ICL PATHWAY Commercial in Confidence Programme Office
ICL PATHWAY
PROGRAMME OFFICE
MONTHLY REPORT
March 1998
Compiled by : Graham Chatten
Programme Office Manager
Date: 8" April 1998
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Contents
1.1 Planning Office...
1.1.1 Monthly Summary ..
1.1.2 Issues .
1.1.3 Staffing .
1.1.4 Last Month (March) Activities
1.1.5 Next Month (April) Activities
1.2 Programme Tracking and Control .
1 Monthly Summary ..
2 Progress.....
1.2.3 Critical Problems
1.2.4 Issues ...
2.5 Planned Work.
1.3 Configuration Management .
3.1 Software Configuration Managemen
2 Hardware Configuration Management.
1.3.3 Change Management
4 Document Management 9
5 Problem Management
6 Issues
1.3.7 Staffing ..
1.3.8 Last Month (March) Activities
1.3.9 Next Month (April) Activities
1.4 Programme Wide
1.4.1 Programme Risk Analysis.
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2.1 NR2 Summary ..
1.1 Development.
2127 &T.....
2.1.3 Acceptance ...
2.1.4 Implementation .
2.2 Issues ..
3.1 NR2
3.2 NR2+
3.3 Issues
4.1 Progress ..
4.2 Issues ..
Security and Audit.
6.1 Summary...
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1. Programme Office
1.1 Planning Office
1.1.1
1.1.3
1.1.5
Monthly Summary
The baseline plan (HLP) remains at version 3.0 although update forecast plans
have been issued to the PDA at 3.1 and 3.2. Otherwise it has been ‘business as
usual as far as planning is concerned.
Issues
The planning cycle is working but the number of ‘no forecasts’, new activities
and delayed activities (not started, late finishes) continue to highlight
exceptions. In some cases, mitigation is proving difficult particularly in T&I
and considerable slippage is forecast in some system test areas. In addition
there are a number of design and development ‘hang outs’ and CPs which have
yet to fully defined and factored into the plan.
This may result in destabilisation of the plan between levels 1 and 3, especially
if we find it necessary to issue a level 1 view externally whilst maintaining a
different level 3.
The ‘Handshake Milestone’ process and attendance of the Strategic
Implementation Working Group (SIWG) continues to be supported but we are
not able to give these activities the attention they require due to resource
overload. The overload in the planning manager function is also resticting the
support we can give to NR2+ planning.
Staffing
Hugh Drummond, previously a contractor working as a planner for the PDA,
joined in mid March.
Vacancies still exist for Administration Assistant, Planning Manager and a
Planner. Discussions have taken place with Jim Whelan concerning
advertising these externally but the process seems to be very slow ie the job
vacancy forms were authorised 3 months ago.
Last Month (March) Activities
The planned activities for March were :
1. Issue HLP v3.1 and v3.2 (version 3.0 with updated forecasts) I Completed
Next Month (April) Activities
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The planned activities for April are :
Based on the T&I progress being reported it is likely that certain key dates may
be at risk eg start of MOR. It is likely that this will require some focus and a
degree of replanning may result, especially in respect of the Super Checkpoint
meeting on the 8/4/98.
1.2 Programme Tracking and Control
1.2.1 Monthly Summary
Work has continued in the gathering and production of metrics plans for Test
& Integration. This has been dedicated to producing timely management
reports for the PDA Checkpoint meeting. A full set of graphs covering various
phases of testing was produced for the meeting due on 8 April 1998.
It is expected that workload will continue to peak in the week immediately
before these bi-weekly meetings.
The section took on functional responsibility for Problem Management during
the month.
Although not mentioned in last month’s report some considerable effort has
been spent in trying to finalize the budget forecast for Pathway.
1.2.2 Progress
1.2.2.1 Metrics
An organised method for metric data collection has been implemented. All
areas currently monitored, namely T&I including TSC, report progress to the
end of the working day on a Friday which is provided to the PO by the
following Monday. The progress information is then displayed in a
standardised histogram format and published in draft form on Monday
afternoons. These histograms allow us the ability to show, in a clear format, a
products’ progress against outstanding activity.
In the area of Technical and Security Testing (TSC) it has been possible to
obtain “predictive curves” of forthcoming activity. These are being used to
track progress against planned testing.
T&I are being actively encouraged to produced predictive curves. There is
some reluctance to do this. When these are produced they may need to be
refined due to the need for replanning.
