will ensure that a card (or equivalent token) is always
available to the customer to enable collection of benefit
payments. Where the customer reports his card lost, stolen or
damaged but is in immediate need of funds and unable to wait for
Pathway to replace his card, then BA may issue him with a
temporary token. Pathway will ensure such supplies of temporary
token are available to BA offices. This facility for the customer
to use CMS supported services will continue until “End of customer
interest” is received. But see Pathway comments. For changes to
customer details notified later (Initial or Revised Broadcast
=‘R’) Pathway will use these details in all succeeding CMS
supported services use. Revisions to card-related customer
details will be supplied only via this route and Pathway will
ensure that this is the only route available for changing the
customer details received by CMS. (The only exception is the
change to nominated office which may be changed by requests from
the post office counter as defined in the CAPS to PAS Service
Boundary Requirement and Response (935 qv)). But see Pathway
comments.
End of Customer Interest. Pathway will ensure that a customer
for whom this notification has been issued will be able to make no
further use of CMS supported services. In particular, his card
will be stopped. Any payment authorisation for which this
customer is the only payee will be rejected by PAS. See Pathway
comments.
System and Service responsibility
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Pathway understands that the business responsibilities are to be
as outlined within the definition of each business data transfer
as will be any data transfer specific constraints that shall have
been identified (including specific timing and sequencing
constraints). Pathway would welcome information on these
definitions and constraints if this is available elsewhere than in
these requirements.
Pathway understands that it must provide any staff, premises,
networks (voice/and or data) hardware, software procedures and
training required to deliver these services to the nominated CAPS
hardware platforms. Pathway accepts entire responsibility for
rollout, operation and management of all such equipment. Pathway
does not believe it reasonable that such responsibility, which as
defined extends to the whole PFI, should be subject to DSS
approval outside of service acceptance or to the extent it
involves DSS personnel, agents or facilities.
Pathway undertakes to provide such connection(s) at sites
nominated by DSS which may change over the period of the contract.
Pathway understands that at Version 1 the CAPS hardware platform
will be ICL VME based and will be located in the ACCs currently
operated for the DSS by EDS. But see Pathway comment.
Pathway will seek to agree with the DSS’s operator of the CAPS
services (at Version 1 EDS), subject to DSS approval, the
technical and operational nature of the connection. However, in
the event that agreement cannot be reached Pathway would seek to
agree with the DSS as principal a means of final resolution.
Pathway understands that its service responsibilities extend to:
transport of CAPS-created data transfers and associated
information (e.g. reference data) from the CAPS Service to its own
services (CMS and PAS) along with all subsequent processing. This
to normally include detecting the availability of such data
transfers and data on the CAPS services. In the case of file
transfer data transfers Pathway interprets this to mean that
Pathway will normally “pull” files to itself and “push” files
from itself. In the case of transactional interfaces Pathway
believes a different description of responsibilities will be
required.
provision of all responses to such transactions (e.g.
acknowledgements) along with delivery to the CAPS service and
notification of their availability. This is interpreted as
including the “pushing” of files back to CAPS. No such files are
specified for CMS at this time.
Pathway acknowledges that it is solely responsible for all
activities required to discharge its own responsibilities. There
are responsibilities of DSS and its agents described above and
listed below. Pathway will ensure the integrity, security
auditability and maintenance of a full audit trail of all data
transfers and data as it is transmitted and processed by Pathway.
Pathway Comment
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In preparing this response reference has been made to the CAPS to
PAS/CMS Interface Definitions Version 4, 8 November 1995.
The term “transactions” is used in the requirement. Pathway
understands that initially all transfers will be file based and
anticipates that in the future both file and true transactional
interfaces will be used. The term “data transfers” has been
substituted.
All Customers will be referred to throughout BPS by their NINO if
this is available. For certain customers (casual agents) no NINO
may be available.
Attention is drawn to Requirement 716 and the associated Pathway
response. This requirement is for an operation termed card
cancellation. Pathway has proposed alternative semantics to “End
of Customer Interest” to handle both the case where a card holder
will not foreseeably require a card as in the case of death or
emigration, and that where he is not likely to receive benefit for
some time, but may do so in the relatively near future. These
proposals were discussed and developed during the BPS stream
meetings.
The systems for change of nominated post office, if they are to
replace the broad functionality of the P80MA procedure, also
handle the change of customer address, also held on the customer
details record in CMS. Pathway’s solution provides for this. If
this is not required Pathway will remove this facility. In this
event supplementary verification checks on address details will
then use the address field as held until a new address is notified
by CAPS.
Pathway has understood that the CAPS facility would be based at
one DSS site, probably with a backup at another site and has
provided descriptions of the CAPS gateway and associated
communications facilities on this basis. Pathway understands the
terms of this requirement to entail four such CAPS sites. Pathway
seeks urgent clarification of this aspect of the requirement.
Pathway believes that it is in the best interests of the project
that clear responsibility is taken for the payment authorisation
data whilst in transit between CAPS and Pathway systems, and that
this is best served by locating a Pathway CAPS Gateway function on
DSS premises together with Pathway staff who can deal directly
with the DSS’s agent’s staff. However, the requirement to
maintain four such geographically dispersed gateways greatly
increases the costs and operational complexity.
Pathway seeks clarification as to the method of delivery of PAS
related BPS MIS files required (Requirement 729). If these use
the CAPS link(s) then this requirement will require revision.
Pathway recommends the following as a consistent descriptive basis
for normal, non-counterfeit card statuses. Ordinary cards in the
inactive and active states can also be suspended or unsuspended.
Cases which apply to ordinary cards are underlined. Cases which
apply to temporary tokens are in italics.
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Inactive
Uncollected Yet to be activated, in transit or at post
office
Unissued Yet to be issued by benefit office
Lost Did not arrive by due time
Stolen Stolen from post office or benefit office
Damaged Could not be activated/issued
Returned Was not activate/issued by due date and
returned
Active
In use Activated, the normal state
Stopped With reasons
- reported lost
- reported stolen
- reported damaged
- customer denied use
Dormant Notified no further interest
Shot Used temporary token
Cancelled
Dormant card not replaced when otherwise due
The following “glossary” defines words which have been used from
time to time in this context:
Invalidated = Stopped. A stopped card or temporary token cannot
be unstopped, just replaced.
Terminated = Cancelled.
Reference No 935
Pathway Response
Business supported across the boundary
Pathway confirms that it will support the following data transfers
originated by CAPS:
Authorised Payments for encashment by Customers at post offices
using a card-based method of payment.
Payment Stops for stopping authorised payments prior to
encashment.
Payment Enquiries for permitting DSS to check up to date status
of payments
Customer Details notification. If this data transfer is an
initial one (Initial or Revised Broadcast =‘I’) Pathway will
facilitate the customer’s use of PAS supported services and use
the customer details supplied. For changes to customer details
notified later (Initial or Revised Broadcast =‘R’) Pathway will
use these details in all succeeding PAS supported services use.
Revisions to payment-related customer details will be supplied
only via this route and Pathway will ensure that this is the only
route available for changing the customer details received by PAS.
(The only exception is the change to nominated office which may be
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changed by requests from the post office counter. But see
Pathway comments.
End of Customer Interest. Pathway will ensure that a customer
for whom this notification has been issued will be able to make no
further use of or be referred to in PAS supported services. Any
payment authorisation for which this customer is the only payee
will be rejected by PAS.
Pathway confirms that it will support the following data transfers
originated by PAS:
Payment Expiries for notifying that payments have not been
encashed by the date of their expiry.
Payments Encashments for notifying encashment by a Payee or
casual agent
Restricted Post Office Infringements for notifying attempts to
encash at a foreign office where these are prohibited.
Change of Nominated Post Office for notifying requested changes
of nominated post office by a card holder. See Pathway comment.
N.B. There are other data transfers originated by PAS specified
in the CAPS specification but not listed by this requirement. They
are:
Stop Payments Confirmations (implied by above)
Card Alerts
Payment Enquiry Responses (implied by above)
Customer Statement Requests
System and Service responsibility
Pathway understands that the business responsibilities are to be
as outlined within the definition of each business data transfer
as will be any data transfer specific constraints that shall have
been identified (including specific timing and sequencing
constraints). Pathway would welcome information on these
definitions and constraints if this is available elsewhere than in
these requirements.
Pathway understands that it must provide any staff, premises,
networks (voice/and or data) hardware, software procedures and
training required to deliver these services to the nominated CAPS
hardware platforms. Pathway accepts entire responsibility for
rollout, operation and management of all such equipment. Pathway
does not believe it reasonable that such responsibility, which as
defined extends to the whole PFI, should be subject to DSS
approval outside of service acceptance or to the extent it
involves DSS personnel, agents or facilities.
Pathway undertakes to provide such connection(s) at sites
nominated by DSS which may change over the period of the contract.
Pathway understands that at Version 1 the CAPS hardware platform
will be ICL VME based and will be located in the ACCs currently
operated for the DSS by EDS. But see Pathway comment.
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Pathway will seek to agree with the DSS’s operator of the CAPS
services (at Version 1 EDS), subject to DSS approval, the
technical and operational nature of the connection. However, in
the event that agreement cannot be reached Pathway would seek to
agree with the DSS as principal a means of final resolution.
Pathway understands that its service responsibilities extends
to:
transport of CAPS-created data transfers and associated
information (e.g. reference data) from the CAPS Service to its own
services (CMS and PAS) along with all subsequent processing. This
to normally include detecting the availability of such data
transfers and data on the CAPS services. In the case of file
transfer data transfers Pathway interprets this to mean that
Pathway will normally “pull” files to itself and “push” files
from itself. In the case of transactional interfaces Pathway
believes a different description of responsibilities will be
required.
provision of all responses to such transactions (e.g.
acknowledgements) along with delivery to the CAPS service and
notification of their availability. This is interpreted as
including the “pushing” of files back to CAPS.
transport of PAS-created data transfers and associated
information from PAS to the CAPS service and notification of its
availability. In the case of file transfer data transfers Pathway
interprets this to mean that Pathway will normally “push” files
from itself. In the case of transactional interfaces Pathway
believes a different description of responsibilities will be
required.
detection of responses to PAS-created data transfers by CAPS and
transport of these to its own services along with subsequent
processing. In the case of file transfer data transfers Pathway
interprets this to mean that Pathway will normally “pull” files to
itself. In the case of transactional interfaces Pathway believes
a different description of responsibilities will be required.
Pathway acknowledges that it is solely responsible for all
activities required to discharge its own responsibilities. There
are responsibilities of DSS and its agents described above and
listed below. Pathway will ensure the integrity, security,
auditability and maintenance of a full audit trail of all data
transfers and data as it is transmitted and processed by Pathway.
Pathway Comment
In preparing this response reference has been made to the CAPS to
PAS/CMS Interface Definitions Version 4, 8 November 1995.
The term “transactions” is used in the requirement. Pathway
understands that initially all transfers will be file based and
anticipates that in the future both file and true transactional
interfaces will be used. The term “data transfers” has been
substituted.
All Customers will be referred to throughout BPS by their NINO if
this is available. For certain customers (casual agents) no NINO
may be available.
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The systems for change of nominated post office, if they are to
replace the broad functionality of the P80MA procedure, also
handle the change of customer address, also held on the customer
details record in CMS. Pathway’s solution provides for this. If
this is not required Pathway will remove this facility. In this
event supplementary verification checks on address details will
then use the address field as held until a new address is notified
by CAPS. For these records the requirement uses the term “must”
the CAPS specification uses the term “may”.
For RPOI records the requirement uses the term “must” the CAPS
specification uses the term “may”.
There are four types of PAS to CAPS data transfers not listed by
this requirement. Pathway seeks to confirm they are part of the
requirement.
Pathway has understood that the CAPS facility would be based at
one DSS site, probably with a backup at another site and has
provided descriptions of the CAPS gateway and associated
communications facilities on this basis. Pathway understands the
terms of this requirement to entail four such CAPS sites. Pathway
seeks urgent clarification of this aspect of the requirement.
Pathway believes that it is in the best interests of the project
that clear responsibility is taken for the payment authorisation
data whilst in transit between CAPS and Pathway systems, and that
this is best served by locating a Pathway CAPS Gateway function on
DSS premises together with Pathway staff who can deal directly
with the DSS and its agent’s staff. However, the requirement to
maintain four such geographically dispersed gateways greatly
increases the costs and operational complexity.
The requirement to generate payments based upon the Next Payment
Predicted Amount, the subject of Requirement 830 is not cross
referenced here. This requirement will require an explicit liceat
by DSS, or possibly their agents, to be given to Pathway. Very
secure arrangements for this liceat will be required.
Pathway seeks clarification as to the method of delivery of PAS
related BPS MIS files required (Requirement 729). If these use
the CAPS link(s) then this requirement will require revision.
Reference No 936
Pathway Response
Pathway endorses the BA/POCL definition of “customer” and “card”.
Pathway will use Temporary Tokens in co-operation with BA and POCL
only to facilitate emergency payment processes to customers known
to the system but who have no card and are in immediate need of
funds. A detailed statement of Pathway’s proposals for the use
of temporary tokens is contained in the BPS Stream Meeting papers,
the last of which is dated 8 January 1996
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Business supported across the boundary
Pathway will support the following business transactions across
the boundary:
Throughout its dealings with customers Pathway will treat
customers of all types and stations in life with courtesy and
respect displaying a positive and unflagging service and customer
care ethos.
Pathway initiated transactions:
Customer education - Pathway will provide information of such
kinds and in such manners as will enable customers to understand
what CMS and CMS-related facilities are available to them and how
they may use such facilities. Such information will be provided
both proactively by way of explicit promotion and as an automatic
adjunct to the provision of service. In addition the customer
will be able to request information. In particular Pathway will
conform to the requirements of the Welsh Language Act. Attention
is drawn to the response to requirement 735 and the development
with the BA/POCL Communications Team of the Customer Education
plan
Specific examples are:
bas Integrated media campaigns - to introduce the services and
major developments of them and sustain the services over time.
bas A Pathway welcome pack - available to all customers with their
notice of entitlement. Pathway recommends consideration of a
concise booklet providing a comprehensive and up to date
description of the services available in terms that are accessible
to the whole range of customers, perhaps prepared in the 13
languages in which BA operate, or such languages as may be
required from time to time, and distributed geographically as
required by the by the Welsh Language Act or such other
linguistic-geographic requirements of law or custom and practice.
* The PUN communication - besides the information to effect
card activation the PUN pack will contain information about how to
defer collection of the card, an initial mandate form to help
customers who are unable to the attend the post office to collect
their benefit, and information about how to appoint permanent
agents (see requirement response 749).
* The card itself - Pathway will cooperate with BA to make the
card as informative as possible consistent with the plastics
technology. The card will carry the telephone number of the CMS
Help Desk through which a customer can be helped to any point in
the service provision.
ial The receipt/mandate/temporary token stationery - this will be
of a uniform image and will contain information of a “yellow
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pages” variety on the reverse side of the copy retained by the
customer.
