FUJ00058173
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ICL Pathway Pathway Programme Monthly Report Ref: PA/REP/026
Version: 1.0
Date: 18/06/98
Document Title: I Pathway Monthly Report - May 1998
Associated Documents:
Reference Vers Date Title Source
(1) PM/PRO/0002 1.0 26/09/96 Pathway Programme - Project
Planning, Reporting and Control
Approval Authorities:
Name Position Signature Date
J. H. Bennett Managing Director
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fT ii Version: 1.0
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Managing Directors Summary
MANAGING DIRECTORS SUMMARY
e The high level plan to achieve live trial in end January 1999 and
National Roll-out in April 1999 is attached. The status of this plan
is that it has been agreed with the Horizon Programme managed
by Post Office Counters Ltd and is being worked to by all parties.
This includes BA who are following the plan at a working level but
have reserved their right not to formally approve such a plan.
There are therefore risks that BA may want to introduce more
activities into the programme with an obvious impact on
schedules. In addition we do know that Post Office Counters Ltd
would like to extend the Live Trial period from the currently
contracted 11 weeks by a further three or four weeks to cover
work they now consider essential. This latter point would need to
be covered by change control but would nevertheless would have
a schedule impact.
. The key elements of this plan concern the manner in which we
now tackle the model office activities. We have started
supporting the Benefits Agency model office work from 8" June
and intend to run our own model office tasks from the 3 August
on an extended period, such that we can in addition intercept the
second stage of model office work from BA which will cover the
third benefit type they would wish to introduce into national roll-
out.
e For ICL Pathway the stress points in this plan are the satisfactory
completion of the EPOSS system testing which has been a
difficult area with its tight interfaces to the POCL reference data
system. In addition we are scheduled to enter the direct interface
testing of our systems with POCL’s starting on the 16" June and
currently we have a small number of critical software fixes to
complete.
. On the implementation front, we have now formally agreed with
POCL the process of writing to the Regional General Managers in
POCL such that they can begin the 39 week preparation process
for the first Post Offices to be a part of national roll-out. This will
involve letters and then follow up survey actions with
approximately 100 offices in the first week, nearly 200 the second
week and then reaching the 300 a week level subsequently. This
process allows us to fully prepare Post Offices well before
equipment installation and formal go-live begins.
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On the Acceptance front, this work has taken a lot of effort over
the last few months with the production of the Acceptance Test
Specifications to be signed off the customer. The first tests
themselves will begin in August and will continue up to and, in
some cases, beyond the beginning of national roll-out next year.
We anticipate this work to be very difficult.
Work with the POCL Horizon Programme team is progressing
well with their being increasingly close contacts, shared work and
linked processes beginning to be formed. However, the skills and
resources within the Horizon team are still fairly light and until this
is strengthened, this will be a subject of criticism from Benefits
Agency and of risk to the programme.
Meetings with our colleagues in Fujitsu in the form of a skills
workshop has paved the way for involvement from senior systems
engineers from Tokyo to work on selected but sensitive areas in
our programme to help us make more rapid progress. This work
will commence in June and complete within two months.
We have more work to do to finally resolve the contents of
Release NR2+ which requires input and sign-off by the two
sponsors in order to create a solid baseline.
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fT ii Version: 1.0
Managing Directors Summary Date: 18/06/98
PROGRESS
HIGH LEVEL NEW RELEASE 2 PLAN
Release 2 High Level Plan v4.0 - 01/06/98
Ey 1998 1999
DIJIFIMIAIMIJIJIJAISIOINID JIFIMIA
03, 30
3 ‘System Testing
4 DIT Test
5 APS Pre-Production Testing
6 BIT Testing
7 End to End Testi
Release 2 Counter Procedure
development
14 Training Development
08, loo
15 Acceptance Prep and Testing
‘Support for JSA CAPS Model o3_I 31
16.41.16 Iofnee mee t
no Ii
16.2.2 Model Office Rehearsal #1
zal asi
16.2.4 Model Office Rehearsal #2 I I
0204
16.2.6 Model Office Test =
16.27 Contingency bed
Existing Counter Migration 1c to
174 NR2
Data Centre Clear Down and 2304
17.2 Migration ]
Roll out Additional 100 Live Trial 2505
17.6 Post Offices
25 loo
178 Live Trial a
7212
18 National Roll Out Preparation
i} 12
18.2.9 ‘Start National Roll-Out KS
Page: 1 of 1
Print Date: 161UN98
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fT ii Version: 1.0
Managing Directors Summary Date: 18/06/98
HM TREASURY REVIEW
. Most of the analysis work for the Expert Panel aspect of this
review has now been completed and we have input work on a
wider range of topics including our vision of how this
infrastructure can be exploited for the greater value of UK
Government at large. We have also spent time articulating how
increased banking facilities can be added to the basic products
we are currently creating and given a view of how this could
regenerate the business strength of the Post Office network and
support their business strategy of gaining competence in financial
services and government business.
. Much of the technical input has been well received and we expect
most of the feedback to concentrate more on how we interface
end to end across the two sponsor domains and how we drive our
programme plans through a joint project office with Horizon.
These will indeed be valid comments.
. In terms of shaping a way forward which all parties can subscribe
to, then the Expert Panel has been working very closely with the
government officials and the information we have is that they are
drawing up a short number of options to put to inter-ministerial
group. More feedback on the nature of these options and their
impact on ICL should be available within the next two weeks.
. It is likely that Post Office Counters Ltd will come under some
criticism from HM Treasury for not putting sufficient resource and
effort into the programme management activities and at a
different level for not putting forward a more aggressive business
strategy which can take best advantage of the sophisticated IT
infra structure being constructed.
e Both of these are areas where ICL must work and help POCL and
once these issues are clarified then we have more joint work to
do.
MEETING WITH IAN MCCARTNEY - DTI
MINISTER
e This meeting was requested by the minister following on from the
time he spent with us, both looking at the demonstration of the
systems we are building and our presentation of the importance
of this programme. In particular, he wanted to hear directly from
Keith Todd the commitment and actions we were taking to play
our part in the delivery of this critical programme.
