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Benefits Agency and
Post Office Counters Ltd.
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gardens
London
SW1W 0AB
Horizon Programme
Tel: 0171 200 5472
Fax: I GRO
To: Tim Cutts Copy: Dave Millet
CAPS Programme Office Jan Topham
Sue Daniel
Val Whitbread
From: _ Bob Burkin Date: 4 Dec. 1998
. Ne
Subject: Input into CAPS Board Report
As requested, the attached report is provided as input into the CAPS Programmé.,
Board Report for the meeting scheduled to be held on 10/11 December. %
Dave Miller, Horizon Programme Director, is able to attend on the 10th. Will you
therefore please arrange for including timings, to be supplied to his
Secretary (June Lilley Tel: Fax: __), and copied to me, in
advance of the meeting.
A status report on outstanding actions is also attached.
Thope this proves useful. As always, happy to discuss.
Bob Burkin
Planning & Reporting Team
Horizon Programme
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CAPS and Card Programme Board Actions - Issue 9
Horizon Action Points and updates from Board meeting on 13 November 1998
Action point
Update for Board meeting
to be held on 11 December
AP 6.2(H)
Dave Miller to provide George McCorkell
with a written description of the PinICL
process,
When the PDA was in existence, a Fault
Management paper was produced outlining
the process for faults encountered, prioritised
and managed. This process is still being
followed. The paper has subsequently been
augmented by both the Management and
Support Notices for Model Office & End to
End testing produced by Pathway (latest
version 2.0 dated 18 October 1998), and by
the High Level Test Plans (HLTP’s). All
relevant documentation is distributed to all
groups including CAPS (Paul Noon).
Regarding the fixing, introduction and
support of faults, we have no visibility of the
process until we re-test in Model Office / End
to End, or until it is deferred onto the Known
Problem Register (Pathway have internal
processes and we do not have access to their
procedural documentation).
Action Cleared,
AP 6.4 (H) Dave Miller to provide greater
visibility of what is happening in Horizon
Cleared.
Daily reports have been sent, and weekly
Dave Miller to determine the current state of
debate between BES/PAS and see if dialogue
between Horizon/CAPS directors could be
used to break the apparent deadlock.
testing to Parry Jenkins summaries of test conditions have also been
provided.
AP 6.8(H) Ongoing.
Internal POCL discussions continue.
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AP 700.1(E)
Dave Miller to arrange for a presentation on
the Integrated Programme Plan to the
Programme Board meeting on 16 October
1998, :
Ongoing.
Joint discussions on the delivery of the
Programme continue. A presentation to be
considered after agreement on way forward
reached,
AP 900.1 (H)
Bruce McNiven to arrange for a presentation
on Service Management to the next
Programme Board to include the proposals
for service management during Live Trial
and a high level view following National
Roll-out.
Ongoing.
Service Management initiated a tripartite
review of the end to end service management
readiness, lead by POCL with terms of
reference agreed with Pathway & BA. The
final draft of the report was discussed
between Andy Radka, Steve Muchow & Paul
Hanson during week ending 27 November. A
number of changes to be incorporated and a
process for producing the final version (to be
circulated to CAPS Board & others - via
Dave Miller who sponsored the work) were
agreed. The final version will be ready week
commencing 7 December and an oral update
will be provided at the December CAPS
Programme Board. Service Management
intend to circulate the report to CAPS and
then present an update on progress at the
CAPS Board meeting in January.
AP 900.2) .
Bruce McNiven to arrange for the report
from the end to end review of service
management to be made available to the
Programme Board.
This is covered under action AP 900.1 above.
AP 900.3 (H)
Bruce MeNiven to arrange for a formal
management checkpoint meeting to take
place following the completion of MOR3 and
before the next phase of testing commenced.
A formal management meeting is being
arranged.
AP 900.4 (H)
Bruce MeNiven to provide the Board with a
note setting out the current position on TIP
testing and any potential contingency options
in advance of the next CCPB meeting.
A note will be issued (by Andrew Simpkins)
wie 7 December. This follows a series of
meetings being held w/c 30 November
including a meeting with CAPS planned for 4
December.
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AP 900.5 (H)
Bruce MeNiven to provide a formal note
setting out the conduct of testing
We acknowledge that there have been
incidents of faults re-occurring due to ‘partial
fixes’.
When we receive an incident it is fixed
within the Pathway environment; and we are
notified either via the Help Desk (for Model
Office) or by Pathway that the fix has been
applied. We only get visibility when we re-
test in MO/E2E, when as described, some
faults have been found to have been only
been partially fixed.