* Point of service material, leaflets, posters, etc. - these will
be distributed via post offices and benefit offices, for which
Pathway will need BA and POCL co-operation. These will be used to
inform customers of temporary or immediate variations in the
service provision, for example, the arrangements for payment
availability dates over Christmas.
* Customer service action point - Pathway will operate a
customer-oriented information point for enquiries received by
surface mail, facsimile and electronic mail and those recorded at
the CMS Help Desk and passed on.
Card issue - Pathway will ensure that a customer who is a valid
user of CMS services has available to him a card, as defined,
whenever required for benefit payment. There are of, course,
practical limitations to such availability which are beyond
Pathway’s immediate control, as in the case of a customer losing
his ordinary benefit card, having it stolen or damaged. In such
cases Pathway will operate a clear procedure for its replacement
and in co-operation with BA and POCL, its substitution by a
temporary token in the event an emergency payment process is
required. Pathway will equip the customer with an ordinary
benefit card by means of a process based upon card activation at
the nominated post office in logical exchange for a Pick Up Notice
delivered to his address for correspondence. Pathway will monitor
this process such that the security of the system is assured, and
customer service requirements are met. Attention is drawn to the
Pathway BPS Security Proposal 21 December 1995, risk response 78
and requirement responses 749 and 750. Ordinary benefit cards
will be issued in the following circumstances (temporary tokens
are dealt with above):
* Initial issue of card
% Replacement of card as a result of loss, theft, damage,
destruction, including cases where the card becomes unserviceable
in ordinary use
* Renewal of card towards the end of its allotted service
lifetime. As a matter of process Pathway will operate on the
basis that a new card when activated causes the automatic stop of
an old card, thus ensuring maximum logical compatibility of data
and actions and sustaining the fundamental principle that a
customer can hold only one active card at a time.
* Replacement of card due to revision of personal details as
passed from CAPS to CMS wherever they affect what is on the card,
both the printed information, electronic data and card livery.
* Collection of PUN from a benefit office where DSS notifies
Pathway that the customer has no fixed abode or the address is
unknown or assessed as unreliable for correspondence.
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Pathway will support the following business transactions across
the boundary initiated by the customer:
Customer enquiries - Pathway will provide a CMS Help Desk
facility available 24 hours a day, and every day of the year
except Christmas day, available by telephone at local call rates
to all customers. The operating standards of this help desk are
such that answering calls will be prompt, enquiries will be
handled expeditiously and information will be complete and up to
date. Attention is drawn to requirement response 889. Pathway
confirms that the service will provide for the enquiry types
designated as a minimum:
* The use of all CMS supported services available to customer.
In addition the Help Desk facility will convey information about
those services which are CMS-related, for example applicability
within the Benefit Encashment Service (“Can I use my card at a
post office different from my nominated one, or do I need a
another card?”)
% If and by what means the customer should expect to acquire a
card. The Pathway solution eliminates the direct and collusive
hazards of delivering ordinary benefit cards to customers’
addresses and provides for their collection only by the customer
in person at nominated post offices and their witnessed
activation. Practical procedures have been developed to handle
cases where a customer cannot unexpectedly attend the post office
to collect his card. The CMS Help Desk will direct a customer who
is apparently in need of funds but for whatever reason does not
have a card to the BA office to apply for temporary token based
emergency payment.
* The status, type and expected availability of any card the
customer is expecting but has not yet acquired. The CMS Help Desk
will have access to up to date information about the posting of
PUNs, and, for ordinary benefit cards, the ordering from
production, despatch, and predicted and actual acknowledgement of
arrival at the nominated post office.
* The CMS Help Desk will hold information about a customer’s
currently active card. The Pathway solution provides that a
customer has only one active ordinary benefit card at any point in
time which is usable for all benefit types and encashment
situations (excepting those involving temporary tokens). The
Pathway solution is therefore extremely simple to understand and
use: a customer has one active card at a time. Activating a new
card automatically stops the old card if there was one. An active
card is valid for any authorised payment collection.
& The CMS Help Desk will hold information about a customer’s
previous cards. This information will include the reason for
stopping or suspending the card. Pathway proposes that it retains
such information for a minimum period of five years or two cards
for a customer whichever produces the greater period of time.
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Customer reports - Pathway will provide as part of its CMS Help
Desk facility the means by which customers can report events
relating to cards. Pathway will handle the subsequent processing
and recovery actions required to ensure the customer can collect
whatever payments are due to him. Such actions may be undertaken
not only by Pathway or Pathway subcontractors, notably POCL, but
also in co-operation with BA where the circumstances cause matters
of entitlement, or collection rights to be administered. Such
reports include:
% Where the PUN has not been received.
= Where the PUN has been lost, stolen or damaged.
bs Where a valid ordinary benefit card is not available for
collection although the PUN has been received. Pathway will
ensure that the customer has access only to one active card at any
point in time if, indeed, he is entitled to such access.
* Where the customer reports his ordinary benefit card lost,
stolen or damaged. Pathway will immediately stop this card and
order a replacement PUN and card. (Note that in certain
circumstances, Pathway will automatically report a card lost; in
certain other cases circumstances will dictate that it is the BA
member of staff who will report the card lost, stolen or damaged.
For examples please see previous references, requirement response
750 and Stream Paper 8 January 1996 in respect of temporary
tokens.)
Common facilities - Pathway will provide the facilities of a
full specification modern help desk at this interface. These
will include:
* The ability to trace a customer by his NINO or PAN (the
numericised transformation of his NINO on his ordinary benefit
card), his style or title, name, address and date of birth. All
of this information is expected to be available to Pathway from
CAPS and therefore represents no additional tasks or costs to DSS.
* In all cases the customer will be asked certain verification
questions to establish his bona fides. These question will be
based on ordered information from name, first line of address,
postcode and date of birth.
* Applying agreed access criteria. Pathway recognises that this
is a difficult area. In general Pathway will not accept proxy
reports to lead to card stops and specifically that spouses or
partners may not provide reports on each others’ access to CMS
services. However, based upon its experience of both card
management and the benefit community, Pathway is mindful that this
principle cannot be applied without reference to practical
circumstances.
a For example, it is not uncommon for a member of the public to
report a found card. Even though Pathway recommends the card be
printed with an instruction for the finder to hand the card in at
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a benefit office or police station, nevertheless the finder may
simply report it found as this is more convenient to him.
Pathway recommends that a found card be defined as a lost card and
stopped and that, normally, a reorder cycle initiated. The
information supporting the lost report will be the given identity
of the member of the public, police officer via establish police
liaison procedures, member of BA or PO staff. Pathway will also
make a reasonable attempt to contact the cardholder by letter (the
text of which will be agreed between BA and Pathway) to warn them
of the loss and reorder.
a In certain circumstances a found PUN report will indicate that a
card reorder cycle would be nugatory, as in the case of a PUN
found on newly occupied premises with the original customer gone
away. In such a case Pathway will notify BA of a possible need to
update a customer address.
a Pathway also recognises that it may not be possible to conduct
an effective report sequence with a customer, for example because
of a speech or psychological impairment. In such cases Pathway
recommends that a proxy giving their identity and the
circumstances, if possible confirmed by the customer, should be
accepted and a stop-reorder cycle initiated. Pathway will also
test the bona fides of such a proxy if they are also a customer.
Pathway anticipates they will often be a postmaster or clerk or BA
member of staff.
a Clearly these relatively infrequent exception cases represent
opportunities for those with malicious intent but on balance the
value of such facilities outweighs the consequences of occasional
abuse, and in nearly all circumstances the result is a stop and
reorder sequence which is essentially safe in security terms and
supportive of the customer.
Pathway seeks BA/POCL agreement to this principle and such
exceptions.
System and Service responsibility - Pathway accepts that the
delivery of the Card Management functions described above are
Pathway’s responsibility. Pathway draws the attention of DSS to
those circumstances in which issues of entitlement or access to
authorised payments are involved or where Pathway or POCL should
refer a customer to the benefit office. Pathway confirms that:
* It will promote the use of its services, as distinct from any
unnecessary reliance on DSS actions, for delivering the CMS
related services.
* It proceeds on the principle of minimum impact on the
operations of DSS in the delivery of the CMS.
* It will use the existing DSS office equipment and
infrastructure where applicable and will make reasonable
adaptation to its own systems to accommodate planned changes in
that infrastructure.
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* Its solution does not of itself entail the rollout of any
additional equipment or changes to existing to DSS offices.
* It will facilitate the use by BA staff directly of the same
business transactions as are defined as customer initiated ones,
varied according to such changed context, during the times of day
when BA offices are open to callers. Pathway confirms that in its
dealings with customers it will minimise the use of such
facilities by BA as is consistent with cost-effectiveness and the
legitimate limitations to Pathway’s role.
ial Its procedures will involve the use of DSS staff and facilities
in CMS provision only to the extent that there are no other cost
effective solutions available. In the specific case of the issue
of temporary tokens, Pathway confirms that it seeks the co-
operation of BA staff in handling these in the manner described in
the already referenced document. Pathway draws the attention of
BA/POCL to the exceptional economy of use of temporary tokens
inherent in its solution and the BA-friendly and customer-friendly
manner of its operation, where every care has been taken to
eliminate labour-intensive and unnecessary steps such as existing
payment deletions, payment aggregations or customer journeys.
* It has proceeded on the principle of minimising within its
solution the DSS costs associated with CMS provision per se and
wherever possible by minimising the ordinary costs of DSS in
handling entitlement and collection rights of access.
x It acknowledges that it is solely responsible for all its own
activities and that it will supply the services within the CMS to
enable such activities. Pathway has endeavoured in this response
and in referenced documents to define where it seeks the co-
operation of DSS and POCL as principals (as distinct from as
subcontractors) .
* Its systems are efficient in terms of the time taken for card
collection and activation and for acquisition of supporting
material.
% Its systems do not place other additional burdens on the
customer, and in particular do not require a customer to make long
distance telephone calls (the CMS Help Desk is contactable at
local call rates) or unnecessary journeys (the emergency payment
procedures cannot constrain a customer to make a journey to a home
post office).
Provisions to deliver the service - Pathway affirms that:
* It will provide any staff, premises, networks (voice and data),
hardware, software, procedures and training (except as my be
agreed to the contrary) over and above those of the DSS office
staff, equipment and infrastructure.
* It will so provide over and above those of the POCL staff.
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* It is entirely responsible for the rollout and management of
the equipment. Operation of the equipment is the responsibility
of Pathway in the case of the central services and the like, and
of POCL in the case of the counter equipment. Pathway expects
that POCL will operate the equipment in accordance with agreed
procedures for, e.g. consumables replacement, first line incident
diagnosis.
* It will deliver the CMS to all DSS customers and via all DSS
locations to be nominated by DSS. Pathway will provide
connections to all such nominated sites DSS sites which may be
anywhere within the United Kingdom and recognises that these may
change both in number and location over the period of the
contract. Pathway will require reasonable notice of such changes
and will vary its charges as a result of such changes.
* It has noted that at Version 1 connections to some 2000 DSS and
ES offices are expected and that this figure may vary
significantly before full implementation as well as subsequently.
% For services involving DSS staff directly it will be
responsible for collecting the information from the DSS clerk, all
subsequent processing relating to the preparation of the response
for the clerk and the presentation of the information back to the
clerk.
Pathway acknowledges that it is solely responsible for all
activities required to discharge its own responsibilities. There
are responsibilities of DSS and POCL and their agents described
above and listed below. Pathway will ensure the integrity
security, auditability and maintenance of a full audit trail of
all data transfers and data as it is transmitted and processed by
Pathway.
Pathway Comment
At several points the requirement is written in terms which
indicate that delivery of the card should be directly to the
customer. Pathway emphasises that its solution does not use such
a method. Indeed Pathway believes that such methods of card
distribution are inappropriate and would have to rely on most
insecure processes if they were not to be unjustifiably costly.
In 1.2 second bullet the requirement refers to BPS rather than
CMS. The response is in terms of CMS.
1.3 third bullet. Pathway anticipates that DSS will produce
transactional facilities for use at BA offices which will provide
computer-based access to CMS facilities, and notes that the
connections over which these may be provided will be established
at Version 1. Pathway confirms that DSS systems will be
accommodated in its solution and recommends that such transactions
be interfaced to Pathway via the CAPS link. Pathway has no
particular information as to whether these facilities will entail
DSS in extra equipment (e.g. enlarging PC stores). Until such
facilities are available Pathway will provide access to CMS via
its help desk for queries and the like.
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Pathway seeks information as to the nature of the connections to
be established at Version 1 and the business transfers to be
carried over them. In particular the standards to be used for
connecting voice networks and whether data connections will be
taken through the CAPS link.
Provision to deliver the service: certain of the facilities are
located in post offices, e.g. for card activation and the wording
here is intended to cover those resources which are or are not
defined as part of the Pathway provision.
Pathway seeks to confirm that Temporary Token data is, or is not,
required as part of historical card data.
Pathway seeks confirmation of the required period over which
historical card data is to be maintained, particular whether the
recommended card information retention policy described above will
be satisfactory.
Pathway seeks confirmation of the degree of detail for anticipated
future card status changes and the treatment of future times
within date..
Pathway seeks to confirm that card history data for customers
whose data has been time-expired after “end of interest” is not to
be retained.
It may be that BA will prefer that the customer not be told that a
card was stopped or suspended by BA.
Reference No 937
Pathway Response
Pathway endorses the BA/POCL definition of “customer” and “card”.
Pathway will use Temporary Tokens in co-operation with BA and POCL
only to facilitate emergency payment processes to customers known
to the system but who have no card and are in immediate need of
funds. A detailed statement of Pathway’s proposals for the use
of temporary tokens is contained in the BPS Stream Meeting papers,
the last of which is dated 8 January 1996
Business supported across the boundary
Pathway will support the following business transactions across
the boundary:
DSS staff initiated business transactions:
DSS Staff enquiries - Pathway will provide a CMS Help Desk
whereby all authorised DSS staff are able to enquire on all
aspects of the Card Management Service. Responses will be
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expeditious and information will be complete and up to date.
Attention is drawn to requirement response 889. Pathway confirms
that the service will provide for the enquiry types designated as
a minimum:
% The use of all CMS supported services available to customer.
In addition the Help Desk facility will convey information about
those services which are CMS-related, for example applicability
within the Benefit Encashment Service.
& For a particular customer, the current status of all cards
related to him (i.e. those cards that Pathway intends to provide
for him or has ever provided to this customer, regardless of
whether the customer has received them or not). For each such
card Pathway will maintain available a full history of all
relevant status changes, together with likely dates and times of
any future status changes (e.g. when a card in production is
likely to be available for collection, when a currently valid card
is due to expire).
& For a particular card, who is, or was or will be card holder
together with the status change history and anticipated future as
described above.