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Managing Directors Summary Date: 18/06/98
The meeting itself took place on Monday 8" June and met the
above objectives. The Minister in particular wanted Keith Todd to
stay close to him as any new issue arose which would have a
major technical or management impact. He also indicated that he
wanted a briefing from ICL on how we can bring banking facilities
to the Post Office network and intends to provide time for a
meeting on this in the late summer.
It is clear that the minister is determined to deliver a modern
service to the Post Office and sees the Horizon programme as
being a powerful and essential tool to enable this to happen. The
Minister clearly anticipates a difficult fight with his ministerial
colleagues and before entering this wants to be quite clear that
the Fujitsu/ICL backing is absolute and solid. This exactly what
was said.
ISSUES
Achieving the right commercial output from the HM Treasury
review.
Meeting internal programme milestones leading to the new plans
for Model Office.
Discussion and agreement with the sponsors for start/completion
of Live Trial/National Roll-out.
Managing the sponsors expectations of the programme, and
developing more openness and trust.
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ii i Version: 1.0
Managing Directors Summary Date: 18/06/98
Systems Report
MONTHLY SUMMARY
. A new delivery schedule for NR2 was presented to the joint sponsors
and ‘agreed in principle’. This plan absorbed the slippage caused by the
EPOSS/Reference Data problems which occurred in February/March,
introduced more schedule contingency, extended the length of the
Model Office and held the start dates for Live Trial and National Roll-
out. It also enabled the Benefits Agency to commence their Model
Office testing of ‘Job Seekers Allowance’ on the original planned date.
. Further discussions are required to confirm and baseline the start date,
scope and duration of the Live Trial and subsequent start date and pace
of National Roll-out.
. The development team was fully occupied throughout May fixing
software errors and resolving issues raised by the testing teams. The
performance of the technical integration team whilst attempting to satisfy
the numerous requests to build and update the various test and support
rigs has been excellent. Their responsiveness and productivity is first-
rate.
. The design team continues to wrestle with their workload. So far our
attempts to reduce the demands on certain key staff have only been
partially successful. However, new documents and updates to existing
specifications to incorporate approved changes continue to be
produced, albeit a little later than planned in some instances. The
design work required for the next release is suffering as a consequence
and is having a knock on impact on the development and testing
activities.
. Morale in the testing teams remains buoyant although they have been
hampered by a few software bugs which have slowed or stopped some
of the testing streams. This has resulted in many people having to work
long, unsociable hours to catch up the lost time.
. Fortunately, release 1c is proving to be very stable and is not causing
any difficulties with 4" line support.
PROGRESS
. Several design documents have been updated with comments received
from the sponsors e.g. Style Guide, Menu Hierarchy, EPOSS functional
specification, BPS & APS reconciliation. Work is proceeding on release
2+ although not at the pace required. Actions have been taken to put
more effort into Soft EVP, Online Enquires, APS Smart and the Key
Management Service.
e The development teams have been focusing on clearing software errors
and implementing approved changes. Several incremental releases
were made during the month.
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stems Report Version: 1.0
sy P Date: 18/06/98
. The system testing phase for OBCS and APS has been completed and
BPS has been sufficiently well proven to ensure that we can support the
BA Model Office activity for Job Seekers Allowance planned to
commence 8" June 1998. BPS cycle two is slightly ahead of schedule
and is currently experiencing a 89% success rate. The 2° EPOSS
system testing cycle has been delayed by a number of category A & B
software errors but if these can be resolved quickly we may be able to
avoid using the planned contingency. All other system test streams e.g.
MIS, TPS etc. are either ahead or on schedule.
. The Business Integration Test stream is going very well. The first cycle
started on schedule (9" May) and completed OK on the planned date 1*
June. The 10 day planned contingency was not required and the second
cycle is due to commence 16" June, as is the second and final interface
test (i.e. DIT#2).
. Progress on the technical, performance, security and systems
management aspects of the system has shown steady improvement
during May but there is still room for improvement.
. A new joint approach for the completion of the Process and Procedure
Documents (PPD’s) and the production of the User Guides has been
agreed between Pathway and POCL. This is designed to ensure that the
deliverables for the Model Office are produced in the most efficient
manner.
CURRENT CRITICAL PROBLEM
. We have still not been able to find an acceptable resolution to the use of
the FAD code in the Pathway solution. Neither POCL or ICL Pathway can
afford the substantial costs or the time involved bringing the process in
line with the other. Recent discussions with senior managers within POCL
suggest that there may be an acceptable compromise. This is still to be
documented and formally agreed.
. The size of the Riposte message store has become a source for concern.
It is causing difficulties for the test rig builders and testers during recovery
activities. There are also performance issues related to applications
which scan the message store. Escher are working on compression
algorithms which will help if we can intercept this version without
undermining all the testing carried out to date. We are also redesigning
the storage of reference data at the counter to avoid unnecessary
replication of messages.
. The ‘training mode’ facility which operates at the counter is not performing
adequately. The customer has an expectation that the user will be able to
toggle in and out of training mode as the need arises. However, we have
never been able to achieve this and have set a target of 2/3 minutes to
enter the function and a few seconds to exit. Recent performance tests
have shown that we are some way off these timings and we may need to
rethink the approach.
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stems Report Version: 1.0
sy P Date: 18/06/98
ISSUES
e A version of the Roll-out database has been delivered to support the
survey and prep stages of outlet implementation. There are concerns that
the updated version (2.5) of the system required to support the actual
installation activities will not be ready on time. This is being monitored
very carefully.
. The performance of the system and our ability to test certain areas is
becoming an issue. Some believe that the hardware and time available in
insufficient to confirm the behaviour of the system when fully loaded.
There is also a concern that the sponsors will require ‘proof of compliant
performance before giving ‘Acceptance’ rather than proof of scalability.
. POCL have accepted that they must introduce much tighter control of
change to their reference data and subject the ‘live’ version to rigorous
testing. Consequently, a new joint testing activity has been entered on the
plans, running in parallel with the formal Model Office Test.
