FUJ00001288 - POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals To Attend Training

Evidence on official site

FUJ00001288
FUJ00001288

POCL POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals Ref: BP/PRD/007
To Attend Training Version: 1.0
Date: 13/08/98

Document Title: POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals To Attend
Training - CAR 532.000.003

Document Type: Contractual

Document Scope: To define/document and outline POCL policy to
their contractual responsibilities in mandating training
during Live Trial and National Roll Out

Status: Final

Distribution: POCL ICL Pathway
Bruce McNiven Lorraine Holt
Mike GranvilleAndy Barkham
Douglas Craik Barrie Davies
John Legg Liam Foley
Fiona Anderson Stephen Muchow
Ann Cocker John Dicks
Katherine Cook Bob McDermott

Nancy Groff Witton Martin Johnson
John Holroyd

Paul Kirk

Clive Winward

Author: Trevor Rollason

Comments to: Trevor Rollason

Comments by: 13/08/98

POCL 1998 Page I of 13 13/08/98

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POCL POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals Ref: BP/PRD/007
To Attend Training Version: 1.0
Date: 13/08/98

0. Document Control

0.1. Document History

Version

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

Date Reason
09/09/97 First draft version
15/11/97 Second version following

comments from ICL Pathway

31/12/97 Third version following review
by POCL

9/06/98 Fagin review by ICL and POCL

02/08/98 Final Version

0.2 Approval Authority

Name:

Bruce McNiven

Douglas Craik

Trevor Rollason

Lorraine Holt

Barrie Davies

Position: Signature: Date:
General Manager
Implementation POCL

Head of field Implementation
POCL

User Implementation Manager
POCL
User Implementation

Manager, ICL Pathway

Implementation Manager
ICL Pathway

POCL 1998

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FUJ00001288
POCL POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals Ref: BP/PRD/007
To Attend Training Version: 1.0
Date: 13/08/98

0.3 Associated Documents

Reference: Version: Date: Title:

BP/TRN/OO1 2.2 26.3.98 Training & User Awareness
Baseline Document

SU/TRN/001 0.1 09.3.97 Training Needs Analysis

BP/PRD/013 0.1 21.5.98 POCLs Processes for Training

Scheduling and Awareness to
Support National Roll Out.

IM/REQ/014_ 1.0 27/05/98 Training Scheduling and Minimum
Training Compliance.

SU/REP/021 1.0 31/10/97 Standard Reports and Format

IM/CLOS/0011.0 21/05/98 Closure Policy for Outlets

IM/SST/001 1.0 21/05/98 POCL Steady State Training
Policy

0.4 Abbreviations

CAR Contractual Authorities Responsibility
HFSO Horizon Field Support Officer

MIB Management Infrastructure Briefing
MTC Minimum Training Compliance

NFSP National Federation of Subpostmasters
NT & DT National Training & Development Team
POCL Post Office Counters Ltd

RLM Regional Liaison Manage

RNM Retail Network Manager

TAC Training Administration Centre

UAE User Awareness Event

0.5 Changes In This Version

Result of a joint POCL/ICL Pathway Fagin review.

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FUJ00001288
FUJ00001288
POCL POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals Ref: BP/PRD/007
To Attend Training Version: 1.0
Date: 13/08/98

.0.6 Table of Contents

0. DOCUMENT CONTROL...

0.1 DOCUMENT HISTORY.

0.2 APPROVAL AUTHORITY.....

0.3 ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTS...

0.4 ABBREVIATIONS.

0.5 CHANGES IN THIS VERSION.

.0.6 TABLE OF CONTENTS....

1, INTRODUCTION.

2. SCOPE......

3. DURATION OF SPECIFIC COURSES..

4. POCL APPROACH TO RELEASING INDIVIDUALS TO ATTEND TRAINING.........0 6

4.1 PROCESS... ee 6

4.3 NON ATTENDANCE ON DAY OF TRAIN

5. COMMUNICATIONBG.....

6. TURNOVER TRAINING IN STEADY STATE.

6.1 BACKGROUND.

6.2 METHOD..

6.3 TRAINING FOR SUBPOSTMASTERB...........

7. DOCUMENTATION FOR STEADY STATE TRAINING.

8. FUTURE RELEASE.....

9, REPORTING.........c000+

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POCL POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals Ref: BP/PRD/007
To Attend Training Version: 1.0
Date: 13/08/98

1. Introduction

The purpose of this document is to identify POCL’s policies covering Contractual
Authorities Responsibility (CAR) 532.000.003.