DSS Staff reports - Pathway will provide facilities whereby DSS
staff can report various events relating to the Card Management
Service. Having accepted such reports Pathway will assume
responsibility for all subsequent processing and recovery actions
required to ensure the customer can have continuous and
uninterrupted access to CMS supported services. Such actions may
be undertaken not only by Pathway or Pathway subcontractors,
notably POCL, but also in co-operation with BA where the
circumstances cause matters of entitlement, or collection rights
to be administered. Such reports include:
* Non-receipt of PUN.
% Where the PUN has been lost, stolen or damaged.
* Where a valid ordinary benefit card is not available for
collection although the PUN has been received. Pathway will
ensure that the customer has access only to one active card at any
point in time if, indeed, he is entitled to such access.
* Where DSS staff reports a customer’s ordinary benefit card
lost, stolen or damaged. Pathway will immediately stop this card
and, unless notified to the contrary, order a replacement PUN and
card.
Common facilities - Pathway will provide the facilities of a
full specification modern help desk at this interface and offers
the means by which transactional facilities from BA offices can
reach the CMS database. These will include:
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* Implementation of agreed procedures and facilities to establish
the identity of the DSS clerk and to ensure that he has security
clearance to use the service.
= Applying agreed access restrictions to particular functions and
data. Pathway will agree role management for DSS staff with DSS.
Pathway initiated business transactions
Pathway will liaise with benefit offices as required.
* Pathway does not anticipate any specific business transactions
to support either Emergency Payments or Temporary Tokens.
bl Pathway will notify BA offices of apparently out of date or
incorrect customer details.
System and Service responsibility - Pathway accepts that the
delivery of the Card Management functions described above are
Pathway’s responsibility. Pathway draws the attention of DSS to
those circumstances in which issues of entitlement or access to
authorised payments are involved or where Pathway or POCL should
refer a customer to the benefit office. Pathway confirms that:
bal It will promote the use of its services by DSS customers, as
distinct from any unnecessary reliance on DSS actions, for
delivering the CMS related services.
= It proceeds on the principle of minimum impact on the
operations of DSS in the delivery of the CMS.
* It will use the existing DSS office equipment and
infrastructure where applicable and will make reasonable
adaptation to its own systems to accommodate planned changes in
that infrastructure.
& Its solution does not of itself entail the rollout of any
additional equipment or changes to existing DSS offices.
* Its procedures will involve the use of DSS staff and facilities
in CMS provision only to the extent that there are no other cost
effective solutions available. In the specific case of the issue
of temporary tokens, Pathway confirms that it seeks the co-
operation of BA staff in handling these in the manner described in
the already referenced document. Pathway draws the attention of
BA/POCL to the exceptional economy of use of temporary tokens
inherent in its solution and the BA-friendly manner of its
operation, where every care has been taken to eliminate labour-
intensive and unnecessary steps such as existing payment deletions
or payment aggregations.
ial It has proceeded on the principle of minimising within its
solution the DSS costs associated with CMS provision per se and
wherever possible by minimising the ordinary costs of DSS in
handling entitlement and collection rights of access.
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Provisions to deliver the service - Pathway affirms that:
% It will provide any staff, premises, networks (voice and data),
hardware, software, procedures and training (except as my be
agreed to the contrary) over and above those of the DSS office
staff, equipment and infrastructure.
* It will so provide over and above those of the POCL staff.
% It is entirely responsible for the rollout and management of
the equipment. Operation of the equipment is the responsibility
of Pathway in the case of the central services and the like, and
of POCL in the case of the counter equipment. Pathway expects
that POCL will operate the equipment in accordance with agreed
procedures for, e.g. consumables replacement, first line incident
diagnosis.
% It will deliver the CMS via all DSS locations to be nominated
by DSS. Pathway will provide connections to all such nominated
DSS sites which may be anywhere within the United Kingdom and
recognises that these may change both in number and location over
the period of the contract. Pathway will require reasonable
notice of such changes and will vary its charges as a result of
such changes.
= It has noted that at Version 1 connections to some 2000 DSS and
ES offices are expected and that this figure may vary
significantly before full implementation as well as subsequently.
* For services involving DSS staff directly it will be
responsible for collecting the information from the DSS clerk, all
subsequent processing relating to the preparation of the response
for the clerk and the presentation of the information back to the
clerk.
Pathway acknowledges that it is solely responsible for all
activities required to discharge its own responsibilities. There
are responsibilities of DSS and POCL and their agents described
above and listed below. Pathway will ensure the integrity
security, auditability and maintenance of a full audit trail of
all data transfers and data as it is transmitted and processed by
Pathway.
Pathway Comment
The response relating to DSS Staff Enquiries is formulated in
terms of CMS Help Desk facilities because Pathway understands that
is the main thrust of the initial requirement. However
transactional based enquiries are not excluded by Pathway.
Pathway seeks to confirm that Temporary Token data is ,or is not,
required as part of historical card data.
Pathway seeks confirmation of the required period over which
historical card data is to be maintained, particular whether the
recommended card information retention policy described in
requirement response 936 will be satisfactory.
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Pathway seeks confirmation of the degree of detail for anticipated
future card status changes and the treatment of future times
within date..
Pathway seeks to confirm that card history data for customers
whose data has been time-expired after “end of interest” is not to
be retained.
Pathway does not understand the reference to Urgent Payment
collection in the context of a transitional arrangement involving
a data or voice transfer from CMS to a benefit office. There also
appears to be no reference to this subject in requirement 935 as
cross referenced. Pathway’s proposals for the administration of
Emergency Payments is contained in the BPS Stream Paper of 8
January 1996 and entails the distribution of a class of payment
authorisation from CAPS to PAS.
Pathway cannot identify for certain the forward reference “(see
below for restrictions on such proposals)”.
Pathway anticipates that DSS will produce transactional facilities
for use at BA offices which will provide computer-based access to
CMS facilities, and notes that the connections over which these
may be provided will be established at Version 1. Pathway
confirms that DSS systems will be accommodated in its solution and
recommends that such transactions be interfaced to Pathway via the
CAPS link. Pathway has no particular information as to whether
these facilities will entail DSS in extra equipment (e.g.
enlarging PC stores). Until such facilities are available Pathway
will provide access to CMS via its help desk for queries and the
like.
Pathway seeks information as to the nature of the connections to
be established at Version 1 and the business transfers to be
carried over them, in particular the standards to be used for
connecting voice networks and whether data connections will be
taken through the CAPS link.
Provision to deliver the service: certain of the facilities are
located in post offices, e.g. for card activation and the wording
here is intended to cover those resources which are or are not
defined as part of the Pathway provision.
Reference No 938
Pathway Response
Business supported across the boundary
Pathway affirms that it will provide access to DSS to information
which is subject to the Data Protection Act 1984 (DPA) and will
cooperate with DSS in defining the functional requirements for
this.
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Pathway notes the categories of data which may figure in such
functional requirements and recommends that modification of
extensions to, or wider circulation of, the data collected and
analysed in the BPS MIS Reports be considered.
Pathway responsibilities
Pathway will be responsible for:
Providing a detailed functional specification for approval by
DSS prior to implementing any services which are subject to the
DPA.
Providing those services to support the functional requirements.
Ensuring that any information supplied under the DPA is accurate
and providing assurances to that effect.
Delivering any information requested under the DPA to the
requesting body, person or DSS as appropriate.
Service requirements
Pathway will:
Comply with changes in the DPA, or related EC laws, or
recommendations having the force of law.
In particular, record all written requests for a data protection
print from a customer, authorised representative, or DSS within
forty (40) days of receipt of such request and deal with queries
raised within a timescale to be agreed with the Authorities.
Make available for authorised inspection all information
provided under the DPA.
Retain records of requests and responses made under the DPA
according to requirements of the DPA.
Pathway Comment
Although this has been drafted as a requirement principally of
DSS, Pathway believes that POCL will have requirements of a
similar nature. Attention is drawn to section 4.2.4.6 of the SSR.
Reference No 939
Pathway Response
Business supported across the boundary
Pathway will provide access to Management Information. Pathway
anticipates this information will be as specified in the
requirements document BPS MIS Requirements Catalogue Version 1, 2
November 1995, and as described in the Pathway Response BPS/Sec/8:
21 December 1995,
Pathway responsibilities
Pathway will be responsible for:
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Providing a detailed functional specification for approval by
DSS prior to the commencement of collection and reporting of the
MIS required.
Providing all the services necessary to support the provision of
the information requested within the BPS MIS Catalogue and as
agreed
Ensuring that the contents of the Management Information reports
are accurate and providing assurances as to, or appropriate
requests for confirmation of, the integrity of the reports.
Delivering Management Information reports within an agreed
period following the required completion of the information
collection and for filtering the limited reports to a number of
central DSS services for further processing.
Service requirements
Pathway will agree the formats in which the MIS reports will be
produced. Pathway anticipates some reports will be conveyed in
electronic form as file transfers and a general format, suitable
for display or listing by DSS utilities, may be appropriate.
Other reports may be printed by Pathway and despatched directly to
the recipient.
The Management Information will be retained for agreed periods.
Pathway Comment
Within the BPS MIS Requirements Catalogue are several
“portmanteau” report requirements concerning which Pathway seeks
detailed definition.
Pathway seeks a better understanding of the process of filtering
the limited reports to DSS services.
The physical delivery arrangements for these reports requires
definition. Where possible Pathway would seek to use the CAPS
link to transfer report files electronically.
Pathway does not understand the reference to retention consistent
with the Companies Acts.
Reference No 940
Pathway Response
Business supported across the boundary
Pathway will provide access to and retrieval of the Receipt
retained as part of the Benefit Encashment Service. Pathway notes
the nature of the purposes for which Receipts will be retained and
accessed. Pathway recommends that this requirement be explicitly
extended in scope for the Pathway solution to PUN receipts,
temporary tokens, and mandates (which become receipts).
Pathway Responsibilities
Pathway will be responsible for:
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Providing a detailed functional specification for approval by
DSS prior to implementing any such service.
Providing all the services necessary to support the retrieval of
receipts as requested by the DSS.
Ensuring that the retrieval of receipts and any information
requested in relation to a receipt is accurate and that suitable
legal assurances can be given as to the integrity of the
information or receipt provided.
Delivering the receipts to the appropriate destination within
the period of time to be agreed with the DSS and filtering any
related data to a number of central DSS services for further
processing.
Service requirements
Pathway intends to offer a service at a single level: All
receipt material will be retained as originals for twelve (12)
months
Pathway will facilitate inspection of receipts in manners to be
agreed
Pathway Comment
In formulating this single-level service, Pathway has responded to
the requirement to provide for forensic examination of original
receipts.
Receipts are retained as part of BES rather than BPS.
Other related paper items which should be included in this
requirement are the PUN signature form, temporary tokens and Agent
mandates (which act as receipts).
Pathway has the capability of providing this information in
microfilmed or imaged form and would welcome discussion on the
financial and operational acceptability of this in the medium term
future.
Reference No 941
Pathway Response
Pathway confirm that the dates for Post Office automation rollout
will be agreed with the AUTHORITIES given that the AUTHORITIES
will not unreasonably withhold their consent to such agreement.
Pathway will advise the DSS of POCL acceptance of each
installation.
Pathway will treat Northern Ireland as a discrete area for the
purpose of rollout.
Pathway Comment
None
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Reference No 942
Pathway Response
Business supported across the boundary
Pathway will provide access to audit information. Pathway notes
the nature of the purposes for which audit trail access will be
required.
Pathway responsibility
Pathway will be responsible for:
Providing a detailed functional specification for approval by
DSS prior to implementing any such service.
Providing all the services necessary to support the audit trail
access.
Ensuring that the content of the audit trail are accurate and
for giving suitable legal assurances as to the integrity of the
audit trail.
Delivering the total or filtered subset of the audit trail to a
limited number to a number of central DSS services for further
processing. The delivery will include any technical
transformation and/or reformatting that may be required to ensure
the audit trail is understandable by the receiving services.
Service requirements
Pathway will maintain the audit trail during all periods of
operation including fallback and recovery.
Pathway will record all transaction and data passing across
service boundaries and all major processing actions:
Pathway’s records will be capable of tracking a DSS business
transaction through the services for which it is responsible,
regardless of whether individual services are operated by Pathway
as principal or a Pathway supplier.
Pathway will identify the source or sources of a transaction,
its date and time and its outcome.
An individual instance of the audit trail, for example a
transaction or file sequence, will be made available to the DSS as
a single logical entity showing a chronological, causative or
consequential trail of events. The forms in which events
constituting an audit trail instance may be presented will be
included in the functional specification.
Pathway will make available utilities to facilitate inspection
of the audit trail by DSS.
The audit trail will be retained for a period consistent with
the requirements of the Companies Acts.
Pathway Comment
The principal “raw” audit trail will be the TMS journal. This
records data traversing the following service boundaries:
PAS-TMS
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CMS-TMS
BES-TMS
OPCS-TMS
Pathway seeks to discuss the whether the CAPS to PAS, CAPS to CMS
and CMS-PAS service interfaces should be auditable by DSS under
the provisions of this requirement.
Pathway seeks to discuss the audit trail access required for the
Customer to CMS Help Desk service interface.
Pathway does not understand the reference to retention consistent
with the Companies Acts.
Reference No 943
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that PAS will restrict payment encashment to
Great Britain or to Northern Ireland for specific benefits when
notified by CPCS.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 944
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that casual agent encashments will be restricted
to the Authorised Persons Nominated Office.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 945
Pathway Response
2. SURVEY
2.1 The CONTRACTOR will verbally agree the date and time of the
survey with the Outlet Manager, and confirm these details in
writing at least five (5) working days prior to the appointment.
The notice will identify the expected completion date for the
modifications.
2.2 The CONTRACTOR will agree with the Outlet Manager the number of
positions to be automated for that site.
2.3 See 2.1
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2.4 The survey will be undertaken at the agreed date and time.
2.5 Subject to confirmation and agreement of the “agreed
identification process”, the CONTRACTOR agrees that said process
will be followed.
2.6 The survey will be completed in a maximum of one (1) visit.
2.7 The CONTRACTOR wishes to understand the role of the “database
liaison” but confirms wherever practical, a minimum of one (1)
days notice of cancellation of appointment.
2.8 Subject to confirmation and agreement of the “agreed
parameters” the CONTRACTOR shall agree with the Outlet Manager the
siting of the OPS, and obtain sign off accordingly.
2.9 The CONTRACTOR shall agree with the AUTHORITY the approach and
format of the User Survey.
2.10 The CONTRACTOR will achieve a 95% satisfaction rating from
the survey.
3. MODIFICATIONS
3.1 Written notice will be provided as part of the survey
notification, see point 2.1 above.
3.2 The date and time for the modifications will be agreed with the
Outlet Manager.
3.3 The modifications will be undertaken at the agreed date and
time.
3.4 The CONTRACTOR wishes to understand the role of the “database
liaison” but confirms wherever practical, a minimum of one (1
days notice of cancellation of appointment.