. The addition work to ensure that we comply with the end to end financial
reconciliation requirement has been identified. Elements of the system
are being amended and scheduled into planned baselines in testing.
. The counter migration tools designed to assist the conversion of manual
and semi-automatic outlets during roll-out have encountered a product
mapping problem. The existing outlets use approximately 300 from a
total 1000 products while the new Horizon system intends to support 2800
products.
e The volume of system incidents (PinICL’s) must be drastically reduced
during the next few weeks. Actions have been taken to analyse and
group the incidents so that they can be resolved in a systematic and
timely manner. We are experiencing a design bottleneck with several
PinlCL’s raised against the BES software. These must be investigated by
pathway prior to be sent to Escher for resolution.
. A number of inconsistencies between the touch screen buttons and the
keyboard have been uncovered. These must be rectified very quickly
otherwise we will be faced with the onerous task of changing the
keyboard buttons on several thousand keyboards in storage.
COSTS
. The budgets for the systems directorate continue to be refined and
regularly reviewed but are now being used to monitor expenditure on a
monthly basis.
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Managing Directors Summary Date: 18/06/98
Commercial & Financial Report
MONTHLY SUMMARY
. Whilst Treasury review activities are centre stage in terms of
management attention and eventual significance, the outcome will be
some time off. Meanwhile, the key thing for us to do generally is to carry
on performing to the maximum on all fronts.
. A high priority for Commercial and Finance is knocking off CCNs, and in
particular A2A CCNs: we are making reasonable progress now but there
is a long way to go.
e¢ — Anew Joint Programmes and Commercial Forum has been created with
Horizon to deal with issues such as NR2 RCD caveats, casual agents,
counter space, migration and training: a promising start has been made.
. The recent forecast reviews have continued to confirm upward pressure
on resource demands and therefore costs for this year and next. We
need to look again at scope to reduce costs in those implementation
areas where there is still some time to go before the work really gets
underway.
. The design and build cost profile of the business case has deteriorated
further as a consequence of the cost increases, placing further demands
on additional funding. Submissions are being prepared to secure these.
The Treasury review will play in.
PROGRESS
. Treasury Review
. Creation of Joint Programmes and Commercial Forum
. Working relationships remain generally good despite the pressures
. CCNs and A2As getting better - but a lot still to do
EXTERNAL, WITH POCL AND BA
CNT
. We have put on record that delay to the signing off of inputs to NR2+
design (EVP, CAPS 4 DIDVR, Smart card specifications and LFS
specification) is now causing day on day slippage.
. Further, given that the Authorities are causing NR2+ to slip, it is
unreasonable for them to impose restrictions on the effective life of NR2
(the 4000 post office limit).
. The arbitration approach for counter space costs has been progressed
to the point where it is not holding up work on the ground.
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. Agreement of a new and up-to-date version of the contract has stalled
and needs to be driven forward - the existing combination of originals
plus CCNs is becoming unworkable.
JOINT PROGRAMMES AND COMMERCIAL FORUM
. Topics in the frame are: NR2 4000 limit, NR2+ functional baseline,
Counter infrastructure, Casual agents, FAD codes, In-office migration,
Turnover training, and Acceptance process - all serious live issues
which have been around for some considerable time and now look like
they are being grasped.
. A further meeting is scheduled for this Thursday - we shall see.
. We will table flat screens at that meeting as a mitigating option to the
counter space problem - on condition that POCL accept that the
incremental costs will be treated as ‘y’ costs (which are the costs in
dispute, to be settled by arbitration).
FINANCE AND COMMERCIAL FORUMS
. No recent POCL F&C Forum - deferred by three weeks by POCL while
they work on the Treasury Review
. BA F&C Forum continues to be effective, positive and professional in
dealing with invoicing, CCN and other lower level matters.
CONTRACT BASELINING AND ACCEPTANCE
. CCN234 represents the baseline for Acceptance scripts, and has been
with the Authorities for agreement for the past two months - no response
yet received. At time of writing, POCL are outstanding with their
comments and are the gating factor. However, we still have to complete
our proposals on Requirements changes.
. There is serious risk of rework (scripts) until CCN234 is signed off.
. This risk extends to all contract controlled documents, A2As and CCNs
outstanding. As of now, there is still too much scope for mismatches and
therefore apparent faults which are not real.
. The form of the Acceptance process is exercising Sponsors - but they
have yet do produce their proposals. This is likely to be difficult to agree.
The vetting of scripts by the Authorities has again been slow.
. In summary, Acceptance is a major issue.
EXTERNAL, WITH SUPPLIERS
. We have settled over costs with WTL.
. The ‘failure to agree’ with Oracle over man rates is as yet unresolved.
. Internal charging within ICL is confused pending the bedding in of new
trading terms and rates.
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Date: 18/06/98
. More supplier tensions are probable over the summer. Cumulative
delays are testing their patience and they are increasingly looking for
near term cash returns.
INTERNAL TO ICL PATHWAY
. Progress on A2A CCNSs has accelerated.
. Reconciliation continues to be a favourite topic.
. The Forecast has just about stabilised, with recent reviews more or less
in line with previous. Rather than cost, the issue is inability to recruit and
hence to consume the work. Actuals are running below judged down
Forecast.
. The new intercompany charge rates are now factored into the Forecast
for Q3 and Q4 only, as instructed. Th cost reductions are not significant
in overall terms but are welcome.
CURRENT CRITICAL PROBLEMS
. Continuing lack of final definition for NR2 and high level of change
. Baselining NR2 for Acceptance - CCN234 and A2A CCNs
. The Acceptance process.
ISSUES
. Outcomes of HMT review - programme impact and commercial terms -
the time it will take to finalise the details once the principles have been
agreed - uncertainty in the meantime.
. Roll Out Timescales - NR2 versus NR2+, the caveats, BA’s latest
position on end-to-end testing, Acceptance delay, etc. - how to plan
COSTS
. The Controller's report follows.
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Managing Directors Summary Date: 18/06/98
Customer Requirements Report
MONTHLY SUMMARY
. Acceptance was the principal activity and has made excellent progress.
