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Horizon Programme
: Congo 4 Laced
(ICL Pathway Release 1c)
Horizon Service Report
Number 7
Period - June 1998
Distribution: Dave Miller Graham Beck
Janet Topham Phil Shingler
John Meagher Andy Radka
Bruce McNiven Kevin Lenihan
Mena Rego Vince Gaskell
John Holroyd Peter Charlton
Peter Crahan RLMs
Author: Phil Turnock -
Authorised by: David McLaughlin
Date produced: 28 July 1998
Paul Hanson
Ruth Holleran
Bob Burkin
Peter Burden
National Audit Team (POCL)
Team Leaders
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
$2 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB
Page 1 of 23
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1. Introduction
This report is produced by the POCL Service Management team and provides a high level “in-flight” assessment of any
threats to overall business continuity in the Congo 4 live service environment. The primary purpose is to identify any issues
(actual or potential) that might threaten the Congo 4 roll-out or regression from ICL Pathway services. It should be noted
that this report may have an operational bias.
For ease of reference, the report utilises a traffic light system with the following keys -
Immediate Threat to Business Continuity
Potential Threat to Business Continuity
No Threat to Business Continuity
AF
The next full Horizon Service Report is scheduled for W/C 24 August 1998.
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB Aetaomerep be
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2. Report Format
2.1 ABBREVIATIONS
BA Benefit Agency
BES Benefit Encashment Service
CAPS Customer Accounting & Payment Strategy
COLS Caps Operational Live Support
CAW Cash Account Week for Post Offices
CPCS Customer Payment Computer System
CSU Card Support Unit
HSHD Horizon System Help Desk
MAL Minimum Acceptable Level
OBCS Order Book Control Service
PCHL Payment Card Helpline
POCL Post Office Counters Ltd
RLM _ Regional Liaison Manager
PSM POCL Service Management
Post Office CAW
Post Office cash account weeks run from Thursday to Wednesday.
ie: Week 8 = Thurs. 14 May - Wednesday 20 May 1998.
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB _sleolineipenerep doe
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3. Headlines
Volumetrics for June 1998
e Number of active payment cards = 28,531
¢ Number of commissioned Post Offices = 204
«¢ Number of Counter Positions = 334
© Offices De-commissioned = 1
¢ Manual Post Offices supporting foreign encashments = 1,500
¢ Number of encashments for June = 73,383
e Value of encashments for June = £2,275,042.01
e Number of foreign encashments for June = 1,008
e Value of foreign encashments for June = £ 37,262.20
¢ Average value of each encashment = £31
4, _ End to End Business Continuity
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB eater de
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Due to the continuing trends of ‘incomplete transactions’ which occur at the rate of four in every ten thousand transactions.
The generic problems on the subject have taken a higher profile with both POCL and ICL Pathway directing specific resources to
resolve the problems within an agreed timescale of three months.
Due to the actual impact on the ‘live’ environment that ‘incomplete transactions’ has, the overall status of business continuity is
now ‘Amber’.
5. I Core Elements of the Live service
Infra- BPS I OBCS I CAS I CMS I TP/Pwy I Fraud & I Accounting
structure /PAS Interface I Security
NB: This section of the report should be viewed and interpreted from the ‘end user’
perspective and how it will impact their environment.
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB teolinolfimerep doe
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5.1
Benefit Payment System @
Incomplete Transactions
The title of ‘lost transactions’ has been changed to ‘incomplete transactions’. This is considered to be a better description
of the problem. To date all transaction have been recovered by manual fallback.
It has been agreed within both POCL and ICL Pathway that the current levels of Incomplete transactions is not
acceptable for a system where the primary function is to record and manage transactions. From a POCL perspective it
would seem reasonable to expect that the Horizon system has integral safeguards to protect and preserve transaction
data. Integrity, consistency and durability are fundamental requirements of any transaction processing IT system. As it
is, there seem to be variety of situations where the system reacts unpredictably and loses data.
An operational workshop has now been scheduled with resources from prominent domains within POCL and ICL
Pathway. The desired objective from the workshop is to propose software enhancements which will eliminate/reduce
Incomplete Transactions to the target level. Once made, proposals will be referred to ICL Pathway Technical Support
for feasibility. The next report will provide a synopsis of the workshop, detailing where we are now and the next steps.