It demonstrates at high level how we will ensure staff are released for all necessary
training events. The detail of how this will happen is covered in other documents
referred to at 0.3 Associated Document.

2. Scope

The scope of this document is limited to describing the deliverables at a high level
associated with the release of individuals to attend training and covers the following
areas:-

e the process adopted by POCL to release the appropriate individuals for training.

e the process for escalation within POCL when individuals fail to attend training
within the five day window

© the process in which POCL will pro-actively inform and encourage users to attend
and training events. It will also explain their contractual obligations to attend
training.

© contingency procedures within regions

e the process of how regions are informed of this contractual CAR and how RLM’s
are notifying RNMs and regional staff of it’s significance to the success of the
rollout.

3. Duration Of Specific Courses

Horizon training courses have been developed to meet the varying needs of the 72,000
people identified as requiring some form of Horizon Training.

Each specific course has been developed by ICL Pathway with input from the relevant
areas of expertise within POCL. A Training Needs Analysis document has been
baselined and in this document all the various course are specified module by module.
The document also details the respective number of people who will attend the
different types of courses and over what period of time, below is an outline of the type
of course each job role will undertake and the duration of the course :-

e branch managers, agents, reliefs or their substitutes will be given 1.5 days course

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POCL POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals Ref: BP/PRD/007
To Attend Training Version: 1.0
Date: 13/08/98

counter clerks and subpostmaster’s assistants will be given a I day/7 hour course

RNMs/RLM’s will be given the same course as a branch manager

audit, investigation and security will receive a 2 day course with differing contents

helpline staff will receive a 1 day course delivered by ICL Pathway with any

additional requirements delivered by POCL trainers as defined.

e POCL trainers will receive a 5 day course after which at the end they will be
accredited to continue training on the Horizon system.

« HFSO will be given a 5 day training course and the 1.5 day managers course

e any other attendees will be given the 1 day course (as identified in SU/TRN/001)

eeee

4, POCL Approach To Releasing Individuals To Attend Training

POCL will ensure all staff, agents, registered assistants and reliefs are released for
training for release 2 and 2+. The release of staff will comply to POCL requirement
915 where all staff will be made available for training . see BP/PRD/013 and
IM/CLOS/001 for more detail. An outline of some of the processes in place to support
attendance at training and awareness events are shown below :-

© POCL via the RNM or RLM will contact either by phone or in person any
individual refusing to attend training.

¢ POCL where necessary will allow for an outlet to close to attend training.

¢ POCL will make a one off payment to a Subpostmaster for their attendance at
training (including awareness events)

¢ POCL will deem any Subpostmaster refusing to attend training, to have failed to
meet their contractual obligations and therefore they are unable to run a Post Office

e Subpostmasters will be asked to sign a statement, explaining the consequences of
their refusal to attend training.

© Subpostmasters have been made aware that it is their responsibility to release all
their staff to attend training and that should any fail to do so they will not be
allowed to use the Horizon system until they have had local training given by the
Subpostmaster.

All individuals (except POCL trainers and specialists ) will receive their training call up
papers one month in advance of their proposed training date. POCL require a 20 week
lead in time for trainers and specialists as their work is scheduled this far in advance,
training invites will be sent out at week 16.

4.1 Process

There will be a formal request to attend training from ICL Pathway which is the
beginning of the training process. (see IMP/REQ/014). The identification of those
individuals who require training will be obtained via the training requirement
questionnaire completed at the time of the UAE by the manager or agent.

Training will be offered within a 5 day window prior to installation. Call up notices
allocate a date, if this is not acceptable then an alternative date will be offered within
the five day window prior to installation.

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POCL POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals Ref: BP/PRD/007
To Attend Training Version: 1.0
Date: 13/08/98

Arrangements to ensure individuals attend within this 5 day window will be the
responsibility of the line manager or agent. Any issues which need resolving will be
escalated via their line managers (BP/PRD/013 refers).

HFSO, POCL trainers, auditors, security, investigation and other specialist staff
training requirements will vary in length and the release of these individuals will be
agreed with the respective Heads of Sections. (BP/PRD/013 refers).

4.2 Refusal To Attend

ICL Pathway will notify the respective RLM of any individuals who refuses to attend
training via electronic mail within 24 hours. The RLM will notify the RNM by phone
or electronic mail within 24 hours. The RNM will visit the outlet to explain the
position, further refusal will be escalated to the Head Of Retail Network to make the
decision on the way forward. (BP/PRD/013 refers) POCL have produced general
guidelines to be communicated to the regions on how to deal with individuals refusing
to attend and timescales to react to problems.

