POL00337662
POL00337662
Post Office Limited - Document Classification: INTERNAL
Operational Working Agreement
(OWA)
POST OFFICE
<INSERT NAME OF SERVICE
DRAVINERS
Post Office Limited - Document Classification: INTERNAL
Post Office IT Service Operational Working Agrement
POL00337662
POL00337662
®
Post Office Operational Working Agreement (OWA)
This OWA is a generic/standard description of how Post Office IT Service and Operations expects to deliver
Service management with their contracted Clients, Suppliers and other Service providers. However it does not
override any contractual commitments, agreements and SLA’s agreed through formal procurement,
contracted/legal agreements and Service Definition/Design. It is a “handy guide” to a standard way of working
with Post Office IT. Further it is a working operational document and therefore expected to be revised over
time.
2.0 25/10/21 Updates to reduce size and make more consolidated Stuart Banfield
Contents
1 Introduction .
23
1.1 Roles and Responsibilities 3
1.2 Scope of Operational Services 3
1.3 Minimum Viable Service .....:.sccssecseseeseseeseseeeeeee iovenonssnsteressaene D
2, Service Model...
3 5
3.1 «5
3.2 25
3.3 IT DSD Service Hours . 25
3.4 Priority Definitions... 6
3.5 SLA Matrix 6
3.5.1 Response .. 6
3.5.2 Updates. 6
3.5.3 Resolution. 6
4 MIM Major Incident Management 7
4.1 Initiating a Major Incident 17
4.2 High severity response . 7
5 Change Management 8
5.1 Initiating a Change
5.2 Change Lead Time v.sssesesessseeeeeeeveees
5.3. Maintenance Hours.
5.4 Change Management Contact Details
6 Appendix A — Post Office Service Management ...
6.1.1 Service Desk Management/Incident Management
6.1.2 Contacts se _
6.1.3 Capability of Service...
7 Appendix B — Client, Supplier or Service Provider Service Management ..ssssssseseseseseseseeeees 10
7.1.1 Service Desk Management/Incident Management.
7.1.2 Contacts (for escalation only).
7.1.3 Capability of Service
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POL00337662
POL00337662
Post Office Limited - Document Classification: INTERNAL 4
Post Office IT Service Operational Working Agrement
1 Introduction
This OWA is a description of the standard way that Post Office IT Service and Operations delivers a generic IT Service under an
ITIL Service Management frame work within Post Office. Over 90% of IT Services run in Post Office are managed via generic IT
operational processes. These processes are delivered in this way to provide a consistent way of dealing with issues on a day to
day basis and thus maintain the quality of service delivered to Post Office customers.
Customisation of processes can be provided (for example such as Capacity Management, ITSCM, IT Asset Management,
Performance and many others), but these are not included in this document and are subject to contractual agreements.
Customisation will be described in separate Service Design Documents and operationalised in standalone operational working
documents.
Note Service Definition precedence - where a contract has been agreed between Post Office and the client/supplier, any/all
service definitions will have been formally documented and terms and definitions are expected to take precedence over this
OWA.
This is not a legally binding or contractual document. It is an operational/working process/living document that may be updated
or edited over time to enhance or react to service changes.
1.1 Roles and Responsibilities
These roles are responsible for the day to day running of the IT Services Post Office uses for external and internal customers,
products and services, and, client and supplier services.
t point of contact for all day to day incident management team. Based in Chesterfield includes Level 1 Post
Office colleagues able to log issues as Incidents in Post Office Service Now and respond/provide updates on
resolutions.
Service Manager Responsible for the performance of the operational IT service of a particular product. Will have an input to
performance including Major Incident and Change, CSI activities. Has responsiblilities for the end to end delivey
(sometimes delivered via serveral suppliers/clkients and their disporate systems and solutions),
Head of IT Service Responsible for the overall performance of IT services that align to partiular businesses within Post Office.
Groups of Post Office business products will be managed by this role.
Major Incident Manager Responsible for Major Incident management and will lead on restore to service activities. Due to the nature of
some Post Office operational services being available 24x7 this role may be delgated to authorised individuals.
Change Manager Lead role in Change Management to ensure all changes to live Operational services are managed in consistent
and approved ways.
TT Service Design and Lead role in introduction of new and changed IT Services. Responsible for Transition into live activities to ensure smooth
Transition Manager transitions and readiness for go live activities. Key to Service Acceptance and IT BAU handover
IT Services Director Responsible for all IT Services operated and managed on a day to day basis across Post Office
Business or Product Owner I Responsible for the overall performance of Post Office products and services within Post Office. May initiate change to
align to new POL initiatives or improve existing product performance including, where required, the underlying and
supporting IT Service.
