Category Archives: Campaign4Change

Bridging the divide: an engineered approach to IT projects

Posted on 06/02/2012 | Leave a comment

The State Auditor in California recently criticised a planned high speed rail system between San Francisco and Los Angeles because the project suffered from critical, on-going oversight problems. In this guest blog, Bob Evans, founder and Managing Director of TestIT Software Assurance, explains why it is critical to have a ‘single source of truth’ for any IT development, to provide the required level of cohesion, discipline, control and transparency that should be expected from any engineering project.

The risks associated with developing or changing IT systems are well documented. IT failures always bring despair and reputational damage to all involved.

Do you remember the scene in Blackadder where General Melchett suggested that walking slowly (again) towards the German machine guns would be “the last thing they’d expect” – and so “that’s what we’re going to do”? This seems to be the attitude found in many IT procurements. What’s needed is a fresh, radical and innovative approach, especially in these changed times where senior management focus is on delivery and cost.

Keeping Control

Establishing and maintaining control of an outsourced project is the single, most important part of IT development; it is imperative for the purchaser to remain in full control at all times. In all of the failure scenarios that we have researched, it is obvious in every case that control has been lost, with always calamitous consequences.

The nature of the procurement process and inevitable time pressure means that the requirements of a new software system aren’t always well-defined at project inception. Typically, specifications are incomplete or ambiguous and put together from a range of disparate sources, with non-existent internal process and control. The “silo” attitude that is often encountered across departmental organisations is usually a key factor here.  Requirements that are not made clear at the start of the project will inevitably lead to confusion, delays, additional cost and even to dispute.

And if a contract is awarded on the basis of a flawed specification, the chosen vendor is in a strong position to justify delays and ramp up the costs. When planned schedules are missed and costs spiral out of control, well intended remedial actions can then create new, unforeseen problems, leading to even more rework.

The culture of care and diligence found in many traditional engineering environments is sometimes lacking in the IT industry and in our experience, engineering discipline is usually the first casualty when pressure is applied. Very quickly, the focus shifts to fire-fighting and a project loses sight of its objectives. It’s like building a bridge – but when halfway across, only fitting every other bolt.

 Contrived Tests

It’s no surprise that applications that have seemingly passed an Acceptance Test, when deployed on a live system, prove to be problematic. Validating the effectiveness of an IT system is typically a contrived process – put simply, tests are designed to pass! They would be – they are usually designed, controlled and often even run by the software vendor.

If you were buying a used car from a local garage, you’d get the RAC to come along and check out the mechanics. You wouldn’t even think of asking the mechanic who worked at that garage to do the inspection would you? But invariably this is the case in IT.

As discussed above, it is imperative that full control of the project remains with the purchaser. But without, continual up to date feedback and independent metrics, it’s hard to know what’s really going on. And the critical decision – when to go live – cannot be made with confidence.

Agile Development

The concept of Agile Development has been round for many years. However, it is still to be seen whether this approach can really work on a large, complex project. A properly managed set of sprints – with precise objectives, proper controls and diligent, independent validation at appropriate times may indeed lead to a more rapid and successful conclusion. However, it should be noted that as development continues, the needs of the business will necessarily change. If controls are not adequately maintained, no process – not even “Agile” ones – can keep up. What is delivered is what the vendor believes is required, rather than what is actually required by the business. And no matter what methodology is used for developing software, at the end of the development cycle it is essential to verify, independently and thoroughly, that the product meets the needs of the business.

The Agile Manifesto focuses on “working software over comprehensive documentation”. Documentation is of course often cumbersome. However, minimising the amount of information while maximising the value of the information is what’s really needed.

When it’s too late – and organisations end up mired in a legal dispute, we’ve been called in to play the part of the pathologist. It is soon apparent that the project was doomed from the start – no spec, no metrics, no control, no hope. Suppliers who didn’t listen, purchasers who didn’t actually know what they needed in the first place.

