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LONDON BRISTOL * MANCHESTER © LEEDS * GLASGOW ¢ BRUSSELS DUBLIN * IIONG KONG « GUANGzHOUssiepoRE «aM AS ONS
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Solici
BY HAND
S. Sweetman Esq
POCL
King Edward Building
King Edward Street
LONDON -
of the
3 December 1998
‘Our reference
GATECHNOLOCORRESWEEK¢AMIK4001,DOC.
WITHOUT PREJUDICE
Dear Mr Sweetman
PATHWAY PROJECT
As discussed, we enclose ICL’s Acceptance Procedures Paper for discussion at
tomorrow’s meeting.
Yours faithfully
6 toQey wold
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‘A full list of partners is available for Inspection at any of the firm's offices
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1737
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ACCEPTANCE PROCEDURE
To be read in conjunction with the Pathway Acceptance Paper
dated 9 November 1998. .
Acceptance of NR2 is measured by the successful completion of the 24 Acceptance
Specifications, with no other criteria.
This means:
a) Acceptance Specifications must alt be signed off by 18" December 1998,
b) Once signed off an Acceptance Specification cannot be reopened.
c) Nothing outside the Acceptance Specifications has any relevance in deciding
whether Acceptance has been achieved.
The Acceptance Tests relevant to each Acceptance Specification are being carried out
Progressively from 11 October 1998, As each Acceptance Test is Carried out, issues
will be raised and dealt With so that they are resolved quickly, and not Ieft to be dealt
successfully carried out (with no more Acceptance Incidents than the number agreed),
and Acceptance is final and cannot be reopened afterwards (ie. in relation to NR2+
functionality), 7 °
Acceptance is therefore not dependent upon the completion of Live Trial. It may
occur before completion of Live Trial. Completion of Operational Trial means
achievement of. Acceptance and completion of Live Trial. ‘
National Rollout commences on completion of-Operational Trial. The plan is that
Operational Trial will be completed in July 1999,
On completion of Acceptance of NR2, the Authorities relinquish their rights of
termination related to Acceptance. : ‘ .
For this purpose we must define NR2 as follows:
Automated Payment Service (APS)-
Electronic Point of Sale Service (EPOSS)
Order Book Control Service (OBCS)
+ Payment Authorisation Service (PAS)
Card Management Service (CMS)
Benefit Encashment Service (BES)
POCL Infrastructure Service.
it
. offered additional he! Ip desk facilities to assist in this), and noting that OLE Was not
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NB: The Acceptance Specifications for PAS and BES contains tests for multi-benefit
functionality which will be undertaken as Part of the Acceptance of NR2. Therefore
BES and PAS would be accepted for ALL benefit Payments, not just Child Benefit,
NR2 does not contain On-Line Enquires (OLE) or Soft Extended Verification Process
(Soft Evp), :
OLE is covered by CCN 124 which was signed on 21** August 1997, and, subject to
timely agreement on the CAPS 3,5 Interface Specification (Change Request C92
received on 9 November 1998), will be’ delivered as an increment to NR2 by end
March 1999. OLE will be tested jointly with CAPS on delivery, released when the
included in the original Related Agreements, it is fair to say that without OLE multi-
benefit rollout in any significant quantity could not be supported.
Soft EVP is not part of NR2. It is the subject of an Agreement to Agree. ICL
submitted CCN243 on 20" April 1998 to introduce a Contractual base-line for design
and development of the Soft EVP facility.
Soft EVP is desirable for multi-benefit Payments, but not essential. Its main use is to
enable DSS to target fraud on a variable basis,
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to Acceptance as part of Acceptance of: NR2. .
Soft EVP (if CCN243 had been signed on the due date) would have been delivered as
part of NR2+. It would have been put into service with the rest of the functionality in
NR2+, after joint testing with the Authorities, upon completion of the release
authorisation process,
NR2+ consists of:
a) modifications and enhancements to existing NR2 functionality
b) Soft EVP (if CCN243 is signed in time for development to be completed)
c) the use of smart cards for Automated Payments
d) support of Public Switched Telephone Network connected post offices,
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There is no Acceptance for NR2+ in the same way as NR2 because the consequence
of any particular facility in NR2+ not passing through the release authorisation
process is that it will simply not be put into service (unless and until it passes) and
NR2 functionality will continue to be used uninterrupted.
Guarantee Payments
If we look at the Related Agreements, they refer to Release 1 and Release 2 (Schedule
A07 of the Authorities Agreement).
” Release 1 is defined as the releasé of the software to be tested in the Operational Trial
period. NR2 (as it is now called) equates to Release 1, and this has been agreed in
correspondence between the parties (see attached ICL letter dated-12 Novémber 1997 -
and PDA reply dated 22 January 1998). For all practical purposes Release 2 equates
to NR2+,
NR2 does not contain OLE or Soft EVP as these are dealt with Separately as shown
above. NR2 does however contain two additional DSS facilities included at the
Tequest of the Authorities namely emergency payments and stop notices (on-line
CAPS) and temporary tokens.
For these reasons Acceptance and Live Trial of NR2 will complete Operational Trial
for the purposes of the Related Agreements: Thus, the guarantee payments should run
from the completion of Operational Trial (Authorities Agreements, Schedule A06
para. 10.2 for POCL and para. 16.2 for DSS).