We are now pressing for full visibility of
PinICL fixes prior to entry into MOT and
End to End final pass. ;
Action Cleared,
AP 900.6 (H)
Bruce MeNiven to confirm to George
McCorkell by 16 November 1998 that all the
necessary information in respect of the
Release Contents for NR2 (ChB only) has
been provided
Cleared.
AP 900.7 (H)
Bruce MeNiven to confirm that the PIR
process has been correctly applied to the
incident on 19 October 1998 following
failure of the Maestro Scheduler.
Following the set up of the Horizon
Programme (post PDA) these incidents are
dealt with initially by CAPS and only
escalated if they are unable to resolve. There
is no record of this incident being escalated.
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Input into CAPS Programme Board Report
for Meeting on 10/11.December 1998
Introduction
This report summarises the state of the overall HORIZON Programme as at
13 November 1998 (with additional updates to key areas).
Programme Overview
The major focus of the Programme at the current time is:
* supporting the existing live systems
* supporting the testing phase
* progressing the ‘Programme Management’ content of the Plan with
respect to the Live Trial, Multiple Benefits and the NR2+ Release
+ clarifying contractual issues and the acceptance process
+ Service Management development
* supporting the Treasury review and resulting negotiations.
Live Operations
The current Release continues to provide a Benefit Payment Service and
Order Book Control System for Child Benefit Payments in 204 outlets (119
in the South West & South Wales Region and 85 in the North East
Region). From an operational point of view, there are no major threats to
business continuity.
Fixes relating to Incomplete Transactions completed testing and were
successfully implemented at the counter on 9 October. There has since
been an encouraging reduction in the number of Incomplete Transactions
and the situation is being monitored closely to ensure that the expected
reduction in the number of incidents is realised. Figures for September
were 3 per 10,000 transactions. Current month levels are 1.6 per 10,000.
During October there were approximately 81,000 encashments (including
foreign encashments) with a total value in excess of £2.4m.
The Business Service Management Team continues to produce a monthly
Service Report which includes service performance reports and operational
issues / threats. The latest report was issued on 27 November. CAPS are
included on the distribution list.
Progress against the Master Plan and Integrated Programme Plan
The Programme Master Plan (MP version 4) and Integrated Plan (IPP
version 1) will be formally updated following final agreement to the
‘Critical Path Plan’ that has been developed in the latest stage of the
Treasury Review. The HORIZON level 0 plan has been updated to reflect
this recent work as has the Pathway plan (version 6). Work is in hand to
understand and rationalise the differences between these plans.
The HORIZON plan has been baselined so that from an operational point
of view variations can be monitored and reported. A fortnightly
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‘tumaround’ process is in place with feedback being received from all
functional areas on progress against plan.
The plans show the current key milestones subject to resolution of a
number of specific options around the Critical Path Plan in the area of the
POCL Child Benefit implementation. A comprehensive report of progress
against milestones will be reinstated when the current planning exercise
has been formally agreed.
The current status of key milestones planned for September/October (and
not previously reported as complete) is shown below:
milestone planned date achieved /
re-forecast
Complete MOR 1 11 September Successfully
completed 27 August
Commence MOR2 21 September Commenced as -
planned
POCL sign off all 30September I It now appears that it
Acceptance specs for trial will be December
before all are
approved/signed off
Progress is being
monitored daily.
Complete MOR2 16 October Completed
Commence MOR3 19 October Preparation work
commenced on 19
October with the test
execution commencing
on 21 October.
Complete MOR3 15 November Counter execution
completed 13
November
Complete System Test Main 18 November Completed 25
Pass for EPOSS, TPS, MIS, : November
RDMC and Training (mode)
Complete End to End cycle 22 November Counter activity
2 completed on 20
November
5 ICL Pathway Release 2
SA Current Status
Release Management
As the result of discussions between BA, Horizon and Pathway a change to
the plan (to allow additional testing time before starting migration) was
proposed. Plans based on starting migration in early March (rather than late
January) and completing by Easter were agreed in principle. This resulted
in a start to National Rollout of mid-August though the precise date
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depended on the resolution of a number of detailed points. The start date
for live trial was set for 12 April. These dates have however been impacted
by the position on testing described below.
CAPS have provided details about the contents of their Release 4 and
agreement was reached on how this would tie in with Release 2+. A
Change Request to include on-line enquiries in CAPS 3.5 has been raised
and it has been agreed that this functionality will be provided between
Release 2 and 2+.
A paper describing the Release Contents of NR2 (Child Benefit only):has
been produced but this will need revision once Pathway have agreed the
Release Contents Description itself.
The overall plan is also dependant on satisfactory commercial agreements
being reached; discussions are ongoing.
