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Distribution:
Authorised by: Dave McLaughlin -/~
Horizon Programme
CONGO 4
(ICL Pathway Release 1c)
Horizon Service Report
Number 4
Period - March 1998
Dave Miller Graham Beck
Janet Topham Kevin Lenihan
John Meagher Vince Gaskell
Bruce McNiven Paul Hanson
Mena Rego Ruth Holleran *
John Holroyd PDA Team Leaders
Douglas Craik RLM’s :
Phil Shingler National Audit Team (POCL)
Andy Radka
Peter Charlton
Author: Dennis Wong 4
Date produced: 27 April 1998
Dennis Wong, HorizonPerformance Analyst Page I of 13
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52 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB
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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
The next full Horizon Service Report is scheduled for 29 May 1998.
No Threat to Business Continuity
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
EDS Electronic Data Systems
HSH. Horizon System Helpdesk
IGL Initial Go-Live
OBCS Order Book Control Service
OSM _ Operational Service Management
PIR Post Incident Review
PCHL Payment Card Helpline
PDA Programme Delivery Authority
POCL Post Office Counters Ltd
PSM_ POCL Service Management
RLM Regional Liaison Manager
Dennis Wong, HorizonPerformance Analyst Page 2 Of 13
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Post Office CAW
Post Office cash account weeks run from Thursday to Wednesday. i Fe
ie: Week 32 = Thurs. 30 Nov - 5 Dec 1997. KS 4
3. Headlines
Volumetrics for March 1998
« Payments card customers on CPCS = 25,363
© Number Of active payment cards = 23,579
¢ Number of commissioned Post Offices = 204
¢ Number of Counter Positions = 334
¢ Offices De-commissioned = 1
© Manual Post Offices supporting foreign encashments = 1,492
e Number of encashments for March = 53,786
¢ Value of encashments for March = 1,575,996.88 *
¢ Number of foreign encashments for March = 322
¢ Value of foreign encashments for March = 10,834.10
¢ Average value of each encashment = £29
4. End to End Business Continuity
Overall there are no major threats to business continuity, however the ‘lost transaction’
trend continues which is the key reason for the ‘BPS and Transaction Processing’
domains being on ‘amber’ status. The associated problems have now been promoted to
priority 1 level, to increase their importance and highlight to ICL Pathway, the concems ~
within POCL.
Dennis Wong, HorizonPerformance Analyst
3rd Floor, Terminal House
$2 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB
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5. Core Elements of the Live service
Infra- BPS I OBCS I CAS I CMS I TP/Pwy I Fraud & “Kecounting .
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.
5.1 Infrastructure
Post Office Relocations /Refurbishments
Identified improvements have been placed in the service description document and"
will be presented by ICL for comment by POCL Service Management on 15 May. A
walkthrough of the processes will be arranged with invitations extending to RLMs to
facilitate full understanding.
Printer Firmware
Printers being retuned from repair had not been configured with the correct firmware
settings. Resetting was necessary with SPMRs being advised by the Horizon System
Help Desk.
5.2 Benefit Payment System
Lost Transactions
+ ICL state that the system is satisfactorily operating within the contract constraints.
However confidence needs to be established by seeing a reduction in the actual number
of lost transactions. ICL have been requested to provide further detail i.e. memory store
log, audit trail and keypress log. Any conformance issues will be cascaded to outlets.
Dennis Wong, HorizonPerformance Analyst . Page 4 of 13
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Frozen Half Screen
* Some post offices were affected. This was caused by memory leakage. A fix is oa %. :
forecast to be in place by April 1998
5.3 Transaction Processing & ICL Pathway Interface
Lost Transactions
Lost Transactions are perceived to be exhibiting a worsening trend and remain a serious
concern for Transaction Processing. Despite an increase in the overall transaction levels
lost transactions are showing an increase.
5.4 Fraud & Security
Authentication of Users to Helpdesks - One Shot Passwords
Discussions between Pathway and Fraud and Security (F&S) have brought
agreement on a procedure close. F&S have requested a Change Proposal to cover this
process and activity is in hand within Pathway to produce this CP.
5.5 Accounting & Reconciliation
Appendix ‘A’ details an agreed summary of accounting & reconciliation for the
March period.
6. BES: Volumetrics
Definitions for the purpose of this report.
A transaction is a broad description of a customer session. (the term ‘transaction’ is
more rigorously defined in the contract).
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.
Dennis Wong, HorizonPerformance Analyst Page 5 Of 13
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6.1 Payments Card Statistics
Month — Cards Issued to Active Lost Cards Stolen Damaged *
POCL Cards Cards Cards
Though the number of lost, stolen and damaged cards has increased, it still remains at
a consistent 0.33% of the cards issued.
6.2 BES Encashments against Forecast since Release 1c
BES: Actual Encashments Against Forecast
Volume
Actual encashments are now exceeding the original forecast due to a quicker than
estimated acceleration of the use of payment cards in all (bar three) of the 204 Ric Post
Offices performing card transactions.
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6.3 Volumes of BES transactions
Jan 98 Feb 98 Mar 98 Apr 98
Transaction
6.4
North East South Wales South West Foreign
23,575 30,211 322
657,332.65 918,664.23 I 10,834.10
NB: SWSW have more cards due to an existing customer base with the ex IGL offices.
6.5 Percentage split of Encashments
Volume of BES Encashments
Volume NE
Volume SW/SW
NB: The forecast percentage split is 58% SW/SW and 42% NE, derived from the number of automated
offices in each Region.
Page 7 Of 13
Dennis Wong, HorizonPerformance Analyst
3rd Floor, Terminal House
$2 Grosvenor Gdns
LONDON SWIW 0AB.