There is no concept in theRelated Agreements of a separate live trial for multi-
benefits. The Authorities have sought previously in correspondence to impose this as
a condition for agreeing the programme of testing NR2. ICL is working to the
Possibility of a separate live trial ona without prejudice basis, but has not accepted
this proposal formally, because of the commercial implications (see attached letters,
in particular Horizon’s letter of 23 July 1998 and ICL’s letter of 1s" September
1998).
ICL’s position is that NR2 delivers multi-benefit payment functionality and that it
should be compensated for the reduction in transaction volumes caused because BA
requires further testing (not contemplated in the Related Agreements) before it is
happy to roll them out.
Conclusion on Acceptance Procedure and Guarantees
Given the above, ICL’s position can be summarised as follows:
1 Acceptance of NR2 and completion of Live Trial of NR2 constitutes
completion of Operational Trial for the purposes of the Related Agreements.
2. Acceptance of NR2 means the Authorities will relinquish their termination
Tights related to Acceptance.
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3. OLE, Soft EVP and each facility in NR2+ will be jointly tested and each item
will be put into service when the relevant tests for it have been successfully
completed through the telease authorisation process.
4. Guarantee payments by POCL and BA to commence as stated in the Related
Agreements i.e, on completion of Operational Trial.
Acceptance Incidents .
To be considered in more detail by technical working party.
Release Autliorisation
ICL accepts the. Horizon position, provided that Acceptance of NR2 is-carried out in
the manner described above, and that release authorisation has no application in the
process of Acceptance,
Appointment of Expert
ICL continues to propose Peter Copping of PA Consulting. ICL is content to accept
his decision as final and binding on the issues as set out in ICL’s proposal of 9
November 1998.
ICL would observe that the Related Agreenients do provide for binding expert
determination so that the Authorities could agree to this on a blanket basis, if they
were so minded, without any significant change to the Related Agreements. The only
alternative to such expert determination would be litigation (which in the event would
actually largely turn on technical expert evidence in any event) and such litigation _
would benefit none of the parties. Even if the resulting dispute did not cause
cancellation of the Related Agreements there would certainly be a lengthy delay in
determining the issue. ICL is the party which would stand to lose most in these
circumstances, given the huge investment it is being asked to make, and its essential
requirement to start and keep revenues flowing to service the interest on debt, let
alone repay any of the principal sum.
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Pat Kelsey
Head of Procurement Team, BA/POCL
Third Floor,
Terminal House,
52 Grosvenor Gardens,
London SW1W 0AB
12" November 1997
° eas We,
Contractual distinction between Old Releases 1 and 2, and New Releases 2
and 2 Plus .
The PDA Board has asked ICL Pathway to define the precise relationship of New
Release 2 to the releases contemplated in the Agreements.
We discussed this matter recently at CNT and I believe agreed that the following
position applies.
In terms of contractual status, New Release 2 = Old Release 1.
The inclusion of on-line CAPS and temporary token facilities (pulled forward
from Old Release 2, hence the “New 2” designation) means that it is no longer
necessary to show proof of concept capability of these features as required by
CCN105 as condition precedent for Acceptance and roll out on Release le.
An altemative designation could have been “Release If". We agreed that at this
stage it was better to stay with current parlance than to change designations solely
to align terms more closely with the contract.
Old Release 2 (which swept up those Requirements not included in Old Release 1,
eg. CAPS on-line facilities, AP Smart) is now matched by “New Release 2 Plus bei i
Examples. of:caity-forwiard-fedtures.to:be included in New Release 2 Plus are no)
thway Ltd
= Feliitane
Somt'EVP;-AP Smart afia certam security features, Midds TW13 7Ef
: Tel +44 (0/181 730 4140
Fax +44 (0)181 730 4124
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Cofitents Defi
The designation “2 Plus” again anticipates more content than that contracted for.
With DSS requirements substantially fulfilled, more content now means
additional POCL functionality. These can be “Future Basic” products (eg.
EFTPOS), additional products (eg. Logistics Feeder System) and/or re-engineered
products (eg. National Savings). All these examples are currently’ being
progressed under the Business Requirements Definition process. Their inclusion
is subject to timely sign off by CCN.
The above i is,
ever;
ibject ‘to any .agreénient to. the contrary’ nder’Release
ples. Reasons could be to bring any higher priority
reanures forwara or to enable an earlier New Release 2 Plus delivery than would
otherwise be possible.
T would be grateful for your confirmation that thts does indeed accord with your
interpretation. .
Yours sincerely,
Tony Oppenitiensi
cc, Peter Crahan
John Bennett
Mike Coombs
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52 Grosvenor Gardens
London swiw AB
telephone 0171 200 $400 (switchboard)
0175 200 5424 (direct fine)
facsimile 0171 7300775
Direat Fax: 0171 200 5530
( 30 412 Post Office Counters Ltd
Third Floor ;
Terminal House
: 22 Jamary, 1998
Forest Road
Feltham
Middlesex
TW13 7EJ
a Tony,
Oo Contractual Distinction between Release names
‘Thank you for your letter received 16 December (dated 12 Noveanber?). I agrec the broad thrust of
the naming conventions you suggest, but we need to ensure that there is no ambiguity im this.
