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POST OFFICE CONFIDENTIAL
How Post Office Confirmed that Horizon was fit-for-
purpose
Horizon was developed as a managed service by ICL Pathway. As is
our usual practice in contracts for the development of complex IT
services, Post Office put in place a formal acceptance process to
assure itself that the service was fit for purpose before allowing it to be
widely deployed.
Post Office’s specification of the service was documented in a
catalogue of requirements. This included requirements relating to the
ease of use of the system, the stability of the system and the integrity
of the financial information that it produces.
The acceptance process used a mixture of technical reviews, testing by
ICL Pathway and by Post Office and operation of a live pilot stage in
Post Office branches to confirm that each requirement was being met
satisfactorily. This was not a “rubber-stamping” exercise, and
significant problems were found and then fixed before the main roll-out
was authorised.
There were some problems with system stability during the early
stages of the acceptance process, but these were rectified, and a
period of monitoring in pilot offices during October and November 1999
demonstrated that the rectification had been effective in reducing the
incidence of re-boots and related problems to an average rate of less
than 4 per counter position per annum. Subsequent improvements by
ICL Pathway during the year 2000 reduced this to less than 3 per
counter position per annum.
Training
During the roll-out of the Horizon system, all users of the system
(including subpostmasters and their assistants) were trained in its use.
The training courses were developed and delivered by ICL having been
based on an analysis of user needs carried out in conjunction with
experienced Post Office trainers.
The courses took into account the profile of the users — that is, that
they were older and less experienced in the use of computers than
would be the case in most IT projects, but were already aware of the
manual processes carried out in managing or working in a Post Office
branch.
The training was practically based, carried out in small groups, and was
concluded by an assessment to ensure that the trainees had acquired
the necessary skills and knowledge to use the system. The standard
course was of 1 day, with a longer 2 day course for branch managers
(including subpostmasters). Training was carried out shortly before the
relevant branches went “live” with the system.
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In addition, Post Office provided a number of reference guides which
were provided to subpostmasters for use during the period when they
were becoming familiar with the system.
Help Desk Services
ICL Pathway provided a helpdesk service (known as the Horizon
System Helpdesk) to answer calls about problems with the equipment
or software, and to provide advice and guidance on using the system,
including its use in preparation of weekly cash accounts. This helpdesk
was not required to answer general enquiries about Post Office
business processes — a separate helpdesk operated by Post Office
was available for this.
Post Office’s contract with ICL Pathway set service levels for their help
desk service to ensure that it was appropriate to the needs of Horizon
users. In summary these were:
3.2.1 Hours of service — full service 8am to 8pm Monday to
Saturday; skeleton service 5am to 8am and 8pm to
midnight Monday to Saturday and 7am to 10pm Sundays.
3.2.2 Call answering — 80% answered within 20 seconds and
99% within 40 seconds
3.2.3 Calls not answered to be less than 1%
3.2.4 Help desk to provide first, second and third level services
as follows:
(a) First level — deals with all simple and straightforward
problems and with general enquiries.
95% of first level calls to be resolved within 5 minutes and
100% within 10 minutes
(b) I Second level — provides a diagnostics and fixing service
for more complex problems
95% of second level calls to be resolved within 30
minutes and 100% within 45 minutes.
(c) _ Third level — analyses problems that can not be dealt with
at the first 2 levels. 3rd level will either develop a fix or
work-around, or document the problem as needing
subsequent software changes.
3.2.5 There were also more detailed service levels requiring the
provision of accurate and timely advice and guidance on
completion of cash accounts.
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These service levels were much more demanding than is general in IT
contracts; this was because Post Office recognised that its business
depended on being able to serve customers in Post Office branches
efficiently and that in turn required effective and fast support of the staff
serving them.
Performance against service levels was monitored in detail during the
period 3% December 1999 to 13" January 2000 to prove that the
service was operating correctly ahead of the main national roll-out of
the Horizon system. Subsequently, service levels have been reported
monthly, and have generally been satisfactory.
POST OFFICE CONFIDENTIAL