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BA/POCL Automation Programme
Summary Progress Report for Month-End September 1995
a. Ov: Lew
1.1. There was increasing concern during September
regarding schedule production and stage 3 timescales.
Detailed planning of stage 3 showed that contract
negotiation was likely to extend beyond the current
forecast dates with the likelihood of knock-on
effects to other stages of the Programme.
2.2. As planned, a ‘checkstep’ was initiated at the end
ef September. The aim was to check what had been
achieved to date, to note current forecasts for
remaining work, to determine the issues affecting
performance /delivery and to investigate alternative
courses of action to meet current timescales. The
checkstep consisted of two separate reviews of the
Programme. The first of these was a review of stage
3, The outcome was a proposal to improve the quality
and timeliness of stage 3 work through the
appointment of strand managers responsible for
Demonstrator, Requirements, Contracts and Schedule
production and to organise activities in such a way
as to allow parallel progress wherever possible.
1.3. The second review is an independent assessment of
the Programme to be carried out by PA Consulting
Group during October. The draft terms of reference
include validating the alignment of business context,
objectives and achievable outcomes: identifying major
issues; reviewing internal and external risks,
atatus, plans and resources; and making
recommeridations for implementation.
1.4. The Programme plans attached at Appendix 1
continue to show the orignal timescales but will be
revised as necessary on completion of the checkstep
action,
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Progress
-L. Commercial
2.1.1. Meetings have been taking place between BA and
POCL Commercial to resolve and agree the way forward
on key negotiation issues. Agreement has been reached
to a working assumption that the automated benefit
encashment service must be available whenever a post
office is open for business, but this will be
reviewed in the light of suppliers’ prices for
varying operating hours. It has also been agreed
that, cxcepe for commercially sensitive schedules for
POCL's other clients, all schedules will be seen by
each sponsor organisation at this stage.
2.1.2. Draft requirements for accounting and
settlement process have been agreed and were passed
to the Programme on 26th September.
2.1.3. POCL Business Process Improvement has been
commissioned to baseline the current portfolio of BA
business at post offices and to measure and assess
each suppliers proposed transactions and procedures.
2.1.4. A sponsor meeting has been set up in POCL to
clarify the approvals process. The Programme will
need to agree the process. Commercial teams are
working toward taking the MoU to an agreed contract
by January 1996.
2.1.5. There remain different views on contract
structure despite ongoing meetings between the
Programme and “sponsor organisations.
.2, Procurement /Demonstrator
2.2.1. There has been a high level of activity with
suppliers during the month on various aspects of
Stage 3. The suppliers have also been involved in
presentations to BA and POCL staff.
2.2. All contract schedule storyboards have now
been issued. However, as at 29th September, only 5
out of 60 draft version 1.0 BA/POCL schedules have
been issued by BA/POCL against a plan to issue all by
this time. In addition there are a further 37 to be
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drafted by suppliers. Completion of this activity is
now forecast for 3rd November. Al though further
iterations of demonstration plans have been received
from suppliers, the delay in issuing and clarifying
schedules for demonstration activity has meant that
these are of limited value.
2.2.3. Draft clauses have been obtained from
Programme lawyers and are being reviewed. work on
schedules is progressing despite the absence of
agreement on contract structure {see para 2.1.5).
However, work on clauses is in abeyance pending
resolution of the contract structure issue. This, in
turn, means that negotiations cannot commence which
is becoming of increasing concern.
2.2.4. Twinning and secondment activities have now
commenced.
2.2.5. PSC gave its broad support for the proposed
methodology for final selection, subject to
Procurement Board agreement to the detailed proposal .
2.2.6. Demonstrations with the potential Service
voviders, which were delayed awaiting the completion
of the schedules, are now being rescheduled. Work on
devising criteria for evaluation of the ‘
demonstrations is ongoing, and ai oprocess for
collecting positive reactions is being defined.
However a process for feeding these back to potential
Service Providers has yet to be agreed/defined.
2.2.7. Draft D of the Stage 4 Initiation Document
which takes on board earlier comments was issued to
the PMT in early September. The document will require
further update prior to issue, and this is not
expected to be done until after the stage 3
demonstration process has been clarified.
2.3, Card, Customer Interest and Implementation
g the month an additional 6 card issues
were identified by the Card User and Fraud Working
Group. At a meeting held on the 21st Septembér a
further 14 issues were resolved. All issues continue
to be actively pursued. DSS Policy Changes are being
progressed for submission. A Card Issues - Security
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Sub-committee meeting was held on 29th September.
2.3.2. Service Description contract schedules
allocated to CCIG for PAS and CMS are complete and
have been issued. Contract schedules for the
Operational Trial and implementation are being
progressed but will require input from other schedule
owners before they can be finalised. Sponsors have
been identified for all of the BA Schedules. They
will be expected to review and sign-off the content.
2.3.3. Demonstration activities have been planned and
discussed with potential Service Providers at initial
meetings. Further Demonstration meetings are planned
with all potential Service Providers during October.
2.3.4. All potential Service Providers have had an
initial meeting with CAPS representatives to discuss
the technical integration and implementation
requirements. Although the meetings were successful
in exchanging preliminary information it is clear
that more detailed meetings will be required to allow
potential Service Providers to progress their
integration plans.
2.3.5. The first draft of the Card Technical
Specification was completed on the 1Sth September and
has been issued to the three potential Service
Providers.