* CCN105 set out the position that Release 1 was that set of functionality that was to be,tested in
the Live Trial - at that time Release le.
« CCNIOS only recognised Release 2 in terms of demonstrating the on-line finctionality and
support of multiple benefits during the Live Trial period (ready for CAPS 3), and in modifying the
in Release 2, it would contribute to the “10 fault threshold” rather than be grounds for termination
in its own right. :
Hence J agree'that “New Release 2” is broadly equivalent to the old Release 1, but obtaining
acceptance through live operations rather than by a demonstration. —
@ “New Release 2 phus” however is something of an amalgam - jncinding elements of the original
requirements for which we would wish to retain our existing acceptance provisions (ic. the 10 high
or medium faults), but may also include elements of POCL requirements beyond those origmally
structure is adopted through Change Control, and I would suggest that there may be a need to
distinguish otiginal and new requirements in the release contents definition for “New Release 2 plus”.
ce \tea are paren armen a2. DOe cnn ann rm etn
1.16 Blackirlors Read London 5€1 9U4
wx TOTAL PAGE.82
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Third Floor, Terminal House, 52 Grosvenor Gardens, London, SW1W 0AB
Tel: 0171 2005402 Fax: 0171 730.0775
Mr Mike Coombs
ICL Pathway
Forest Road
Feltham
Middx
TW13 7EJ
23 July 1998
Horizon Replan
Further to our meeting of last week, please find enclosed a copy of the paper
outlining a basis for the Horizon replan. I believe that the paper puts forward a clear
and viable approach to taking forward the Programme which benefits all parties.
In the paper you will see that we have tried to address aspects related to both the
delivery plan as well to present an overail approach to acceptance. I would welcome
your reaction to the paper at your earliest convenience, but would be grateful for a
written response by the 31 July 1998. If you Tequire longer to consider the paper, you
may chose to split your response between the two parts and at least let us have your
reaction to the delivery plan by the above date, so that preparations to mobilise replan
activity can start as soon as possible. I would hope that you could then respond to the
acceptance aspect by say the 5 August 1998.
My thanks for your co-operation in establishing a positive way forward and I trust this
will enable us to make solid progress in the coming months.
Yours sincerely
Dave Miller
Horizon Programme Director
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~ Benefits Agency Post Office Counters Ltd
Without Prejudice and Subject to Contract
HORIZON PROGRAMME
REPLAN SUMMARY
23 July 1998
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The replan set out in this document is proposed at a time
when the final outcome of ministerial consideration of the
Treasury-led Review of the Horizon Project is not yet
known. It must be emphasised, therefore, that this document
is without prejudice to the parties. It is subject to contract
and not intended to affect existing contractual obligations or
create new contractual obligations unless and-until agreed
by the parties in accordance with the Change Control
Procedures. In particular, the Sponsors wish to make clear
that their support for this replan should not be deemed or
construed to commit them to any particular position in
relation to the Treasury-led Review (or ministerial
consideration of it) or to preclude them from taking any
particular course of action as a result of the Treasury-led
‘Review (or ministerial consideration of it).
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Contents
1. MANAGEMENT SUMMARY
2. INTRODUCTION
3. THE REPLAN APPROACH AND RATIONALE
4, PROPOSED ACCEPTANCE APPROACH
5. STAGE 1 - POCL SERVICES AND CHILD BENEFIT
6. STAGE 2 - MULTI-BENEFIT SERVICES
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1. Management Summary
1.1 Introduction
This document sets out the proposed replan for the delivery of the Horizon
Programme on behalf of both Sponsors (POCL and Benefits Agency), It specifically
covers the [CL Pathway delivery of:
the new POCL infrastructure and services Gncluding BES, EPOSS, and APS)
together with card payment facilities on behalf of the Benefits Agency (PAS and
CMS) - these are referred to collectively as the ‘NR2’ release
¢ supplementary facilities which are necessary to complete the contracted
requirements and enable a network-wide rollout (the ‘“NR2-" release).
It also addresses the required interfaces with the Benefits Agency systems through an
agreed pian with their CAPS Programme.
The focus of the replan has been on the approach and :he timetable for the delivery
and implementation of the new services.
1.2 Benefits of Proposed Approach
The Horizon Programme Office proposes a fresh approach in this teplan which will to
a significant extent ‘decoupie’ the Horizon and CAPS activities. In principle this will
provide a two stage approach whereby the rollout of POCL infrastructure and services
will commence initially with Child Benefit card payments only, followed in the
second stage by the rollout of the card payment service for multiple benefits. By
separating the two aspects of rollout (i.e the ‘rollout of post offices’ from the ‘ro!lout
of benefit card payments’), this approach will give the management within the
Sponsoring organisations more flexibility to manage their individual responsibilities
while minimising constraints upon each other.
In summary therefore the decouple approach will:
* reduce the complexity of the jcint management end integration of activities
© provide the earliest achievable date for Pathway tw rollout services to the POCL
offices, with an estimated date of 5“ July 1999.