3.5 Refer 2.8
3.6 Cosmetic damage identified at the time of the modifications and
for which the CONTRACTOR is liable, shall be scheduled for repair
within five (5) working days.
3.7 The CONTRACTOR agrees that 98% of repairs will be carried out
within their scheduled timescales.
3.8 The CONTRACTOR shall agree with the AUTHORITY the periods in
which no modifications shall be carried out.
3.9 Any further modifications required at an outlet will be
scheduled with the Outlet Manager.
3.10 The CONTRACTOR shall agree with the AUTHORITY the approach
and format of the User Survey.
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3.11 The CONTRACTOR will achieve a 95% satisfaction rating from
the survey.
4. INSTALLATION
4.1 The CONTRACTOR shall provide a minimum of ten (10) working
days written notice of the installation date to the Outlet
Manager.
4.2 The installation date will be agreed with the Outlet Manger
4.3 The installation will be carried out at the agreed date and
time.
4.4 The CONTRACTOR wishes to understand the role of the “database
liaison” but confirms wherever practical, a minimum of one (1
days notice of cancellation of appointment.
4.5 The CONTRACTOR shall agree with the AUTHORITY the approach and
format of the User Survey.
4.6 The CONTRACTOR will achieve a 95% satisfaction rating from the
survey.
4.7 The CONTRACTOR wishes to understand what the “automated prog.”
is. Subject to identification and agreement thereof, the
CONTRACTOR will provide the following information:
Successfully installed outlets; configuration details; serial
numbers.
The CONTRACTOR wishes to understand the use to which the
AUTHORITY will put the above data, specifically the serial numbers
- which remain the property and responsibility of the CONTRACTOR
at all times.
4.8 The CONTRACTOR is charged with the maintenance and management
of all counter equipment supplied under this agreement.
Configuration management thereof (including serial numbers)
remains the CONTRACTOR’s responsibility, and the CONTRACTOR agrees
to make available this information to the AUTHORITY on a periodic
basis.
4.9 Cosmetic damage identified at the time of installation and for
which the CONTRACTOR is liable, shall be scheduled for repair
within five (5) working days.
4.10 The CONTRACTOR agrees that 98% of repairs will be carried
out within their scheduled timescales.
Pathway Comment
A “database liaison” and “automated prog” are unknown interfaces
for the Implementation programme and no plans/funds are in place
currently to set up any such link.
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During the Rollout we do not wish to and can see no reason why we
should provide the Authority with the serial numbers of the
equipment installed as this is clearly our responsibility. In this
respect we could be non-compliant with this part of the
requirement.
Reference No 949
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that it is able to provide a complete training
service if required. Currently Pathway is providing Counter staff
training and support together with POCL Train the Trainer events.
Clarification is needed to understand what is meant by total
training which refers to all of POCL’s training requirement and
not just those required to support the Services under the Related
Agreements.
For the purposes of it’s Tender Pathway is assuming that although
the capability to provide total training is sought the option will
be exercised through contract change control and the additional
cost are not included in the Tender price.
Pathway Comment
The requirement as stated is very vague and the scope as stated
may be greater than was really intended. Prices are not being
included within the Tender price.
Reference No 950
Pathway Response
Pathway Comment
Reference No 951
Pathway Response
Pathway will develop and maintain a document describing the
service architecture.
Pathway confirms that it will, as a minimum, specify:
the major components, provided directly or subcontracted, used
in providing the services
the functionality within the major components
the interfaces between the major components
the design service levels of those interfaces
all interfaces with the Authorities’ systems and with other
parties
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Pathway notes that the audience for this document will be
technical staff within the Authorities and that it should be self
contained, although probably referencing other documents to
provide further levels of detail. Pathway affirms that the level
of detail within the document will be such that it gives a
thorough background to the construction of the services and the
rationale for the approach, and notes that a length of 200-400
pages is anticipated.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 952
Pathway Response
The OPS will support a reliable, secure and encrypted means for
the transfer of data that may subsequently be used for
cryptographic applications at the counter.
The cryptographic services within the Pathway solution can be
considered in three groups:
services covering both benefit and post office traffic from and
to BA, POCL and POCL Clients on the one hand and the Pathway
Central Services Layer on the other
services covering the authentication of the Point to Point
connection between the TMS layer and the post office
services covering transaction traffic to and from the Central
Services Layer and the OPS and at the OPS itself
This requirement response describes the means by which keys are
distributed for the last group. The methods described are subject
to detailed agreement with HMG (CESG).
The OPS related cryptographic services comprise:
The selective digital signature and authentication of files or
transactions to or from the correspondence layer. The purpose here
is data integrity - to prevent tampering or non-malign loss or
injection of data.
Data will be transmitted in clear. Data will be digested using a
CESG-approved hashing algorithm called HSA and this digest used to
produce a digital signature using a companion algorithm called DSA
which uses asymmetric key pair techniques. It is expected that a
key length of 1024 bits will be used. The keys used will be
session key pairs renewed periodically, probably quarterly. The
session keys will be transported using the Diffie-Hellman
algorithm and relying on master key encryption. Masters will be
securely factory installed into the OPS equipment by Pathway as
lifetime masters protected by Microsoft Windows NT’s accredited
access control. Any renewal of master keys required will be via
security accredited personnel, using keys transported by IC memory
card and input using specific role protection.
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The selective encryption and decryption of data stored on disk.
The purpose here is privacy - to prevent disclosure of sensitive
data.
Similarly, the keys used will be single session keys, managed
using the same key distribution methods as described above.
Data will be enciphered and deciphered using a CESG-approved
symmetric algorithm called RED PIKE.
Note that such data will only be enciphered for OPS journal write
and deciphered for OPS journal read. Replication of a journal
entry to and from TMS will be in clear.
Use of cryptographic protection, particularly for transactional
data transfers, and transfers requiring digital signature
computation at the OPS will require exceptional service level
agreements.
Pathway Comment
Pathway understands that HMG will require both BA and POCL data be
subject to the same cryptographic methods.
Reference No 953
Pathway Response
1. The Pathway solution to OPS supports concurrent access to its
services by providing each working post office counter with a PC
configuration comprising peripherals and the counter application
set required for that outlet.
2. The precise requirements for back office reports have yet to be
agreed, but in general terms details including date/time, clerk
identifier and transaction number can be included to ensure
clarity and status of data printed on back office reports and
activity at the counter.
3. The Pathway solution for OPS is based on a PC infrastructure
configured such that multiple activities within an outlet do not
significantly impact on each other. In particular back office
processes ( e.g. report production) will be operate on a logically
consistent set of data which will not be affected by any
concurrent counter transactions.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 954
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Pathway Response
Pathway’s solution will, before the expiry of an existing card and
after CAPS sends a notification that a Authorised Person no longer
requires a card, should CAPS sends new personal details for that
Customer, Pathway will continue to use the existing card rather
than issuing a new card.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 955
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that all temporary token issued by Pathway and
allocated by DSS for an encashment will remain valid for seven
days. Temporary Tokens will be terminated on payment of the
single encashment as authorised by DSS, after seven days validity
period, or on placement of a Temporary Token stop, or on
collection of a card assigned to the authorised person.
Pathway’s solution will ensure that Temporary Tokens will only be
payable at the post office nominated by the DSS at the time of
issue and will be retained by the Post Office clerk on encashment.
Pathway would like to discuss the mechanism used to advise BPS of
allocation of Temporary Tokens to authorised payments
Pathway Comment
What about temporary tokens issued to existing cardholders where
the payment is already down at the counter
Reference No 956
Pathway Response
Business supported across the boundary
Pathway confirms that it will support the following data transfers
originated by ESNCS:
Order book stops - these are updates to the order book stop list
each denoting that a book should be impounded when processed for
receipt, issue or presented for payment at a post office. No
payment will be made on any foil on impounding a book presented
for payment.
Order book recalls - these are updates to the order book stop
list each denoting that a book should be impounded after having
made an encashment for payments in respect of a period up to a
specified date. Where this is not later than the present the book
will be impounded. Where the date provided is in the future the
book will not be impounded, it remaining available for impounding
when the recall notice matures. In any case the number of foils
against which the encashment was made will be recorded.
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Purge order book notifications - these are updates to the order
book stop list each denoting that an order book stop or recall
should be deleted from the stop list. In the event that a
corresponding stop or recall entry is not present an exception
will be notified.
Restate full list - this is an ad hoc data transfer, undertaken
at the request either of DSS or Pathway, subject to negotiation,
to provide a full list of current stop and recall notices. This
function is expected to be used to establish the OBCS.
Pathway confirms that it will support the following data transfers
originated by OBCS:
Acknowledgement of receipt of order book stop, recall, purge, or
full restatement files
Notification of exceptions from order book stop, recall, purge
or full restatement file processing
Notification of outcome of order book receipt. The outcome
will be one of:
* order book acceptable (this includes order books for which there
is a recall notice which has not reached maturity
* order book impounded by applying existing stop notice, or recall
notice which has matured
* order book impounded as barcode unreadable after three
consecutive failed attempts
* order book redirected to correct office
* order book not capable of redirection and retained
Notification of outcome of issue of order book to customer. The
outcome will be one of:
* order book issued to customer
* order book impounded by applying existing stop notice, or recall
notice which has matured
* order book impounded as barcode unreadable after three
consecutive failed attempts
Notification of outcome of order book foil encashment. The
outcome will be one of:
* normal encashment successful and number of foils encashed
recorded
* encashment made on order book whose recall has not matured,
number of foils encashed recorded
* order book impounded by applying existing stop notice, or recall
notice which has matured, for latter number of foils encashed
recorded
* order book impounded as barcode unreadable after three
consecutive failed attempts and order book not subject to a stop
or matured recall notice, one (1) foil encashed recorded
* order book impounded as cover and/or foils suspected as
counterfeited
Post office summary. For each day this will contain:
* the number of non-barcoded order books presented at the post
office
* the number of barcoded order books impounded together with the
reason for impounding
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In all cases, where a book is impounded or retained it will be
hole-punched to denote cancellation and returned to a central
point in DSS.
System and Service responsibility
Pathway understands that it must provide any staff, premises,
networks (voice/and or data) hardware, software procedures and
training required to deliver these services to the nominated ESNCS
platforms. Pathway accepts entire responsibility for rollout
operation and management of all such equipment. Pathway does not
believe it reasonable that such responsibility, which as defined
extends to the whole PFI, should be subject to DSS approval
outside of service acceptance or to the extent it involves DSS
personnel, agents or facilities.
Pathway undertakes to provide such connection(s) at sites
nominated by DSS which may change over the period of the contract.
Pathway understands that the ESNCS platform is ICL VME and UNIX
based and will be located in the ACCs currently operated for the
DSS by EDS. But see Pathway comment.
Pathway will seek to agree with the DSS’s operator of the ESNCS
gateways (SEMA) and operator of the ACCs (EDS), subject to DSS
approval, the technical and operational nature of the connection.
However, in the event that agreement cannot be reached Pathway
would seek to agree with the DSS as principal a means of final
resolution.
Pathway notes that the it may not change in any way the ESNCS
interface as currently implemented without the agreement of DSS.
The exception to this is the acknowledgement of order book stops
and recall notices which is in addition to the current
application. Pathway will update this requirement response when
the specification for this addition is available.
Pathway understands that its service responsibilities extend to:
transport of ESNCS-created data transfers and associated
information (e.g. reference data) from the ESNCS service to its
own service (OBCS) along with all subsequent processing. This to
normally include detecting the availability of such data transfers
and data on the ESNCS service. Pathway interprets this to mean
that Pathway will normally “pull” files to itself
provision of all responses to such data transfers where required
(e.g. acknowledgements) along with delivery to the ESNCS service
This is interpreted as including the “pushing” of files back to
ESNCS
transport of OBCS-created data transfers and associated
information from OBCS to the ESNCS service and notification of
their availability. Pathway interprets this to mean that Pathway
will normally “push” files from itself
Pathway will agree a Service Level Agreement with DSS prior to
service commencement.
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Pathway Comment
Pathway understands the terms of this requirement to entail four
ESNCS sites. Pathway seeks specific clarification of this aspect
of the requirement and expresses a preference for simplification
to one such source and destination together with a preplanned
alternative.
Pathway has assumed that stop list updates for stops, recalls, and
purges will be contained in a single daily file from each of the
four ACCs. Pathway has assumed that the OBCS transactions will be
contained in a single daily file to each of the four ACCs. Should
it be necessary to vary these assumptions, DSS and Pathway will
negotiate practical alternatives.
Pathway has assumed that on processing a recalled book, the
encashment will be in respect of all foils covering the period up
to the date given or the present whichever is the earlier.
Impounding will only take place when the recall notice has
matured.
Pathway seeks DSS agreement that the stop list update (stop,
recall, or purge) and entries in a restatement of full list file
will contain the customer’s nominated post office.
The OBCS counter application will allow for the clerk to retry
reading a barcode using a different barcode wand if available.
This will obviate “false negatives” caused by a defective barcode
wand.
The outcome of order book redirection has been absorbed into the
outcome of receipt function.
Pathway proposes that impounded or retained books which have been
hole punched should in future be returned to a single DSS address,
rather than an ACC or local office.
Consideration should be given as to whether, for non-barcoded
books, the number of foils encashed should be reported, in
addition to or instead of the number of books.
Pathway seeks clarification as to the categories of report
required in the post office summary in respect of barcoded order
books.
In preparing this response reference has been made to the BA/POCL
Service Interface Definition Version 1, 9 February 1996, with
particular reference to Section 10 (to be supplied).
Reference No 957
Pathway Response
Pathway will agree with the AUTHORITY within 7 working days of
Contract Award which Post Offices will be the subject of the
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initial operational trial. Pathway understand that X is less than
or equal to ten (10) outlets in the above requirement.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 958
Pathway Response
The CONTRACTOR shall produce a testing strategy and plan for DSS
end-to-end testing which will include required infrastructure and
support services for the DSS testing environment, within X Working
Days of Contract Award, for subsequent approval by the AUTHORITY.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 959
Pathway Response
The Urgent Payment and immediate stop facility shall be available
by July 1997.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 960
Pathway Response
1. EPOSS will support zero-value transactions to:
a) record volumes of transactions for clients, such as Royal Mail
and Parcel Force
b) record the distribution of various forms
c) record customer enquiries, requests, incomplete services and so
on. The precise number and types of events associated with a
particular product or service will be dependent on its complexity.
2. EPOSS will support zero-value Automated Payment transactions
for recording reversed smart card transactions and other cancelled
transactions.
3. EPOSS will support zero-value Benefit Agency-related
transactions to allow for:
a) an incomplete transaction before the customer signs the
declaration
b) an incomplete transaction due to unsatisfactory customer
identification
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c) no payment due, or none available at the outlet
d) change to nominated office, or other enquiry/request
e) card receipt, registration, return and issue
f) (if applicable) order book receipt, registration, return and
issue.
4. EPOSS will record the dispatch of items to storage, retrieval
and processing facilities.