“2.3.6. CCTA have provided a set of evaluation
criteria on Smart Card standards and security. This
will provide input to the review of migration
strategies during supplier demonstrations.
2.3.7. A draft 8nd to End Implementation Key
Activities List has been produced and will be
discussed in detail at the next meeting of the
implementation Managers Working Group to be held 4th
October. The document pulls together key dates from
CAPS, POCL and BA/POCL Automation Programmes. An
initial meeting has been held with NI SSA te discuss
card requirements and implementation issues.
2.3.8. A plan for the Security Review has been
issued. The membership of the security reviews have
been confirmed but initial meetings have been delayed
due to the unavailability of some individuals.
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2.4. CAPS Programme
General
2.4.1. The CAPS Phase 1 Programme plan has been
baselined and the high level activities are reflected
in the BA/POCL high level plan.
2.4.2, 90% of the activities in the CAPS plan are now
supported by product descriptions.
2.4.3. A decision on alternative payee support is
required urgently, and this is being pursued.
2.4.4, Difficulties with staff recruitment continue
to delay progress.
Customer Payments Computer System (CPCS)
2.4.5. All business functionality design is now
complete with the exception of encashments. Recent
decisions will allow this area to progress rapidly.
The first delivery of the infrastructure products has
been successfully integrated into the ‘Payments out’
suite.
Child Benefit
2.4.6. Version 2 of the design specifications,
including deductions, reconciliation procedures and
accounting controls has been issued for review. The
NINO verification exercise has been restarted
following suspension while batch trace problems were
sorted. This suspension has not impacted the target
completion date.
Personal Details
2.4.7, Further reviews of the prototype have been
held. String testing of the database retrieval
modules has been completed. Staff shortages continue
to be a problem.
Benefit and Field Liaison
2.4.8. A draft BFL Communications Strategy has been
produced. The final version should be signed off by
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the end of September. Liaison meetings are ongoing
with each of the benefit groups.
Programme Accounting Branch
2.4.9. The evaluation shortlist has been agreed by
the Procurement Board. The demonstration and site
visit criteria have been issued for approval. Version
1 of the Accounting High Level Test Plan has been
issued. The PAB business case has been submitted for
approval at BASCIS on Sth October.
Programme Authority
2.4.16. Following receipt of comments, work is
underway on the second draft of the CAPS Component
Release Strategy. Architecture definitions and
baselines have substantially been agreed with TS&I
and DITA. An information pack has been issued to
benefit system technical managers following the PDR
presentation at Preston.
Programme Management Office
2.4.11. The Programme business case (separate from
the PAB case) was presented to the Programme Steering
Committee and has been submitted for initial approval
at BASCIS on Sth October. An internal Risk Register
has been prepared and circulated to Strand Managers.
Programme Quality policy and initial procedures have
been produced.
2.5. POCL Applications
POCL Business Fac tation
2.5.1. A process is being established that identifies
different POCL managers for key areas of contract
negotiation. The process will ensure that sign off of
vequirements within both the draft contracts and the
change control process thereafter achieves the
appropriate level of input and clearance from POCL.
2.8.2 Support is being provided to POCL Key
Performance Indicator (KPI) owners for them to
understand the outputs from the Programme and to
consider any impact wit) their areas so that these
can be taken into account in the planning process of
the business.
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2.5.3. The Programme is currently examining ways in
which POCL can consider the partnership possibilities
of each supplier. This will involve structured
workshops with key POCL managers.
2.6. Counter Infrastructure
implementation
General
2.6.1. Meetings have been held with all three service
providers. Ags a result they will be undertaking
scenario planning in advance of decisions on benefit
take on and POCL’s views on Roll out. Other areas
touched upon were testing and limited go-live. The
whole approach was to give service providers a better
understanding of our needs and to learn from them
what their areas of concern were.
2.6.2. The learning points from the ALPS programme
are now being examined and an awayday is in planning
to discuss these in relation to the current
procurement. The same event will be used to
“brainstorm” migration issues and their relation to
implementation.
Helpdesk “
2.6.3. Work on clarifying and quantifying the
Helpdesk performance requirements relevant to
C(OP)}3/C(TMS)3 has been undertaken.
2.6.4. Following the initial examination of Service
Provider proposals, issues are being identified which
are being progressed through the appropriate
channels.
Information
2.6.5. A potential gap in the Information Request
process has been filled: the Procurement Team will
now confirm when information obtained can be released
to the Service providers. The confidentiality
agreements have been gned by the 3 Service
Providers and on behalf of the Programme; a good deal
of information was awaiting this step and has now
been released to the Service Providers.
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2.6.6. The analysis of the first week of ECCO+ backup
disks (which will provide generic transaction peak-
ratio information) has been provided to the Technical
Services Team. Data gathering from ALPS offices will
commence once the process has been finalised by the
ALPS Team.
2.6.7, The POCL Network Database link for Terminal
House should be completed by the end of October,
2.6.8. Some elements of the POCL Design Guide,
submitted to Service Providers, are out of date and a
schedule of these is in preparation for provision to
the Supplier Liaison Managers when complete.
2.6.9. Information requests continue to be received
and are being processed.
Performance Monitoring/Services
2.6.10. A meeting has been held with one of the
service providers to discuss service management
elements of the programme. Work has continued on
draft schedules C{OP}10, C(TMS) 10, D(APS) 10,
D(BES)10, D(EPOS)10, C{OP)? and C(TMS)7.