Work has begun in the area of PinICL forecasting. Initial efforts have focused
on gathering information from which to produce assumptions, which in turn
can be used to build a predictive model to forecast PinICL numbers, and
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highlight dates of high PinICL occurrence. The first predictive models, based
on the initial broad assumptions, have been useful in terms of generating
comment and advice for further investigation and refining the predictive model
(see Planned Work).
1.2.2.2 Problem Management
Following partial approval of CP 1083, work has commenced on changing the
PinICL system to allow input of Test Phase and Man day effort spent on each
PinICL. The proposed change for a field to capture and sort by Business
Impact was rejected by the PCCB.
Test Phase is now recorded by using different call types. Further call types are
to be added to expand the range for Security Testing.
A draft report on PinICL MIS reporting was produced and reviewed internally.
Work is now in progress to incorporate the changes that arose and the second
draft is planned to be issued by 17 April 1998.
Progress has also been made on the formal Pathway response to the PDA
following discussions on their papers on Fault Management and Desirable
Reporting Metrics. The response will be sent during the first week of April
1998.
1.2.2.3 Pathway Budget Forecast
Progress of work in this area was omitted in last month’s report. We started
work in December 1997 as a joint exercise with the Finance section. Initially
we intended to finalize the budget forecast for Pathway in January 1998.
Regrettably progress has been slow due to work pressures on other critical
issues and this target date has not been achieved.
However there was a concerted effort during the month to complete the budget
forecast for the Systems Directorate. After an internal review, a full review
was held on 30 March 1998 and partial approval was given by the directors
present, namely: John Bennett, Tony Oppenheim, Terry Austin and Mike
Coombs.
1.2.2.4 General
Work has started on the Programme Control/Tracking strategy. A draft for
review will be issued next month.
Maintenance of the Technical and Security plans (TSC) was handed over to
Richard Perry. There is now a single Project Co-ordinator responsible for all of
T&I plans.
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The TI plans have not yet been handed over and this is now planned during
April 1998 with no further Planning Office resource problems envisaged in
this area.
1.2.3 Critical Problems
1.2.3.1 Metrics
The critical problem of T&I’s apparent inability to provide predictive curves
for planned activity has now been resolved for the majority of products.
However, the current predictive curves will require redefining once the
duration’s of planned activities have been baselined in accordance with the
latest version of the Plan.
1.2.3.2 Problem Management
There is currently a high level of “B’ priority PinICLs that are not achieving
the required time for fixes. The reason for the delay is believed to be the high
Development workload that is restricting their ability to progress PinICL
clearances.
1.2.4 Issues
1.2.4.1 Metrics
The proportion of time dedicated to the collection and presentation of metric
data this month has constricted the time available to actually analyse this
information. However, now that standardised formats for presentation have
been agreed and a more disciplined method of data collection is in place, it
should be possible to devote more time to data analysis in the future.
1.2.4.2 Problem Management
The ‘A’ priority rating for PinICLs is not being fully utilized. There is a
reluctance to set PinICLs to ‘A’ priority due to its definition of
“PROGRAMME STOPPED”. There are also number of serious ‘B’ priority
PinICLs that require high focus and advice has been issued to raise these to
‘A’ priority and to use the PinICL priority response times as a basis for priority
rating, rather than the current description. eg A priority = response required
within 24 hours.
1.2.4.3 Pathway Budget Forecast
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There is a general reluctance to press ahead in this area. Certainly within the
Systems Directorate there has been frantic activity in meeting delivery
schedules and budget forecasting has not been seen as a priority activity.
With the exception of the budget forecast for the Programmes Directorate,
which is now complete pending the Management team review, the status of the
budget forecasts for the rest of Pathway is unknown and will require close
monitoring.
1.2.5 Planned Work
1.2.5.1 Metrics
Planned work in April 1998 is as follows:
1. Redefine the T&I predictive curves in accordance with the latest version of
the Plan.
2. Further investigation and refinement of the assumptions on which to base a
predictive model of PinICL behaviour.
3. Greater level of data analysis.
1.2.5.2 Problem Management
1.New reporting to include life cycle information, and cumulative open/closed
graphs
2. Further refinement of initial examples.
3. The draft MIS reporting document to be updated.
4. Back filling of Test Phase call type to facilitate more accurate reporting.
1.2.5.3 Pathway Budget Forecast
1. There is still much work in this area. Following the review of 30 March,
there were actions to re-analyse some projected spends within the Systems
Directorate areas for a representation to the Management team. Nonetheless
it should be complete by w/e 25 April 1998.