5. In particular, EPOSS will record and transmit zero-value BES
transactions to TIP (via TMS). Automated Payments will be
supported as currently.
Zero-value transactions will be designed as services and products
in their own right with the normal controls, data flows and
interfaces to external systems.
Pathway Comment
The volume of transactions will increase significantly with the
increase in the number of “events” and checkpoints which can
result in recorded transactions.
Transactions which cannot be substantiated (e.g. cancellation
before commit) are open to abuse if they contribute to payment or
penalty.
Reference No 961
Pathway Response
The Pathway solution will include a freepost address on the
reverse of the card for the return of cards found
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 962
Pathway Response
Pathway can comply with the Authorities requirement to ensure that
the reverse of the card carries a message that reminds the
Authorised person of their responsibility in reporting changes in
circumstances which may affect their entitlement to benefit, to
the DSS.
This information is also contained on a receipt and should be
provided as part of our publicity material at the time the card
system is introduced.
Pathway would like to discuss the need for this information to be
present on the card.
Pathway Comment
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Space on the reverse of the card is limited and the embossing on
the card could impact on the readability of the print on the card.
Therefore we need to ensure, if further requirements are received
(see req no 961) to provide messages on the reverse of the card,
that all the requirements are considered when responding to new
requirements. The issue being BA want more information on the card
than space allows
DLRCT need the information
Reference No 963
Pathway Response
Pathway can confirm that payments made during contingency
procedures will be clearly distinguishable from routine payments
notified by CAPS.
Pathway Comment
Need to agree operational procedures with DSS for invoking
contingency.
Reference No 964
Pathway Response
Pathway can confirm that its payment management solution is
designed to handle temporary increases in volumes of data from
CAPS due to an earlier failure of service.
Pathway’s solution under normal operation is designed to handle
6,000,000 payments records per day, but can handle up to 10
million. Processing volumes above this would likely impact upon
overall service levels.
Pathway would like to discuss with procurement contingency
arrangements for CAPS failure to meet normal operation.
Pathway propose that early advice of contingency payments
generated by BPS is provided to CAPS (or contingency alternative )
to allow DSS better control of stopping of contingency payments.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 965
Pathway Response
Pathway will ensure that the POCL counter clerk will not be able
to enter the amount encashed for benefit payments during the
normal operation of the system.
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However during contingency operation, situations will arise where
the clerk is required to record an encashment. Pathway would like
to discuss the various
scenarios at the earliest opportunity with procurement
Pathway Comment
Need to check req response 855 and risk response 69
Reference No 966
Pathway Response
In the event of a postal dispute, or other unforeseen
circumstances which may affect CMS, Pathway will have in place
tested contingency plans and procedures to ensure that new
authorised persons are introduced to the service in an auditable
manner, which will allow the collection of authorised payments at
the post office, on the due date.
The Pathway solution already includes a secure delivery mechanism
for Benefit payment cards to post offices. If a postal dispute
affects the delivery of PUN’s to customers Pathway will invoke
emergency procedures. As a PUN is required before cards can be
collected, Pathway has identified an alternative carrier for this
service and in times of a postal dispute, will contract with that
carrier for that service.
Pathway Comment
Could impact on the volumes of calls the help desk receives.
May not be compliant with the authorities request to prevent
duplication.
Current solution does not include contingency for PUN delivery to
customers
Reference No 967
Pathway Response
Pathway can confirm that its card management solution is designed
to handle temporary increases in volumes of data from CAPS due to
an earlier failure of service.
Pathway’s solution can handle more than double the likely daily
card volume records expected from CAPS without impacting upon CMS
operation.
However Pathway would have concerns meeting likely SLAs, where
processing volume have a ‘knock on *‘ effect on the overall end to
end service. (e.g. delivering say 3 times the normal volumes of
cards in one day and delivering to SLAs OR batch processing
impacting upon CMS Help Desk SLAs due to over running their normal
processing window)
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Pathway would like to discuss with procurement the likely
scenarios that may occur and the most appropriate resolution.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 968
Pathway Response
1. Pathway will implement all services detailed in the Programme’s
Marketing and Education Plan 1996, to be agreed between the
BA/POCL communications team, and the CONTRACTOR. If this
requirement is necessary it will be included in the final version
of the Programme’s Marketing and Education Plan 1996
2. The specific detail of the Programme’s Marketing and Education
Plan 1996 will be agreed as part of the process started on 31
January 1996 with Pat Dugdale and the BA/POCL Communications Team.
3. As requested in the BA/POCL Automation Programme Common
Charging Mechanism Further Guidance to Suppliers dated 22 January
1996, all charges associated with customer education and card
acceptability will be included within the CMS servicepoint score.
4. Detailed costings will be provided as part of Pathway’s
response to the ITT.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 969
Pathway Response
When notified by POCL of the unexpected closure of an office,
Pathway will allow Authorised Person's to encash their benefits at
a different Post Office. Benefit encashment will proceed using the
replicated copies of benefit authorisations held in the central
TMS layer, using the retrieval mechanisms normally employed for
foreign encashments. However, in this case the transactions will
not be recorded as foreign encashments; a flag will be set within
TMS following notification of an office closure by POCL and this
will over-ride the normal foreign payment counting mechanism.
In the event of an expected prolonged closure of the office
Pathway will consider, in conjunction with BA/POCL, whether it is
appropriate to nominate a specific, nearby office to handle the
benefit encashment business of the closed office. In these cases
the benefit encashment authorisations relating to the closed
office would be transferred from TMS to the local surrogate office
during the period of closure. This has been sized to handle such
exception conditions within agreed SLA's. Pathway analysis
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indicates that TMS will support up to 20% of all encashments
nationally as foreign encashments.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 970
Pathway Response
Pathway confirms that its solution will allow for the permanent
closure of a Post Office and the reallocation of an alternative
office, without impacting upon the ability to collect payments by
Authorised Persons.
Pathway would like to discuss the maintenance of the Post Office
File in more details with the POCL at the appropriate date.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 971
Pathway Response
Pathway will agree with the AUTHORITY a strategy to achieve a
single stream of unreconciled data to POCL's automated payment
clients, from day 1.
Part of the strategy will be a timetable for the absorption of
Farnborough's reducing workload by Pathway.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 972
Pathway Response
Pathway will develop a rollout plan sympathetic with the
AUTHORITIES requirements as follows:
1. The nominated major conurbations to be done first are:
West Midland; Greater Manchester; Merseyside; Leeds/Bradford; Tyne
and Wear; Glasgow/Edinburgh; South Wales.
2. The M25 area will be treated as a separate rollout, and take
place in the second half of the overall timetable.
3. Northern Ireland will be treated as a separate rollout.
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Notwithstanding Pathway's response to requirement 933 regarding a
September 1996 start, the rollout plan will show a December 1998
completion.
Pathway also recognise the importance of the 1500 Post Offices
mentioned in Requirement 929, and will seek to undertake their
implementation in the first half of the rollout plan.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 973
Pathway Response
Pathway acknowledges that, during the lifetime of the contract or
at termination, services supplied by Pathway may need to be
replaced or supplemented with services provided by other
suppliers. Pathway further acknowledges that it must be
technically viable for its services to be replaced by and/or
interface to services from other suppliers. The commercial
viability of such replacements or adjuncts is largely a matter for
the other supplier and Pathway can offer no warranty on this.
Pathway has agreed in its response to requirement 951 to provide
the service architecture document which will contain, inter alia,
the functionality of the major components, the interfaces between
them, and their design service levels. These interface
descriptions will where appropriate cover the same properties and
be at least as detailed as Requirements 934-940 and 942.
Attention is drawn also to requirements 869 (TMS), 885 (PAS), 887
(CMS) and the Pathway responses. Pathway will specify the
internal performance requirements of any sub-system that is
retendered. Pathway reserves the right to modify service targets
for overall performance at the PFI service boundaries in the event
that such a subsystem is retendered and/or let to a third party.
Pathway’s costing and charging basis for integration with other
suppliers’ services will be on strict commercial terms.
Where a service or an upgrade thereof is supplied by another
supplier Pathway will require that it conforms to specification as
evidenced by a satisfactory test report based a test specification
agreed by Pathway before being put into operational use. In the
event of malfunction of Pathway’s services caused by the
malfunction of another supplier’s service, that service supplier
shall be liable for all losses sustained by Pathway including lost
revenues and additional operational costs.
Where the content of the work to be done by Pathway as a result of
such service replacement makes for practicality, subcontracts from
Pathway will be let following competitive tender. Such tenderers
shall be at the sole discretion of Pathway and shall not
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necessarily include prospective replacement or supplementary
service providers or the contracting authorities themselves.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 974
Pathway Response
Pathway recognise and acknowledge the requirement as stated above,
and shall develop benefit migration services accordingly. Pathway
further acknowledge the provisional nature of the currently
provided timetable. Changes to the published timetable shall be
via formal change control procedures.
Pathway Comment
None
Reference No 975
Pathway Response
Pathway has the flexibility to ensure that non POCL post offices
could be connected into the Benefits Payment System, provided that
the appropriate commercial agreements are in place. Pathway would
welcome the opportunity to discuss to discuss this with the
Authorities at the earliest opportunity.
Pathway Comment
This is outside the current PFI and requires the appropriate
consideration
Reference No 976
Pathway Response
Pathway has responded in considerable detail to requirements 934-
940 and 942, in a compliant manner. In doing so Pathway has
raised a number of questions, some of which arise from the
divergence of the basis of those requirements and the formal basis
of description of many of these interfaces available to Pathway,
namely the CAPS to PAS/CMS Interface Definitions Version 4, 8
November 1995(P/CID). Pathway is aware that a later version of
this document is in preparation and would welcome sight of it
prior to preparing its Tender.
Since preparing these responses Pathway has received the BA/POCL
Service Interface Definition Version 1, 9 February 1996 (SID)
The formal scope of this document extends to ESNCS (Section 10),
although this version contains no entry for it. Pathway has
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responded to the corresponding requirement for ESNCS, 956 again in
some detail and in a compliant manner.
Pathway has also made reference to the SID document in formulating
other responses made after its receipt. Although this SID
contains some valuable additional information, particularly as to
the phasing of functionality, it is less detailed than (P/CID).
In general Pathway is confident that its solution complies with
the requirements of the SID.
In addition attention is drawn to requirement and response 892.
This defines three documents, the first being the P/CID, the
second corresponding to the SID and the third concerning volumes
and timings for these interfaces. Pathway would welcome sight of
this document prior to preparing its Tender.
Pathway Comment
In this area also is the BPS MIS Requirements Catalogue,
Requirement Responses 729 and 939 refer. Pathway has received an
update to this requirement, Version 2, 23 February 1996.
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CONTRACTING AUTHORITY OBLIGATIONS
Ref. I Contracting Authority Obligation
463 1. For all testing required by BA/POCL (including Acceptance,
Destructive and other) a co-operatively developed Test Plan
should be produced with Pathway. This would include the
objectives, timetable, key activities, expected outputs and
equipment requirements.
2. BA/POCL should allow appropriate Pathway staff reasonable
access to any Test activities.
3. BA/POCL should provide Pathway with the results of the
Test and, through a review process, discuss the implications
of the Test.
464 None
465 Agreement to a specification of equipment livery which
Pathway accept as reasonable in terms of its impact on cost,
manufacture and long term support.
466 INone
467 _INone
468 INone
469 A co-operative role in the final review stages of the above
documentation
470 A co-operative role in the final review stages of the above
documentation
471 1. Agreement as to the scope of the Broadcast facility
(including message types and expected usage) such that agreed
technical and cost boundaries can be defined.
2. Agreement to the development of an electronic information
strategy.
3. Co-operation in the design and specification of the data
preparation processes as required to support any electronic
information service in a post office.
472 Agree the events that must be logged and the data items that
must be recorded
473 1. Specify the precise user types and permissions required
for post offices.
2. Co-operation and involvement in the specification and
implementation of the processes to handle exceptional events
(e.g. lost password)
3. Provide details of which services are required in each
post office
474 1. Process for co-operation and involvement with Pathway in
agreeing reasonable responsibilities and subsequent actions
as required under current and future Health and Safety
legislation.
475 Involvement in a change control process as may be required
for document enhancements
476 1. Agreed involvement and co-operation in the assessment of
business functionality and any HCI of new or enhanced
application releases through system test and quality reviews
2. Agreement a change control process which will govern the
acceptance of the functionality of new or enhanced Services.
477_IAgree a period of notice.
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Ref. I Contracting Authority Obligation
478 1. Agree the method.
2. Agree the data file.
479 1. Specification of the authorised computer systems to which
TMS can connect
2. Agree a period of notice.
480 INone
481 INone
482 None
483 None
484 POCL will copy and distribute the paper copies of the manual
to the appropriate users.
485 _ INone
486 The AUTHORITY is responsible for the agreeing of the
documentation review process and adherence to the agreed
timescales for review.
487 INone
488 1. The AUTHORITY shall provide a nominated person at each
site who can accept the installation works, in accordance
with the roll-out schedule.
489 The AUTHORITY is responsible for defining a site to where the
existing automated equipment will be taken.
490 None
491 The AUTHORITY will facilitate the planning permission
process. A process will be agreed to cover cases where
planning permission cannot be agreed.
492 None
493 None
494 INone
495 The AUTHORITY shall be responsible for the initial
identification of all outlets to which the OPS shall be
installed.
496 None
497 The AUTHORITY is responsible for identification of all sites
and Nominated Person so that Pathway may discuss with them
their requirements for each installation.
498 The AUTHORITY will provide personnel who understand the
existing systems and manual processes and can work closely
with Pathway to plan how to achieve effective migration.
499 INone.
500 The AUTHORITY will facilitate the planning permission
process. A process will be agreed to cover cases where
planning permission cannot be agreed.
501 The AUTHORITY is responsible for the nomination of regional
liaison officers, together with their interface, operational
responsibilities in relation to Roll-out.
502 The AUTHORITY shall provide post masters who can agree the
works required to their own site for which they are
responsible for, and who will co-operate with the CONTRACTOR
during the installation activities.
503 The AUTHORITY shall provide post masters who can agree the
works required to their own site for which they are
responsible for, and who will co-operate with the CONTRACTOR
during the installation activities.
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Ref. I Contracting Authority Obligation
504 The AUTHORITY is responsible for supplying details of
existing equipment so that it may be assessed for future
utilisation.
505 The AUTHORITY will agree a process.
506 The timely notification of the actual region or regions to be
used for Limited Live Trial.
507 The AUTHORITY is responsible for the timely identification of
peak times where roll-out to outlets may not be undertaken
(e.g. Christmas etc.)
508 The AUTHORITY will agree a process.
509 The AUTHORITY to agree with Pathway normal specifications for
the siting of the office platform and will provide outlet
managers who can agree the positioning of the office platform
within each office.
510 INone
511 The AUTHORITY shall provide post masters who can agree the
works required to their own site for which they are
responsible for, and who will co-operate with the CONTRACTOR
during the installation activities.