4.3 Non Attendance On Day Of Training

The trainer will phone ICL Pathway who will let the respective RLM know via email
on exception report the details of the individual who has not turned up cross reference
SU/REP/021 . The RLM will let their RNM know, and they will ascertain the reasons.
It is the responsibility of the subpostmaster to arrange an alternative training date via
ICL Pathway.

4.4 Late Attendance The Day Of Training
The course which have been developed run on a modular basis working to a very tight
timescales allowing very little time to be able to go over ground again.

To ensure an individual is given a fair chance to pass the competency test it has been
agreed that anyone turning up more than 30 minutes late will be issued anew course.

The allocation of the late attendees place for that day will still count against the 72,000
training places over 12600 course.

4.5 Role of RLM/RNM To Gain Commitment To Attend Training
The Horizon programme is one of POCL’s top objective and will form part of the

RLM’s/RNM’s objectives. Different approaches will be made to ensure individuals
attend ;

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POCL POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals Ref: BP/PRD/007
To Attend Training Version: 1.0
Date: 13/08/98

¢ Telephone call to offices encouraging attendance
© Visits to Offices
Regional issue of a communication pack

Processes will be adopted to optimise the number of individuals attending the MIB
and UAE events. RNMs will contact known individuals who refuse to attend training
(BP/PRD/013 refers).

5. Communications

POCL will provide regions with a policy document covering mandatory attendance at
training (BP/PRD/013 refers). A separate communications paper has been produced
outlining POCL policy for regions to distribute to all outlets. Below is an outline of
some of the key communication activities planned :-

Letter to Branch Secretaries explaining commitment required of its membership.
Letter to all outlets re enforcing Branch Secretaries message

Communication pack for each outlet explaining their role in the Infrastructure and
Implementation Cycles.

6. Turnover Training In Steady State

IM/SST/001 details the procedures in place to deliver steady state training.

6.1 Background

The method of training and delivery is detailed in section 3. The table below identifies
the mechanisms that trigger the need for training:-

Turnover Training Is Identified At: Identified By:
Required At:
Change of outlet or agent —_ appointment - request for © Agency Recruitment

training
Opening new outlet appointment RNM/Agency Recruitment
Re-opening after suspension RNM/Agency Recruitment
suspension
BO conversion appointment - request for Network Transformation
training
Agency staff appointment — POID check Agency Recruitment
FPO/IFPO staff POID check Agency Recruitment
appointment
POCL staff promotion appointment Personnel
POCL staff transfer transfer Personnel
POCL staff recruitment appointment Personnel
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POCL POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals Ref: BP/PRD/007
To Attend Training Version: 1.0
Date: 13/08/98

6.2 Method

When the need for training is identified, the appropriate POCL trainer will access the
regional database to ascertain if the office is Horizon installed. The appropriate
training will then be planned.

6.3 Training For Subpostmasters

The following sections contain overviews of the actions to be taken under each
heading . Full details can be found in BP/PRD/013 and IM/SST/002.

6.3.1 Subpostmaster Resigns

Under normal circumstances POCL will be given 3 months notice that a subpostmaster
wishes to resign. There will be exceptions to this, but the process as currently in place
for manual office resignations, is flexible enough to deal with all eventualities, and will
continue for the Ic release.

Upon receipt of notification of resignation the training section in the region will book
an accredited Horizon trainer to attend the outlet at the day of transfer which is
normally a Wednesday.

Following notification of a resignation, it is the responsibility of the trainer to ensure all
the necessary documentation, training materials etc. are in place ready for the
subsequent transfer and training to the incoming subpostmaster. An overview of the
process is shown below :-

e Subpostmaster sends in a letter of resignation to the Regions Agency Recruitment
Section

The Vacancy is advertised

Business Plans are submitted to Finance from Applicants

Interviews are arranged for short listed applicants

Appointment is made by RNM

Agency Recruitment confirm takeover date with Training Department .
Trainer is allocated and puts together a transfer pack.

Pre Induction training is given two days prior to office transfer in classroom
environment

Office transfer takes place (Normally PM Wednesday)

e Trainer commences 2 week on site training

« Up to 3 supported balances are given by POCL trainer

eoeeeee

.

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POCL POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals Ref: BP/PRD/007
To Attend Training Version: 1.0
Date: 13/08/98

6.3.2 Delivery Of Training

All of the training for new subpostmaster’s will be given by POCL trainers who have
undergone the 3 day ICL Pathway training course.