2. The budget forecast for Programmes Directorate is now ready for
presentation and the review scheduled for 14 April.
3. A firm push is required to progress the budget forecasts for the other
directorates, namely Customer Service, Finance & Commercial and
Business Development.
1.2.5.4 General
The draft for review of the Programme Control/Tracking strategy needs to be
completed during April.
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1.3 Configuration Management
1.3.1 Software Configuration Management
Management of the installable software is continuing with the usual problems
of last minute changes to configurations as the software drop is ready for
delivery, causing unplanned work and delays in take-on into PCMS.
Source Code Management was to begin in April 98. This includes an analysis
of current source code management practices, development of a strategy to
implement this in PCMS, and implementation. The imminent departure of
Merrilyn Dodds has placed this at risk. She has also raised some concerns over
inconsistent development working practices that would make the change to
centralised source management more difficult than first thought. It is felt that
this could be addressed now by development to enable the move to PCMS
much easier.
1.3.2 Hardware Configuration Management
Work is continuing to develop the Hardware Configuration Baseline for NR2.
The inclusion of the routers in this baseline is dependent upon a design
document (TD/ARC/002). Without this we are unable to define the hardware
configurations of the routers, and capture the configuration files of each router
from CFM. Design are aware of this dependency.
1.3.3. Change Management
13.4
Further improvements have been made to the process and CP form. There is
now visibility on the form of the authorising L1 manager and Sponsor in
addition to the originator. We are trying to encourage the Sponsor to be pro-
active in helping to bring the CP through the impact and approval process.
The CP ‘blitz’ process took place in early March and achieved the short term
objective of trying to reduce the CP approval backlog.
However, the number of new CPs raised this month was only slightly lower
that the number closed (100 against 120). As a result the number of ‘open’
CPs is still higher that desirable at 77.
Improvement is also required in the CR and CCN process. This has not been
given the right amount of attention whilst striving to clear the CP backlog and
steps are now being taken to address this and ensure that we allocate greater
priority to CRs and CCNs in the future.
Document Management
The volume of work within Document Management has maintained a high
level. This has resulted in the extension of the temp for an extra month, with a
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view to take this person on permanently, subject to the usual recruitment
process.
1.3.5 Problem Management
The MIS aspect of PinICLS is covered under Tracking and Control above.
Approximately 850 R2 PinICLs are open with 50% being fixed awaiting
retest. See PinICL progress report for details.
1.3.6 Issues
Discussions have taken place on CM process issues involving Development.
These are to be addressed within the Systems Directorate.
1.3.7 Staffing
Merrilyn Dodds (Software Configuration Manager) has given notice and will
leave in early April. These skills are in short supply and it may take some time
to find a suitable replacement.
Clive Nuttall (Change Control Administrator) will also be leaving in early
April. Due the volume of CPs oustanding a temporary assistant has been hired
and we are attempting to recruit 2 Change Control Administrators to allow
Lisa Burchell (Change Manager) to spend time managing the change process
(rather than administering) and also to start to manage the documentation
process.
1.3.8 Last Month (March) Activities
The planned activities for March were :
1. Agree PinICL MIS reports and views In progress
2. Commence updates to PinICL tool in line Started
with planned enhancements
3. Add Routers to the HCM for NR2 Awaiting
Design
4. Implement further improvements to Change Control process Ongoing
5. Enforcement of S/W CM quality processes Ongoing
1.3.9 Next Month (April) Activities
The planned activities for April are :
1. Finalise PinICL MIS reports
2. Receive PinICL software updates for enhancements
3. Review Change Control impact process
4. Add Routers to the HCM for NR2
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1.4 Programme Wide
1.4.1 Programme Risk Analysis
The Programme Risk Analysis produced in February has been taken up by
Quality and Risk and it is intended to issue it to all involved parties with the
intention of receiving monthly updates which are fed into a regular Risk
Management meeting.
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2. New Release 2
2.1 NR2 Summary
2.1.1 Development
March has seen the delivery of further product drops to enable testing to build
up to full momentum. Most significantly, towards the end of the month,
EPOSS Drop7 was delivered which includes Suspense Account functionality.
Support has also been provided to clear faults which are, on a day-to-day basis,
causing disruption with testing.