512 The AUTHORITY will agree a process.
$13 I None.
514 The AUTHORITY will agree a process for deciding whether an
office goes live.
515 I None
516 The AUTHORITY will agree a process.
517 None
518 I None
519 IThe AUTHORITY is responsible for the forecast of probable
future potential requirement for additional counter
positions.
520 None
521 INone
522 INone
523 The AUTHORITY will agree the operation of systems interfaces
between Pathway and BA/POCL and their clients.
524 The AUTHORITY agrees to supply details of the type of call
which is presently experienced on their own helpdesks.
525 The AUTHORITY will agree a process for ordering adequate
consumable materials where appropriate.
526 None
527 None
528 INone
529 The AUTHORITY will agree the behavioural standards.
530 None
531 The AUTHORITY will agree the competency standards.
532 The AUTHORITY will make appropriate staff available.
533 I None
534 None
535) A process to define the acceptance criteria will be agreed.
536 1. Co-operation and involvement in system testing that
requires the use of POCL transferred peripherals.
2. Reasonable advance notice of any change to OPS services
that would result in new peripherals being required
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Ref. I Contracting Authority Obligation
537 1. BA/POCL will participate with Pathway in reviews and
analysis of those system management events that indicate BA
or POCL operational or technical procedures and mechanisms
require modification.
2. BA/POCL shall give reasonable notice to changes that are
required of the Pathway SMS.
538 INone
539 I1. BA/POCL shall provide and maintain a specification of all
externally provided reference data.
2. BA/POCL shall provide timely notification of any changes
to reference data and shall co-operate with Pathway in any
service testing that may be required.
3. BA/POCL shall facilitate discussions with any third
parties, to produce an agreed interface specification and the
associated technical and operational methods to effect valid
data transfer.
540 POCL shall use reasonable endeavours to promote the agreed
operational procedures for OPS including equipment use,
operating conditions, physical and environmental conditions
and all relevant Health and safety legislation
541 1. BA/POCL will provide information on forecast changes to
business volumes within current or new services.
2. BA/POCL should adopt a flexible approach to the
operational and procedural implications of new or changed
Services as advised by Pathway’s impact assessment on the
current technical architecture and services.
3. BA/POCL should co-operate with Pathway in any system
testing and other activities as may be required in order to
assess the impact of changes to business volumes.
542 BA/POCL shall not unreasonably restrict Pathway from changing
the support processes or support organisations as applied to
current or future services provided by Pathway, where such
changes do not adversely impact Pathway’s contracted
obligations.
543 Provide the specifications applicable to each of the token
types.
Arrange access to software algorithms and drivers required to
implement support for tokens where such algorithms are held
under IPR arrangements by POCL or its agents.
544 Agree with Pathway the range of APS service types and the
initial client set to be supported by type
Provide timely information to Pathway on the characteristics
of new service variants by means of the standard parametrised
reference data or any extensions thereto required
Provide timely information on the token specification and
interface requirements for service extension to new clients
and facilitate Pathway access to sample tokens and equipment
for the purposes of service development, integration and
testing
545 1. Agree with Pathway documentation contents prior to its
production and to any subsequent changes
2. Facilitate Client participation in the production of the
Automated Payments Client specifications
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Ref. I Contracting Authority Obligation
546 Agree with Pathway the counter positions at which the AP
service shall be available, and identify in a timely manner
proposed extensions to such service availability
Co-operate with Pathway in the assessment of future
transaction types and volumes.
547 IAgree Pathway the definition of the term “robustly” as
applied to APS data capture and validation
Agree with Pathway the implications of rules defined in the
APS Generic Rules and Token technology specifications.
548 Will discuss with Pathway any modifications to POCL counter
and backoffice procedures necessary for the proper operation
of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed in their affect
upon the operation of the Pathway services
549 IAgree with Pathway the implications of rules defined in the
APS Generic Rules and Token technology specifications
General obligations on agreeing and following counter
procedures
550 POCL shall provide access to token specifications and
facilitate access to appropriate software algorithms in a
timely manner to facilitate the Pathway development (as in
Req Ref 543) and agree the rules defined in the APS Generic
Rules and Token technology specifications (as in Req Ref 547
551 Agree the scope and details of APS information retrieval
services required at the Outlet
552 ITo agree the implications of rules defined in the APS Generic
Rules and Token technology specifications
553 ITo agree the implications of rules defined in the APS Generic
Rules and Token technology specifications
The AP client specification should include action(s) to be
taken in the event of non-availability of the Client system
or interface to it
554 POCL shall agree with Pathway the fallback approach.
555) 1. Co-operation in agreeing the barcode standards to be used
(read or printed) for each service.
2. Co-operation in defining or agreeing the specific cards
(magnetic or smart) to be used in each service.
3. Co-operation in agreeing the format of any printed output
required for a service.
4. Facilitate the provision of examples of all current
magnetic and smart cards/keys and all associated software
such that development and testing can proceed.
556 Provision of likely APPU installation plan
Co-operation in agreeing the commercial and contractual
arrangements for the use of some or all of the current stock
of APPUs by Pathway
Co-operation in providing the necessary stock of APPUs for
spares etc.
Co-operation in agreeing the process and responsibilities
for additional manufacture
of APPUs if this is determined to be a feasible approach to
providing further smart key reading capability.
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557 1. BA/POCL shall give reasonable notice of any future service
requirements that may require additional OPS equipment.
2. BA/POCL shall co-operate with Pathway in any equipment
assessment and selection process.
3. BA/POCL shall recompense Pathway for any agreed costs
incurred in equipment selection, testing and development
should the new or enhanced service not be required
4. BA/POCL shall give a firm statement on the requirement for
OCR reading at the counter and the associated technical
specification.
5. BA/POCL shall give a firm statement on the requirement for
2-D barcode reading and the associated technical
specification.
558 Regular review of expected and actual business volumes for
current and future Services.
559 2. POCL will agree a process under change control for adding
functionality.
560 1. BA/POCL should not unreasonably prevent Pathway from
implementing changes to the OPS equipment for some or all of
the outlets where such changes do not impact on Pathway’s
operational or service delivery commitments.
2. BA/POCL will constructively contribute to any discussions
that Pathway may initiate concerning technology refresh.
561 INone
691 IBA/POCL Shall:
1. Define the denominations of all items
receivable/returnable
2. Define the format of the consignment note
692 1. specify the allowable methods of payment for each
product/service offered. indicate which transactions should
be committed on completion (independent of the customer
session)3. identify which services cannot be paid for using
EFTPOS (e.g. lottery tickets)4. indicate if and when credit
cards will be supported 5. indicate if and when cashback will
be supported 6. describe the mechanism for
selection/appointment of Merchant Acquirer
693 1. Agree format of all receipts.
2. indicate which transactions will automatically produce a
receipt
694 INone
695 IBA/POCL Shall:
Agree format of all reports.
1
696 1. None
2. provide example pre-printed stationery
3. provide filled in examples of existing reports
697 If impropriety or negligence should be attributable to
Contracting Authorities, they shall take all reasonable
measures to prevent recurrence.
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698 1. Agreement of policy.
2. Assessment, regular review of compliance.
3. Incident reporting (joint responsibility dependent on area
of responsibility).
4. FRM -
regular discussion of fraud
event investigation
discussion of verification screen performance, agreement of
changes dependant on liability.
5. Inform regarding rules change in sufficient time to
consider FRM implications and implement system controls.
6. To release agreed fraud information past or current to
Pathway.
7. To provide agreed information required for effective use
of the verification screens: this may require alteration over
time.
8. To take all reasonable steps to prevent privileged Pathway
information being released.
9. To take all reasonable steps to protect access to the
Pathway System via their dedicated access.
699 1. Agree the content of the audit trail
2. Agree the procedures for identification of BA/POCL staff
initiating transactions in the service, - POCL Counter Staff
for counter transactions, BA Staff for help desk
700 1. BA will ensure that all data relating to personal details
passed to CMS via CAPS is accurate reflection of data held by
CAPS.
701 None.
702 1. DSS to endeavour to inform Pathway of any relevant changes
in card usage and agree through change control.
703 Approve card design with Secretary of State.
704 1. Provide details of all livery’s and logos to be used.
2. Agreed card designs.
705 1. The authority will agree a process determining how to
provide appropriate data to an agreed format/mechanism.
2. Decisions on SLAs will be included as part of the project
plan to be agreed and maintained post award.
706 1. Provide copy of benefits payment technical specification
to an agreed process.
2. Agree card numbering standards.
Provide emergency payment.
Provide temporary token.
Assign temporary token to related payment.
Ensure token is signed in the presence of issuing officer.
Transmit data to Pathway.
Allocate nominated office.
Agree life expectancy of card.
Approve a migration approach to smart card technology.
Agree migration plan with Pathway.
Agree timescales for migration.
. Agree and sign off anti fraud measures, architecture and
infrastructure.
1
2
3
4
5
6.
708 1. Authorities to agree Financial Standards to be applied.
2
1
2
3
1
i
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711 Agree procedures with Pathway for any changing security
verification questions via formal change control.
712 1. Agree relevant ISO/APACS standards to be used.
2. Provide Pathway with a copy of Benefits Payment Card
Technical Design.
713 The authority will agree a process for the issue and
replacement of cards.
714 Agree SLA’s with Pathway for renewal cards.
715 The Authority will agree a process for the replacement of
cards.
716 The Authority will agree a process for the replacement of
cards.
The authority will agree an archiving process.
717 I None
718 IEnsure necessary card details information is made available
to agreed SLA’s, prior to 1st payment due.
719 IAgree process for distribution with Pathway.
720 INone.
721 +IAuthorities to transfer authorised persons details to CMS to
agreed SLA’s
722 _INone.
723 IThe Postmaster will ensure that the agreed counter procedures
are adhered to.
724 +IAgree appropriate procedures with Pathway.
725 1. Have in place procedures to control receipt of temporary
token orders at benefit offices.
2. Define and agree SLA’s with Pathway for delivery.
726 IAgree procedures with Pathway.
727 +IAuthorities to provide data as agreed in procedures.
728 1. Agree procedures with Pathway.
2. Agree information to be made available.
3. Provide a definition of 5 seconds SLA via enquiry or
following a change.
4. Define and agree SLA’s with Pathway.
729 INone.
730 1. Define and agree operational procedures with Pathway.
2. Define and agree call types with Pathway.
731 1. To agree methods of access
(e.g. via help desks, direct access etc.)
2. To provide agreed appropriate equipment at DSS premises.
3. To agree appropriate controls/procedures
4. To operate appropriate controls and procedures.
732 1. Agree data flows with Pathway.
2. Where appropriate provide details of card status changes.
733 1. CAPS to be available up to midnight in order that
uncollected payment records can be received.
2. Periods of planned outages that may impact on the
requirement should be notified to Pathway in advance.
3. Instances of CAPS service failure to be subsequently
reviewed in order that their impact on Pathway’s Service
Level obligations be assessed.
4. Agree SLA’s and procedures with Pathway
5. Identify changes via formal change control processes
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734 INone
736 1. The DSS will agree a process for the notification of
changes BA/POCL should provide timely notification to Pathway
of changes in business volumes or service characteristics
that may affect interface specifications between CMS/PMS and
the POCL infrastructure.
740 The BA will agree a process for the secure recovery of
receipts and other stored documents.
741 1. Identify new and changes to existing benefit types
2. Agree procedures for adding new benefit types
3. Agree change control
742 1. DSS to provide details relevant to Welsh language
2. Approve design and content for cards, PUN’s and
distribution material
3. Agree the definition for identifying Welsh authorised
persons
743 1. Agree the arrangements for MIS reports and BA/POCL control
mechanisms.
2. Agree that any exceptions to the regular reports will only
be
accepted under change control process
3. Agree the procedure for arranging “ad hoc” meetings
4. Agree the definitive list of reports that will be required
5. Agree the medium for the reports, i.e./ fax/EIS
access/paper/floppy disk/other
6. Agree MIS reporting requirements with Pathway
744 1. Agree the basis of performance measurement for each
service level
2. Ensure the participation and co-operation of Authorities
(or Agents) staff as appropriate to Service Level agreement
and reporting
3. Agree the format and medium of Service Level reports
745 I None
746 1. Agree contingency procedures for all components of the
Benefits Payment Service
747 I1. Agree procedures including audit trails definition
2. Operate agreed procedures in respect of card receipt,
storage, and destruction.
748 Agree call types and call actions with Pathway
A process will be put in place to agree the SLA
749 Agree the period of extension of card validity
Co-operate in establishing permanent or casual agents as
appropriate
Co-operate in issuing temporary tokens as appropriate
750 1. Agree procedures for handling non received cards at the
post office
2. Define and agree SLA’s for card/PUN delivery
3. Operate agreed procedures for the destruction of cards
which have passed their collect by date
Process reapplications for cards
Operate agreed temporary token procedures
Operate agreed card receipt procedures
Operate agreed card activation and damaged card procedures
YOON
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751 To transfer valid payment information to PAS via the CAPS
access service to agreed schedules and SLAs.
752 Agree the business rules as they affect bringing forward or
extending validity periods to avoid peaking on the business
day before one or more bank holidays.
Agree the business rules for handling differences in
validity as between nominated and foreign offices.
753 1. Agree an archiving policy with Pathway
2. Define the procedures for archiving data
754 I1. BA will provide urgent payment information to the agreed
interface specification.
2. Any urgent payment information not satisfying agreed
validation criteria will not be bound by this requirement.
BA/POCL to periodically review any exceptions due to data
quality exception events.
755 ITo transfer valid payment stop information to PAS via the
CAPS access service to agreed schedules.
756 IClarify requirement status of language preference and monitor
usage flag
Clarify if card sensitive PAS data should be synchronised
with card and CMS data during encashments
Provide date of birth and style or title data in the CMS
personal details
757 I1. CAPS to be available to receive the notification of
acceptance or rejection in accordance with interface
specification.
2. Agree a process for the modus operandi for both “next day”
and non-urgent payment authorisations
3. Agree a process for the types of stable benefits for which
multiple authorisation can be made available, the number of
individual payments which may be notified and the file
formats for their conveyance
758 To agree a process to transfer payment information.
759 1. Agree the definition of ‘valid cards’ and ‘invalid cards’
2. Agree the service levels for notification to Pathway of
‘invalid cards’.
3. Advise BPS of the introduction of ‘valid cards’, e.g. for
assignment of temporary tokens
760 To agree declaration statement to be included in mandates and
receipts via Pathway.
To agree supplementary verification information.
761 I1. BA must provide agreed customer information for
verification purposes.
2. The counter clerk will adhere to relevant counter
procedures.
762 1. BA to confirm the flow control and file size parameters.
2. Maintain agreed availability of CAPS to handle encashment
notifications
3. Consider appropriate CAPS interface
763 _ INone
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764 1. BA and POCL to formally agree receipt/mandate/temporary
token specifications and co-operate with development of
final receipt specifications, subject to reasonable
constraints imposed by agreed counter infrastructure and
costs associated with receipt production, usage and storage.