But there is another way. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency recently used independent software assurance to ensure success of its high-profile CERS/SVD project. There was an acknowledgement right from the start that requirements were bound to change and controls put in place to manage this. There were efficient, timely tests – not at the project end, but continuous tests, right from project inception. There was an approach that asked:  “What can we do given the available time and budget?”, rather than the popular “one-shot, whistle and bells” approach. And there was pro-active searching for and identifying issues early on – when the supplier was still on site – which meant that remedial actions were fixed by the supplier, at no additional cost to the project. Independent, constantly updated metrics also meant that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency stayed in complete control.

It isn’t rocket science. But for IT projects, the discipline driven by an engineering-based approach is generally more likely to lead to success. That’s why bridges get built – and IT projects often don’t. 

TestIT Software Assurance

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Posted in Agile, Campaign4Change, change management, Government IT, IT projects, managing change, managing outsourced services

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Transition Institute launches mutuals ‘spin-out’ camps

Posted on 03/02/2012 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

The Transition Institute has come up with a good idea: spin out camps. It plans to hold three over the coming months which will feature networking sessions and practical workshops discussing business design, implementing the business plan and service innovation, all delivered by experts in the field.

The scheduled months for the camps are:

  • North West – March 2012
  • North East – May 2012
  • Midlands – July 2012

Visit the Transition Institute website for more details

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Posted in Campaign4Change, mutualisation, mutuals, public sector, public services, social economy, social enterprise

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Some success in cutting Whitehall costs

Posted on 02/02/2012 | Leave a comment

By Tony Collins

The coalition government, Cabinet Office, Treasury, departments and agencies have succeeded in cutting central government costs, according to a National Audit Office report published today.

The NAO found that “in particular, large reductions have been made in spending on consultants, temporary staff, property and information technology” in 2010-11.

Departments cut their spend on consultants by £645m in – a real-terms reduction of 37%, said the NAO which also identified “£537m reduced capital spending on IT-related items”.

Unlike some previous reports of the NAO that have questioned the credibility of officialdom’s claims of savings, the NAO’s latest report “Cost reduction in central government: summary of progress” found that the savings claimed by the Cabinet Office, Treasury and government were usually genuine.

Where departments have cut costs by cancelling IT projects or having contracts renegotiated – as opposed to simplifying and streamlining the way they work – the NAO was unsure whether the savings could be sustained.

Said the NAO

“Central government departments took effective action in 2010-11 to reduce costs and successfully managed within the reduced spending limits announced following the 2010 election.

“This resulted in a 2.3% real-terms reduction in spending within departments’ control, compared with 2009-10. Some £3.75bn or around half the reduction was in areas targeted by the Efficiency and Reform Group for cuts in back‑office and avoidable costs.”

Are IT cuts sustainable without a change in working practices?

The NAO said:

 “The fall of 35 per cent in IT capital spend is partly the result of decisions to permanently halt or reduce spending on specific projects, and partly the result of action to reduce the costs of IT products and services including through contract renegotiation.

“However, it is unlikely that IT capital spending will remain at this lower level in total, given the key role of IT and online services in increasing productivity.”

The NAO mentioned the actions of some departments by name.

–          The Home Office cut costs in part by “significant reductions in IT, estates and consultancy spending”.

– HM Revenue & Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Defence aimed to secure the bulk of cost reductions from within their organisations. HM Revenue & Customs has established comprehensive governance arrangements to reduce costs, with a central team and programme management infrastructure. The Department for Work and Pensions put in place a transformation programme board in May 2011 to oversee the redesign of its corporate centre and broader cultural change. “However, it cannot finalise plans beyond 2011-12 as they depend on the future business model after the introduction of Universal Credit,” said the NAO. The DWP’s finance team has provided ‘What the Future Holds’ updates and interactive briefings for staff.

– The NAO said it “identified strong leadership as a key factor in the success of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s cost reduction efforts”.

– The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Services within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs “held sufficiently detailed information to be able to challenge its project managers to reduce costs without affecting services”. The NAO said the “resulting savings identified from some 200 projects made up 30 per cent of the Agency’s efforts to meet their efficiency savings target”.

In July 2011, the Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group reported to the Public Accounts Committee that it had helped save some £3.75bn through various initiatives. “Our analysis of the audited accounts of the 17 main departments confirms that spending in the areas targeted was reduced on this scale”, said the NAO.