Testing
MOR3 and E2E cycle 2 commenced on schedule on 12 October. A number
of problem areas were identified including counter reporting, the file
transfer mechanism to TIP, and transaction validation. There are also
continuing errors with the Cash Account though there has been some
improvement. Nevertheless; the large number of faults impacting financial
integrity indicate that this aspect of the system is not yet robust. E2E cycle
2 also experienced some serious problems during the office migration
period but these were partly caused by operator errors in Pathway. CAPS
have identified some issues they need to address in regard to BES
contingency.
Whereas there is progress against the declared testing scripts, there is a
greater concern following MOR3 that the business objectives are not being
satisfactorily met particularly with the ability to produce correct accounting
and reconciliation results. .
The Horizon Team is working closely with Pathway, TIP and CAPS to
address these issues. In addition a revised testing proposal has been put to
Pathway which would include an additional period of testing, focused on
financial integrity issues, prior to entry to the final Model Office Test pass.
Horizon believes it would be preferable to spend additional time to achieve
a quality system than risk failure of the Model Office Test with its
consequent implications.
Acceptance
Sign off of the Acceptance Specifications progresses slowly, with meetings
being convened to resolve the discrepancies. It now appears that it will be
December before all are approved. As at 30 November 12 of the 24 specs
have been approved. Outstanding specifications are being negotiated
between all parties with unresolvable issues caveated for escalation and
future resolution.
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Implementation
Migration
The processes and procedures to be adopted for migrating offices have
been agreed. As a result a need for new Reference Data has been identified
and this is in hand.
Live Trial
Progress in this area has been limited due to the uncertainty surrounding
the commercial discussions on acceptance and the implications this will
have on the positioning of the Live Trial.
Surveys of the 204 post offices taking part in the trial have been concluded.
*86 are reported as needing minor mods, 56 major mods and 43 meet the
requirements. Currently there are 14 where solutions have been proposed
but not yet agreed. The 5 with “no solutions” have been re-surveyed and
solutions, acceptable to the post office, identified for each. Two offices
tequire a “trolley” solution and prototypes have been promised by Pathway
prior to Christmas.
National Rollout
HORIZON have submitted a proposal regarding the trigger points for NRO
during Live Trial and the proposed ramp up. This is based on a trigger five
weeks into the Live trial (even if this is deemed to be a 15 week Live
Trial). This trigger, and the ability of Pathway to cope with a 10 week
implementation window (including system aspects such as the rollout
database) are still being discussed.
5.2 Issues / Risks
An Issues Manager joined the Programme on 2 November and a Risk
manager joined on 26 October. A report on Issues and Risks follows.
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Ref. Issue Title & Description Owner I" Raised Action/Mitigation Action’! When? RAG RAG
No By Status Status
Urg Action
10007 I Product Assurance: All Acceptance Specs JIM 30/10/98 I DM and MC (Pathway) to agree how to DM 20/11/98 I RED AMBER
to have been signed off by mid-November progress and monitor agreement.
1998.
10003 I Inability to achieve satisfactory cash SR 6/11/98 I Need to prove all aspects of cash accounting I AS 27/11/98 I RED GREEN
account balancing. across a number of different test phases in
order to provide POCL with the confidence
to authorise the release of NR2. Adjustment
to shape of final testing phases required.
10004 I Treasury Review concerning the DM 30/10/98 I Negotiations are underway with all parties I DM 23/11/98 I RED GREEN
Programme is not yet completed and and progress is reported as and when.
resolved.
10011 I Electronic Scale connectivity - no fully BMcN 29/10/98 I Solution to be pursued with Pathway. BMC 17/11/98 I AMBER I AMBER
satisfactory solution or agreement. N
10018 I Data Centre Migration date not yet AS 18/11/98 I Meet, discuss and agree the Data Centre AS 20/11/98 I AMBER I AMBER
decided. migration date. .
10005 I Three key areas of functionality which SR 30/10/98 I Ref Data - scope of live Ref Data proving SR 27/11/98 I AMBER I GREEN
cross delivery boundaries at a Programme has been increased. TIP - Manager
level are insufficiently well proven to appointed to focus on this area. BES -
have confidence that further significant Complex BES functionality will be
work will not be required as the result of executed to ensure all issues exposed and
MOR3 and E2E phase 2. can go forward to be fixed and retested
before final test runs
10002 I Full scope and schedule of Programme as DM°* I 29/10/98 I Workshops are being conducted to flush All End GREEN I GREEN
a whole is not yet fully established. out all Level 3 planning activities. January.
10009 =I POCL have expressed dissatisfaction with I JM 2/11/98 I Product Assurance to mect and discuss JIM 27/11/98 I GREEN I GREEN
an aspect of the BES fallback recovery issues with the Transformation
process. As it is now too late to change Management team.