. There are now 21 of the 23 Acceptance Specifications produced and in
the review cycle - all with next actions with the customers. Of the two
remaining that for EPOSS will be published 12/6 and the complete Audit
specification is forecast for 3/7
. The customers have not been well-organised in this area and the two
managers brought in to organise this activity for them are producing a
“scoping study” due on 12/6 on which we hope to build. Signing things
is not something that our customers are used to.
PROGRESS
DETAILED PLAN ACTIVITIES
RELEASE NEW 2/ 2+
. Thus far there have been no PinlCLs referred to us for deferral beyond
NR2.
. Dave C has provided a requested alternative method of receipts for APS
during contingency working which relies on current clerical processes.
. We will produce a functional specification of the Memo View Broadcast
facility which will be implemented at NR2+ for Pathway CS.
. Employment Services have yet to send their new logo for inclusion on
the PUN and have probably now missed the date for including in Model
Office.
. We have received final proof copies of the NR2 BES receipts and ATPs.
These will be live-tested for layout before we commit to print production.
. A productive review with CAPS and Horizon was held, focusing on the
DIDVR for NR2+/CAPS4 and related system implementation issues.
. By contrast, the position on BA reference data usage remains
unsatisfactory. Several CPs cannot be progressed at reasonable cost /
timescale impact and a significant problem has emerged of preserving
Pathway applied recent updates during new BA reference data
downloads which overwrites all existing data.
CARS
. A complete updating of the CARs position was undertaken. We have
taken a tougher line on:
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Date: 18/06/98
Reference Data, where there are crucial deliveries due
this month affecting Live Trial
The forecasts of business volumes, where the customers
are avoiding making any commitments
Post office training, where outstanding issues have
become pacing items for Live Trial
A2AS
. Dave C has produced APS Service Overview. This meets an A2A for
APS technical / overview documentation which Design group had
otherwise to meet by providing various technical documents. This
document is also needed for Acceptance.
. Customer Requirements has no actions.
CCNS
. Neither CCN 117 nor 234 has been approved.
. Dave H has now reviewed all Requirements / Solutions where the
current Requirement baseline version (within CCN234) contains the
term “Card”. There are 67 Requirement / Solution pairs, predominantly
in DSS and Joint schedules; of these 41 strictly require amendment of
either the Requirement or the Solution. The preferred (Pathway)
resolution is to redefine Card in AO1 and introduce Temporary Token
into those Requirements for which it is truly relevant and not already
included.
. Some progress is apparent on DSS/Horizon acceptance of the
Temporary Agent as a payee class with its own specific encashment
rules.
. There has been no formal response to CRP76 proposals (uncarded
casual agents): informal feedback is that POCL will withdraw. Both CR
P36a (removal of clerk id from impound and nil receipts) and CR P21a
(inclusion of Temporary Agents in MIS encashment reports) have
progressed through Pathway CP this month and will shortly require
CCNs.
ACCEPTANCE
. During the month we have turned around all the comments on
Acceptance Specifications. Many of these were oppositionist in nature -
but all our responses were unflaggingly polite and constructive.
. The next step on 13 of the 23 specifications is a formal review, if
required, of our responses, leading to production of the level of ATS for
signatures. We have said no to requests to produce another revision for
re-review but in one case, OBCS, will take another tranche of
comments.
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. Three specifications have already reached the stage of producing the
signature level which marks the crucial stage of fixing the goal posts in
the ground. These are APS, Implementation - Services and Customer
Education.
. There are four specifications, TIP, Reference Data, Schedule C3 and
Reconciliation, where customers have yet to comment. The first three of
these are all overdue. We expect to output the EPOSS specification
12/6 following sterling work by T&l to get the Test Plans in place. The
Audit specification will be last, as is the nature of the subject matter. A
meeting with the customer audit panel has established a detailed
schedule for achieving acceptance in this area.
. We are approaching the point in time when we need to explain the
timetable and format for individual trials.
e The ATS standard has been redone and an ATS based upon it
produced as a trial.
° T&I are working on the Criteria database so that a complete set of
Criteria can be provided to customers for completeness checking thus
taking away another excuse for delay.
NEW BUSINESS SUPPORT
. LFS: The BRD has been signed by Pathway and issued and we are
waiting for POCL’s signature. Work has started on the contract
schedules. The service levels schedules have been issued and
reviewed. More schedules are due (POCL responsibilities, Acceptance
etc.), and a clause by clause review session is booked for 16th June.
OTHER TEAM ACTIVITIES
. We welcome two joiners: Dave Jones, responsible for Security
Acceptance, and John Coakes responsible for Performance Acceptance.
Both are located in Bracknell. They will handle the Bracknell related
Trials activities between them.
. Dave H made further presentations to FJ.
e Dave H also helped the international sales team develop generic
banking, discussing options for linkage between Riposte/generic
banking and the Financial Services LBF (ex Omnia Bank Framework)
product.
. John D contributed to further Treasury papers.
CURRENT CRITICAL PROBLEMS
. None
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ISSUES
A decision is needed to determine if the “Proofs of Concept” which
Pathway will need to perform during the NR2 Acceptance period for
NR2+ features will form part of the Acceptance programme conducted
by Requirements, or be less formal as development level
demonstrations.
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ii i Version: 1.0
Managing Directors Summary Date: 18/06/98
Customer Service Report
MONTHLY SUMMARY
. Service performance in May was excellent and no new problems were
reported.
. The number of payments received in May appeared to fall, however, this
apparent fall was due to two bank holidays falling on peak encashment
days. There were 60,185 transactions with a cumulative value of more
than £1.8million.
. Service performance in May was good and we continue beat the BA
target of 0.1% for transaction reconciliation errors - lost transactions are
currently the main cause of exception. Again we achieved the target of
100% of reconciliation errors cleared within 5 days.