* support the CAPS work programme for integration of the Feeder Benefit Systems
© build on the proven experience of Child Benefit card payments, and follow this by
the rapid rollout of the ‘multi-benefit’ service as soon as it is proven
enable a staged acceptance of the Pathway service, with contractual acceptance, to
include the delivery of NR2+, in February 2000.
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1.3 Pian Summary
The overall replan is divided into two overlapping main stages:
* POCL Services/Child Benefit
© Multi-benefit Stage (to include JSA, IS and Pensions)
The dates provided are based on the Sponsor’s current best view but will be subject to
the agreement of detailed plans.
1.3.1 Stage 1 -POCL Services/Child Benefit
This stage results in the commencement of rollout of the POCL infrastructure and
services in July 1999 together with the Support of Child Benefit payments in every
office as it goes live on Horizon. The main steps in this stage are as follows:
@ Pathway delivery of NR2 into Model Office 3 August 1998
Model Office testing 10" August to 18 December 1998
Start joint Model Office testing with CAPS From 7" September 1998
End-to-End testing 10" August to 18 December 1998
Start Migration of the 204 ‘1c’ offices to NR2 4th January 1999
(contingency 18" January 1999)
Start POCL Live Trial (chiid benefit) 8th February 1999
{contingency 22" February 1999)
Acceptance process complete for Stage 1 i9" June 1999
(contingency 2" July 1999)
Start POCL/Child Benefit rollout From $* July 1999
Given the scale and scope of the processes which need to be proven in Model Office
and End-to-End testing the plan seeks to provide a ‘contingency window’ ai the end of
these stages. If they complete satisfactorily by 18" December, with Release
Authorisation by Christmas, then the Migration step can proceed on 4* January.
fe] However a contingency provision is made for testing to continue until 11* January if
necessary, with Release Authorisation by 15th January. This would result in
Migration starting on 18" January. The POCL Live Trial, which follows 5 weeks after
the start of migration, is scheduled to start therefore on 8" February, or 22“ February
if the contingency is required . A decision on whether this contingency window is
needed will be made by the end of October 1998 when the rate of Progress on testing
will be clear.
The Live Trial is scheduled for 17 weeks finishing on 19° June 1999. A 2 week
contingency period is provided before roil starts on $ July 1999. If neither the testing
contingency nor the POCL Live Trial contingency are required then rollout could
commence at the earlier date of 7" June 1999. A decision on this earlier start for
POCL office rollout will need to be taken on or about 1* April 1999. This date will
allow sufficient evidence to be assessed from the Live Trial while giving at least 8
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weeks to manage the lead in to the post office rollout. The Benefits Agency card
rollout could be brought forward to the 7” June 1999 only if notice is given by the end
of October 1998. Otherwise the planned date for card rollout will remain as the
5" July 1999,
On the other hand unforeseen problems, whether of a business or technical nature,
could be found in the Trial (which is the reason for undertaking it). There is inevitably
some uncertainty as to how long it may take to resolve such problems and therefore
the 5* July could slip. Through careful monitoring and timely action the Programme
will however strive to ensure the rollout does commence by Sth July 1999.
Section 5 explains this stage in more detail.
1.3.2 Stage 2- Multi-Benefit Stage
The Muilti-benefit service will run on the same NR2 software platform as the Child
Benefit release but will utilise the more complex Processing associated with, for
example, urgent stops and payments. It will also require integration with the three
additional Feeder Benefit Systems for JSA, IS and Pensions.
The Multi-benefit stage therefore begins with a “Pre-proving’ activity prior to entry to
the full Model Office environment in order to give initial confidence that these
transaction types can be correctly processed. This work will commence towards the
end of this year from 1" December.
The main steps in Stage 2 are as follows:
Pre-proving phase December 1998 to March 1999
Joint Model Office 12" April to 1* October 1999
Multi-benefit Trial starts 13* September 1999
All benefits into Trial By end November 1999
Full acceptance of NR2 February 2000
Multi-benefit card rollout starts From 28" February 2000
By February 2000 several thousand offices will already have been rolled out from
Stage 1 and there will be an existing base to which cards can be deployed. Card
deployment for JSA, IS and Pensions can therefore take piace as quickly as practical
to their offices, subject to maintenance of an acceptable level of service and then
follow the continuous office rollout .
The Related Agreements with Pathway also includes delivery of the NR2+ software
release. This will provide additional functionality to support a network wide
deployment (notably On-Line Enquiries and Soft EVP - Extended Verification
Procedures) as well as additional POCL services such as AP Smart. The final design
of NR2+ functionality is currently being completed which will be followed by a
forma! development plan to be agreed by all parties. Based on discussions to date with
Pathway, the Sponsors believe that it is reasonable to expect that NR2+ could be
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delivered into joint sponsor acceptance testing from 1" October 1999. This would be
advantageous in that the acceptance processes for Multi-benefit and NR2+ could be
tun concurrently to complete in February 2000. Confirmed NR2+ development and
testing and deployment dates do however need to be established by more detailed
planning and with the agreement of all parties.
Section 6 explains this stage in more detail.
1.4 Proposed Acceptance Approach
The proposed approach to acceptance is described below in terms of the scope and
constraints for acceptance at each stage. The conditions for acceptance at each stage
are described in more detail in Section 4.