Comment

The NAO report shows that within some departments officials are cutting costs by simply reducing grants but some parts of central government are making an effort to do things differently.

We hope the coalition and Cabinet Office keep up the pressure for cost-cutting because, in IT alone, the potential savings are in the billions. The NAO report shows there has been a good start. We hope that the officials who are achieving lasting success will pass on their learning experiences to those who are struggling to make cuts sustainable.

NAO report Cost reduction in central government – a summary of progress

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Posted in Campaign4Change, capacity building, change, change management, Government IT, IT projects, managing change, managing outsourced services, operational issues, recruitment freeze, reducing cost strategically, reforms, Universal Credit

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Understanding the politics of ‘stepping out’ to create a public sector mutual

Posted on 02/02/2012 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

I just read an excellent piece by Craig Dearden-Philips in the Guardian today about the politics involved in the spinning out of a public sector mutual.

He argues that if you, as a public manager, want to ‘step out’, you’ve not only got to do the numbers, you’ve also got to do the politics.

He suggests that politicians, or very senior executives, need three things. Firstly, they need to know if this fits in with the general tenor of where they see things going more widely in the organisation. Secondly, they want to know that the numbers add up.

And finally, and perhaps the most interesting, “politicians and senior managers need to know that they can influence the new body. For councillors and top executives, who are used to directly managing services, a spin-out can present a big operational and financial threat. They can no longer just recover a deficit elsewhere by plundering your budget. Nor, if they are no longer in charge, can they, in the event of a bad headline, tell voters they are putting a rocket under you! Again, the answer here lies in giving them a place at the table and moving the relationship from one governed by command and control to one where influence is exercised through a contract.”

Guardian Public Services Summit

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Posted in Campaign4Change, managing change, mutualisation, mutuals, Politics, private sector, public sector, public services

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DWP civil servants get ready for MyCSP mutual leap

Posted on 01/02/2012 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

An article  published yesterday in the Financial Times has focused on the move of 500 civil servants to form a mutual.

The 500 staff, currently in the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), will leave the public sector in March and become stakeholders in MyCSP, a privately held company that will handle the retirement funds of 1.5m civil servants.

The FT calls the move to create a so-called John Lewis-style mutual, “one of the biggest experiments in public sector reform.”

It writes that under the MyCSP model, profits will be shared between a private sector provider, which will hold a 42 per cent stake; the government, with 33 per cent; and employees, who will own 25 per cent of the shares. 

A shortlist of 16 private sector providers has been whittled down to four – Xafinity, Capita, JLT and Wipro – with the winner due to be announced next month.

In light of the ongoing row over executive pay, the FT points out that the chief executive’s compensation will be capped at 8 per cent above the average employee’s salary while 1 per cent of net profits will be paid to charities and a further 1 per cent used to create apprenticeships.

You can read the full FT article here (subscription required)

Stephen Kelly – the man at the coalface of the Big Society

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Posted in Campaign4Change, change management, managing change, mutualisation, mutuals, public sector, social enterprise

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Auditor criticises agency over IT contracts and oversight for California high speed rail project

Posted on 31/01/2012 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

Let’s hope that when the HS2 high speed rail link gets underway – assuming it gets the final go-ahead in 2014 – it doesn’t have the same problems over IT contracts and oversight that have recently come to light over a high speed rail project in California.

A new report by the California State Auditor on a planned high speed system between San Francisco and Los Angeles found that the $98.5bn project has suffered from a number of critical, ongoing oversight problems.

In particular, the auditor found that the High Speed Rail Authority responsible for the project has struggled to provide an appropriate level of contract oversight, because it is significantly understaffed.

As Palo Alto Online reports, “The audit paints a picture of a severely understaffed state agency that is struggling to keep track of its contractors, who outnumber the rail authority’s staff by a factor of about 25 to 1. As of last August, the authority had only 21.5 filled positions and more than 500 contractors.”

The State Auditor also found that the Authority poorly managed its IT contracts and engaged in ‘inappropriate contracting practices involving IT services.’