RELEASE 1C VITAL STATISTICS
. Installed base : 204 Post Offices, 334 counters
Number of Cards issued 32,719
Number of Active Cards in use 27,692
Total number of BES Transactions to date 601,252
BES Transactions in May 60,185
Total value of Benefit Payments received to date £9.2m
Value of Benefit Payments received in May £2.0m
Total value of Benefit Encashments made to date £8.5m
Value of Benefit Encashments in May £1.8m
Total number of OBCS Transactions to date 4,100,685
Number of books impounded 13,235
Potential fraud avoided to date > £1.5m
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Date: 18/06/98
PROGRESS
OPERATIONS
. Release 1C continues to perform well. An issue this month pertaining to
mistakes in operator actions following the “sleepy agent problem” were
cause for concern. However Outsourcing have put measures in place to
ensure we have no repetitions.
. Reference data is making reasonable progress with the production of
our first Service Introduction Plan defining resources we require in terms
of manning and equipment. Current issues are managing the live
process until we are fully manned, understanding the operational
impacts of the volumetrics with regard to number of changes and finally
with the number of staff we seem to need to recruit.
. There are indications that there is an increase in fixes coming through
Release Management. This is being investigated. The priority task of the
Operational Test Team is to look at ways of speeding up the Release
Management process and to reducing the test backlog.
BUSINESS SUPPORT
. The BSU have experienced a good month with regard to clearance of
exceptions within the required time scales defined within the SLA. Work
in progress has fallen from 26 at the end of April to 9 by the end of May,
with incident receipts still maintained at historical R1c levels.
. The fix to rectify the problems caused by the “Suspended Session”
option was implemented on 17/5/98. Current indications are that this fix
has been successful.
BA & POCL SERVICES
. Following the completion of the service trial of the Pathway defined
process for RML/POCL card package Hand over, RML have now
indicated their reluctance to implement the service. Their logic for taking
this stance seems flawed and an urgent meeting with their Sales
Director (Lee Gannon) is being arranged.
. There is better progress on DLR’s card packing machine. We are
pressing for Bowe/DLR to get the first machine to Tewkesbury in
October for testing.
. Detailed plans to expose HSH staff to life in a Post Office, through a
number of visits to such Post Offices, have been agreed with POCL.
. DLR have initiated production of 80 books of 2-colour only Temporary
Tokens for system test and Model Office purposes. The schedule for
production of full livery TTs is 1 million to be ready for 1% October.
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CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
. Customer Service provided representatives at the NFSP Annual
Conference in Bournemouth. It was vitally important that the Pathway
presence was maintained because most delegates, though remaining
very positive about the idea of the Horizon solution, needed
reassurance about the programme.
. The Management Care Visit Programme details have been agreed with
the POCL and initial visits will begin in June.
. An analysis and commentary relating to service visit reply cards is
available. The percentage of satisfied responses was 93%.
OPERATIONAL BUSINESS CHANGE
. Agreement has been reached with POCL on an appropriate way forward
for contractually formalising the management of infrastructure and
product change. There will be a matrix defining the services that
Pathway will offer (backed up by service descriptions).
. An initial cut at the infrastructure change matrix has been provided to
POCL.
SYSTEM SUPPORT
. An interim solution for the Known Error Log has being populated.
. SMC/HSH now have access to the Knowledge site in BRAO1 - which
contains KELS (now > 500), and other useful diagnostic information.
. The NR2 rig cannot be completed until 26 June at the earliest because
of delays in Energis delivery of ISDN connections, and CFM delivery of
the Tivoli Management server. The NR rig will be used for both
reference and testing at MOR/MOT/E2E and Performance
benchmarking.
INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES
(MIS / PROCESS ENGINEERING / PERFORMANCE / IT)
. The relationship with the DSS process team has remained solid
throughout May and a new relationship with Kit Cox (PA consultant
working for POCL Service Management) has been established. We now
have a way forward for NR2 which brings together Pathway process
definition, DSS process definition and POCL service management.
. Concerns that during the month the Data Warehouse was down at least
6 times with the first 2 involving the restoring of over 7 days of data. A
report from CFM suggests that some of the problems were caused by
release note applications and we are awaiting a further detailed update.
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. The IT Infrastructure upgrade pilot completed successfully within
Customer Service. User data is now held on a secure, backed-up and
resilient system. The rollout to the rest of Pathway has now commenced.
CURRENT CRITICAL PROBLEMS
. None
ISSUES
. Recruitment remains a problem with important roles across Customer
Service still vacant - Pippa O’Brien is now taking the lead with our HR
sub-contractors to improve the recruitment processes.
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Quality & Risk Report
MONTHLY SUMMARY
. FRM progress. Issues have arisen around the number of times EVP can
be applied during a session (BA and POCL dispute) and the accuracy of
address data which will impact PUN delivery and EVP performance.
. Risk Management. The Programmes Risk Register for May has been
completed; major risks are the impact of the continuing high level of CPs
and low rate of PinlICL clearance and the impact on Release 2+. Impact
on Year 2000 compliance is being evaluated. The NRO risk work is
identifying the ability of POCL to manage their activities as an overall
risk.
. System Security. A paper has been produced for the Treasury Review to
tackle the issue of lack of understanding of the security requirement
raised by BA. The first presentation and discussions directly with POCL
security management has taken place - very successful, identifying
opportunities for Pathway to provide fraud information (potentially
chargeable) and include fraud control as part of POCL client product
development. Progress has been made in NR2 testing and processes
and definition of NR2+ content.
. Audit. The MSQAs have been consolidated into a Process Improvement
Programme. The Audit Panel (with BA and POCL) has begun to plan
acceptance activities. The major issue is availability of resource to
complete the programme within schedule. Gaps between the Audit HLD
and ATFS have been identified; the delivery of Audit functionality for R2
is still a major concern.
. Year 2000 Conformance. The changes to Dynix and NT imply that a
large proportion of product suppliers will make corrections as field
exposure finds Year 2000 faults. These changes need to be decoupled
from major releases.
. Cross Government Fraud. Work continues on the response to the Green
Paper. A team has been set up (chaired by MHB) to consider the
‘technical’ approach, using the Accord/Pathway components as a
starting point.
PROGRESS
FRAUD RISK MANAGEMENT
RELEASE 1C
. Production of Fixed Reports. Girobank have provided Pathway FRM
with a first pass analysis of the FRM fixed reports.
