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Cle- Recosph<o -
08 SEP 1999 107]
P@ST.
@FFICE,
Electronic memo
To Stuart Sweetman/HQ/POCL/POSTOFFICE@POSTOFFICE
cc Bruce McNiven/POCL/POSTOFFICE@POSTOFFICE, Keith K
Baines/POCL/POSTOFFICE@POSTOFFICE, David X
Smith/POCL/POSTOFFICE@POSTOFFICE, Erika
Watts/HQ/POCL/POSTOFFICE@POSTOFFICE
Hard Copy To
Hard Copy cc
From June Lilley/POCL/POSTOFFICE
Date 08/09/99 12:45
Subject HORIZON ACCEPTANCE
Please see the attached from Dave Miller
Sept08.doc
Thanks
JUNE
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aren
@ TO: Stuart Sweetman. COPY: Bruce McNiven
Keith Baines
David Smith
FROM: Dave Miller DATE: 8 September 1999
SUBJECT: HORIZON ACCEPTANCE
Iam due to meet Richard Christou to review progress towards ICL Pathway achieving
Acceptance on Wednesday 8 September. On Friday 10 September POCL is to decide
whether to sanction a further 2 week’s roll out amounting to another 350 offices.
1 REVIEW OF PROGRESS
A lot of progress has been made. However there are still key issues outstanding:
11. Training
Bruce McNiven and Ruth Holleran have done excellent work squeezing a better
training deal out of ICL Pathway. The incident remains at high because of the need
to support Training with a better Helpdesk facility. However this will in all
likelihood be downgraded to a medium incident with an agreed rectification plan
and therefore no obstruction to acceptance.
1.2 System Jock ups and screen freezes requiring re-boots
This is still a problem and is being actively worked on. The problem is being
contained but it isn’t yet being improved and John Meagher thinks it will take
months to getright. The levels of impact are as follows. Currently on average it is
affecting every counter position for % hour per month. This translates into a
potential impact of over 2m customers per annum being affected over our network.
More significant 0.5m of these customers would be in our top 1500 offices.
The level of problem is significantly higher than we experience from other automated
systems and we have a stated acceptable position of ¥ hour per office per annum.
13 Derived cash account not equally electronic cash account
Ruth Holleran has again done sterling work here and the understanding of the
problem and fixes and controls are largely in hand. However the major controls
cannot be implemented until Christmas with a patch available from early October.
Ruth see this incident as being downgradeable to medium with an agreed
rectification plan but there are still too many important loose ends and she has
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doubts whether this will improve sufficiently for us to accept on by the end of
September.
14 Failure of the Horizon System Helpdesk to support the automated network
This is a Pathway contracted facility which is not standing up well to the strain of
live working. All POCL parties are deeply concerned about the ability of this facility
to cope with a scaled up Horizon without having to outsource key work to POCL.
This is clearly not acceptable in the short term (before Christmas) when the new
service centre will be available. In the longer term we would be prepared to take on
this work for the appropriate terms (£ and risk transfer).
2 SUMMARY
Of our six key players (Keith Baines, Ruth Holleran, John Meagher, Bruce McNiven,
David Smith, Andy Radka) the first 4 would opt (somewhat reluctantly) for conditional
acceptance towards the end of September. Andy Radka and David Smith would not accept
and seek to use the full period until 15 November to force improved performance from ICL
Pathway.
3. WHERE TO GO FROM HERE?
Tactically I would like to follow this process.
3.1 Tell Christou tomorrow that the prognosis for a 24 September acceptance is by no
means certain and that the decision on further roll out on Friday will probably be not
to do any more offices. However we will continue to work round the clock until 24
September to achieve acceptance which we desire.
3.2 Raise the issue of conditional acceptance. Test the water and if Christou is interested
get Jeff Triggs and Keith Baines to negotiate a possible way through for me to
consider on Friday with key players. This might include changes to the roll out plan.
3.3 Review decision on further roll out again on Friday in light of progress during the
week,
3.4 Itis likely that ICL Pathway may play Peter Copping in for a decision on the 3 high
level incidents as of today. If so there is nothing we can do and I expect he will give
his view within 48 hours anyway. This will give us a clear steer on where he is
coming from so we can stop the second guessing his position.
4, Bruce is preparing the bullet point brief for John Roberts and will incorporate
Acceptance into it.