FUJ00122131
FUJ00122131
Witness Statement
(CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss 5A(3)(a)
and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Statement of Gareth Idris Jenkins
Age if under 18 Over 18 (If over 18 insert ‘over 18')
This statement (consisting of 07 pages each signed by me) is true to the best of my knowledge and
belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have
wilfully stated in it anything which I know to be false or do not believe true.
Datedthe 3rd dayof October 2005
Signature
I have been employed by Fujitsu Services, working on the Post Office
Account, formally ICL Pathway Ltd., since 1996 as a Customer Solutions
Architect, involved in many aspects of design and implementation of the
computer system known as Horizon, which is a computerised accounting
system used by Post Office Ltd.
Horizon’s documented processes relate to each Post Office outlet. They
state that at each Post Office, there are counter positions which each have
a computer terminal, a visual display unit and a keyboard and printer. This
individual system records all transactions input by the counter clerk
working at that counter position. Each clerk logs on to the system by using
their own unique password. The transactions performed by each clerk, and
the associated cash and stock level information are recorded by the
computer system in a stock unit. Once logged on, any transactions
performed by the clerk must be recorded and entered on the computer and
are accounted for within the user's allocated stock unit.
Signature Signature witnessed by
CSO11A (Side A) Version 3.0 11/02
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Witness Statement
(CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss 5A(3)(a) and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Continuation of statement of Beatrice Neneh Lowther
The Post Office counter processing functions are provided through a series
of counter applications: the Order Book Control Service (OBCS) was one
of these applications and it ascertained the validity of DWP order books
before payment was made. The counter desktop service and the office
platform service on which it ran provides various common functions for
transaction recording and settlement as well as user access control and
session management.
Note that the Order Book Control Service was withdrawn from Live use in
June 2005.
Information from counter transactions was written into a local database and
then replicated automatically to databases on all other counters within a
Post Office outlet. The information was then forwarded over Internet
Services Digital Network (ISDN) (or other communication service) to
databases on a set of central Correspondence Servers at the Fujitsu
Services data centres. This was undertaken by a messaging transport
system within the Transaction Management Service (TMS). Various
systems then transfered information to Central Servers that controled the
flow of information to various support services. Details of outlet
transactions were normally sent at least daily via the system. Details
relating to the outlet's stock holding and cash account were sent weekly.
Details were then forwarded daily via a file transfer service to the Post
Office accounting department at Chesterfield and also, where appropriate,
Signature Signature witnessed by
CSOt1A Version 3.0 11/02
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Witness Statement
(CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss 5A(3)(a) and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Continuation of statement of Beatrice Neneh Lowther
to other Post Office Clients. In this respect DWP was a Post Office Client.
The Order Book Control System (OBCS) software, linked to the Horizon
system was developed in conjunction with the DWP. OBCS provided
details of DWP order books on the national stop payment list, and, enabled
data regarding the movement of order books, and, encashments to be
captured on their behalf. Each Horizon terminal at a Post Office counter
had access to the national stop list through OBCS, when a barcoded DWP
order book was scanned at the Post Office counter, or the order book
details were manually keyed into Horizon at the Post Office counter. Each
night, the national stop payment list was updated from information supplied
electronically from the DWP computer centre. National stop payment list
data was held centrally within the Horizon system, and was available to all
Post Offices. However, certain information from the national stop payment
list was also downloaded to individual Post Offices for faster access; this
download process is called polling. The polling of individual Post Offices
also involved receiving details of order book movements and encashments
at Post Offices, centrally within Horizon, for onward transmission to the
DWP.
All OBCS transactions were normally initiated by scanning in the barcode
from the Order Book. Each Order Book was associated with a National
Insurance Number (NINO) which identifies the person to whom the Order
Signature Signature witnessed by
CSOt1A Version 3.0 11/02
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Witness Statement
(CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss 5A(3)(a) and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Continuation of statement of Beatrice Neneh Lowther
Book had been (or was about to be) issued. The Horizon Central database
maintained a list of every Post Office outlet at which that NINO had been
used by the OBCS application. This information was also held in the local
outlet database. All information received from DWP associated with
withdrawn or stopped Order Books was passed to all branches at which
the associated NINO hasdbeen used (if any). If an OBCS transaction was
carried out in an outlet and the NINO associated with the Order Book was
not found in the local database, an enquiry was made to the Central
database as to the state of all Order Books associated with the NINO.
That outlet was then registered as being associated with that NINO for all
future Order Book control information. Thus over a period of time a
number of branches became associated with each NINO. If the NINO was
not found in the local system the enquiry for OBCS information associated
with that NINO was carried out in real time. Such an enquiry would only
happen once for any NINO in a given outlet. All other OBCS transactions
were batch.
Post Office outlets are identified by Post Office Ltd with a FAD Code.
These identifiers are passed from Post Office Ltd to Horizon when a
Branch is first Opened (or migrated to Horizon in many cases). When a
Branch is first opened (or migrated to Horizon), Post Office defines the
number of Counter Positions required (including any Back Office
positions). These are then allocated Counter positions from 1 (which is the
Signature Signature witnessed by
CSOt1A Version 3.0 11/02
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Witness Statement
(CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss 5A(3)(a) and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Continuation of statement of Beatrice Neneh Lowther
gateway counter used to communicate to the Data Centre) up to the
number of counters. The Counter position is fixed and is associated with a
Physical terminal when it is installed in an outlet.
Post Office branches are mainly connected to the BT public wide area
network using either the Analog Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) or Internet
Services Digital Network (ISDN) technologies. In addition there are a
number of branches connected to the Hughes satellite dish network using
Virtual Satellite (VSAT) technology. The ADSL, ISDN and VSAT traffic is
then transported across the Energis network. The Energis network traffic is
delivered via dedicated links to Fujitsu's datacentres in Wigan and Bootle.
Signature Signature witnessed by
CSOt1A Version 3.0 11/02
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Witness Statement
(CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss 5A(3)(a) and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Continuation of statement of Beatrice Neneh Lowther
using an appropriate public key. Most file transfers are sent from Wigan
and Bootle datacentres across authenticated ISDN connections directly to
Fujitsu servers in the destination buildings. The data is then passed across
a local area network to the recipient's server.
A check is carried out at the end of the day in each Post Office Outlet, that
all counters are communicating with the “gateway” counter that
communicates with the datacentre. Should this check be successful an
End of Day record is written to the local database identifying all records
associated with that day’s trading. The Horizon Central systems will only
process data from Post Office outlets for which an End of Day record has
been successfully replicated to the datacentre. Missing End of Day
records can occur for one of two reasons:
1/ The End of Day record was not produced in the outlet — usually due to
the gateway being unable to communicate with one of the other counters —
for example it has failed or been switched off.
2/ The end of Day record has not been successfully replicated from the
Post Office outlet to the datacentre — usually due to a communications
problem.
End of Day Records will eventually be generated and communicated to the
datacentre when the initial problems are resolved and the transactions
associated with these “late End of Day” records will be communicated to
Signature Signature witnessed by
CSOt1A Version 3.0 11/02
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Witness Statement
(CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss 5A(3)(a) and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Continuation of statement of Beatrice Neneh Lowther
other systems when they are available. In such cases the data transmitted
to clients (such as DWP) will be more than 24 hours old. Such
transactions will have the original timestamps from when they took place.
Signature Signature witnessed by
CSOt1A Version 3.0 11/02