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Ref-
No :
Issue Title & Description .;
Owner.
Raised
Action/Mitigation
Action I When?
By
I
I
\
RAG
Status
Urg
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RAG
Status
Action
Pathway design this must be considered
to be release threatening.
10010
BA are unable to confirm policy for the
declaration to be made when CAPS
contingency payments are collected by
customer. Consequently there is not an
agreed NR2 process. This is likely to be a
Seals of Approval issue.
30/10/98
30/10/98: Escalated to the CAPS
Programme Executive Team.
27/11/98
GREEN
GREEN
10019
Absence of effective sponsor decision
processes is delaying Programme
decisions and agreements.
27/11/98
Promote regular contact between sponsors
at executive and working level.
DM
End
Decembe
r
GREEN
GREEN
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Impactif'' oer sit RENT ‘Action
HIMILS} °° Owner® I" Ralsed, “Action Mitigation: By.
pr4— I Lack of End-to-end design of the reference data . IH 1H iP Kennedy [01/09/98 IUnder programme review; Model Office testing preparation has clarified DWM
processes may be Inadequate to support live the scope and Issues In this area; additional phase of testing S Rilot
operations. jestablished to prove live Ref. Data. Ref, Data has also been taken
lunder direct programme control.
prs IPOCL Organisational Processes may not be ready IH IH [A Radka {01/09/98 1) Executive support required to sustain priority of Horizon support
ito take on Horizon - may Impact Service initiatives,
performance, I2) Develop approach and management plan with business managers
pri7 ifthe POCL network does not conform to Horizon IH 1H A Radka [24/09/98 IConformance team being established; PID to be developed;
business processes and procedures - there will be
Ia detrimental impact on performance , costs,
services etc.
ism3_ [Scale of Service Management support requirement IH 1H A Radka 1041/09/98 IManagement Plan and Implementation Plan to address this concem is
for roll-out rate Is too great for POCL to take on. being developed.
pa2 [PA will be unable to support Release Authorisation IH IH J Meagher (07/09/98 1) Tech, Assurance forum established; Pathway are expected tomake IDWM
._ {due to the lack of visibility of Technical detail (incl. javallable detail; to be reviewed.
security & Integrity); lack of visibility results In a low, 2) Manage Sponsors Expectations as Horizon ability Is limited by
level of confidence that the system will be contract.
adequate, 13) Escalate to CEC If approach in 1. above falls.
ISee also pat above & paS below.
pad I The inability to attract and retain staff with the iH IH IJ Meagher (07/09/98 {No mitigation actions taken until the conclusions of the Treasury review
requisite technical abilities causes the Horizon jare determined.
programme to be reliant upon contract staff to fill
key roles, causing cost escalation and endangering
ithe business case going forward.
pas [Pathway delivered system may be weak In areas of iA J Meagher [07/09/98 _I1) Realistic agreement with Pathway on approach to this Issue as part
performance, resilience, integrity - POCL unable to lof the ‘replan’,
assess thls due to the nature of the contract. (Seo 12) Bring Sponsor and political pressure to bear.
jalso pat and pa2 above). 13) Technical Assurance Forum - see above,
im6 [Training togistics falls to provide adequate 1H IH 1B McNiven 10/09/98 {Supplier process under review; fallout rates and contingency DWM
numbers trained for ‘Go Live' (Quality of Training ). plans to be established; intervention procedures to be agreed. 1B McNiven
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6 Service Management Development
Work is underway on three main strands of work;
¢ Establishing a support centre
¢ Conformance
¢ Development/deployment of Business Service Management
principles. ,
Work continues to develop the new Support centre and recruit staff. A draft
plan has been developed and this is being impacted. Work is also in hand
to complete the outline business case for the Conformance project and to
finalise the organisation structure. Initial contact with POCL business units
has been made and Business Service Management walkthroughs are ~
continuing.
7 Future Releases
Release 2 + (introducing AP Smart and Logistics Feeder System
functionality)
Impact responses for the Change Control Note (CCN) for Logistics Feeder
System (LFS) are currently being analysed. A caveat on the CCN has been
raised regarding the need for a clear Quality Plan to enable HORIZON and
Pathway to manage the development.
The CCN for soft EVP (142E concerning score Card entries) is still being
negotiated.
The comments on the RCD have been passed to Pathway for clarification.
Of the 272 comments on the SADD 5.1, 143 related to Pathway issues and
meetings are being conducted to address these.
8: This report has been produced in accordance with the guidelines agreed
between Peter Crahan and the Horizon Programme Director on 15 April.
The area not covered is ‘Routine Commercial / Contractual Activity’ where
no request had been made by the CAPS PMO for specific detail, and no
input received from the Horizon Joint Contracts Team.
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