Step 1 - Following Successful Live Trial of NR2 POCL Services and Child
Benefit Card Payments
* Approval to rollout POCL infrastructure and NR2 services to an unlimited number
of offices;
* Agreement to deploy Child Benefit cards to all rolled out offices as quickly as
possible;
* Agreement to rollout OBCS to all offices where there is a confirmed business case.
The following constraints on acceptance wili apply :
¢ No income guarantees payable at this stage;
© Acceptance related termination rights withheld until multi-benefit system proven in
Live Trial.
Step 2 - Following Successful Live Trial of NR2 POCL Services with Muiti-
benefit Card Payments
¢ Contractual acceptance of NR2 - a staged acceptance with final acceptance to come
with the delivery of NR2+;
* Acceptance related termination rights foregone (acceptance now irrevocable for
NR2 - but service level and other termination rights obviously apply) ;
* Continuation of rollout of POCL infrastructure and Child Benefit;
* Rollout ofa second benefit to up to 4000 offices as quickly as possible;
* Two further benefits introduced into live environment.
Income guarantees will still not apply at this Step.
Step 3 - Following Successful Model Office Test Of NR2+.
Final acceptance achieved of NR2/NR2+;
@ Caveats removed on benefit rollout;
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© All benefits rolled out to all offices as quickly as possible.
It should be noted that while the acceptance process logically falls into the above three
steps, it is desirable that the Multi-Benefit capability and NR2+ be delivered for
acceptance at the same time in February 2000. This would result in Steps 2 and 3
deing combined in practise with a simplification of the overall Process and the
constraints on Step 2 being of less significance.
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2. Introduction
This document sets out the proposed teplen for the delivery of the Horizon
Programme on beha!f of both Sponsors (POCL and Benefits Agency). It specifically
covers the ICL Pathway delivery of:
* the new POCL infrastructure and services (including BES, EPOSS, and APS)
together with card payment facilities on behalf of the Benefits Agency (PAS and
CMS) - these are referred to collectively as the ‘NR2’ release
© supplementary facilities which are necessary to complete the contracted
requirements and to enable a_network-wide rollout - referred to as the ‘NR2+’
release
‘The replan activity was initiated by the Sponsors in conjunction with Pathway in April
1998. The replan has been conducted under the new management arrangements for the
Programme which replaced the PDA from 1* April, and has been led by the Horizon
Programme Director and the Release Management Team.
The focus of the replan has been on the approach and the timetable for the delivery
and implementation of the new services. It has also considered the broad implications
that will arise for the contractual acceptance of the ICL Pathway services. The replan
work has not however entered into contractual renegotiations at this stage, nor has it
addressed any changes to the contracts. All parties agreed that the primary objective
of the replan activity was to produce a realistic and sustainable plan for delivery
against which contractual and commercial terms could then be Tenegotiated as
appropriate.
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3. The Replan Approach and Rationale
By early April 1998 it was clear that the [CL Pathway plan (version 3) to deliver NR2
by October 1998 was no longer sustainable. Initial work on the replan sought to
establish @ number of tactical options which would allow the anticipated slippage to
be accommodated with minimum impact to the overall Horizon schedule and the
CAPS delivery plan. As work proceeded however it became clear that the tight
coupling of the Horizon and CAPS Programmes was creating difficulties in agreeing
detailed plans, for example in such areas as Model Office testing. While sharing
similar objectives for these tests, the Programmes had different expectations and
drivers for their duration. They also faced different pressures to align their plans with
the broader objectives and activities in their separate businesses.
In addition the replan noted that the Treasury Review had projected a delivery date of
January 2000, but that this was based on a corttinuation of the Past experience of the
Programme in attempting to manage both the highly complex and integrated technica!
deliverables and the differing commerciai interests within the PFI contracts.
Key factors for the Benefits Agency and CAPS were that the replan reflected their
experience of testing, and that there was a supportable schedule for the integration of
their Feeder Benefit Systems with CAPS, and the follow on rollout of card payments.
These factors pointed to an estimated acceptance date for the Pathway services of
January 2060 with both POCL office rollout and card payment rollout starting
subsequent to this date.
For POCL there was a business pressure to initiate the rollout of the new automated
platform to its offices from the earliest realistic date in order to support not only the
requirements of the Benefits Agency but also those of other clients, as well as
enabling them to exploit new business Opportunities.
While not addressing commercial issues per se, the replan work takes into account the
commercial assumptions within the PFI contracts by allowing rollout to commence as
soon as the Pathway solution has been proven.
In recognition of the above factors, the Horizon Programme proposed an alternative
approach which will to a significant extent “decouple” the Horizon and CAPS
activities within the joint programme. In principle this will provide a two stage
approach. Stage I provides the rollout of POCL infrastructure and services with the
support of Child Benefit card payments only, followed in Stage 2 by the rollout of the
card payment service for multiple benefits. The decouple strategy will create a more
manageable testing approach, divided between a ‘Horizon-led’ single benefit stage
and a “CAPS-led” multi-benefit stage. By separating the two aspects of rollout ie the
‘rollout of post offices’ from the ‘rollout of benefit card Payments’, this approach will
give the management within the Sponsoring organisations more flexibility to manage
their individual responsibilities without constraining each other.