Delivery of training will be by POCL trainers, on-site, and in between customers.
Where new assistants join at the same time as the new subpostmaster, they will also be
given on site training by POCL trainers.

Training on site will start after the Subpostmaster has undertaken their two day
induction course. The induction course is used to enable the Subpostmaster to have
some insight into how the counter operates.

The induction course will use the Horizon platform and the 1.5 day managers course
used during roll outwill form the nucleaus of the two days Training. The top ten
transactions of the outlet due to be transferred will also be demonstrated to the
incoming subpostmaster using Horizon. The course also covers POCL Customer first
principles, Customer Care training and POCL user guides.

The office is transferred on the Wednesday PM supported by the Auditors and trainers.
The live training starts the day after transfer.

6.3.3Commencement of on site training

The trainer will sit behind the Subpostmaster observing how they are processing each
transaction and assisting where necessary . At quiet times they will encourage the
Subpostmaster to switch to training mode to consolidate what they have learned in the
induction course and to process transactions they have yet to come across, using the
training material provided by ICL Pathway.

In all, training on site fully supported by an accredited trainer will last for two weeks,
plus support for up to 3 balances, or more if required. All on site customer facing
transactions are conducted using the Horizon system therefore giving them not only
the 1.5 day Horizon course given to Subpostmasters during roll out but a further
supported two weeks of training.

6.3.4 Appointment Of New Subpostmaster’s Assistant

POCL policy is that the subpostmaster will train new assistants on site, and they will be
supported by POCL training material, currently being developed. This process will be
fully described in “steady state” policy document. The Subpostmaster will also have to
sign a certificate stating that they have trained any new staff to an acceptable standard
using the Horizon System Training Mode Function.

6.3.5 Relief Subpostmasters/Holiday Substitutes

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POCL POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals Ref: BP/PRD/007
To Attend Training Version: 1.0
Date: 13/08/98

The training of relief subpostmasters or holiday substitutes will be the responsibility of
the subpostmaster up to the start of release 2 live trial. It is their responsibility to
ensure Reliefs or Substitutes are trained to a standard where they can competently use
the Horizon platform .

ICL Pathway have trained known reliefs as part of the Ic training programme up to the
end of October 1997.

6.3.6 New RNMs or Specialists

Turnover training for the above will be carried out by POCL trainers where possible
using the Horizon equipment installed in each of the pilot regions. The scheduling and
timing of the training will be agreed between the individual and the training
department.

This will be delivered by POCL trained trainers on site or in a classroom as currently
performed, at the discretion of the local T&D Manager. Additional training

material is currently being drafted to support the trainer. This will be submitted to ICL
Pathway on its completion by NT&DT (end of August 1998).

6.3.7 Trainer Training

RLM’s will identify regional training staff requiring their courses 20 weeks ahead of
the course date. Six staff will be allocated to each course. The RLM will supply the
names and courses required to ICL Pathway in week 19. They will invited at week 16
to the respective courses and inform the T&D manager of the course details. The
T&D manager will be responsible for ensuring their staff are released (BP/PRD/013
refers).

7. Documentation For Steady State Training

POCL have taken a decision to use their own training material for all future releases.
ICL Pathway currently own the copyright for all training material

This decision was based on the need to have an Horizon document which is completely
fit for our training purpose in steady state. It was felt that the current material used by
ICL did not meet our requirements . Cost was also a factor in our decision the price
quoted by ICL for replacement work books was excessive and that we could produce
our own workbooks at significantly reduced costs.

POCLs policy for the use of these work books will be that they will be consistently
deployed across our current seven regions and no deviation from the scripted text will
be allowed. It is the responsibility of each training manager to ensure correct and
consistent deployment.

A current rewrite of the Horizon training work books is being undertaken by NT &
DT and when produced should be used for both Ic and release 2 turnover training.

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Date: 13/08/98

It will still be ICL Pathway’s responsibility to update POCL’s accredited trainers via
NT&DT who in turn will update their own training materials.

8. Future Release

After Release 2+ or for new product training the price for ICL Pathway to deliver
training will be subject to separate negotiations and part of the Business Requirements
Definintions.

9. Reporting

The detailed process for reporting has been outlined in ICL Pathway’s document
SU/REP/021 Standard Reports And Formats for release of staff during roll out.

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POCL POCL Policy For Releasing Individuals Ref: BP/PRD/007
To Attend Training Version: 1.0
Date: 13/08/98

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