In addition to the initial contract, the audit report says, the Authority used 13 individual contracts for IT services over a 15-month period that ranged from $105,655 to $249,999.99 for similar services with one vendor.

Instead of multiple contracts generally having aggregate values of just under $250,000 with one vendor for similar services, the Auditor said, the Authority should have combined the services into one contract and solicited competitive bids or obtained approval to noncompetitively bid the contract.

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Posted in Campaign4Change, governance, Government IT, IT projects, oversight, project management

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NPfIT Cerner go-live at Bristol – Trust issues apology

Posted on 31/01/2012 | 4 comments

By Tony Collins

North Bristol NHS Trust has issued an apology on its website after problems with the implementation of a Cerner Millennium patient record system under the National Programme for IT.

Some Bristol consultants had regarded the software as installed at the Trust as “potentially dangerous”.

The Trust went live on 9 December 2011 with a Cerner patient administration system at Frenchay Hospital and Southmead Hospital that replaced two systems. But the Trust has had to revert to paper in some areas.

On its website the Trust says that its “65 wards and maternity department are all using the new system successfully”.

It accepts that it has “experienced significant problems” in outpatient clinics. It says “These problems have been caused by the incorrect set up of clinic lists, which meant staff could not access the system and errors in the data migration of existing appointments.

“As a result, some patients may have received the wrong appointment dates, no confirmation of appointment or letters being sent out in error.  Again, processes are in place to minimise further disruption to out-patient appointments and ensure patient safety.”

TheTrust says it has engineers and technicians re-building the clinics’ system or they are “in clinics correcting problems as they happen, providing solutions and resolving issues”.

The intention is that 90% of areas will be using Cerner by the end of today [31 January]. “Our aim is that by early February all outpatient clinics will be using Cerner. All other outpatient appointments are being managed via other systems and paper processes.”

The Trust says it is contacting patients by phone or letter to advise them of their current appointment slot. “We have ensured that any urgent referrals including cancer two week waits have been prioritised to ensure they are unaffected.”

It adds “During the process of correcting the issues with outpatient clinics and to support GPs and their patients we have written to them to advise them that all patients who have been referred to us either through Choose & Book, fax or Fast Track are within our appointments system.

“We have advised GPs of a dedicated telephone number, fax number and email address for GPs or their patients to contact for further advice. To provide further reassurance to patients and GPs we will keep the helpline service running until the end of February.”

Apology

The Trust says on its website:

“We apologise and would like to thank the public for their patience and our staff for their hard work and dedication in ensuring that patient safety is not compromised.

“These issues have caused disruption and frustration for our patients and our staff and we recognise that this has not delivered the level of service that we expect, and the public expect, from us.

“It has also placed extra workload on our staff, who nevertheless, remain dedicated to ensuring the best possible patient care during this period, and managing the issues that the Trust faces.

“Our Information Management & Technology Team, supported by our suppliers BT and Cerner, have been working very hard to sort out these initial issues and we are already seeing improvements.

“We remain confident that once the new system is fully implemented, it will significantly improve services for our patients and better equip us to meet future challenges.”

Meanwhile the Bristol Evening Post reports that the Chief Executive of the hospital trust, Ruth Brunt, has called for an independent inquiry into the issues surrounding the implementation of the Cerner system.

She said people who have turned up to appointments and operations that have been cancelled or were not on the system would be compensated.  A hotline has also been set up so that people can check whether their appointments are in the system.

The Bristol Evening Post also reported that reception staff had walked out due to the pressure of dealing with patients who were unhappy to find their appointments not on the new system.

“It is horrendous – what used to take us five or six clicks is currently taking 24 and we cannot access the details,” a staff member said. “The notes have not been available when people turn up.

“We have all worked hard and I am sure if it was anywhere else we would have gone on strike. The people on the ground are struggling. It is really demoralising because we are doing our best. Girls on reception are dealing with queues of people and there has been an occasion where a receptionist has walked out because they were so stressed.

“When patients call up we want to be able to help them, but at the moment we don’t know where to look.”