POCL User Documentation
2.6.11. The proposals from the 3 Service Providers
have been examined co ascertain their proposed
sclutions for user documentation.
2.6.12. A request to Procurement for a specific
schedule for training and user documentation was
turned down. Detailed requirements for user
documentation were subsequently provided to
Procurement and will be discussed during
Procurement ‘s analysis meeting of schedule C(OP)3. A
decision will then be made on what is the most
appropriate place in the schedules for this
information.
2.6.13. Work has also continued on input to the other
schedules where a reference to user documentation is
required.
‘
Training
2.6.14. A meeting has been held with one of the
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service providers addressing initial queries about
POCL’s current facilities and capabilities in the
training area. Other service providers are to he
visited shortly.
2.6.15, Demonstrator requirements have been
finalised.
2.6.16. Links back into POCL training departments are
being forged at the operational level.
Human Computer Interface (HCI)
2.6.17. All suppliers have been visited and a general
view of their HCI thinking discussed. Specialist
advice is being obtained on the minimum requirements
of the HCI and a method of evaluating the responses,
Testing Strategy
2.6.18. PA Consultants are advising the Programme on
testing strategy. One of the initial conclusions is
that a testing environment of some significant size
will need to be set up in addition to the *oval”,
The current test site there will be required for
testing of existing products well into the time for
testing the BA/POCL system. Discussions on the
preferred location are commencing with service
providers and sponsor organisations.
Migration/Integration
Schedules
2.6.19, The service description schedules for
Automated Payments and EPOS have completed peer group
review and are currently with Procurement for QA.
Work has commenced on the service levels and
acceptance criteria schedules. Documents that
maintain related information in a controlled manner
have been established and are being compiled.
Migration/Integration
2.6.20. Work continues with the TIP project to ensure
their requirements are catered for in terms of ‘data
capture. A transition group within Client
Transac Processing has been established and
initial m
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2.6.21, Mapping of the end-to-end Benefit Encashment
Service has concluded and a report on identified
issues is awaited.
2.6.22, Work is progressing with pocL on devising a
POCL wide Migration/Integration plan that will be
driven by individual projects. aA workshop to discuss
forthcoming issues is planned for October.
-7. Design Assurance
2.7.1. The Design Assurance team has been working on
completing their input to the contract schedules,
mapping out the relationships between the benefit
payment reiated schedules (i.e. CMS, PAS, BES) and
{from a design perspective) quality assuring all
Stage 1 schedules prior to their issue to suppliers.
2.7.2. Design Assurance demonstrations have begun
and, following initial meetings to discuss
requirements, suppliers have been sent a number of
papers and other design documents for review. Further
DA demonstration meetings with suppliers have been
planned. Additionally, supplier meetings have been
held to deal with other issues such as rollout
planning and approaches to Human Computer Interface.
2.7.3. A process is now in place for managing and
impact analysing Design Assurance issues to run in
conjunction with Programme change control procedures,
-and with the help of impact analysts from POCL,
2.7.4. Supplier proposals for both software and
hardware changes have been received and are being
addressed by the Programme.
.8. Programme Support
Finance
2.8.1. A meeting has been held with POCL HO Finance
to review budgetary position and assess likely
requirements for year end provisions.
2.8.2. It has been agreed with POCL MICA team that
the Programme will have its own link to ‘och
mainframe accounting system as from end of October.
Training for new system is now ongoing.
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2.8.3, Porther work has been carried out on Pinance
Control Document. However due to resourcing issues
within the finance team priority has been given to
every day tasks; i.e. reporting and forecasting. The
forecast completion date for the FCD is now end of
October.
2.8.4. Interviews have been held and an appointment
made for AO vacancy, the start date is currently
being negotiated - hopefully by the end of October.
Business Case
2.8.5. Proposals for the way forward for the
submission of various cases/documents were accepted
by the PSC on 14th September. BA and POCL will
produce separate business cases and meet different
approval requirements. :
2.8.6. A detailed activity plan has heen produced
identifying the work required to progress the final
submission of the business cases to stakeholders and
HM Treasury. Key work areas are business case
updating of numbers and text, the preparation of
papers for approval submissions, and clearance
through the approvals route. Advance notice of the
process has been issued to relevant parties.
2.8.7. A need for additional team resource has been
identified and is being addressed.
BA Business Case
2.8.8. Four separate main documents are required to
be produced. Papers are scheduled to be submitted to
BASCIS on 16th November, BAMT on 27th November and
HMT on 7th March 1996.
2.8.9. Analysis work has been undertaken to;
a) compare the CAPS numbers in their business case
with those curre: y in our case,
b) produce a cost comparison of current and new costs
of method of payment, and
©) produce sensitivities for the Programme Director
to comment on benefit migration proposals.
*
2.8.10, Preliminary work has been carried out on
contract schedules.
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POCL Business Case
2.8.11. The draft POCL business case has been
reviewed with external advisors. Their report wag
considered with POCL colleagues on 19th September and
has raised a number of issues which are now being
followed up. This includes a review of the baseline
against which the automation case will be assessed
{led by POCL with Programme participation) and
examination of the costs of different levels of
capability (led by Programme with POCL participation)
2.8.12. Work has continued on checking and improving
components of the case. A review of common
vequirements for text that is not commercially
sensitive has been started with colleagues in the BA
Business Case Team with the objective of reducing
unnecessary duplication.