2.1.2 T&l
The unavailability of a number of software drops and PinICL fixes has resulted
in slower progress than plan in a number of the test phases. In particular,
EPOSS and BPS system tests are behind the plan. This means that even though
the series of individual Direct Interface Test (DIT1s) were completed or are
nearing completion, it will not be possible to commence the second phase of
DIT (DIT2) on schedule. It has been agreed that the position will be reviewed
during the first part of April with a view to starting approximately two weeks
later than the 8 April planned date. BIT Blitz/First Pass started on schedule,
but is also being hampered.
This situation results in the need for mitigation action to be taken to enable the
existing dates to be maintained.
2.1.3 Acceptance
The customer maintains that the Pathway plans are far too aggressive but that
they will support them. So far we have delivered the Test Specifications in line
with the plan. This is an excellent start, which needs to be matched by the
turnaround of customer comments and appropriate revisions.
2.1.4 Implementation
There are a number areas which involve the customer that are cause for
concer (see issues below) that limit our ability to plan.
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2.2 Issues
The main areas of concern:
Need to mitigate plan to avoid further slippage (or replan)
Reconciliation sub-system end-to-end process
EPOSS requires further work
Reference “Data get well” programme established
Further development activity required
Reconcilation CPs
Audit
Security
Single disk Counters
¢ RCD not signed off
¢ POCL have not sent letters to inform PMs of rollout
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3. APS (Programme Wide)
3.1 NR2
T&I’s Main Pass Cycle 2 has made good progress on the test scripts which can
be run, the remainder of tests are awaiting software fixes due into T&I in mid
April. DIT1 Cycle 2 testing is still awaiting the successful implementation of
the test link into HAPS and further software fixes.
Customer Service are progressing the agreement of operational processes and
SLAs through further meetings and working-parties.
Some problems have been identified with the processing at the counter of a
few magnetic cards and bar codes, resolutions are being progressed.
Provision of Token and Interface specifications, Reference data and test tokens
required for the Client Backlog testing in May has progressed well. A full
hand-over of the test tokens and specifications is planned for early April. A
drop of Reference data was received at the end of March but there are known
problems with this data which will be resolved during April.
3.2 NR2+
Meetings and discussions on Quantum have continued during during March,
but the requirements are not yet fully defined.
The High Level Design for 2+ has been updated again and sent out for review.
There are still areas to be updated with more detail - it is likely that another
version will be produced in April, incorporating the outstanding updates from
the Release 2 version, additional detail and comments from the review of the
current version.
A meeting was held in March to progress the provision of Smart
documentation, a series of actions were placed (mainly on POCL) and few of
these have been met.
A new CP for the old Talexus Change Request has been impacted during
March. The CP together with costs (from Business Development ) will be
reviewed at the next CCB.
A discussion paper has been produced for the AP Client Migration Strategy to
highlight the areas which need to be resourced and associated issues; a
workshop to progress this will be held in April.
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3.3 Issues
3.3.1 NR2
The processing of some magnetic cards and bar codes will require software
changes, both from Counter Development and Escher. These changes and the
outstanding fixes to T&I PinICLs are delaying completion of system testing
and DIT1.
The Client take on Backlog exercise scheduled for May requires the resolution
of the above problems and for the Reference data to be enriched during April.
The enrichment process will require effort from the Counter Development
team (or possibly T&I) as the RDMC facility will not be available in April. A
meeting has been arranged to resolve some of the issues around enrichment.
During a demonstration to POCL and PDA in March a number of issues arose,
but in particular in relation to “Crash Recovery”. A meeting is to be held to
discuss POCL’s Recovery.
3.3.2 NR2+
Security requirements as defined within Tom Parker’s document in order to
satisfy Landis & Gyr’s concerns require some development effort from
Pathway. This effort has been estimated to be in excess of 90 days, this could
impact on other planned cryptographic work. There is also the issue of who
should pay for the work being done to meet the requirements of one of
POCL’s suppliers.
The requirements for AP digital signing are unclear and this is delaying
design. Barry Procter and Tom Parker are trying to resolve.
Pressure is being exerted on POCL to provide the complete set of
documentation and a agree a baseline for each of the Smart products. This is
being progressed via John Murray and Business Development.
Planning of APS development in conjunction with other Release 2+
development needs to be addressed by Development as the current version of
the High Level Design should be adequate for planning purposes.