1.2 Scope of Operational Services
Post Office IT Service Management typically provide Tier 1/Service Desk level management only, enabling Suppliers and Clients
to manage services they are directly responsible for
Post Office will transition Client or Supplier service into a BAU IT service management process (the scope of this document) to
align with the agreed go live date. This transition will cover the interaction between the Post Office and the Client or Supplier of
the solution, system or application.
1.3 Minimum Viable Service
Post Office will provide the Minimum Viable Service of...
Capability Purpose
Service Desk Manage user and system issues. Generate new Incidents, monitor and work to resolution (with 3° party
clients and suppliers) these incidents
Incident Management Details around standard Incident Management
Major Incident Management Handing how major Incidents can be opened and updated with Post Office. Major Incidents represent
large business impact to Post Office
‘Change Management Describing how operational changes are managed within Post Office to ensure good quality and successful
changes are executed within Post Office live system and solutions to agreed criteria.
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POL00337662
POL00337662
Post Office Limited - Document Classification: INTERNAL ¥
Post Office IT Service Operational Working Agrement
2 Service Model
The model below is the generic and standard Service Model that Post Office IT Service Management expect to be implemented
once live.
Post Office Standard Service model
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POL00337662
POL00337662
Post Office Limited - Document Classification: INTERNAL “
Post Office IT Service Operational Working Agrement
3 IT Digital Service Desk (IT DSD)
The goal of the Incident Management process is to restore normal service within agreed service level agreements. Achieved by
managing and governing all incidents where services are provided by clients and suppliers.
All Incidents raised are recorded, classified and prioritised based on their impact and urgency in line with the contracted Service
Levels. Post Office uses ServiceNow as its IT Service Management toolset to manage all Incidents from reporting and updates, to
resolution and closure.
The Incident Management Team will work with Users, Clients or Suppliers on undertaking the following activities:
© Management of Major Incidents in line with current Major Incident Management processes
‘© Management of Lower severity incidents in line with the current DSD defined process.
The IT DSD is available 24 x 365 to authorised Post Office IT clients and suppliers and is supported by the IT Service Management
tool set for incident logging. All Incidence should be raised via a telephone call to IT DSD. When connected to the IT DSD Service
representative, please quote your PATHCODE.
3.1 Purpose
IT DSD will co-ordinates and manages the distribution of calls to all the resolver groups across the Supply Chain.
The Monitoring and escalation of lower priority tickets against resolution service levels and agreed KPIs.
e Actas the primary contact in relation to the Incident Management process for the Supplier as required.
@ Manage the end to end incident management activities and engage as appropriate where an incident may impact more
than one Supplier or require the support of another Supplier.
¢ Coordinate activities between Suppliers to ensure timely Incident resolution and contractual fulfilment.
* Monitor the progress of all Incidents through to resolution and escalate areas of concern, failure or potential
improvement as required with the supplier and/ or service management.
3.2 Client or Supplier responsibilities
The Digital Service Desk has several requirements for and dependencies upon Client or Supplier to enable it to provide a great
customer experience and to meet its Service Level targets.
Specifically, Client or Supplier is required to:
e Accept all priority Incidents transferred from the IT DSD either directly or via phone or email.
o Pils & P2s may be escalated to IT DSD, but subsequently managed by Post Office IT Major Incident
Management process.
Provide progress updates to incidents being resolved in their domain either via telephone to ensure the Post Office is
kept up to date and is the single version of the truth.
Provide a unique reference number for each ticket raised and likewise store the IT DSD reference number for cross-
referencing purposes.
© Notify the IT DSD when any Client or Supplier or Post Office defined high impacting (P1 or P2) incident is identified so
that it can be managed per the Incident Management processes defined in this document.
3.3 IT DSD Service Hours
Type tail
IT DSD Service Hours Weekdays 08:00 to 18:30
Saturdays and Public Holidays (England) - 09:00 to 13:00
Major Incident Management For P1/P2 management 24x7 (on receipt of a Major Incident logged through Post Office
ServiceNow)
Change Management (09:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday excluding any UK Bank Holidays
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POL00337662
POL00337662
Post Office Limited - Document Classification: INTERNAL 4
Post Office Ir Service Operational Working Agrement
3.4 Priority Definitions
Priority Definitions
Means an Incident that results in a critical business impact where Post Office experiences:
@ a complete or substantial loss of service,
(ii) Total loss of service/Total Out Of Service (TOOS)
(iii) data Problem making an essential part of the Contractor System unusable for the end users,
(iv) the inability to access the Contractor System or Service.
jw) More than 25% of branches unable to trade, or all branches in one particular geographical area (if less
than 25% of total).