2.8.13. An initial meeting has been held with the TIrP
business case manager and a process has been agreed
to ensure that assumptions in the two cases are
consistent and to identify any gaps and overlaps.
Cost Model
2.8.14. Suppliers’ responses setting out their view
of potential price reduction opportunities were
analysed. The Supplies Cost Model was used to
‘quantify the potential cost savings and findings on
negotiation opportunities were presented to the Core
Negotiating Team on 4 September.
2.8.15. Work has progressed on the Workload Brief for
suppliers. Core information to give to suppliers and
has been gathered from BA and POCL and a first draft
of the Workload Brief will be produced by 2 October
1995. This has been delayed by 3 weeks owing to other
work being assigned a higher priority.
2.8.16. Work has commenced with Stephen Woolley
(Senior Automation Development Manager) on providing
price assumptions for POCL Account Managers to use in
developing their automation requirements and
forecasts. This uses the Supplier Cost Model
calibrated for suppliers’ profit and risk transfer
xemium on the basis of indicative prices.
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2.8.17. An investigation of supplier price structures
has started using Charterhouse Bank as expert
advisors. This will review possible structures and
gevelop the option of setting a common structure for
ail suppliers, in order to achieve the best alignment
with BA and POCL commercial requirements.
Planning and Risk
2.8.18. Detailed planning and monitoring of Stage 3
continued throughout September. The impact of the
current schedule production, options for contract
negotiation and resource implications have been
analysed and reviewed with the Stage 3 Manager and
Negotiators. Detailed plans of alternative stage 3
scenarios were produced and presented to the
Programme Management Team on 9th October. A decision
on the way forward is expected by 13th October.
2.8.19. The revised CAPS baselined plan has been
received and has been incorporated into the high
level Programme plan. A meeting has been arranged
with Mike Cashman of the CAPS Programme Management
Office on 6th October to discuss timescales and
dependencies and confirm the process for ongoing
liaison between the two Programmes
2.8.26. A plan of PSO group activities has been
produced ready for review with Pat Dugdale on her
return from annual leave. Key milestones will be
included on the high Level Programme plan.
2.8.21. During September, useful meetings were held
with Deputy Directors or their Team Leaders to build
up more detailed plans of their particular areas of
the Programme. Some additional information has been
incerporated into the high level plan but these have
not yet been baselined. Meetings have also been held
with the TIP Project Manager and the newly appointed
TIP Project Planner. Close liaison with this project
will be maintained by PPRAG.
2.8.22. Following a review of the organisation and
set-up of PPRAG, it was agreed that the CAPS
‘liaison’ role (performed by Tony Hodgson) and ‘Risk
Co-ordinator / Assurance role (Paul Dudko) are no
longer required and these two PPRAG members will not
be retained on the Programme after the end of
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September. This, with the recent transfer of a member
of the planning staff to become a Supplier Liaison
Officer, has resulted in the PPRAG headcount being
reduced from 8 to 5.
2.8.23. Programme risk is covered under Section 3 of
this Repert.
Policy
2.8.24. Since the last report the team has provided
the following numbers of answers to Parliamentary
Questions, briefings, and correspondence;
As at:~
Last This Total
Month Month from
1/0
Parliamentary Questions - - 1
Submission - Secretary of State
Submission - PORC ~
Briefings for Secretary of State
Briefings for Chief Executive
Briefings fox Committees /Meetings
Briefings for speeches
Briefing for BA Strategic Plan
Briefing for PSC - -
Briefing for Adjournment debate - -
Programme infermation for NAO
Cerrespondence with customer
organisations
Correspondence with customers
Method of Payment update to BAMT
Parliamentary Correspondence
Correspondence with interested
companies 4 a
oN
' ,
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cw et
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2.8.25. In addition a presentation was given to US
Treasury. The Policy team has also been assisting the
Business Case team by undertaking a thorough
vedrafting of the BA Business Case. Significant work
has also been undertaken or the BA/POCL
Accountability agreement with BA Security, although
the date by which a formal allocation of resources
will be received is yet to be determined.
Quality ‘
2.8.26. Work is continuing in relation to the Service
Providers’ quality plans and a Quality Assurance
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programme is being developed for implementation,
initially in the Programme Support Office, looking at
the Finance, Business Case and Communications teams.
2.8.27. Following PMT study of the staff survey
results, focus groups were formed to identify
improvement opportunities. Ideas were collated and
presented to the PMT and a programme of tasks
allocated to firm up proposals, with a final
presentation to PMT planned for 9th October. It is
planned to present the outcome to staff at the
Programme awayday on 24th October, preparations for
which are well underway.
2.8.28. Work is underway on refining the Quality team
filing system, to be used as a guide for other teams
on completion.
2.8.29. The Card and Customer Issues group have been
using the facilitation services at their progress
meetings and are discussing with the team how they i
might assist in the preparation of ccIG policy i
manuals. °
2.8.30. Following the recent PSO awayday the Quality
team has taken forward a series of focus groups to
consider Leadership, Teamworking and Image issues.
Communications
2.8.31. A programme of visits has been planned with
the Card and Customer Issues team to special interest
groups throughout the autumn.
2.8.32. The team has further developed the
relationship with the CAPS communications team and a
joint presentation is being developed about the CAPS
and BA/POCL programmes.
2.8.33. The team has organised, tegether with the
quality and facilities teams, two suppler briefings
for BA and POCL staff.