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4. NON-ISDN
4.1 Progress
The Frame Relay test environment CP has been approved and Cisco test
equipment has been delivered and work on setting up the test environment has
started.
The Frame Relay solution CP has been impacted and referred to the CCB by
the PCCB.
Very little progress has been made in completing the BT analysis of ISDN
availability at ISDN sites. BT claim to have commenced the planned
transmission tests on c.2400 sites, no information on progress has yet been
made available.
4.2 Issues
At the time we agreed to drop the satellite solution the estimate of the
maximum number of sites where we would need to install the Frame Relay
solution was 300. If Pathway Light is not agreed or the number of Non-ISDN
sites is greater than anticipated then the costs of Frame Relay may be
prohibitive and an alternative solution for smaller offices would be needed.
The lack of information and visible progress from BT is being escalated via
John Bennett through Energis.
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5. Security and Audit
A progress report on Security was not available at the time of production.
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6. New Release 2+
6.1 Summary
7.2
Although some progress is being made on NR2+, the impact of delays in NR2
are increasingly affecting our ability to achieve the NR2+ proposed plan. The
few Design resources that had been allocated (Chris Plunkett, Dennis Sandor,
Phil Hemmingway) have now been pulled back into NR2. We continue to
make some progress at ISTL and TSC, but struggle to get Development to
review the work performed by these external groups. New problems detected
in NR2 increase this impact, examples are Janet Dore working on priority NR2
CPs and not Soft EVP, Chris Plunkett working on EPOSS and not LFS and
Reconciliation problems heading towards NR2+ for resolution.
The NR2+ plan is being used to pressure POCL on agreeing requirements for
AP Smart, Talexus and LFS. Whilst it is possible to move the NR2 Live date
some 3 months and have minimal effect on Live Trial and National Roll Out,
the unavailability of NR2 resources to move timely onto NR2+ will affect
NR2+ Live date. We could propose compressing T&I testing windows in order
to hold the Live Date and sell a compressed plan to BA/POCL, neither of these
have however been successful in the past.
Whilst this is an obvious statement to make and NR2 must have priority, the
impact on NR2+ must not be forgotten. The pressure we are applying to POCL
will be questioned if we fail to meet the dates that we state are dependant on
them.
The above comments are for internal programme discussion only and should
not be seen as negative, only realism based on the problems NR2 is
experiencing.
Progress
On a positive note, progress is continuing, culminating in NR2+ workshop
with Pathway, BA and POCL. The purpose of the workshop was to agree the
objective and scope of the Release. This was generally agreed with actions
placed on all parties to move areas of contention forward.
A workshop was held with POCL on the Logistics Feeder Service in an
attempt to force responses to outstanding issues. It was explained in detail the
actions that must take place in order to include this new business in NR2+.
POCL were keen to achieve this and an ambitious plan of activities during
April has been embarked on.
Discussions have continued on Pathway Light and have led to the conclusion,
by Pathway, that there is not a ‘Light’ solution that BA/POCL will accept. The
exercise has however resolved a number of problems with providing a solution
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73
to using standard counter hardware over PSTN. This solution will now be
offered for automating Post Offices that cannot be reached by ISDN.
The sign-off of the AP Smart HLD has been delayed due to slow response
from reviewers due to pressures from NR2. With additional clarification now
required on individual Smart cards, Design will aim for a final delivery by
Easter which will then be baselined rather than be delayed awaiting further
reviews.
Although HLD for security were produced in February, we extending the
review window to ensure this important area is fully reviewed.
PDA visited ISTL in Manchester to review progress made on Pathway Light.
There as been continual debate regarding Soft EVP and the functional
requirement, this has been agreed in principal and requires final review and
sign-off. The SOD has been produced and requires update for further review
but is impacted by NR2 and holidays. The original plan agreed with PDA is no
longer achievable and will require re-plan.
Work on agreeing the differences between NR2 and NR2+ continues and has
proved a useful exercise in directing some thoughts to NR2+ and questioning
SADD version 5.0 that supports it.
Issues
The impact of NR2 on NR2+, as detailed above, continues to take its toll.
It is still imperative that the Migration of NR2 to NR2+ is designed up front.
Although an outstanding action on Design, a Design owner has not been
appointed. Additional resources are being recruited by Design, but issues in
NR2 have the potential to absorb these.
POCL have started to respond to resolving issues on AP and LFS that have
been outstanding for some months. It is imperative that pressure is maintained
in order to make progress.
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