2. BA will provide reasonable notice of changes to receipt
content which should not impact on pre-produced stocks of BA
receipts/mandates/temporary tokens and other affected
documents.
765 IThe Postmaster will ensure that the agreed counter procedures
are adhered to.
766 I Agree procedures for termination with Pathway.
POCL clerk to perform encashments in accordance with the
agreed procedure, that is to check Pay or No Pay
in response to settle indication.
767 The POCL will ensure that the agreed counter procedures are
adhered to.
768 INone.
769 INone
770 I None
771 POCL Clerk to operate agreed RPOI infringement attempt
procedures
772 1. The POCL will ensure that the agree counter procedures are
adhered to.
2. POCL Clerk to operate agreed counter procedures in respect
of manual card entry
773 1. CAPS to be available up to midnight in order that
collected payment records can be received.
2. Periods of planned outages that may impact on the
requirement should be notified to Pathway in advance.
3. Instances of CAPS service failure to be subsequently
reviewed in order that their impact on Pathway’s Service
Level obligations be assessed.
CAPS to be available during the normal BES period for
receiving encashment notifications
774 1. CAPS to be available between the hours of midnight and 3
a.m. in order that uncollected payment records can be
received.
2. Periods of planned outages that may impact on the
requirement should be notified to Pathway in advance.
3. Instances of CAPS service failure between the hours of
midnight and 3 a.m. to be subsequently reviewed in order that
their impact on Pathway’s Service Level obligations be
assessed.
775 I None.
776 IThe authority will agree a process to decide on help desk
responsibilities. This will be included as part of the
project plan to be agreed and maintained post award of
contract.
1. Agree call types and help desk responsibilities
2. Agree review periods and change control; procedures before
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777 1. The education and training of DSS staff is integrated
into the training and Management of Change programme. As
part of this training programme a Training Needs Analysis
will be carried out to identify specific training needs,
requirements and numbers of staff to be trained.
2. The CONTRACTOR and AUTHORITY shall subsequently agree
details and scope of required training. Such details shall
include but not be limited to:
a) Premises
b) Attendees
c) Course content
da) Training matrix
778 1. BA will agree operational and technical interfaces
2. BA will provide notification of any changes to interface
specification in line with agreed timescales.
3. BA will agree process and co-operate appropriately with
Pathway for any system testing, to prove system integrity of
revised interfaces.
719 I1. Agree/define data validation rules for all data/records
received from CAPS.
2. Agree appropriate change control processes to the above.
780 I Agree secure process for requests for evidence of suspected
offences.
781 INone
782 IBA to adopt a flexible approach in agreeing reasonable
operational and technical procedures to enable card usage
information to be available.
BA to consider the levels of service required
783 I1. CAPS will provide information on customer details, benefit
payments and payment cycles.
2. BA will provide Pathway with notification of any change in
benefits and agreed procedures/cycles.
3. Specify the take on of benefit types and agree the roll-
out of benefit geographics.
784 IAgree a definition of suspicious condition.
Agree procedures with Pathway for handling encashments under
this circumstance
785 1. Agree the arrangements for MIS reports and BA/POCL control
mechanisms.
Agree frequency of Review meetings
Agree content of inputs
Agree reporting periods
Agree arrangements for exception reporting
Agree the list of reports that will be required
Agree the medium for the reports,
i.e./ fax/EIS access/paper/floppy disk/other
8. Agree MIS reporting requirements with Pathway
YAORWNH
786 I None
787 I CAPS will provide information on customer details and benefit
payments.
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7188 1. The Postmaster will ensure that the relevant counter
procedures are adhered to.
2. Operate the agreed counter procedures for Permanent Agent
encashments
789 IThe Postmaster will ensure that the relevant counter
procedures are adhered to.
Emphasise in their instructions to PO clerks that such
transactions must be settled individually, one at a time, and
will strongly deprecate any informal tallying of encashments
790 INone
791 1. BA to agree with Pathway reasonable procedures for
providing the restricted post office infringement data
commensurate with the operational characteristics of CAPS.
2. Operate the agreed procedures for handling RPOI potential
infringements
792 To agree and sign off the design of the request form :
1. To agree service levels and procedures
for the retrieval service with Pathway
to include contingency.
2. To define a list of the authorities
entitled to access information e.g.
fraud investigation teams, BA offices.
3. To provide a list of addresses and agree
procedures for the return of requested
items
4. To agree disposal procedures for items
after the required retention period
5. To develop procedures for BA staff
requesting retrievals
6. To agree the design and content of forms
and procedures for investigation teams
and BA officers for the retrieval of
receipts from the post office before
they are
despatched to the storage location (if required).
793 1. Approve declaration statements to be printed on the
receipts
2. Review texts to ensure suitability with particular
reference to appointee status
3. Specify procedures and declaration statement for all
Authorised Person categories to allow collection of benefit
794 I1. Approve card design and agree verification procedures
2. Provide appropriate verification data
3. Operate the agreed counter procedures for normal and
manually entered card transactions
795 I None
796 1. Agree referral procedures with Pathway.
2. Create and maintain procedures to handle referrals to DSS
3. Operate agreed procedures for encashments when no payments
are due
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7197 To agree a process to inform the types of stable benefits for
which multiple authorisation can be made available, the
number of individual payments which may be notified and the
file formats for their conveyance
Agree the operational methods by which this contingency plan
is put into effect
Agree with Pathway/POCL procedures to process and encash
contingency payments
Agree with Pathway the number of payments by benefit type to
be paid to customers during contingency operations. e.g.
number of weeks for weekly benefits
To inform their customers of the arrangements to avoid
situations occurring at the post office counter and reduce
the number of calls to the Pathway help desks
To inform Pathway immediately of any circumstances known by
the Authorities which may invoke contingency payments.
To complete reconciliation’s on contingency payments when
system is restored.
To deal with any customer complaints which may arise as a
result of contingency payments
798 Institute measures to prevent abuse by customers of this
procedure
Operate the agreed counter procedures for change in
nominated post office
799 I Agree with Pathway the procedure for token issue, including
any client interfacing requirements and technical
specifications
800 _ INone
801 1. identify the specific products and services within each
product style 2. indicate default values (if applicable) for
open value products 3. specify the product groups that
comprise denomination components
802 1. identify by denomination the products which are considered
to be cash or value stock
803 IBA/POCL Shall:
1. Advise whether a semi-complete customer session should be
discarded completely or recovered so far as possible.
804 IBA/POCL Shall:
1. Identify the cut-offs for the clients which affects
reversibility.
805 1. Specify which events are to be recorded in the journal
2. the criteria that may be used for searching for
transactions and journal events
806 Specify whether the system will be operated across different
time zones
807 IBA/POCL Shall:
1. identify the items by denomination that can be transferred
between stock units.
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808 IBA/POCL Shall:
1. identify the items that will be reconciled by individual
serial number.
809 INone
810 IBA/POCL Shall:
1. identify all of the transactions that should allow "rate
shopping".
811 Provide a complete set of definitions for existing products
2. provide definitions of new products sufficiently in
advance of their live availability requirement
812 Provide the rules regarding the reversibility of each
transaction
813 Identify which products can be revalued
814 IAgree rules for the sharing of cash and stock declaration
work in a team working environment
815 INone
816 Specify the scope of an auditor’s access to accounting data
817 1. Identify discounts applicable to existing products
2. Specify their discounting strategy and the products
affected
818 Agree the format and content of reference data transmitted
from POCL.
819 BA/POCL Shall:
1. identify the items that comprise the cash account.
2. at any point in time provide calendar information for the
previous, the current and the following year subject to
agreed process, including agreement on timescale.
3. provide the format of the data in the 2D bar code.
820 IBA/POCL Shall:
1. Follow the fallback and recovery procedures agreed with
Pathway.
821 IBA/POCL Shall:
1. provide timely information describing each local business
scheme and identifying the regions, areas and offices
affected.
822 1. Agree the format and content of reference data transmitted
to and from IMS
2. Identify the precise products whose movements are
controlled by the IMS
823 I None
824 1. Provide full details of rules and tariffs involved in
mails services
2. Specify the level of data capture associated with added
value mails services
825 BA/POCL Shall:
1. identify the business and data relationships between the
“linked” products.
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826 1. Advance notice of any requirement of BA or POCL to
introduce a new peripheral into OPS.
2. Assist in the development of an impact assessment
resulting from any new equipment covering current service
provision, Pathway/BA/POCL liabilities, procedural changes
and any resultant costs.
827 1. The timely specification, using the Change Control
process, of any changes to business functionality required in
current Services. This would include the introduction of new
authorisation methods.
2. Co-operation and involvement in the specification and
outline design of new authorisation methods
3. Support for Pathway in dialogue with third parties
828 1. Agree procedures for dealing with data exceptions arising
from CAPS to BPS transmission.
2. Agree service levels for error rates and error resolution
for CAPS/BPS data transmission.
3. Agree review and change control mechanisms for CAPS data
definition
4. Agree mechanisms for provision of control data, i.e.
Benefit payment reference details.
5. Agree mechanisms for provision of control data, e.g. Post
Office reference details.
829 Information required to support fraud investigation or
prosecutions shall be notified before the end of the agreed
normal retention period for the relevant information;
currently 12 months in the case of physical evidence (e.g..
receipts) and 6 years in the case of electronic evidence held
in conformance with the DSS IT Security Standards.
830 1. Agree contingency scope and operational responsibilities.
2. Agree procedures for invoking contingency, particularly
BPS/CAPS and at Post Office Counter.
3. Agree mechanisms for classifying and reporting when
contingency invoked, e.g. BPS notification of authorised
payment generated when CAPS non-availability.
4. Agree change control mechanisms for contingency
5. Monitor BA operational environment where there is a
Pathway interface.
6. Report invocation of BA contingency when there is a
Pathway interface.
7. Agree review and problem resolution processes associated
with management of contingency invocation
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831 POCL shall:
1. Place the POCL Interface document under joint change
control.
2. Discuss the implications of extensions to this
functionality.
3. Agree to the specific applications of the ARTS model.
4. Agree the operating timetable for IM.
5. Agree the operating timetable for TIP.
6. Assist in the agreement of operating timetables for POCL
Clients.
7. Assist in the agreement of interfaces for POCL Client
Authorisation Requests, Confirmations/Exceptions,
Authorisations and Client-specific reference data.
8. None
9. Agree procedures for the handling of Benefit Encashment
related paperwork.
10. Agree procedures for benefit payment reconciliation.
11. Agree the transition of traffic from APT host to AP
client hosts.
12. Agree outlet arrangements for cash account production.
13. None
14. Agree a development strategy and timetable for the IM
application.
15. None
16. None
17. None
832 All faults must be reported to the help desk.
833 I None
834 IBA/POCL Shall:
1. Agree with Pathway an approach to migrating business data
for all classes of office during roll-out.
835 I None
836 I None
837 1. define the format and content of all reports 2. identify
the frequency of production of each report
838 IBA/POCL Shall:
1. identify the transactions / products which will support
post-event entry of information.
839 IBA/POCL Shall:
1. identify all items by denomination that make up the retail
stock.
840 Provision of the appropriate customer verification data
within the CAPS input stream.
841 Shall agree with Pathway any modifications to POCL counter
and back office procedures necessary for the proper operation
of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
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842 Shall agree with Pathway any modifications to POCL counter
and back office procedures necessary for the proper operation
of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
843 Shall agree with Pathway any modifications to POCL counter
and back office procedures necessary for the proper operation
of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
844 Operate agreed counter procedures for multiple beneficiary
encashments.
845 IAgree and operate counter procedures for premature
termination by the clerk
846 IAgreement of the technical details of the interface to TIP
and its operational characteristics, in terms of timings and
transfer schedules, etc.
847 Discuss and agree with Pathway any modifications to POCL
counter and back office procedures necessary for the proper
operation of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed office
and counter procedures are followed.
848 INone
849 IClarify how the foreign payments count is to be applied to
proxy collections at offices other than the beneficiary’s
nominated office.
Set the (x,y) parameters, providing timely agreement on any
changes required.
Notify which benefits are not subject to foreign encashment
limits
850 Operate agreed procedures and to agreed timetable.
851 Discuss and agree with Pathway any modifications to POCL
counter and back office procedures necessary for the proper
operation of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
852 Will discuss and agree with Pathway any modifications to
POCL counter and back office procedures necessary for the
proper operation of the required services by POCL staff or
agents.
Will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
853 I Follow appropriate counter and audit procedures.
854 INone
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855 Will discuss and agree with Pathway any modifications to
POCL counter and back office procedures necessary for the
proper operation of the required services by POCL staff or
agents.
Shall use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
856 IOperate agreed counter procedures for manual input of card
details
857 _ I None
858 Operate the agreed foreign encashment counter procedures
859 1. Confirmation of the required data structures within the
CAPS interface specification
2. General obligations with respect to agreeing any future
changes
860 Shall agree with Pathway any modifications to POCL counter
and back office procedures necessary for the proper operation
of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Shall use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
Agreement on call referral procedures relating to
entitlement or other enquiries outside Pathway’s domain.
861 I1. Provision of personal details for alternative payees in
the CAPS customer details file to CMS, including any agreed
details relating to use of specific card livery, if required.
2. Inclusion of agreed alternative payee details in the
authorised payment payee group data sent from CAPS to PAS.
3. To agree and follow counter procedures
862 IWill discuss and agree with Pathway any modifications to POCL
counter and back office procedures necessary for the proper
operation of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
863 Will discuss and agree with Pathway any modifications to
POCL counter and back office procedures necessary for the
proper operation of the required services by POCL staff or
agents.
Will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
864 Will discuss and agree with Pathway any modifications to
POCL counter and back office procedures necessary for the
proper operation of the required services by POCL staff or
agents.
Will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
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865 Will discuss and agree with Pathway any modifications to
POCL counter and back office procedures necessary for the
proper operation of the required services by POCL staff or
agents.
Will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
866 Discuss and agree with Pathway any modifications to POCL
counter and back office procedures necessary for the proper
operation of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Shall use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
867 Process requests for nominated post office change
Operate an agreed system of card events to minimise abuse
Agree interface specifications for acknowledgement data
between CAPS and PMS/CMS
POCL to agree and follow counter procedures
868 Discuss and agree with Pathway any modifications to POCL
counter and back office procedures necessary for the proper
operation of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Shall use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
869 1. BA/POCL will endeavour to provide timely information on
all likely and possible changes to business volumes within
current or new services.
2. New or changed services will be subject to a change
control process.
3. BA/POCL will agree system testing with Pathway.
870 I None
871 _ I None
872 The authorities to provide the following information
1. Maintain lists of staff who will have roles to access PMS
and CMS records in the steady state using automated immediate
enquiries.
2. Co-operate with Pathway to define those BA staff who will
be given access to NSI record material by telephone via
Pathway staff and the modus operandi for such access.