2.8.34. A display has been prepared for the
subpostmasters’ exhibition in Manchester.
2.8.35. There has been much interest expressed in the
Programme following the inclusion of an article in
Touchbase, (a BA publication for special interest
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groups) .
2.8.36. The third edition of Team News was produced
and issued to Programme members. —
Pacilities
2.6.37, During the month effort has been concentrated
on health and safety measures; arranging for the
fitting of window security locks (to be completed by
6th October); the promulgation of physical security
instructions and procedures; and arranging health and
safety training for the Facilities team. In
addition, PC Network training sessions for Programme
staff have been held and instructions issued to
teams.
2.9. Other Projects
ALPS
2.9.1, The installation/rollout schedule is now
complete with the exception of a small number of
effices which were deferred in agreement with BA
because of imminent refurbishment or relocation.
There are also a small number of offices (9) for
which ICL await the release of equipment from test
sites.
2.9.2. The latest version of the ESNS software is in
“use in the vast majority of offices, and should be
installed in remaining offices by mid-October.
2.9.3.Polling performance is improving but remains
short of expected levels.
2.9.4. Critical systems errors on the ECCO system are
the main focus of activity and continue to have the
biggest impact on the network.
2.9.5, The existing automated payment terminals
(APT's) are being retained in AP offices until the
new year to allow the ECCO faults to be resolved and
to allow operator familiarisation with ALPS.
TIP
2.9.6, The Full Automation Feasibility report was
completed to schedule on 18th September and issued to
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Board members for review.
2.9.7. The main TIP Feasibility report is in the
final stages of production, forecast for 2nd October.
The Business case for the next stage of the project
is forecast for 8th October. The case is due to be
presented to the MaPEC (Major Projects Expenditure
Committee) meeting in November.
2.9.8, The output from work on the Accounting and
Settlement process mapping will be fed into the BRS
contract schedule.
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3. Programme Risk
3.1. Introduction
3.1.1. This month eleven risks were agreed for upward
reporting by the Programme Management Board (PMB),
including two new risks: ;
* ‘Disclosure of Service Provider information’;
* ‘Failure of sponsors to accommodate their
respective commercial objectives’ .
3.1.2. In addition the PMB agreed to the removal of
one risk: ‘The absence of a complete end-to-end view
of the proposed service’. .
3.2. High severity risks
3.2.1.The PMB noted that four risks are showing an
upward trend in probability of occurrence:
e risk 2 (a & b) ‘Failure of sponsors to accommodate
their respective commercial objectives’.
* visk 3 ‘Inability to complete stage 3 on time’.
*® risk 6 ‘Absence of clear definitions of CAPS
functional requirements’.
* risk 7 ‘Inadequate resourcing of key CAPS tasks’.
3.3. Countermeasure assurance
The PMB will continue to monitor the proposed
countermeasures against ail the agreed risks to
ensure they are timeously actioned and that the
ebjectives of the BA/POCL Programme are not
COMpro:
we
~4. Annexes
A full list of the agreed risks is presented at
Annex A for information.
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Bae Annex A Risk Table PSC September 1995_
Failure to Communicate ]
Risk (1) Disclosure of Service Provider Information
Owner PSO Communication
Trend ©
Background:
Procurement have advised, following Programme lawyers advice, that all
details of solutions proposed by Service Providers are commercial in
confidence.
Any communication beyond the Programme constitutes a breach of
commercial confidence.
Common solutions proposed by Service Providers are also to be regarded
as commercial in confidence as the Service Providers themselves will be
unaware of the commonality of the solutions proposed.
Impact:
An embargo on discussions of Service Providers proposals would
undermine the communication programme and the CCIG consultation
exercise.
The Programme will be unable to respond to media coverage with specific
details of how Service Provider solutions impact, and mis-information
will thus continue to undermine acceptability of the new system.
Countermeasure:
* A letter has been sent to the Service Providers asking them to
provide text which they would be prepared to see made public in a
variety of communication mechanisms. If the Service Providers
response is negative, this will further exacerbate this risk.
* The PMB agreed on 11/9 that alternative subject matter should be
considered to enable the first edition of Update to be issued.
* The Communications Team will benchmark against other procurements to
determine best practices in this area and explore pragmatic
solutions.
Comment:
Late resolution of this risk will impact both internal and external
audiences, potentially leading to lack of acceptability of the system
amongst managers, staff, Trade Unions, customers etc.
Pat Kelsey was actioned at the PMB on 98 October to pursue the issue to
resolution with the Suppliers.
Trend will remain level pending Service Provider responses.
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Failure to Communicate
Risk (2) Pailure of sponsors (BA, POCL and SSA{(NI}} to Aocommodare’
their respective commercial objectives in negotiations with a) each
other and b) CONSCO.
Owner Programme Requirements Authority - Dave Miller and Tony Johnson
Trend 2
Background
Caused by sponsoring organisations having:
« differing objectives;
* lack of agreement on contract structure;
*¢ absence of agreement on timetables;
* absence of determination of the charging structures required from
Service Providers;
® an unclear negotiating process.
Also impacting is the issue of risk transfer/acceptance of liability.
The Service Providers want to be paid by counter position, and currently
they want volume guarantees from both sponsoring organisations.
Impact:
« Inability to co-ordinate overall Programme activities;
¢ incompatible contract read~across;
* lack of acceptance of risk / liability;
* absence of agreement on contract structure.
