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To:
Ce: Jenkins Gareth GI[i
From: — Thomas Penny[/
Sent: Thur 24/06/2010 1:25:19 PM (UTC)
Subject: RE: Duplication of Transaction Records on ARQ Returns
DMINGROUP1/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=THOMASP]
Guy
These are original records which have been duplicated when copying to Audit Server. We are not suggesting that original records
have been duplicated.
If analysis was undertaken on the audit data some transactions would be duplicated; both plus and minus (we hope!). Analysis on
stock units could be out as TI would show duplicated transfers and equally would TO. Cash on hand analysis would also be out.
Gareth — is there anything else I need to add?
Penny
Penny Thomas
Security Analyst, Customer Services
ices Limited, Registered in England no 96056, Re
is only for the use of its intended recipient. I
this E-mail has not been intercepted and amended or that it is virus-free.
Baker Street, London W1U 3BW
ject to a duty of confidence and may be privileged. Fujitsu Services does not guarantee that
From: Wilkerson Guy
Sent: 24 June 2010 14:16
To: Thomas Penny
Subject: RE: Duplication of Transaction Records on ARQ Returns
Penny,
Would the additional transactions make any difference to the charges for a Sub-Postmaster?
Guy
From: Thomas Penny
Sent: 24 June 2010 12:39
To: Welsh Graham; Van Achte Gaetan; Munro Donna; Thompson Peter; Wilkerson Guy
Cc: Jenkins Gareth GI; Holmes Alan
Subject: FW: Duplication of Transaction Records on ARQ Returns
Importance: High
An update to my note sent yesterday.
More detailed analysis shows:-
Number of ARQs affected 112
Number of ARQs where 1 or 2 instances highlighted 17
which indicates bona fide activity
Number of ARQs WIP 7
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12 ARQs where court action is known; number of cases 2
8 ARQs returned where witness statement requested 3
but not yet provided; number of cases.
ARQs where no court activity is known 76
Audit Development are currently working on a fix which is expected to be available Tuesday 29 June.
Gareth has suggested the following explanation for POL:-
With Horizon counters, the mechanism by which Data is audited has always worked on the principle that it is acceptable to
audit the same data more than once — in particular if in doubt as to whether or not it has been previously audited
successfully.
The Mechanism used on Horizon to retrieve the data took this into account and only presented one instance of such
duplicate data in the ARQ extracts.
However it has recently been noticed that the HNG-X retrieval mechanism does not remove such duplicates and a quick
scan of the ARQs provided to Post Office Ltd since the change to the new system indicates that abut 35% of the ARQs
might contain some duplicate data. A Peak has been raised to remove such duplicate data in the future. However until the
fix is developed, tested and deployed, there is a possibility that data is duplicated.
The reliable way to identify a duplicate transaction is to use the <Num> attribute that is used to generate the unique
sequence numbers. Unfortunately, this attribute is not currently included in the Excel version of ARQ data that has been
passed to Post Office Ltd in the past. This will be included in all future ARQs until the problem is fixed.
Meanwhile all that can be done on existing ARQs is look for transactions that appear to be duplicates. Note that we have
identified a scenario with Postal Services transactions where multiple, identical mails items are accepted (ie the Quantity
button is set to greater than 1), but Postage Labels are printed for each individual item. This results in separate transactions
being generated for each item, which are identical in the ARQ extracts (there is another minor difference in the raw data
apart from the <Num> attribute, but this different attribute is not currently included in the ARQ extract).
I'd like to speak with my counterpart this afternoon, please could you give comments by return?
Kind regards
Penny
Penny Thomas
Security Analyst, Customer Services
i vices Limited, Registered in England no 96056, Registered Office 22, Baker Street, London W1U 3BW.
This E-mail is only for the use of its intended recipient. Its contents are subject to a duty of confidence and may be privileged. Fujitsu Services does not guarantee that
this E-mail has not been intercepted and amended or that it is virus-free.
From: Thomas Penny
Sent: 23 June 2010 13:12
To: Welsh Graham; Van Achte Gaetan; Munro Donna; Thompson Peter
Cc: Jenkins Gareth GI; Holmes Alan
Subject: Duplication of Transaction Records on ARQ Returns
Importance: High
All
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Please find attached an initial report on this problem.
Kind regards
Penny
Penny Thomas
Security Analyst, Customer Services
Fujitsu Services Retail & Royal Mail Group Account
Lovelace Road, Bracknell, Berks RG12 8SN
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is E-mail is only for the use of its intended recipient. Its contents are subject to a duty of confidence and may be privileged. Fujitsu Services does not guarantee that
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