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In summary therefore the decoupled approach will:
6 * reduce the complexity of joint management and integration of activities.
* provide the earliest achievable date for Pathway to rollout services to the POCL
offices, with an estimated date of 5” July 1999,
* support the CAPS work programme for the integration of the Feeder Benefit
Systems.
© build on the proven experience of Child Benefit card payments, to be followed by
the rapid rollout of the ‘multi-benefit’ service as soon as it is proven.
* enable a staged acceptance of the Pathway service with final acceptance, including
the delivery of NR2+, in February 2000.
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4. Proposed Acceptance Approach
The replan now envisages a further split of the NR2 services into two releases. The
first supports the rollout of POCL services and a benefits payments service dealing
only with child benefit card payments. The second release supports a multi-benefit
(e.g. JSA, IS, Pensions) card payments service. The NR2 releases must still be
followed by the NR2+ release, although as explained in Section I it is proposed that
this should be delivered at the same time as the NR2 multi-benefit release.
Nevertheless for the purposes of setting out a clear acceptance process for the replan a
three step procedure is set out below in order to correlate with the three identified
releases,
The proposed approach to acceptance is described below in terms of the conditions,
scope and constraints for acceptance at each stage.
44 Acceptance Step 1 - After Live Trial of NR2 POCL Services and Child Benefit
[ ) Card Payments
Conditions for acceptance:
« Release authorisation given for NR2 POCL Services and for Child Benefit card
payments only;
* Proof of concept of mobile configurations
© Successful Live Trial of Child Benefit;
* Agreed measures of progress on multi-benefit testing and on development of NR2+
functionality.
Scope of acceptance:
Approval to rollout POCL infrastructure and NR2 services to an unlimited number
of offices;
Agreement to deploy Child Benefit cards to all rollout offices as quickly as
possible,
* Agreement to rollout OBCS to all offices where there is a confirmed business case.
Constraints on acceptance:
* No income guarantees payable at this stage;
* Acceptance related termination rights withheld until muiti-benefit system proven in
Live Trial.
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42 Acceptance Step 2 - After Live Trial of NR2 POCL Services and Multi-benefit
Card Payments
Conditions for acceptance:
¢ Release authorisation of NR2 for multibenefits;
© Successful Live Tria! of multibenefits;
* Acceptance of the approach to fallback transactions for Carded Casual Agents;
* Proof of Concept of NR2+ and an agreed timetable for its delivery.
Scope of acceptance:
Contractual acceptance of NR2 - a staged acceptance with final acceptance to come
with the delivery of NR2+;
¢ Acceptance related termination rights foregone (acceptance now irrevocable for
NR2);
© Continuation of rollout of POCL infrastructure and Child Benefit;
¢ Rollout of a second benefit to up to 4000 offices as quickly as possible;
¢ Two further benefits successfully introduced into live environment.
Constraints on acceptance:
¢ Income guarantees will not apply.
43 Acceptance Step 3 - After Medel Office Test Of NR2+.
Conditions for acceptance:
© NR2- delivered with all contracted functionality;
¢ NR2= proven in Model Office (Live Trial not required);
¢ Release authorisation of NR2+.
Scope of acceptance:
© Final acceptance achieved;
© Caveats removed on benefit rollout;
All benefits rolled out to all offices as quickly as possible.
Constraints on acceptance:
© None.
The rollout of cards as quickly as possible must obviously not compromise the
integrity of the Benefits Agency’s service to customers. The anticipated rate of rollout
will be agreed within the appropriate commercial forums .
There ere items which are contractual requirements beyond NR2 and NR2+ such as
mobile configurations, and broadcast and messaging services, which are beyond the
acceptance process described above and the scope of this replan.
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5. Stage 1 - POCL Services and Child Benefit
This Section sets out a more detailed description of the activities and dates in Stage 1
of the replan. It covers:
* CAPS JSA Personal Details (PDr) Model Office
* Horizon NR2 Model Office with Child Benefit
Joint NR2 Model Office with Child Benefit
© End-to-End Testing
* Release Authorisation
© Migration
© POCL Live Trial
¢ Acceptance of NR2 Child Benefit
¢ POCL Rollout
54 CAPS JSA PDr Modei Office (8" June to 21" August 1998)
As previously agreed under the replan, the CAPS Model Office for JSA commenced
on schedule on 8" June 1998, supported by the required functionality from the
Horizon environment. This Model Office will enable the loading of personal details
for JSA to the CAPS database but will not test card payments. It is planned to
complete this Model Office on Friday 21" August. However CAPS wish te provide a
two week contingency period at the end for targetted testing of any outstanding faults.
The Benefits Agency have therefore requested that a Joint NR2 Model Office with
Horizon should not start before 7” September to allow this work to complete
unhindered. It will also give them time to finalise the detailed test plans for this
critical phase.