Countermeasure:
There is a need for ongoing communication and co-ordination of
activities during Stage 3 of the BA/POCL Programme as requirement
identification and contract development proceeds. This is particularly
important as BA and POCL believe separate contracts, as envisagec in the
MOU, is the appropriate way forward.
Further there is a need to agree, then synchronise, the timetables of
the BA/POCL Programme; CAPS; BA Commercial; POCL Commercial and SSA(NT) .
Preliminary co-ordination of commercial activities took place in May and
July. A draft plan identified issues which need to be addressed prior to
contracts being signed. A fact finding meeting between the Commercial
Teams took place in August to discuss accounting and settlement issues.
A joint partnership requirement remains outstanding.
Countermeasure activities focus on six areas:
* continual evaluation of Service Providers proposals;
* early input on pricing discussions with Service Providers;
* BA and POCL being clear on their specifications;
* continual feedback from the BA/POCL Programme ;
* regular interface between the commercial teams to ensure sponsors are
aware of issues in both organisations;
* consistency of views being presented across the commercial teams.
Comment:
The PMB on 9 October agreed that Dave Miller and Tony Johnson ‘should he
the risk owners. Key to the successful achievement ef sponsors
objectives is the need to accommodate those objectives within a finite
timeframe. The risk needs to be drawn to the attention of the Programme
Sponsors to ensure the actioning of timescales.Trend will remain upward
pending implementation of countermeasures.
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Programme Slippage
Ri (3) Inability to complete stage 3 on time
Owner Demonstrator - Mike Dolan
frend @
Background and Impact:
The risk has materialised and now compromises potential extended delay
and impairment of quality.
inst dently informed managers combined with an overload of
responsib ties on chosen strand managers leads to Programme slippage
via a loss of overall Strand Management process control.
A number of schedules are incomplete, only a limited number have been
issued and some of those require fundamental revision due to a lack of
co-relation between the SSR and schedules.
Immediate impacts are inadequately thought-through contracts, incomplete
identification of Service provider risks, delayed contract negotiation.
The PSC has approved the contingency of December, although this may
prove to be insufficient.
Schedule owners are overloaded with work. Quality is likely to suffer
unless orderly planning takes place which gives realistic consideration
of what work has yet to be done, and how quality may be preserved.
Countermeasure:
* an internal stage 3 review report is being considered by the Programme
w/e 9 October and scheduled for implementation by 13 October;
¢ the independent review of the Programme by PA Consulting planned for
October will examine the status, plans and resources of the Programme
and make recommendations for implementation.
Comment:
In view of the materialisation of this risk, probability of occurrence
continues to be upward pending the actioning of the countermeasures.
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[ Programme Slippage I
Risk (4) The failure to determine the Benefits card ready sequence.
Owner CAPS Programme Manager - Jane Rintoul
Trend 5
Background: 2
A formal Benefit roll-out sequence has yet to be agreed. Ministers are
reported to be content with the working assumption that Chila Benefit
be taken forward as the first benefit to be paid by card, subject to a
more detailed submission on plans and operational policy implications.
Impact:
Lack of a decision could result in i) individual benefits not being
ready on time; ii) functionality being reduced to meet timescales; iii)
delays in reaching agreement with potential PFI Service Providers; and
iv) delays in achie commercial agreement between BA and POCL.
Countermeasure:
¢ The CAPS Component Release Strategy {CRS) which proposes a sequence
for card ready benefits was sent to interested parties for response
by 29/9/95. Initial responses have been positive; however DITA have
indicated that they are not prepared to formally review at present ;
¢ Jane Rintoul has produced a paper for ministerial approval of the
Benefits card-ready sequence. This was sent to BAMT and other
stakeholders on 15/9 for review. The CAPS Programme believe they are
on target for resolution mid-November. However, they consider that
they still probably won‘’t get approval for all benefits yet, but
only the first few at present;
«The risk is also being countered through the ongoing dialogue
conducted between CAPS and BA/POCL personnel which will enable the
production of complimentary outputs from the two Programmes.
Comment:
The likelihood of risk materialisation continues to be downward as a
result of the above measures, although severity remains high pending
ministerial approval of RP or IS as the second benefic.
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Programme Slippage I
Risk (5) Unresolved CAPS Programme migration issues.
Owner CAPS Programme Manager - Jane Rintoul
Trend 3
Background:
A number of imminent CAPS Programme migration issues require resolution
(e.g. scope, timing, and length of initial Child Benefit Limited go-
live, and similarly for subsequent Benefits; the scope of the
Operational Trial and transitional issues associated with registration
and payment of individual and multiple Benefits during implementation) .
Impact:
Late resolution will have a direct effect on the preparedness of
benefits for roll-out.