The forecast date to resolve the overall problem of Incomplete Transactions has been set for the end of November 1998,
however, some categories will be resolved sooner.
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB eta me doe
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Baseline for Incomplete Transactions
To provide an easy baseline against which incomplete transactions can be assessed. Figures have been produced to
show the volume of incomplete transactions per 10,000 encashments returned on an adjusted monthly basis and
secondly a target figure of incomplete transactions that POCL should be aiming to receive prior to the advent of Live
Trial.
The current situation has remained the same as last month.
Current month level of IT per 10,000 encashments received 4.0
Target level of IT per 10,000 encashments received 0.26
“Major Office’ List (Manual Foreign Encashment Offices)
The new “Major Office’ list was scheduled to be introduced into the ‘live’ environment on Monday 29 June 1998.
However, due to a sequence of events, the new list was not actually implemented until Friday 10 July 1998. The impact
to the customers was contained by POCL Service Management.
A full review will be conducted to examine all the processes and identify improvement opportunities.
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB tteollne pnerep doe
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Volumes:
Volume
Incomplete Transactions - June 1998
ee oes I
iis tlboaitesiaiareane ee Dincomplete Receipt I I
— [OT Potential
Pow er Failure
a =a [Receipt Preview
‘Suspend Session
1 (User Logout
Categories mUser Setup
Risk Analysis - Incomplete Transactions
Bas fo a - Actual iT R
i 4 -- Monthly Expectation
Wiest —o— Target Level
a a
oa I
5 Eg Ea 8 8 8 8 Ed 8 Ea 8 8 8 E
° © 2 5 co > s 3 2 3 3% 3 3 §
hee 8 Ra eee ape ond Si ore Sas eee
Month
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB
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5.2 Transaction Processing & ICL Pathway Interface
Incomplete Transactions
The transaction Processing & ICL Pathway interface remains on ‘Amber’ status, with incomplete transactions having a
large impact on this.
Other factors which are of concern are:
© unmatched exceptions
cash account errors
Last months report included a statement from TP detailing the impact of incomplete transactions within their domain, in
addition, a report has been furnished showing the projected effect in monetary terms to the TO environment.
5.3 Accounting & Reconciliation
Appendix ‘A’ details an agreed summary of accounting & reconciliation for the June period. *
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON S\W1W 0AB seoline! mere doe
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6. BES: Volumetrics
Definitions for the purpose of this report.
A transaction is an incident of “a recorded and auditable instance of business activity, involving Service provision or Stock
movement across organisational or Service boundaries”.
A payment is the Child Benefit allowance money due for one week, or for four weeks (in the case of a four- weekly
allowance).
An encashment is a measure of the work effort in a customer session from the clerk accepting the payment card to
returning the card with monies, i.e. one customer is paid all due Child Benefit allowance. Thus, a customer may save
several payments before visiting their PO. During such a transaction there will be one encashment of several payments.
6.1 Payments Card Statistics
I, ROPOGL I Conmuttativa) I I Gand I)
Apr/98"" 30,574 26,478 43 30 51
May /98. 32,719 27,692 59 28 37
June ‘98. 34,033 28,531 71 15 45
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWI 0AB
Page 10 of 23
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6.2 Volumes of BES transactions
Volumes of encashments have returned back to the normal expected levels.
Nov 97 Dec 97) Jan 98 Feb 98 Mar 98. Apr 98
May 98 I) June 98
BES: Monthly Encashments
80000
70000
es
I 2 50000
I 40000
3 30000
20000
10000 I
I
0
Dec-97 Jan-98 Feb-98 Mar-98 Apr-98 May-98 Jun-98
Month
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SW1W 0AB
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6.3 BES Encashments by POCL Region for June 1998 (calendar month)
South Wales South West
Volume of Encashments _ 31,914 41,469 1,008
‘Value of Encashments (£) 939,697.66 1,334,344.35 37,262.20
NB.
Volume and Value of Foreign transactions include automated outlets (204) and non automated outlets (1,500).