3. What verification questions we will be able to ask
Nationally Sensitive customers (this will be greatly
dependant on information provided by CAPS
4. What level of authority will be allowed to access
Nationally Sensitive records (mainly on the PMS/CMS help
desks)
5. How we will be notified that a current case has become
Nationally Sensitive
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873 POCL shall contribute to service developments within the
bounds of the Pathway’s obligations to service provision,
covering both improvements and functional enhancements to the
planned services and any new services
Shall provide timely information on actual or anticipated
changes in business volumes and/or changes and extensions to
services to assist Pathway’s planning processes
874 Transfer of card termination requirements from CAPS to CM
Discuss and agree with Pathway any modifications to POCL
counter and back office procedures necessary for the proper
operation of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
875 POCL will follow counter, office and help desk access
procedures
Discuss and agree with Pathway any modifications to POCL
counter and back office procedures necessary for the proper
operation of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed.
876 IPOCL will raise all requests for additional benefits or
changes to existing benefits via the agreed change control
system.
Shall provide timely information on actual or anticipated
changes in business volumes and/or changes and extensions to
services to assist Pathway’s planning processes
877 Shall provide timely information on actual or anticipated
changes in business volumes and/or changes and extensions to
services to assist Pathway’s planning processes
878 INone
879 INone
880 IAgreement of the technical details of the interface to TIP
and its operational characteristics, in terms of timings and
transfer schedules, etc.
Agreement on any reconciliation mechanisms between POCL,
Pathway and, where appropriate, any third parties, for
transactional data transferred to TIP.
881 INone
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882 I Approve the wording of replacement receipts and time validity
during which they can be produced
Shall agree with Pathway any modifications to POCL counter
and back office procedures necessary for the proper operation
of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Shall use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed in their affect
upon the operation of the Pathway services
883 I None
884 INone
885 INone
886 INone
887 I None
888 INone
889 INone
890 1. POCL shall agree with Pathway the technical details of the
interfaces by which committed AP transactions are transferred
to POCL and Clients.
2. POCL shall agree with its AP clients and Pathway the
operational characteristics of such transfer processes,
including time windows and the procedures by which
demonstrability of successful transaction transfers shall be
measured
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891 IBA/POCL shall:
1. input reference data at the central and/or post office
levels, and such other levels as may be defined, in
accordance with operating procedures agreed with Pathway
2. notify Pathway without unreasonable delay of any
reconciliation exceptions encountered by BA/POCL systems that
are unexplained by BA/POCL
3. ensure that Pathway is notified without unreasonable delay
of any reconciliation exceptions encountered by POCL client
systems that are unexplained by POCL clients or POCL
4. as appropriate, agree interface integrity controls with
Pathway
5. co-operate with Pathway in seeking explanations for
reconciliation exceptions
6. take appropriate steps to restore TIPI and IM in the event
of their failure.
7. take appropriate steps to restore CPCS in the event of
their failure
8. notify Pathway without unreasonable delay of any
reconciliation exceptions encountered by BA systems that are
unexplained by BA
9. accumulate and despatch paper receipts to the agreed
repository in a timely fashion and in accordance with agreed
procedures for grouping, enveloping, despatching and
notifying despatch
10. provide information to Pathway for the retrieval of
receipts
11. agree the card (and temporary token) procedures to be
followed
892 INone
893 I None
894 IAgree the arrangements for MIS reports and BA/POCL control
mechanisms.
1. Agree frequency of Review meetings
2. Agree content of inputs
3. Agree reporting periods
4. Agree arrangements for exception reporting.
5. Agree the procedure for arranging “ad hoc” meetings
6. Agree the list of reports that will be required
7. Specify data requirements to enable resource, network
productivity, cash management and marketing planning
8. Advise changes to MIS requirements under Change Control
procedures
9. Specify and agree all required interfaces to Information
systems, e.g. TIP.
10. Agree the medium for the reports, i.e./ fax/EIS
access/paper/floppy disk/other
11. Customer to provide and agree MIS reporting requirements
895 1. Agree irregular encashment information.
2. POCL must inform Pathway of any exception event occurring
in a Post Office
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896 IThe AUTHORITY shall be jointly responsible for developing a
strategy study for the use of electronic communications in
the user documentation area.
897 INone
898 Specify those outlets that require OBCS
899 Agree the service levels and methods of data transfer to/from
the DSS ESNCS system.
900 I Provision and discussion of the ESNCS interface document
referred to above.
901 INone
902 IAgree OBCS service level
Agree process by which OBCS time monitoring will be achieved
903 Provision of DSS interface document
Co-operation in the design and operational procedures
relating to the DSS ESNCS data interface
Agree final definition and enactment of OBCS service levels
904 INone
905 INone
906 INone
907 I None
908 Shall agree with Pathway any modifications to POCL counter
and back office procedures necessary for the proper operation
of the required services by POCL staff or agents.
Shall use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that agreed
office and counter procedures are followed in their affect
upon the operation of the Pathway services
909 IAgree and follow counters approach and agree the procedures
used to support this class of encashments, including any
implications on the CAPS data interface to CMS/PAS and also
on counter procedures.
BA to discuss and agree the precise terms of group collection
and provide a flag in the CAPS input stream indicating a
permanent group agent role.
BA & POCL to discuss and agree the appropriate verification
requirements for casual agent collection on behalf of the
Authorised Person.
General obligations on agreeing and following counter
procedures.
910 IAgree and follow counters procedures appropriate mechanism
for transferring to Pathway information on encashment limits
and its applicability.
General obligations to agree and follow counter procedures.
911 BA/POCL shall:
Agree the transition arrangements through a change control
procedure.
The AUTHORITY will agree a change control procedure.
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912 1. POCL to agree a schedule for the electrical safety test
service, commensurate with the post office roll-out
timetable.
2. POCL to facilitate and promote the importance of this
service and the ongoing safety responsibilities of post
office staff.
3. Facilitate the access to equipment and other areas as
required during the electrical safety service.
913 IThe AUTHORITY is responsible for the definition of the
documentation agree a process and adherence to the agreed
timescales for review.
POCL will copy and distribute the paper copies of the manual
to the appropriate users.
914 INone
915 1. The AUTHORITY will give details of the staff to be
trained.
916 I None
917 I None
918 INone
919 INone
920 INone
921 1. Advance notice of any requirement of BA or POCL to
introduce a new peripheral into OPS.
2. Co-operation in the development of an impact assessment
resulting from any new equipment covering current service
provision, Pathway/BA/POCL liabilities, procedural changes
and any resultant costs.
922 INone
923 I None
924 Counter Clerks to provide support for the process at outlets.
925 The AUTHORITY shall produce and agree with the CONTRACTOR and
baseline the control document ref. 011
926 The AUTHORITY shall document the process to follow for
agreement to roll-out plans, including but not limited to:
a) initial release timeframe;
b) extent and scope of roll-out plan;
c) process of change;
d) expected change frequency;
927 DSS to set out its specific requirements for documentation
clearly.
928 DSS to clearly specify the content and level of detail
required.
929 IThe AUTHORITY shall produce and baseline the list of Main
Post Offices in schedule.
930 To use best endeavours to identify any constraints that apply
to roll-out at DSS offices over and above those already
identified elsewhere in the related agreements.
931 DSS to identify any particular support requirements other
than those already offered in the related agreements.
932 To identify any additional requirement for Information not
already covered by requirement 915.
933 IAgree a Programme plan including any AUTHORITIES
responsibilities.
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934 IDSS shall:
Adhere to the data transfers for CMS and provide for
reception of transfers from CMS in accordance with the
interface specifications and operational procedures to be
agreed with Pathway and DSS’s agents
Supply temporary tokens to Customers in accordance with
procedures to be agreed between Pathway and DSS
Facilitate access for the installation and maintenance and
deinstallation of agreed Pathway equipment
Provide reasonable terms and facilities for staff
Pathway may maintain on DSS premises.
Provide Pathway with specifications of CAPS functions.
Provide Pathway with reasonable notice of changes in such
specifications
Aid agreement as principal with Pathway in the event that
Pathway and DSS’s agent cannot agree on technical and
operational processes.
Consider the Pathway comments
935 I None
936 IBA/POCL shall:
Agree enhancement to CAPS to handle emergency payments and
conveyance of temporary token identities. The BPS stream
paper, latest 8 January 1996, describes such enhancements.
Contribute to the service and customer care ethos in dealing
with customers
Co-operate in designing the form and content of the customer
education programme and the literature and material.
Consider Pathway’s recommendation of distributing the welcome
pack with notices of entitlement (BA), providing size and
weight does not effect postage costs. Co-operate in
handling the needs of customers who cannot attend the post
office to collect their cards (BA) without any obligations to
perform actions.
Hold and maintain stocks of mandate forms
Hold and maintain stocks of temporary tokens (BA).
Operate the temporary token procedure in co-operation with
Pathway.
CAPS will provide agreed information regarding new customers
to be enrolled and provide updates of information as
appropriate.
Where agreed receive PUNs and issue to customers without
suitable addresses of their own (BA).
Agree a process in handling exceptional card issue events.
937 BA/POCL shall:
Agree enhancement to CAPS to handle emergency payments and
conveyance of temporary token identities. The BPS stream
paper, latest 8 January 1996, describes such enhancements.
Operate the agreed temporary token procedure.
Co-operate in handling exceptional card issue events.
Receive reports of apparently out of date addresses (BA).
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938 Co-operate in the definition of the service description
Agree the service description
Agree the content and distribution of the BPS MIS outputs
Agree the corresponding requirements of POCL
939 ICo-operate in the progressing of the requirements
specification.
Agree the delivery arrangements and output formats of the BPS
MIS outputs.
Agree the retention periods.
940 IAgree the requirements specification.
941 1. Refer to programme plan.
2. Agree the frequency and format of the installation
acceptance reports.
942 IAgree the requirements specification including the form and
formats in which the audit trail will be presented.
Agree the service interfaces which relate to this requirement
and the content of the Customer to CMS Help Desk Service
interface audit trail.
943 I None
944 1 Agree the education requirements for authorised persons
(and their casual agents).
2 Agree the Post Office Counter Procedure for Casual Agent
Encashment.
945 1. The AUTHORITY shall nominate an Outlet Manager for each
site who can agree and authorise the site preparation work to
be done and also periods when no modifications can made to
the site. The AUTHORITY shall agree with the CONTRACTOR the
format and approach of the User Survey and also the
parameters for the siting of the OPs, prior to commencement
of the Roll-out.
2. The AUTHORITY shall define and agree with the CONTRACTOR
the role and interface with the “database liaison” and
“automated prog.”.
946 IThe timely agreement of the Operational Trials plan with
Pathway.
947 The Contracting Authorities responsibilities cannot be
determined at this stage.
948 The timely agreement of the user service Acceptance Criteria
with Pathway.
949 1. To define the scope of the “total POCL Training” that may
be required.
2. To identify the numbers, locations and skills profile of
the staff to be trained.
3. To identify the training requirements in sufficient time
to allow the preparation of training plans and training
courses.
950
951 IBA/POCL shall:
Give timely notification of changes in the interfaces of
their systems and, where possible, those of other parties,
where these affect Pathway.
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952 I None
953 I None
954 To pass changes to customer personal details to CMS via the
CAPS access service to the agreed service levels.
To identify any changes to personal details which may prevent
encashment of benefit at the counter.
955 ITo agree processes and procedures associated with the issue
of temporary token within the agreed Programme plan.
956 IThe contracting authority shall:-
Negotiate any required practical alternative arrangements for
reception and transmission of files.
Originate the data transfers for OBCS and provide for
reception of transfers from OBCS in accordance with the
interface specifications and operational procedures to be
agreed with Pathway and the Contracting Authorities.
Facilitate access for the installation and maintenance and
de-installation of Pathway equipment.
Agree fair and reasonable terms and facilities for staff that
Pathway may maintain on Contracting Authorities’ premises.
Provide Pathway with specifications of OBCS functions,
particularly for the known addition for stop and recall
receipt acknowledgements.
Provide Pathway with reasonable notice of change in such
specifications.
Aid agreement as principal with Pathway in the event that
Pathway and DSS’s agents cannot agree on technical and
operational process.
957 The Authority shall identify the Post Offices for the initial
operational trial, for subsequent agreement with the
Contractor.
The Authority shall define the required scope of services for
the initial live trial, for agreement with the Contractor
within the agreed Programme plan.
958 The Authority shall review the Contractor’s end-to-end
testing strategy and plan within the agreed Programme plan.
959 To ensure that the CAPS interface supports Urgent Payments
and Immediate Stop Facilities for testing within the agreed
Programme plan.
960 Identify the precise events that should be recorded as zero-
value transactions for all products/services but particularly
for BES and APS.
961 INone.
962 To agree with Pathway all card design details, including the
content and size of the message to be printed on the reverse
of the card within the agreed Programme plan.
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963 IAgree with Pathway procedures to process and encash
contingency payments, within the agreed Programme plan.
964 ITo agree with Pathway procedures for handling temporary
increases in volume, within the agreed Programme plan.
965 INone.
966 Agree procedures with Pathway for operating CMS under
contingency, within the agreed Programme plan.
967 To agree with Pathway procedures for handling temporary
increase in volume, within the agreed Programme plan.
968 The contracting authority shall agree appropriate material to
be issued with the PUN.
969 Notification to Pathway of unexpected office closures and
agreement, where appropriate, of an alternative local office
to act as a surrogate during the period of closure.
General obligations on agreeing and following counter
procedures.
970 ITo agree procedures and mechanisms for delivery of Post
Office changes to Pathway.
To inform Pathway at the earliest opportunity (or to agreed
timescales) of Post Offices which are due for closure on a
temporary or a permanent basis, to prevent disruption to the
service as much as possible.
To inform Pathway of appropriate details where a post office
may close, but relocate to another address.
OTL The Authority shall identify all automated payment clients
and their data requirement.
The Authority shall identify the nominated end of day time
for each Post Office, and the assumed end of day for data
transmission cut-off.
The Authority shall agree with the Contractor the strategy
for achieving single-stream unreconciled data transmission to
its automated payment clients.
972 _INone.
973 IThe contracting authority shall:-
Give due notification of intention to re-tender any service.
Give due notification of changes in interfaces of their
systems and those of alternative or supplementary suppliers.
Agree test specifications, schedules and reports for
replacement or supplementary services.
974 The Authority shall agree with the Contractor the change
control procedures for updates to the Benefit Migration
Timetable.
975 IThe Authority shall define requirements for additional sites
outside current PFIL via formal change control.
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976 IThe contracting authority shall:-
Republish and maintain under change control the CAPS to
PAS/CMS Data Interface Definitions. (At present Version 4 is
the latest available to Pathway.)
Republish and maintain under change control the BA/POCL
Service Interface Definitions. (At present Version 1, 9
February 1996, is the latest available to Pathway.)
Publish and maintain under change control the Interface
Volumes and Timings.
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