Countermeasure:
* A CAPS Issues Register has been established addressing cross-
Programme issues and issues outside the scope of management by
individual strands. All issues will be allocated to individuals
within the Programme Authority to drive through resolution. Issues
arising from the Component Release Strategy (CRS) have now been fed
back to the Programme Authority and incorporated into the revised
CRS. Outstanding issues from the CRS will be entered on the Issues
Register. However, the Programme Authority recognises that all issues
across the CAPS Programme are not yet contained in the Issues
Register;
* The Programme Authority are reviewing the implications of havirg a
Test Strand and an Implementation Strand:
i) placing all the testing resources under a single strand with a Test
Strand Manager; ii) establishing an Implementation Strand; iii} Bob
Hall, a member of the Programme Authority and the author of the Test
Strategy, will become the Test Strand Manager; iv) a final version of
the Test Strategy intended to link with the overall BA/POCL test
strategy was due to be issued 29/9/95;
¢ A technical meeting on 7/9 and 8/9 involving the Programme Authority,
Strand Representatives, DITA, and ITSA Technical reached a common
understanding on technical issues;
e Three PFI Service Provider meetings were held w/c 11/9. These were
productive in establishing an open dialogue regarding timescales and
requirements. However the discussions were not in sufficient detail
to resolve integration issues and if timeframes remain as at present
detailed discussion on these issues will need to be commenced with
all three Service Providers prior to Award of Contract, thereby
potentially impacting on confidentiality issues;
The Programme Authority have taken on three consultants: two will focus
on Implementation issues for Day 1 amd post-Day 1; the other will
institute a LIFT strategy - leaflets; information; forms; traihing.
Comment:
In view of the above countermeasures risk materialisation likelihood is
considered to be continuously dropping.
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I Programme Slippage : I
Risk (6)Absence of clear definitions of CAPS functional requirements.
Owner CAPS Programme Manager - Jane Rintoul ©
Trend ft :
Background:
CAPS business requirements may not all be fulfilled. by the proposed
Programme activity strands. Functionality for all strands is still to
be fully defined and agreed.
A paper on roles and responsibilities remains outstanding.
To date the Personal Details strand have only focused on tactical as
oppesed to strategic solutions. This will result in a re-work of
Personal Details activity post-Child Benefit implementation.
Any extensions to the Programme timescales will only allow Personal
Details to provide strategic functionality for Day 1; such extensions
would enable other strands to provide additional non-essential
functionality for Day 1.
Despite baselining the plans, PIDs will not be issued because they
require significant re-working due to not adequately reflecting the
current position.
Impact:
i) mis~alignment of strand and Programme objectives ii}
incomplete/impaired delivery iii) descoping of functionality (without
significant re-work to carry out strategic aims).
Countermeasure:
* The Programme Authority have appointed a Business Manager to provide
the strategic business view across all the CAPS Programme strands;
* A Child Benefit Strand Manager has been appointed thereby placing
business and technical requirements under a single authority.
Comment:
Key issues which urgently need to be addressed are whether PIDs will be
issued, and if so when. Pending clear resolution of what needs to be
done within Personal Details risk likelihood now shows an upward trend.
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Resourcing I
Risk (7) Inadequate resourcing of key CAPS taska
Owner CAPS Programme Manager - Jane Rintoul
Trend
Background:
As ongoing business requirements are identified and clarified resource
demands continue to expand against the in-flow of only a limited number
of new resources. Conflicting resource demands, particularly from JSA
and Incap, exacerbate the problem.
* Resource requirements to handle the migration from the existing MOP
strategy to the new MOP strategy has not been determined;
* There are unknown resourcing requirements for dealing with error
* A letter from George McCorkell to the District Managers has been
issued but produced few tangible results to date.
Impact:
The lack of sufficient user resource is currently impacting on
completion of user requirements in the Personal Details and BA Field
Liaison strands. Longer term effects will result in late delivery.
Countermeasure:
* A number of new staff have been recruited in Benefit Field Liaison;
Personal Details the CAPS Programme Management Office and the
Programme Authority;
* Rob Langford is progressing resourcing requirements for error
handling;
* Benefit Field Liaison have packaged some work to the Districts during
the last month;
* A resource planning meeting took place on 18/9, but no fundamental
change to the resourcing strategy was agreed;
* Within the embryonic Testing strand it is possible that resource
shortages can be addressed in the short-term through the contractors
market .
Comment:
The identification of additional resource requirements this month
combined with the lack of response to the recruitment drive has raised
the probability of this risk occurring.
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I Service Provider non-performance ]
Risk (8) Weak definition of Programme Service requirements
Owner Head of Procurement Process - Pat Kelsey
Trend © :
Background:
Programme Service requirements will ultimately be expressed within the
contract schedules being developed. These must reflect at least the ssR
as stated, and in many cases, provide a more detailed understanding of
what is expected of the Service Provider.
Impact:
Weak contract; Service Provider-driven contract.
Countermeasure:
* Procurement. facilitators have taken over drafting schedules to enable
schedule owners to concentrate on the business requirements.
Centralising the drafting process has produced greater consistency of
style, presentation and positioning of information.
* The established procurement QA process has been supplemented by the
Design Authority commitment to ensure technical consistency across
the end to end process;
* The Stage 3 review on 2 October provided a check-step to enable the
Programme to clarify the ongoing process and definition of Programme
Service requirements.
Comment:
The follow-up to the Stage 3 review should enable Programme Service
requirements to be further clarified. The SSR and draft schedules must
be reconciled via one change control process which having been agreed
must be acceptable and followed by all. It is essential that sponsors
give a speedy response to changes. Risk likelihood remains level
pending the effective implementation of the Stage 3 review.
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Service Provider non-performance I
Risk (9) Failure of Service Providers to develop a sufficiently good
understanding of both existing POCL services to be migrated and
required POCL system interface information
Owner POCL Infrastructure ~ Bob King
Trend $
Background:
Each Service Provider currently lacks a sufficient understanding of
present POCL systems to be migrated {or with which to interface), and
overall detail on POCL counter infrastructure.