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. Lost/Stolen Cards Report. Further corrections have been identified and
applied.
. Investigation Support. Two investigations were undertaken with actions
being placed with the DSS Fraud and Security group.
. Out of Hours Report. Errors in the Out of Hours reports were discovered.
Analysis has revealed that 30% of the transactions would not have
appeared if the correct reference data had been used, and FIT were
informed.
NEW RELEASE 2
. Release 2 Procedures. The FRM Overview procedure was revised to
include new procedures; the Information Interchange Procedure, FCMS
System Administration Procedure, FCMS System Work Instruction and
the FRM Security Procedure.
. Develop Extended Verification Process. A letter has been received from
Horizon indicating that the CCN is acceptable but with a few concerns,
largely relating to the number of times within a counter visit (a session)
that EVP can be applied; a conflict between the requirements of POCL
and BA.
. The accuracy of address formats. The address that is passed to
Pathway will be that supplied by the customer and currently held on the
benefit specific system. Hopewiser is being used within PDCS to convert
addresses for new customers into Royal Mail standard. Considerable
risks are associated with the accuracy of existing customer addresses
and impact on the delivery of PUNs and performance of EVP.
° FCMS support. Progress is being made to test the system and fix.
RISK MANAGEMENT
. Programme Risks. A full risk report for May has been completed and
reviewed by the management team. The major risks for Release 2 are
now the continuing level of CPs and slow clearance of PinICLs. The
majority of CPs are now relating to design revisions and therefore under
our control. There is a high probability that Release 2 replanned dates
will be achieved with significant impact on Release 2+. The implications
of this on Year 2000 compliance is being considered.
° PCHL Authentication. The review process with Horizon has been
started, but the major blocker is the unstable reconciliation design.
. NRO beat rate risk analysis. Further progress has been made in
populating the database and defining the process. There are concerns
emerging about the ability of POCL to understand the nature of
‘mitigation’. We are not altogether clean ourselves!
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SYSTEM SECURITY
. Pathway IT Security Standards. The first draft is complete and has been
distributed to the Horizon FSG for review.
. The second version the Frame Relay Risk Analysis was presented to
support the Frame Relay CCN.
e¢ — Apaper, Pathway Security Objectives and Principles, was produced for
the Treasury Review.
. A full Pathway and security presentation and system demonstration was
given to POCL Head of Security & Investigation and his team for the first
time. A very productive session, greatly increasing their knowledge
level. We have agreed to follow up by considering how a service could
be established to provide Fraud management information (possible
additional income!) and how fraud control could be presented to clients
in support of the development of new business.
NEW RELEASE 2
e Aprocess has been established with TSC Secure Test, CFM (DS), FSG,
Development and Testing for third party security testing.
. The Access Control Matrix for PAS/CMS at NR2 has been completed. A
CP was raised for Oracle to produce equivalent matrices for other
developments.
. Security Event Management within the Pathway / VME partition has
been discussed and agreed.
NEW RELEASE 2+
. The requirements for accommodating Landis & Gyr testing in KIDO1
have been produced.
. The implications of VPN for the Pathway Firewall Design was reviewed
and agreed.
QUALITY
. Sub-Contractors Reviews. Analysis of sub contractor repair feedback
highlighted monitor issues. A CP is in circulation seeking acceptance of
unit swap out to assess the reliability of the most recent version of the
product.
. Acceptance. The T&l Revised Strategy for R2 and Principles of
Acceptance Trials have been reviewed, from which it became clear that
the basis of Technical Test 1 had been substantially modified. Actions
are in hand to produce a new internal baseline for agreement with the
Authorities, if raised as an issue by them.
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PROCESS MANAGEMENT
. Development of Processes. Progress has been made in:
Implementation Process. Revised versions of the
Document Composition and Document Management
Framework reviewed as the requirements become better
defined.
Asset Management Process. A number of issues are
being addressed regarding the limitations of data
capture.
AUDIT
. The audit of the Reconciliation Exception Database has begun.
e NR2 Process Improvement Programme (a programme introduced
following R1c and the PA Review which included the MSQAs as the final
element). The MSQA Reports have been consolidated and included in
the NR2 PIP. The findings were presented to the Management Team. A
draft Corrective Action Plan was distributed for comment and will be
finalised during first week in June. This will then be handed to the
Programme Office for monitoring.
° Develop Audit Function. The Audit Panel met 14" May. John Dicks
presented the Pathway Acceptance position, which developed the
customer understanding significantly. It also enabled us to plan
activities. The major issues are the BA and POCL resource availability
to complete acceptance activity to schedule. All effort is now directed
toward NR2; the NR2 Audit Manual (which has been drafted) and
supporting documents represents what is termed ‘Operational Audit
Procedure’ by Acceptance.
. Develop Audit Plan. A process and proposed audit plan for 1998 has
been circulated and presented to the Management Team for comment.
This will contribute to the definition of the Standards and Procedures.
. Review Archive/Audit Design. A gap analysis between the HLD and the
ATFS has been undertaken. The next stage is to agree with John Dicks
how to present gaps.
YEAR 2000 CONFORMANCE
. Product Suppliers.
. Microsoft NT4 Service Pack 4. A contents list describing the US Beta
Version has been acquired; it shows both functional changes and some
330 repairs of which 3 are Y2K related. This gives Pathway quite a task
in assessing the impact and ensuring other suppliers line up.
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. Based on the Dynix and Windows NT changes, we anticipate that a
large proportion of product suppliers will make corrections to their
products as field exposure finds Year 2000 faults not detected in their
internal testing. Pathway needs to find a way of de-coupling such
changes from major releases.
. The High Level Test Plan for Year 2000 testing has been issued and
reviewed. This is aimed at verification of the Pathway Service operating
within the Pathway domain. A second HLTP covering External Interface
Testing is planned.
. Test coverage - the spreadsheet showing Year 2000 test coverage has
been compiled. There are several areas where there is no planned test
coverage from a Y2K perspective.
. Y2K confidence tests of standard products continues, and has so far
raised one PinlCL.
