POL00028158 - BA/POCL Programme Development Authority Board Minutes of the Sponsor/PDA Board Meeting, 20 March 1997
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BA/POCL Programme Development Authority Board .
Minutes of the Sponsor/PDA Board Mecting 20 March 1997
Present
Alec Wylie - SSA(ND) (Chair)
George McCorkell - BA
Terry Austin - ICL Pathway
Peter Crahan - PDA
Paul Rich - POCL
Bruce McNiven. - PDA
Chris Mann - PDA (Secretary)
Apologies
John Bennet - ICL Pathway
1, i - Minutes and ma isi
1.1° The minutes of the last meeting were agreed subject to the two amendments
below.
1.1.1 Paragraph 2.4 First bullet point
This point to be amended to read:
- the POCL Board were reviewing their business plans for the
next one, two, and five year periods. Horizon remained the top objective over
the next two years.”
1.1.2 u u
This point to be amended to read:
- there had been organisational changes within POCL most
notably, Mena Rego would lead the sponsorship for Horizon and David Smith
would lead the sponsorship for POCL’s overall automation programme
excluding Horizon.
1.2. Paper 6/97 Action points from the meeting of 20 February 1997 were
discussed. The following additional points arose in discussion. :
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1.2.1 if - intow view wI
i i ine. Out of twelve retrospectivechange -
requests, ten have so far been successfully brokered leaving two to be formally
resolved. It was stressed that it is important to take on board lessons from this
process and work is underway to ensure that this happens.
1.2.2 Action point 6 - Mr Crahan to examine the scope of the Release
Board’s work. This is ongoing. In respect of the release planned for the Easter
weekend, PDA was due to give the go ahead on Monday 24 March in anticipation
of the expect agreement of the CAPS Programme Board on Wednesday 26 March.
1.2.3 i int 9 - iv 1 ”:
included in any i Vi jiscussi A
joint plan is under development and will be ready for the next meeting. A high
level plan of Service Development activities was requested in advance of the May
PDA Board meeting.
Action Point 1: Bruce McNiven to arrange for a high level plan of Service
Development activities to be available to PDA Board members in advance of the
May meeting.
1.3. The action points from the 17 February PSC were noted. All actions are either
cleared or approaching clearance.
2. nda i -P. epo.
21 PDA
2.1.1 Feedback was given on the previous week’s Management Team awayday with
Pathway which was felt to be a useful forum for open and frank discussion and
resulted in specific actions that would be mutually beneficial. PDA accepted action
points involving the following issues:
* Service Management - it was accepted that a joint team was needed and Bruce
MeNiven is driving this forward
+ Acceptance - a joint team is to be mobilised by the end of March
+ Communications - Bruce McNiven is looking into communications issues
involving PDA and ICL Pathway.
It was recognised that we need to be more structured in recognising issues before we
face them. Consequently it has been suggested that there may be some value in ICL
Pathway and PDA organisations occasionally attending each others Board meetings.
2.1.2 Following the Emst & Young review of CAPS, the Andersen review of the
organisation of the CAPS Programme has been completed. Recommendations
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include the appointment of a full time Director (George McCorkell) and a refinement
of steering arrangements. It is further recommended that Feeder benefit systems and
Field representatives will report to a management board and PDA role will be that of a
monitoring body.
2.1.3 Details of the replan have been presented to BAMT, BA Chief Executive and
the Permanent Secretary. A presentation to Secretary of State has been canceled and
PDA is currently waiting for Private Office to confirm whether the meeting will be
rescheduled or the issues cleared by submission. The lack of ministerial endorsement
is the reason for the limited information so far released about the replan. However, if
information is needed by individuals to drive forward the business then it can be
released.
2.1.4 There is an unresolved communication issue about the approach to handling
successive benefits. ICL Pathway have envisaged a generic approach suitable for all
benefits while PDA want to treat each benefit separately. The logistical difficulty of
handling multiple benefits whose roll out periods overlap is accepted but it is
recognised that the audiences do differ. The issue is ongoing and the arguments need
to be examined at a high level. Progress would be reported at the next Board
meeting.