Impact:
Inability to progress Demonstrator development or Counter Negotiation
strands satisfactorily and/or to schedule.
Countermeasure:
A number of countermeasures are at various stages of implementation:
* Bach Service Provider has been ‘twinned’ with a POCL RNM ‘cluster’
with the aim of improving Service Provider knowledge and enabling a
wide range of POCL ‘front line’ staff to contribute to requirements
development ;
* The issue of secondment has been resolved, and a POCL representative
seconded to each Service Provider team for at least the Demonstrator
stage;
* Presentations on POCL business strategy and generic transaction
templates have been delivered to all Service Providers;
* A formal process has been established of nominated sponsors for each
schedule area signing-off on behalf of POCL before contract
negotiations commence;
* Bob King and Dave Miller will meet with POCL sponsors every other
Friday to agree sign-off.
Comment:
Service Providers understanding can be tested at:
* the Partnership Discussions between CONSCO and POCL;
* the Showcase Demonstrater events
Above progress maintains a downward trend in risk likelihood.
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[ User Reluctance “]
Risk (10) Potential costs and compromise of the POCL Customer Charter
arising from extended counter queuing times oe x
Owner POCL Business Facilitation -Nina Mooney
Trend ©
Background:
Transaction times for Card based benefit payments may exceed those
which currently exist. This May not necessarily translate
proportionately to a corresponding increase in Counter queuing time -
models will need to be developed to study this.
Impact:
The length and cost of transaction times will have serious implications
for the business case, especially in BA and potentially for other pocn
clients. There are also implications for the PocL Customer Charter.
Countermeasure:
* A ‘portfolio’ of timings for all aspects of counter work under
existing procedures has been developed in order to make Service
Providers aware of what they are being assessed against. Areas
covered span schedule headings (APS, BES [Benefit Encashment
Service], EPOS, TMS). Tolerances will be highlighted;
* A modelling strategy has been agreed. Individual transaction times
are to be evaluated and modela of offices to be produced to cover
total transaction times;
* Individual transaction times are to be evaluated by a POCL team;
* A second team has been organised to develop models for different
office types, and will use these timings as input. Output from these
models will feed into Demonstrator development ;
* BA will be involved in the Demonstration of benefit payment
transaction times.
Comment:
Risk trend remains level pending a suitable response from the Service
Providers
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Cost Overrun I
Risk (11) Failure of final BA and POCL business cases
Owner PSO Business Case
Trend ©
Background:
Resulting from unsatisfactory Service Provider pricing information.
Initial Service Provider proposals, compromise both POCL and BA
business cases. In the case of BA for example, service costs exceed
anticipated administrative savings. Service Providers have been
notified of the unacceptability of initial terms.
Sponsors are concerned that only indicative pricings are currently
available from the Service Providers.
A key issue will be risk transfer/acceptance of liability. The Service
Providers want to charge by counter position, and are likely to want to
be provided with volume guarantees from both BA and POCL. Absence of
volume guarantees will impact Service Provider pricings, and they will
undoubtedly build in contingencies to their pricings if volume
guarantees are not provided.
The overall Public Sector case remains sound because of fraud savings.
Impact:
The risk spans both pre-contract business justification and post-
implementation realisation of business savings. Its ultimate impact is
that there is an absence of business rationale for the card
Countermeasure:
Investigation into revised and acceptable pricing structures is :
currently underway. Recently received Service Provider responses all :
include indications of how cost may be potentially reduced within their
respective solutions. Where possible, estimates of potential
savings/reductions have been prepared using established business
models, and a paper analysing the Service Provider responses has been
circulated to the CNT and reported to the PSC for information. The
Service Provider responses lack clear pricings, so it is not yet
possible to judge whether the Business Case has moved into a positive
state.
Comment:
Timing of impact: Final Service Provider selection. Risk likelihood is
considered level pending further information from the Service Providers
in negotiation.
. BA/POCL Programme
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Progress Report
4. Key Dates in the Short Term
Activity Owner Last This Achieved Comments
Report Report
Lease signed PSO Pacilities 30/06/95 24/08/96
business case Business Case
PAB Shortlist [CAPS 08/08795 12/09/88 [Shortlist agreed by
Suppliers the Procurement
Board
ALPS = roll-out I ALPS 23/99/95 25/09/95
complete
Finalise Procurement 31/08/95 nfk Stage 3 timescales
demonstrator under review
plans
POCL POCL 36/03/35 Oct 95 BA/POCL input
Commercial Conmercial required. BA
Plan signed-~ Commercial agreement
off needed
Contract Commercial Oct 95 Differences remain
structure over contract.
agreed etructure.
Discussions ongoing.
Meeting on 5/10/95
CAPS Business I CAPS 95/10/95
case to BASCIS
fox tial
approval
PAB Business I CAPS 05/10/95
case to BASCIS
for approval
ist draft BA] PSO 31/07/55 8/10/95 BA case - Original
milestone veferrad
to joint business
I case. Confirmed this
igs not reqd.
Financial PSO Finance 25/69/95 24/10/95 Team resourcing
contrel Des problems leading to
I issued veprioritisation of
I work
Programme Programme 24710785 :
awayday :
Draft BA case I PSO ~ 30/10/95
to Programme I Business Case
Director
First draft I Procurement 25/99/95 O3/11/95
BA/POCL.
schedules i 1
.
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