. The test strategy describes a phase “maintain compliance” which is
deliberately kept open in an attempt to de-couple NR2 release dates
from CAPS, POCL and Pathway service provider compliance dates and
to give room for late repairs from standard product suppliers.
. Development and Support Capability. Both Development and T&l are
now addressing the Inventory Issue.
. DSS/CAPS. The rescheduling of the programme is causing T&l a
problem in scheduling external interface testing with CAPS in particular,
on a platform with the system date set forward. We may miss the August
slot for this.
CROSS GOVERNMENT FRAUD
. An ICL workshop was attended. It concluded that the main inputs into
this topic are from Pathway, Accord, Local Government and Experian. A
team consisting of representatives from each has been set up (under my
chairmanship) to develop the ‘technical’ approach. A ‘black box’ outline
consisting of the Accord and Pathway components has been produced
to set this discussion in motion. Richard Stokes and lan Perkins are to
produce an outline response to the Green Paper.
CURRENT CRITICAL PROBLEMS
e The major risks for Release 2 are now the continuing level of CPs and
insufficiently fast clearance of PinICLs. There is a high probability that
Release 2 replanned dates will be achieved with significant impact on
Release 2+. The implications of this on Year 2000 compliance is being
considered.
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ISSUES
. Address formats. It appears that address formats are only being cleaned
up into Royal Mail format (and only for new customers). This has
potentially considerable impact on PUN and EVP performance.
. There is a dispute between BA and POCL about the number of times
EVP may be asked in a customer session. This may delay sign off.
. Gaps have been identified between the Audit HLD and the ATFS. These
need to be presented and agreed with the customer. Release 2
exclusions still need to be identified. This work is now considerably
behind schedule.
. A large proportion of product suppliers will make corrections to their
products as field exposure finds Year 2000 faults not detected in their
internal testing. Pathway needs to find a way of de-coupling such
changes from Major Releases.
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Business Development Report
MONTHLY SUMMARY
. Major thrust last month to get requirements for AP Smart sorted and to
finalise the BRD for Logistics Feeder Service. The good news is that
the BRD is now agreed and we have a letter of intent which allows us to
undertake design work. We have also agreed to a planning assumption
for LFS to be in Release 2+ if the appropriate contract schedules are
agreed by 19" June. I see this as unlikely but we will maintain pressure
to achieve that date. Quantum and GEC Watercard will be in Release
2t.
. Joint work is continuing with POCL & Girobank on Family Budgetting.
The objective is to produce a joint paper by end of June which will define
the strategy, product offering and action plans to deliver a product. We
are also now demonstrating our prototype which is getting very positive
reactions.
. We took the opportunity of the Treasury expert panel visit to
demonstrate ‘real’ Release 2 for the first time. Systems directorate
undertook some excellent work to ensure the success of this
demonstration and the panel went away impressed. They also
suggested that Ross Newby, Secretary to the panel should ensure that
he saw the demo on his return from leave.
. Two very good papers on future of post office counters business were
submitted to the Expert panel. These have been forwarded to all the
Directors of POCL. It remains a disappointment that they do not seem to
submit such papers themselves. They have commented positively on
our papers. Jonathan Evans, POCL Network Director has shared with
me a presentation that he gave to the Government review panel in May.
The McKinsey review report is expected end of June. The indications
are that Financila Services will feature strongly followed up by
Government services.
° The NFSP Annual Conference took place in Bournemouth. Pathway
had a stand as usual which was mobbed at every opportunity.
Importantly, the Frank Field speech went down very well and showed
support for the Horizon programme. The Federation remain very
supportive of all Pathway’s efforts. I continue to be amazed that POCL
did not avail themselves of the opportunity to have a high level presence
there throughout Conference. Jonathan Evans addressed Conference
on Monday but disappeared at lunchtime. We took every opportunity to
talk to the Executive Council.
. Not much press activity this past month. Sunday Telegraph came
through to Anna with a quite negative approach. However, following a
long discussion, the article was squashed. We continue to be wary of
POCL, they do not handle communications well. There are too many
people involved and too much chance of different lines being taken. We
have highlighted this.
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. Advertising preparation is going to plan. Out of the three creatives, one
now called ‘steps’, based on the Full Monty has come out on top, both
from the sponsors and from market testing. This now goes to ministerial
submission.
e Work continues on A2As and CCNs. This is just an on-going grind, but
one that has to be done. Martin is now working closely with Hilary
Forrest on CCN production.
PROGRESS
CUSTOMER EDUCATION
SIGS:
e CAPS are at last focussing on planning.
CUSTOMER EDUCATION PRESS ACTIVITIES:
. Agreement has now been achieved on the way that roll-out will work.
GENERAL PRESS COMMENT:
. Would have been a quiet month - positive interest provoked by the ICL-
Microsoft alliance. One article in the Observer, one pending in
Government Computing and Post Express; thankfully a good
conversation with the Sunday Telegraph squashed a negative story.
POCL have proved themselves as the weak link in the chain.
GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION:
. Report reviewing approach and recommending a way forward is written
and awaiting comment.
POCL COMMUNICATIONS:
. POCL seem now to gradually recognise that the regions have an
important role to play in this programme and that we really should be
talking to them. Presentations also planned for the Head of
Communication and Internal Network group, and alongside the
Implementation team when they present to NFSP branches.
ANALYSTS BRIEFINGS:
. Two sessions organised for IDC & Meta Group. Hopeful that will
eventually involve Holway and Gartner.
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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
. The Marketing Suite has been fully operational this month with 4 Client,
1 International and 3 External presentations, as well as a series of
internal events(10). Business Development has entertained a variety of
clients, including the HM Treasury Review Board, Mr.Sato from Fujitsu
Business Development and the Mr. Akikusa, the President-elect of
Fujisu Group. In total 17 events took place this month.
. Anew version of release 2, 7F, version 20 was also demonstrated for
the first time to the treasury review board.
BILL PAYMENTS
. Work on moving AP Smart forward continues. The goal remains to see
AP Smart in NR2+. POCL have informed us that they do not believe
they can deliver the information that we need for Talexus (no
commercial agreement with client), or Pisces (no client), and accordingly
these products have been removed from NR2+ until a time when POCL
can specify the end to end service, the clients, and the likely volumes.