62 Horizon NR2 Model Offics/Child Benefit {10 August to 4" September 1998)
The Pathway and Horizon schedules have been based on starting the NR2 Model
Office on i0 August 1998. To move to the Proposed date of 7" September to align
with CAPS would therefore mean a delay of 4 weeks. Pathway and Horizon therefore
plan to run a first ‘pre-proving’ cycle between 10" August and 4" September without
CAPS direct involvement. This will allow POCL functionality to be tested but using
existing sets of Child Benefit data to simulate the CAPS interface,
5.3 Joint NR2 Model Office with Child Benefit (7" September to 18" December 1958)
‘The joint Model Office with CAPS involvement will start on 7” September. Although
a joint approach, Horizon will lead in the management of this Model Office as it is
primarily supporting their requirements. They will therefore determine such activities
as restarts and cycle resets. Given the first “pre-proving’ cycle it may be that only two
more full six week cycles will be required:
Cycle 2 - 7" September to 16" October
Cycle 3 - 19* October to 27" November
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Contingency cycle - 30" November to 18" December
Release authorisation will be arranged for before Christmas 1998.
However if a full fourth cycle is required a contingency period is provided for until
11" January with release authorisation ty 15% January 1999.
5.4 End-to-End Testing (10 August to 18 December 1998)
In parallel to Model Office another set of specific tests will be run in what is termed
the ‘End-to-End’ environment. These tests cover special cases such as variable cash
account periods, temporary and permanent office closures, and types of system
failure. Horizon will manage two cycles for this activity which is primarily concemed
with POCL processes:
Cycle 1 - 10" August to 31" October
Cycle 2 - 2™ November to 18" December.
It should be noted that additional testing activities will be taking place during this
period, although the primary focus will be on Model Office and End-to-End. For
example Pathway will be finalising some technical and security tests and Horizon will
be undertaking some preparatory tests of the Reference Data which will used in the
live environment.
5.5 Release Authorisation (target 18" December 1998, contingency 15" January
1989)
Following successful completion of Model office and End-to-End a Release
Authorisation process is required to endorse the service for use in the live
environment. A number of preparatory steps will be taken as the testing phase comes
to an end. If, as discussed above, the Model Office can be successfully completed in
the first three cycles then the date for Release Authorisation to be completed will be
before Christmas 1998. If a fourth cycle is required then Release Authorisation wili
take place in the week commencing 11* January 1999.
It must be noted that this release authorisation date assumes that the necessary
acceptance tests have also been completed within the proposed timescale (where these
are over and above what will have been demonstrated in Model Office and
End-to-End Testing).
5.6 Migration (4" January to 5" February 1999, contingency 18" January to 19"
February)
This phase is concerned with the migration of the existing live 204 post offices
running Release 1c to the new NR2 software. Based on the rate of progress in the
testing phases a decision will be made by the end of October as to whether this will
start on 4" or 18* January 1999. The Migration phase will involve the following
activities:
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© Initial pilot week in 6 offices
© Migration of the remaining offices over 2 weeks
© ‘Data centre migration’ to link the offices to the new ‘host’ NR2 software enabling
full ‘go-live’ (weekend of 30° /31" January or 13%/14" February)
The Migration plan allows a week after the ‘data centre’ migration weekend to ensure
the service is stable before starting to add the additional offices for the Live Trial.
The plan also needs to show the date for the second data centre to be switched on for
operational services. It is proposed that this is scheduled for the weekend of 13°14"
February, or 27*/28" February 1999 if migration does not start until 18" January. It
should be noted that the second data centre is not required to start or to support the
volumes in the POCL Live Trial. This date is therefore not on the ‘critical path’ for
the start of Live Trial as it would only be required in the unlikely event of a major
physical disaster at the first centre. A gap of two weekends is allowed between the
data centre migration weekend and the weekend when the second data centre is
brought on stream.
57 POCL Live Trial (February to June 1989)
The POCL Live Trial is intended to prove the full operation of the Pathway services
and the POCL and Benefits Agency processes in the live environment. The start date
will be either 8" or 22 February 1999. The Child Benefit card payments for these
new offices will be scheduled to start from 22" Februery.
The POCL Live Trial comprises the following main steps:
Take-on of an additional 100 offices - 3 weeks
‘Core’ observation period - 6 weeks
Completion of reconciliation cycles for each week - 4 weeks
Report production and ‘acceptance decision’ - 4 weeks
The Stage 1 ‘acceptance decision’ will be confined to NR2 running POCL services
with the child benefit card payments services. See Section 4.
The ‘core’ observation covers office processes, staff and customer reaction, and
weekly accounting processes. The length of the reconciliation processes between
POCL and its clients means that up to 6 weeks may be necessary after each weekly
cash account period to ensure that all significant checks have been carried out. It is not
expected to be necessary however to monitor the completion of this activity for all 6
weeks of the ‘core’ observation period, as sufficient evidence of the Pathway/Horizon
processing is available carlier in the cycle. The reconciliation phase is therefore set at
4 weeks. This results in a 17 week elapsed period. This will give an acceptance date of
the 19" June 1999. A 2 week contingency period is provided before the planned
national rollout date of 5* July 1999. If neither the testing contingency nor the POCL
Live Trial contingency are required then rollout could commence at the earlier date of
7* June 1999. A decision on this earlier start for POCL office rollout will need to be
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taken on or about 1* April 1999. This date will allow sufficient evidence to be
assessed from the Live Trial while giving at least 8 weeks to manage the lead in to the
Post office rollout. The Benefits Agency card rollout could be brought forward to the
7 June 1999 only if notice is given by the end of October 1998. Otherwise the
planned date for card rollout will remain as the 5" July 1999.