Means an Incident that results or could result in potential severe business impact on the Service; a Incident
where:
0) the Contractor System is materially adversely affected, but can be circumvented,
(ii) certain material aspects of the Contractor System are disabled, but the Service remains operable,
(ii) some users are unable to access the Contractor System and this causes material adverse business
impact. ‘Materially’, means, but not limited to, the Post Office suffers financial loss; business
transactions cannot take place; operations are affected.
ww) more than 10% of branches unable to trade
Means an Incident that results in a minimal business impact for the Contractor System where:
0) non-critical functions or procedures are down, unusable, or difficult to use with some operational
impact or can be circumvented without material impact,
(ii) an Incident where Post Office experiences no loss of service and which does not cause an adverse
business impact.
Means:
@ an Incident that results in little or no material impact for the Contractor an Incident System or Post
Office’s business
(ii) where the Contractor System is determined to be functioning as designed and may result in a Change
Request for modifications, enhancements, or routine Services
(ii) ‘A question that may result in authorized user training
(iv) Request For Information (RFl) type questions
3.5 SLA Matrix
The following table documents Standard Service Levels within Post Office. Client or Supplier would be requested to align to
these as closely as possible on a reasonable endeavours’ basis subject to their own contractual obligations with the Post Office.
IT Digital Service Desk
IT DSD Response Updates IT DSD Resolution
15 Mins 30 minutes 4 Elapsed hours
30 Mins 60 minutes 8 Elapsed hours
4 Hours Once per day 3 Working Days
8 Hours Once per day 5 Working Days
3.5.1 Response
The time for the initial response to be received from the Client or Supplier. This can be in the form of an acknowledgement or
Incident reference. It is the responsibility of the Client’s or Supplier’s own service Management processes to further work that
Incident to resolution.
3.5.2 Updates
Ameaningful, plain English, update that provides the status of the Incident or requests further information.
3.5.3 Resolu
Where the Incident is resolved such that the business or product can be utilised as per designed. Alternately an acceptable work
around may be agreed with Post Office, such that the Incident can be resolved. This may not directly resolve the issue, but may
allow returning the Post Office business or product back into use/back into service.
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POL00337662
POL00337662
®
Post Office Limited - Document Classification: INTERNAL
Post Office IT Service Operational Working Agrement
4 MIM Major Incident Management
The Major Incident Management process will co-ordinate, engage and update, internal and external interested parties ensuring
that all users, client, suppliers and service providers are working in the same direction. The IT MIM team will work closely with
the Post Office business owners and the Client and Suppliers to drive the speedy restoration of incidents and communicate
progress in a timely and clear manner.
The Major Incident Management team provide 24/7 coverage for high priority service incidents only (Priority 1 and Priority 2).
4.1 Initiating a Major Incident
Issues should be raised as per standard new Incident opening process as described in section 3
Where a High Priority incident is identified from first contact, the call shall to IT DSD shall propose that the Incident be
raised to a Major Incident
o With clarification as to the impact to Post Office business as justification.
Where an Incident is initially raised as a low priority, but due to ether deteriorating conditions, greater impact or other
new information coming to light there is a belief that the priority should be high than initially reported, then a
subsequent cal call shall be made to IT DSD to providing the ServiceNow Incident reference and requesting that the IT
DSD propose that the Incident be raised to a Major Incident
The Major Incident Management process will start and either...
© The Incident is accepted as a Major Incident, and the MIM process will initiate, or
© The Incident is not accepted as a Major Incident and should be worked according to documented processes for
a Priority 3 or 4 Incident
4.2 High severity response
P1 and P2 graded Incidents are considered High impacting to Post Office business and as such quality as Major Incidents to be
managed by Major Incident Management to resolution.
The Supplier or Client is at minimum expected to...
Ensure updates are provided to IT DSD every 30mins for a Priority 1 incidents and every 60mins for Priority 2 incidents.
Assign a technical escalation lead to facilitate swift resolution of the Major incident
Attend bridge calls upon request from the IT DSD MIM (it’s is up to the client or supplier to co-ordinate their own
attendance at the call
Participate in resolution activities
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POL00337662
POL00337662
Post Office Limited - Document Classification: INTERNAL 4
Post Office IT Service Operational Working Agrement
5 Change Management
Change Management refers to the formal process for making changes to Post Office IT services, within the production
environment. It controls the life cycle of all changes, enabling beneficial changes to be made across the internal and partner-
delivered, maintained and supported environments, with minimum disruption to the Post Office, its customers and end users.