2.1.5 Functionality has been signed off for Congo Release 2 (OBCS) and model
office testing is due to start. There is some concern over Process and Procedure
Documents (PPDs) in relation to this release. The PPD writers did not realise that
procedures would need to change to the extent that they did but the situation is being
addressed at the moment. The two hundred post offices involved have been formally
notified and five user awareness sessions have been planned. Training will
commence five days before the first go-live, with the BA educational process on the
same timescale.
2.1.6 The BPS release has yet to be formally signed off. Issues remain about access
control where twelve major issues have been addressed resulting in nineteen minor
issues. PDA and ICL Pathway Ltd are currently seeking to reach an understanding of
how these issues will be addressed. There are also some issues that need to be
clarified concerning reconciliation.
2.1.7 ICL Pathway Ltd have identified a data storage problem in relation to
RIPOSTE software. The fault does not affect OBCS. ICL Pathway Ltd have a new
version and are working on a method of introducing it.
2.1.8 Outstanding issues in relation to ICL Pathway Ltd Release 2 (CAPS Release
3) include temporary tokens and online inquiries and data interface definitions
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between CAPS and ICL Pathway Ltd systems. Additional POCL, functionality for
debit cards was guaranteed for release 3.
2.1.9 Practical solutions to the issues on migration and training have now been
agreed. With counter configuration, while the issue has been scoped, no solutions
have been developed. Work is ongoing. Some of the two hundred live:trial post
offices will need to be subject to the solutions but there is contingency if necessary.
2.1.10 In respect of the Initial Go-Live report it would be useful to have a section that
identified figures and trends from the start of the trial. A further refinement of foreign
encashment statistics was requested to show whether any customer had attempted to
make more than two. It would also be useful for unusually high or low returns of
items such as foreign encashments or stop payments to be accompanied by a
comment.
Action Point 2: Bruce McNiven to arrange for Initial Go-Live report to include
an analysis of figures to date, additional figures to indicate the number of
attempts at more than two foreign encashments and comments on unusual
Statistics.
2.1.11 It was noted that the cost of Customer Measures for the Live Trial appear to be
high and that PDA would consult POCL.
2.2 CAPS
2.2.1 CAPS will report on a monthly basis to BAMT and on a quarterly basis to
senior DSS representatives including Perm Sec.
2.2.2 Some BA field staff who were expecting to be involved with Release 3 are
being held up because Secretary of State has yet to agree the replan. ICL Pathway Ltd
have a similar problem with some suppliers being unable to take action. Agreement,
on the change requests, post office roll out and benefit roll out would enable these
suppliers to gear up for delivery.
Action Point 3: Bruce McNiven to investigate whether information on the post
office roll out and benefit migration can be released to ICL Pathway Ltd
suppliers.
2.35 POCL
2.3.1 POCL is in the last stages of finalising its objectives which will be shared in
due course. In terms of the overall automation project, POCL are currently scoping
the effect of the changes and are due to present to the Post Office Board in April.
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Operation Planning, which is Post Office wide and integrates regional responsibilities,
and partnership work are also under way. . .
3. a it -Replanni jate/Versi
3.1 Version 3 of the Masterplan was presented to the meeting. The following
points arose in discussion.
3.1.1 It is important to recognise that, subject to change control agreement, this
Masterplan is the document against which Programme progress is monitored.
Therefore endorsement of the milestones by the PDA Board is vital.
Th in the cover.note’
(and the Chairman ex ricdone in preparing it:
4. Agenda item 5- AOB
4.1 Change of venue for the September PDA Board was noted. Board Secretariat
are asked to include forward times and dates of PDA Board and PSC meetings with
minutes of this meeting.
Action Point 4: Secretariat to circulate forward times and dates for future PDA
Board and PSC meetings
5. i - Tim d x! i
5.1 The following forward dates were noted:
Next PDA Board meeting is on 8 May 1997 and is followed by a PSC. Peter
Mathison has requested that this meeting be in Leeds.
Further PDA Board meeting on 22 May 1997 in Feltham. This date to be held but
could be canceled if there is not sufficient business.
PDA Board meeting in Preston on 19 June 1997.