6.8 POCL National Rollout (Target date 5" July 1999)
The target date in the replan for start of National Rollout is 5" July 1999. Child
benefit card rollout to offices is also planned to commence from 5* July. It is expected
that the card rollout will ‘catch up’ with installed offices by the end of July and from
August 1999 Child Benefit cards will match the POCL rollout, subject to normal
order book renewal cycles.
The current contracts propose a rapid ramp up of office rollout in the first month
followed by a sustainable ‘beat rate’ of 300 offices per week. Further evidence wili be
required from the Live Trial to give more assurance that this rate is sustainable by all
the parties concerned. Firm dates for training and take-on wil! normally need to be
given to post offices 12 weeks before their ‘go-iive’ date, although the office
“installation’ work can be carried out relatively flexibly in advence of these dates.
Active management will therefore be required of the schedules for offices in the early
stages of rollout until the pattem of successful deployment is established and the
optimum ‘beat rate’ is proven. Given a start date of 5" July 1999, and allowing for the
Christmas period, a beat rate of 300 would result in up to 6000 offices being installed
by the end of the year, while a beat rate of 200 would give up to 4000 offices.
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6. Stage 2 - Multi-Benefit Services
This Section sets out a more detailed description of the activities and dates in Stage 2
of the replan. It covers:
Pre-proving of multi-benefit transactions
Joint NR2 Model Office for Multi-Benefit
Multi-benefit Trial
Acceptance of NR2 Multi-Benefit
Card Rollout
Delivery of NR2+
64 Pre-Proving of Multi-Benefit Transactions (December 1998 to March 1929)
Between December 1998 and March 1999 Horizon and CAPS will undertake some
initial testing of the more complex transactions which are aot normally required for
Child Benefit payments but are essential for other benefits, namely JSA, IS and
Pensions. Urgent stops and payments are examples of these transactions. This testing
will need to take place in an environment which can be run independently of the Child
Benefit Model Office which will be taking place during part of this period. This
testing can be conducted in a more flexible way than under a formal Model Office,
with less rigid cycle definitions, but will nevertheless provide a necessary degree of
confidence in the multi-benefit capabilities of NR2 prior to entry to joint Model
Office.
6.2 Joint NR2 Multi-Benefit Model Office (12 Apri! 1999 to 1* October 1999)
This Model Office will comprise four cycles of six weeks (based on a 17 day logical
model and a ratio of one logicai to two physical days). The cycle start dates are
therefore:
Cycle 1 - 12" April 1999
Cycle 2 - 31" May 1999
Cycle 3 - 12" July 1999
Cycle 4 - 23 August 1999
The Mode! Office will include all four of the major benefits, which is the main reason
for providing four cycles in order to allow phasing cf their introduction.
It is proposed to start this Model Office in April 1999 as this will allow the latest
teleases of JSA, IS and Pensions to be used, as all of these will planned upgrades in
the period up to the end of March 1999. The CAPS 3.5 performance release will also
be available for use within Model Office by the beginning of Apzil, prior to going live
in May/June 1999.
It should also be noted that if there is a slippage in Stage 1 testing with Child Benefit
this will not impact Stage 2 pre-proving or the Model Office unless it extends beyond
12® Apri] 1999.
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6.3 Mutti-Benefit Trial (September 1999 to February 2000)
The Multi-benefit Trial will start with JSA in September 1999 followed by a phased
introduction of IS and Pensions. The exact dates for bringing these into the Trial
requires to be confirmed with the Feeder Benefit Systems, but the aim is to have them
all running live in the Trial by the end of November 1999. For pianning purposes the
proposed dates at this stage are:
JSA - 13" September 1999
IS - 8" November 1999
Pensions - 29" November 1999
6.4 Acceptance of NR2 Multi-Benefit (February 2000)
Following successful completion of the Muiti-benefit Trial the acceptance decision is
planned to take place in February 2000. The terms of this acceptance are covered in
Section 4.
6.5 Card Rollout (from February 2000)
A card rollout from February will provide time for the necessary training activity to
start after Christmas 1999 and give the required six week lead-in time prior to card
payments going live. Given that several thousand post offices will be installed by this
date there can be a rapid rollout of cards for all the live benefits from this dave, with
the only constraints being the rate of card production and the need to maintain an
acceptable level of service to Benefits Agency customers.
6.6 Release NR2+
The contents of this Release have been agreed in principle, although a number of
detailed issues and requirements are currently in the process of being resolved. A
baselined development plan will be produced once this work is complete. This plan
will need to take account of the overall approach set out in the replan and the impact
this wiil have on Pathway resources in 1999. The Sponsors believe however, based on
previous discussions with Pathway, that a delivery date for NR2+ in:o joint Sponsor
acceptance testing of 1* October 1999 is 2 reasonable target at this stage. Acceptance
could then be achieved in February 2000. The replan therefore proposes these dates,
while recognising that confirmation will be required from detailed planning and with
the agreement of all parties.
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