In preparation for this, a delta is being worked on for the cost of setting
up a team from scratch to pick up where the last team left off to develop
Talexus and Pisces at a later date. Progress is being made on Quantum
and GEC Watercard, and although we do not yet have all the
information we need, we believe that POCL are finally giving this the
priority it requires, and that the information will be available in the next
few weeks.
e It is hoped that we will have a demo of GEC Watercard within the next
month.
ILN SHOWCASE
° The first draft of a new ICL Pathway video has been produced to support
this event. The video has been well received by all audiences. Final
touches will be made this month, in preparation for full release within
Pathway. The showcase itself appears to be slipping into the
background for a variety of reasons. We await further input from Glen
Horgan on its fate.
BBC OUTSOURCE
. ICL Outsourcing has decided not to bid for this contract. On that basis
we have contacted SSL (a subsidiary of the Post Office), the current
contract holders, and offered them what ever support they need from
ICL Pathway in order to ensure they retain the contract. Our aim is to
protect the 13 million transactions per annum which currently take place
in Post Offices.
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GENERICS
. Greg Couper is now working closely with ADT to scope and define the
generics product, to turn this initial work into a deliverable stream of
products definitions and designs.
CURRENT CRITICAL PROBLEMS
. None
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International Sales Report
SUMMARY
PROGRESS
CURRENT CRITICAL PROBLEMS
ISSUE
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Organisation and Personnel
MONTHLY SUMMARY
This has been the most progressive month this year, enabled by a fully
resourced team.
PROGRESS
The pay review for permanent staff has been completed and resulting
adjustments to salary will appear in the June payroll. Overall increase to
the paybill was 4.3%, just slightly adverse to budgeted target of 4%.
Given the extreme volatility in the IT employment market and Pathway’s
leaning towards employing high end performers, this is not
unreasonable.
The Employee Opinion Survey is now in circulation and there has been
a strong early response. Through line management involvement we are
aiming to achieve a near 100% return rate and this is particularly
important since current data on staff satisfaction is rather piecemeal
and anecdotal. Analysis will take place in June and appropriate actions
and initiatives will be formulated on the basis of findings
Work has begun to produce a framework of generic job descriptions, in
conjunction with line managers and role holders, covering the whole of
Pathway. These will form the foundation for a number of important
initiatives, such as grading/professional communities, salary
benchmarking, paybill management, resourcing and so on. The exercise
will take a number of weeks.
A half day workshop has been held with the Group Employment team to
help in an assessment of the merits of introducing Professional
Communities across the whole of Pathway. It is clear that we should not
just jump in with this. For example, there is a payroll cost and this needs
to be fully understood and impacted. Further benefit analysis is taking
place and any widespread introduction of Professional Communities will
be supported by a full implementation plan.
Resourcing continues as a main focus and previous months comments
about difficulties in getting the Group Resourcing model to best serve
Pathway remain valid. Considerable effort continues to be applied to
change this, but at the expense of heavy resource commitment from the
Pathway Personnel team. Having stated this, the permanent recruitment
data below demonstrates good achievement in May:
Permanent appointments in May 16
Currently under offer 6
Appointment YTD 36
Current requirements 36
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. The benchmark lead time for recruiting a permanent employee is 3
months, which emphasises the need for line managers to plan
resourcing requirements well ahead, wherever possible. Programme
volatility does not always, of course, make this possible and this is a
major challenge for everybody involved in resourcing. Methods of
reducing this cycle time are being looked at, including roadshow style
recruitment.
e YTD Efficiency (time to fulfil a need):
Appointments < 1 month 5
Appointments < 2 months 10
Appointments < 3 months 11
Appointments > 3 months 10
CURRENT CRITICAL PROBLEMS
. None
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The Post Office - Client Director's
MONTHLY SUMMARY
. The major work this month has been the continuing activity in support of
the HMT Review of the BA/POCL Project.
PROGRESS
TREASURY REVIEW
. Following the completion and submission of the ICL Pathway 10-page
paper to the Treasury Panel on essentially Programme delivery issues,
the Panel’s focus of attention appeared to shift towards the strategic
questions. We have taken advantage of the opportunity to input our
Future Vision for the Pathway infrastructure, taking in both financial
services and better government, entitled The Potential for Horizon and
Pathway. A further paper entitled The Post Office TrustCard has been
submitted outlining the shorter term systems capabilities in support of
the Vision ie first steps in delivering the Vision, including the role for
smartcards. This paper has been discussed with both DTI and the
Panel.
. Feedback from the Panel on all our input is planned for June 11", with
the written report expected one week later - this itself will go to the cross-
departmental working group before going to Ministers. This will run for
some time yet.
DESKTOP
° The Contract has been signed by PO and by ICL Multi-Vendor
Computing Division and deliveries are under way to PO IT Services,
Royal Mail and POCL.
CALL CENTRES
. Industry rumour is that SSL are in contract negotiation with Aspect (a US
market leader). Procurement say no decision has been made on
supplier and ICL is still on the shortlist ie No Comment.
. SSL may have other problems as they are at risk of not being shortlisted
for the BBC TV licensing contract renewal - this accounts for 90% of
SSL’s revenues.
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OTHER ACTIVITIES
. Royal Mail are planning to extend their pilot Trusted Third Party Secure
Transactions Service into a commercial offer. Scottish Power and Lloyds
of London are rumoured to be about to sign up. They have also
announced their intention to offer a Certification Authority service.
These are being built for RM by Entrust (Consultancy arm of Nortel) and
utilises the ICL i500 Directory. I have met Jim Pang RM Electronic
Services Director and agreed that the potential role of the Pathway
network, for access by public and by SMEs, including use of
security/encryption smartcards, should be explored.
. The bid to PO IT Services for ad-hoc Technical Consultancy, run by ICL
Government building on their success with SCAT among others, has
been shortlisted with final presentations 10" June. John Bell is fronting.
Although this is not large business (less than £1m pa, shared) its
importance lies in the access it will give to the key technical IT
managers across Post Office.
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