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6.6 Encashment Breakdown by Payee Type for March 1998
Number
The Release 1c permanent agent facility was tested in the ‘live’ environment during
March, and is now awaiting sign-off from the sponsor organisations.
6.7 Number of Stops & Expiries: by Month
Category Nov 97 Dec 97 Jan 98 Feb 98 Mar 98
The number of expires is currently 0.5% of the number of encashments for March,
though minimal this is an increase in trends from previous months. PSM will continue
to monitor.
7. ‘OBCS
7.1 No. of OBCS Transactions by Type - March 1998
Encash Encash I Issue/Receive I Issue/Receive I Re-Direct Total
Local Foreign Local Foreign Transactions
330981 4585 58821 901 307 395595
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Dennis Wong, HorizonPerformance Analyst Page 8 of 13
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7.2 No. of OBCS Transactions by Month
No.of OBCS Transactions by Month
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 8 3 8
Month
8 Horizon System Helpdesk Volumetrics
8.1 Categories of calls to HSH during March 1998.
Analysis of Calls to HSH
mttardware
Netw ork
Software
fg Documentation
2 "plementation
3 ‘g Operations
2 Advice & Guidance
Environment
m appropriate
gy Other
1
Call Categories
NB: This graph includes all calls from POCL, BA & ICL Pathway
I Dennis Wong, HorizonPerformance Analyst Page 9 of 13
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Breakdown of calls to HSH
Category Dec 97 Jan 98 Feb 98 Mar 98
*Inappropriate (POCL)
Detail of calls is to be cascaded via the User Update to remind outlets of correct routing
of calls to the appropriate Help Desk.
8.2 Source of Calls to HSH
Source of Calls to Horizon System Helpdesk
1. Pathway
24%
Benefit Agency
5%
Post Office Counters
Ud
71%
Breakdown of Calls by Month
Jan 98 Feb 98 Mar 98
Dennis Wong, HorizonPerformance Analyst Page LO of 13
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9. Payment Card Helpline
Calls to Payment Card Helpline
2000
1500
e mA Calis
§ 1000 mPOCL Calls
3
> Customer Calls (E1
= Z % a (Erg)
I
= Mar98
270 (as%) 425 (18%) 370 (1s%)
E Be 69 (6%) 186 (8%) 147 (7%) 187 (7%)
Giistom« 5 hi 733 (68%) I 1,710 (74%)I 1677 77%) 1928 (7%)
Gustome! Y 5 (5%) 5 (2%) 2 (1%) 14 (6%)
1077 2,326 2165 2499
Breakdown of Call Types I POCE i Customer: {Customer
(English): I = (Welsh)
165 (45%) 88 (47%) I 1016 (53%) 0
70 (19%) 73 39%) I 103 (s%) 0
135 G6%) 26 (14%) 809 (42%) 14 (100%)
370 187 1,928 14
Payment Card Calls by Customers to PCHL
It was anticipated from BA that payment calls (103 in number) were not and are not
proper to the PCHL. Calls of this type are better suited to a local Benefit Agency office.
Dennis Wong, HorizonPerformance Analyst Page 11 of 13
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10.
11.
12.
POCL SERVICE MANAGEMENT
Key Incidents / Problems during Release 1c
e ICL Pathway ‘maestro’ scheduler failed over a weekend period, affecting 10 ex IGL
__ Offices
© Release Ic printers not performing to standard required
© Release lc payment receipts are lower specification to that of IGL
© Files sent to ABED with wrong creation date
e ISDN line problems affecting release 1b offices
e 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 from a
BES office to a non-automated office
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 lc
Increased cash account errors
Identify Process for outlet changes
Lost transactions - card problems
Lost transactions - printer failure
Lost transactions - correct permission not assigned to user
Lost transactions - user exited prematurely
Lost transactions - system lock
(full details are provided in previous reports).
Concerns
Discussions are still continuing to address the timeliness and format of data supplied to
POCL from ICL Pathway. Both PSM and Fraud & Security would prefer access to a
defined agreed level of raw data to enable thorough interrogation of the service
provided.
De-commissioned Post Offices
As of 27 March 1998, there remains one de-commissioned outlet.
Dennis Wong, HorizonPerformance Analyst Page 12 of 13
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1. Hewelsfield (346523) - ISDN line not available at the new telephone exchange.
AppendixA. ;
Ms
ACCOUNTING AND RECONCILIATION MANAGEMENT SUMMARY
e RELEASE 1C STATISTICS AND SETTLEMENT ADJUSTMENTS
Rel Ic. From 4/11/97 to 28/2/98 I From 1/3/98 to 31/3/98
Total I Cleared I Outstan I C/F I New Cleared I Outstanding
ding Received
PO reported incidents 70 69 is 1 27 27 1
CBOS reported incidents 27 2 25} 25 8 26 7
CAJABED mismatches __ 26 10 16 16 14 1 29
Rejected records by CAPS 3 0 3f 3 6 5 4
TOTAL 126 81 asf 45 55 59 41
Cumulative 45] 181) 140 41
4.Nov-31 Mar
Total Number of
Encashments from 1
March to 31 March. 53,786
¢ General Reconciliation Performance
There was an increase of 48% in the level of transactions during this reporting month
over the last period. Performance levels of reconciliation work therefore remain
good.
¢ Improvements
This period - ratio of incidents to transactions were 1:977 (last period 1:704).
¢ Concerns
Lost transactions hold steady with no signs of decremental improvement. This may
be a cause for future concern. This is being closely monitored by PSM.
Dennis Wong, HorizonPerformance Analyst Page 13 of 13
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52 Grosvenor Gdas
LONDON SWIW 0AB etenttte i