64 Percentage Split of Encashments
Volume of BES Encashments
NB:
The forecast percentage
split is 57% SW/SW and
43% NE, derived from the
Volume NE number of automated
Volume SW/SW 43% I offices in each Region
57%
Phil Turnock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
1 coin amere doc
LONDON SW1W 0AB
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6.5 Encashment Breakdown by Payee Type for June 1998
‘Beneficiary 70,703
Alternative Payee : q 2,679
Permanent Agent 1
6.6 Number of Stops & Expires: by Month
Stops 47 I 61 I 276 I 437 I 621 I 678 I 647 I 694
Expires I 1 2 I 3 I 134 I 279 I 340 I 664 I 461
NB
The number of expires have fallen in June, which indicates
that the CR raised to automate expires sent back to CAPs, has
been successfully implemented.
7. OBCS
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB
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7.1 No. of OBCS Transactions by Type - June 1998
Encash Encash Issue/ Receive Issue/Receive I Re-Direct Total
Local Foreign Local Foreign Transactions
312,454 4,049 39,910 487 202 357,102
vp ae Bak a oe yp ks SMO a ais Seen Mes
No.of OBCS Transactions by Month
sae 403024408880 eee
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
May-97
Jun-97
Jul-97
‘Aug-97
Sep-97
Oct-97
8 Horizon System Helpdesk Volumetrics
So haa 8
pe fae I
8 5
Feb-98
Mar-98
May-98
Jun-98
Phil Turnock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB
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8.1 Categories of calls to HSHD during June 1998
I Analysis of Calls to HSHD
160 — I
oe pees Hardware
I 0) Netw ork
I DSoftw are
100 [Documentation
e mimplementation
7” Operations I
s I
60 BAdvice & Guidance
Environment I
I i inappropriate
20 Other I
I
A I
1
I Call Categories
l = a
NB: The total number of call to the HSH = 646
Breakdown of calls to HSH
Phil Turnock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SW1W 0AB + colina yumerep doe
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Ckeay I DEW I NS I ROW I ERD [Apr I May I aes
Hardware 82 93 74 105 117 64 109
Network i 26 35 39 31 33 42 80
Software 89 136 121 190 155 117 156
Documentation 0 O° 1 2 1 1 1
Implementation* 19 4 9 3 1 29 15
Operations: 143 231 182 181 190 146 134
Advice’ & Guidance 236 305 217 147 70 87 82
Environment 14 23 13 15 19 20 25
Inappropriate 32 35 36 37 35 53, 41
Other 19 32 3 30 10 7 3
Total : : 660 894 695 741 631 566 646
NB: The increase in software coded calls was due to a higher number of reported software errors during
the June period, which were varied with no specific reason. ICL Pathway will continue to monitor.
8.2 Source of Calls to HSH
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
$2 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB ceihitjeepa
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Source of Calls to Horizon System Helpdesk
ICL Pathw ay
43%
Post Office Counters Ltd
Benefit Agency a
3%
Breakdown of Calls by Month
I Feb 98 II Mar 98 I Apr 98
Post Office 527 430 338 346
Ltd
I Benefit Agency 13 55 31 35 4 38 21
ICL Pathway 124 220 196 179 157 190 279
Total 660 894 695 741 631 566 646
9. Payment Card Helpline
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SW1W 0AB
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Calls to Payment Card Helpline
2000 ~
Aieace if Bet shea HS MR Tg rs GBA Calls
POCL Calls
apreararaigrc: SPS TiCaTS HT Ore it F genes if Customer Calls (Eng)
— — —o —_— II I) Customer Calls (Welsh)
: 8 8 8
2
3
1500
1000
Volume
500
Mar-
Apr-
May-
2
8
Feb-
Months
Jun-
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB eoteinrap doe
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Post Office Counters Ltd.I 270 (25%) 425 sx) I 339 16x)I 370 asx)} 659 (29%) I 584 (32%) I 851 @7x)
‘Benefit Agency. . 69 (6%) 186 (sx)I 147 @x)I 187 (x%)I 243 1%) I 194 0%) I 231 cox)
Customer Calls (English)' I 733 68x) I 1,710 74x) I 1677 77%) I 1928 (77%) I 1362 (60%) I 1066 sx) I 1210 63%)
Customer Gals se Neleh) 5 (5%) 5 (2%) 2 (1%) 14 (6%)I 3 (ax) 2 (1%) 0
‘Total'I 1077 2,326 2165 2499 2267 1846 2292
NB: Volumes of call to the PCHL remain a consistent 3 % of total monthly encashments
Card 74 (8%) 130 (51%) 392 (32%) 0
“Payment 659 (78%) 84 (6x) 72. (6%) 0
* Other 118 (14) 17 (7%) 746 (62%) 0
Total 851 231 1210 0
NB: Type ‘other’ are calls which do not fall under category ‘card or payment’.