5.1 Initiating a Change
© Change Management can be initiated in two ways
1. Completing the Request For Change (RFC) form
CM-FOR-POL
Request For Change
2. Sending the standard change notification your business use via email. This notice needs only to be sent
when the change will, could or possibly (in a worse-case scenario) impact Post Office. Note that this
notice must include at a minimum
i. Description
ii, Impact
. Period of time that the change will be initiated within (start and finish times)
iv. Contact details in case of clarity/questions before and during the change
5.2 Change Lead Time
Post Office Change Management follows a number of processes in order to receive, log, authorise, schedule and communicate
the change. Changes may need notification to non IT department leads to ensure that communication and any workarounds can
be enacted.
Lead Time Typically
2.working days ‘Small changes with no or minimum user impact.
5 working days ‘Any change that will need user comms to warn of the change
10 working days ‘Any change that impacts Post Office Services during the services expected trading hours
5.3 Maintenance Hours
Post Office expects that all changes will be carried out during low business hours. Note that Post Office is a 24hour business so
there is no specific time when no transactions are expected. However standard customer traffic leads to a low
traffic/transaction period overnight (UK timing). Therefore Post Office expects that changes are processed between 11pm and
Sam (daily).
ITChangeManagemen
09:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday excluding any UK Bank Holidays
Operational Hours
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POL00337662
POL00337662
Post Office Limited - Document Classification: INTERNAL 4
Post Office IT Service Operational Working Agrement
6 Appendix A — Post Office Service Management
Contacts and Escalation names. Note that these may change over time, Post Office can be contacted for the updated contacts and details on at least a yearly
basis.
<INSERT NAME OF SERVICE PROVIDER>
6.1.1 Service Desk Management/ Incident Management
Contact details
Contact role
IT Digital Service Desk Phone Number
Pathcode PATHXXXX <Insert correct Path Codel Here>
Escalation Point 1
} (quoting Post Office Incident reference)
Escalation Point 1 <insert Detail Here>
Escalation Point 3 <Insert Detail Here>
Any special instructions for the Client, <Insert Detail Here>
Supplier or Service Provider to follow
6.1.2 Contacts
Roles Description
ITServiceManagement("
<Insert Detail Here>
Duty IT Service Management
TT Service Manager
Head of IT Service <Insert Detail Here>
Major Incidents should be called (by phone) via Post Office IT Digital Service Desk.
Major Incident Management MIM only managed via a live conf call bridge — contacts to be supplied at the time
of the MI
Change Management ITChangeManagement{
IT Services Director Gary Walke
Business or Product Owner <Insert Detail Here>
6.1.3 Capability of Service
Type of activity Description
Service Desk
Volume expected*
Tier 1 Service Desk owning all Incident within the Post Office IT eco system.
Single point of contact for Users, Clients, Suppliers and Service Providers for
all IT issues
Incident Management Processes to manage issues that are Incidents where responses deviate 10 per Month
from that designed or expected.
Change Management POL are expecting any changes that impact the service (product or users) to_I 1 per month
be reported to Post Office Change Management
Major Incident Management __I Processes that Post Office uses to manage Incidents defined as Major. ‘per Month
Major incidents will materially impact Post Office business solutions and
products.
“This is standard/expected levels of work volume. Where this volume is expected to be higher or includes other activities (Capacity management, Demand
Management, etc), then this will be documented within the Service Design Document
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POL00337662
POL00337662
Post Office Limited - Document Classification: INTERNAL 4
Post Office IT Service Operational Working Agrement
7 Appendix B - Client, Supp
<INSERT NAME OF SERVICE PROVIDER>
7.1.1 Service Desk =a ement/Incident =a ement
Contact role Contact details
r or Service Provider Service Management
Service Desk Email <Insert Detail Here>
‘Service Desk Phone Number <Insert Detail Here>
‘Standard business hours the Service Desk is <Insert Detail Here>
contactable (not considered Out of Hours or Duty
hours)
Escalation Point 1 <Insert Detail Here>
‘Any special instructions for the Post Office IT <Insert Detail Here><
Digital Service Desk must follow?
7.1.2 Contacts (for escalation only)
Roles De:
IT Service or Operations Manager <Insert Here>
Director or Head of IT Service/Ops <Insert Here>
Maintenance Window hours <Please confirm/describe process here if different to section 6.3>
Business orProductowner <Insert your business or Product owner here responsible for Post Office business
or product engagement i.e. commercial or contract, not technical>
7.1.3 Capability of Service
Type of activity Provided? Are there any particular differences, contractual or otherwise, that do not align with the
Service that Post Office provides? Please describe here so they are noted?
Service Desk v <Please indicate your normal Service Desk hours and if you have a 24x7 call
out facility>
Incident Management v <Please indicate any preference of contact method (phone, email, other)>
Change Management v <Insert contact details, distribution lists, etc of those needing to be alerted to
any changes Post Office is making that may impact this service >
<Please indicate your normal Service Desk hours and if you have a 24x7 call
out facility>
Major Incident Management
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