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Message
From: Simon Baker [imceaex-
_O=mms_ou=exchange+20administrative+20group+20+28fydibohf23spdit+29_cn=recipients_cn=simon+2ebaker4b1a8ef6-
d2e0-4dec-94ea-591dfa651f2e@c72a47.ingest.local]
Sent: 16/05/2013 18:46:29
To: Lesley J Sewell [f. ; Alwen Lyons:
Subject: FW: Balancing Issues in
Attachments:Picture (Device Independent Bitmap) 1.jpg; Picture (Device Independent Bitmap) 2.jpg; Picture (Device Independent
Bitmap) 3.jpg; Picture (Device Independent Bitmap) 4.jpg
Lesley, Alwen
Brief overview of the problem encountered in 2010 below.
The reassuring point, for those looking for comfort, is that in this case Horizon’s monitoring systems automatically
picked up the anomaly.
Simon
From: Jenkins Gareth GI [mailtoz
Sent: 16 May 2013 15:52
To: Simon Baker
Cc: Davidson James
Subject: Balancing Issues in 2010
Simon,
Here is a quick briefing on the Balancing issue we had in 2010 in preparation for tomorrow’s meeting with Lesley.
When a clerk balances a stock unit the rollover screen is eventually displayed, and the clerk then presses the Preview or Print button
to produce the Trial Balance Report. The counter then returns to the rollover screen.
Having checked the report, the clerk then presses the Rollover button, and in normal circumstances is given the choice of rolling to a
new Balance Period (BP) or a new Trading Period (TP).
If the clerk chooses to roll to a new TP, and net discrepancies are present, then the system asks whether the clerk wishes to transfer
the net discrepancy to local suspense, or else cancel the rollover (MSG31316).
If the clerk presses Cancel on MSG31316, and on the rollover screen then presses Rollover again, then the Final Balance report will
have a Receipt/Payments mismatch (Total Receipts not equal to Total Payments) which will ultimately lead to a Non-zero Trading
Position on the Branch Trading Statement.
If the clerk does not check the Final Balance report, he/she may not be aware that the report has a Receipts/Payments mismatch.
For a Trial Balance report the counter does warn the clerk if a Receipt/Payments mismatch occurs, for a Final Balance report it does
not. This is as stated in use case BAC-11 Balance Stock Unit. The counter however does always raise error 0902 in the log file and NT
event log.
The key message is the last statement, namely that “The counter however does always raise error 0902 in the log file and NT event
log”. What this means is that an unexpected alert is raised that should be picked up by our Alert monitoring systems that will ensure
that the problem is investigated by our support teams. In other words, the system is designed to spot a problem like this as it is
something that should never happen (other than as a result of bugs) and if it does happen, then an alert is raised so it can be
investigated.
One of the actions that we are taking as a result of the Local Suspense problem we found this year is to put in some further checks
for “situations that should never happen” that related to that problem and to raise an alert if they do.
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attach a document I produced for Post Office Ltd in May 2011 where I put together a storyboard showing the exact sequence of
events for one of the affected branches.
The problem affected around 60 Branches. I understand that FSC communicated with all the affected branches and compensated
them where appropriate.
Regards
Gareth
Gareth Jenkins
Distinguished Engineer
Business Applications Architect
Post Office Account
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