Example: Calls made by customers which were proper to the Benefit Agency. (A1 Benefit Forms)
10. Summary of Key Problems during Release 1c
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB kteoline/fnerep doe
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Problems Resolved (Closed / Monitor)
e ICL Pathway ‘maestro’ scheduler failed over a weekend period, affecting 10 ex IGL
offices
Release 1c printers not performing to standard required
Release 1c payment receipts are lower specification to that of IGL
Files sent to ABED with wrong creation date ,
ISDN line problems affecting release 1b offices
Authentication of users to the HSH & PCHL
Duplicate payments at Bath Road, due to office unable to harvest
PMSR report received in ABED did not pick-up Bath Road Duplicate payment
BES transactions not being committed and subsequently lost after ‘full log-out’
Transactions being lost after experiencing printer failure
Stop payment not confirmed back to CAPS, following a customer transferring froma
BES office to a non-automated office 7
Payment cards not activated at Post Offices in NE Region, prior to their issue to the
customers
Disabled customer complaint concerning lack of ‘agent’ facility at Release 1c
Increased cash account errors
Lost Transactions - Time Outs
Lost Transactions - Suspended Session (Monitor)
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
$2 Grosvenor Gdns ‘
LONDON SWIW 0AB sleolinlfomerrp doe
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Current Problems awaiting Resolution (Open)
Identify Process for outlet changes
Lost transactions - User Set-Up
Lost transactions - Incomplete Receipts
Lost transactions - Power Failure
Lost transactions - Clerk Error
Lost transactions - BES/OBCS Corruption
Lost transactions - Other (Cause Unknown & Potential)
Implementation of ‘Major Office’ List
11. Concerns .
Discussions are still on-going to obtain MIS data form the supplier, to the sponsor organisation earlier. This would
enable greater analysis, plus an earlier production of internal POCL reporting.
12. De-commissioned Post Offices
As of 29 June 1998, Hewelsfield (346523) remains the only de-commissioned outlet - ISDN line still not available at the
new telephone exchange.
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB Eteeline/fmerep doe
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Appendix A
ACCOUNTING AND RECONCILIATION MANAGEMENT SUMMARY
e RELEASE 1C STATISTICS AND SETTLEMENT ADJUSTMENTS
Forty four new incidents were received this month.
4/11/97 to 30/6/98 1/6/98 to 30/6/98
Received I Cleared_I C/F B/F__I Received _I Cleared _I Outstanding
DSS Incidents 13 12 1 1 0 0 1
Fallback Incidents 5 5 1) 0 0 () 0
Lost Transactions 150 145 5 5 31 25 i
PAS Incident 8 8 0 0 1 1 )
PO Incident 12 12 0 i) 6 6 )
POCL Incident 39 37 2 2 2 4 0
Unmatched Encashment. 12 wT 1 1 4 5 0
TOTAL 239 230 Ed 2 44 41 12
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
$2 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWI1W 0AB seolineonerep doe
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[ Total Number of Transactions from 1 June to 30 June [73,383 __I
e GENERAL RECONCILIATION PERFORMANCE
An increase in the number of transactions this reporting period can be attributed to a return of customers foregoing
payments during the two May Bank Holidays which coincided with schools breaking up at the same time.
e IMPROVEMENTS
This period - ratio of incidents to transactions 1:1682 Last period showed 1: 1504.
e¢ CONCERNS
Lost Transactions form 70% of incidents received this month. Concerns therefore remain and Service Management
is specifically tasked towards resolving the underlying causes. An action group has been specially targeted at this
for resolution.
Phil Tumock, Horizon Performance Manager
3rd Floor, Terminal House
$2 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWI1W 0AB _seolinepmnerep doe
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