The employee did not believe the trust’s claims that everything would be sorted out by 13 February.

Halt Cerner implementations says MP

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Posted in Campaign4Change, capacity building, change management, Government IT, health, innovation, NHS, npfit, outsourcing, risk

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IBM struggles with SAP two years on – a shared services warning?

Posted on 31/01/2012 | 3 comments

By Tony Collins

As London councils tender for outsourcing and shared service contracts worth up to £1.4bn, fresh evidence is emerging that such partnerships can lead to business disruption, financial angst and difficulties producing reports that are required by regulations.

An internal council audit report shows the depth of continuing financial reporting problems more than two years after a SAP go-live that was led by IBM on behalf of three public authorities in Somerset.

The directors of the IBM-led outsourcing company Southwest One have been chased by officials at Companies House because their year-end financial results were late.

The 2010 accounts for Southwest One, which is majority-owned by IBM, have been filed in the past two weeks although they were due by the end of September 2011.

A compliance case officer at Companies Houses said last month “We are continuing to pursue the company [Southwest One] and its directors in order to obtain the overdue documents.”

It’s unusual for a company of IBM’s size and reputation to have difficulties meeting regulatory obligations for one of its joint ventures. One wonders whether, with hindsight, IBM has any regrets about setting up Southwest One in which it owns the majority of shares.

The SAP project

For all the right reasons – to standardise and simplify the purchases and finances of three public authorities –  IBM and Southwest One installed SAP in 2009, but the company has had financial reporting difficulties ever since.

Details are revealed in a Somerset County Council Audit Committee report (see below). It lists, among other shortcomings, the absence of a “useable balance sheet report”.

As with all IT-based projects and programmes that run into difficulty, there are different versions of the truth about what has gone wrong and why. Usually the official version of the truth is that nothing has gone seriously awry, or the problems are historical.

Indeed, as the NHS IT programme NPfIT has been depicted by its senior responsible owner, David Nicholson, the Chief Executive of the NHS, as a success, Southwest One has been defended by representatives of Somerset County Council, the local authority that brought in IBM to run it. A spokesperson for Somerset County Council told The Guardian last year that the council had faced mere “early teething problems” with the introduction of SAP.

Another spokesperson for Somerset County Council, when asked by Campaign4Change earlier this month for a statement on the late accounts of Southwest One, gave no hint that the council, through Southwest One, was struggling to obtain some important and accurate financial information from the SAP system.

The Somerset County Council spokeswoman said

“Southwest One has advised that the filing of 2010 accounts will be delayed.  This is due to a combination of reasons. When accounts are filed, they not only record the past year’s financials, but they also need to include statements about future business outlook.

“This includes looking into 2011 to accommodate both current and future impacts, and take account of well-recognized changes in the financial landscape.  We have an obligation to complete this analysis before publishing this information.”

A more comprehensive explanation is in a report by Somerset County Council’s Audit Committee. Succinct and balanced, the report last month shows the depth of the council’s financial reporting difficulties.  One short annex to the report lists the benefits of a SAP implementation at the county council in 2009. Another much longer annex lists the SAP implementation problems still facing the council. The benefits take up only half an A4 page. The list of problems is nearly three pages.

Officials struggle to get reports from SAP system

The council originally outsourced its IT and finance to Southwest One to achieve standards “beyond excellence”. The idea was that police forces and local authorities in the south west would pool their back-office services, to save money by simplifying and standardising IT and finance. As well as Somerset County Council, Avon and Somerset Police outsourced to Southwest One, as did Taunton Deane Borough Council.

But the full deal is so complex the council seems unable to ascertain exactly how much the deal is saving or costing.

Comment:

This is an outsourcing contract signed in haste in the early hours of a weekend morning. So quickly was it drawn up that the contract contained hundreds of spelling mistakes and literals. Lawyers say all contracts contain mistakes – but they said the number in Southwest One deal with IBM has more than normal.

We know from the NHS IT programme that rushing and excessive confidentiality deepened opposition to the new systems from NHS staff and doctors who were supposed to benefit from them. Somerset’s Audit Committee report exposes the antipathy towards the SAP system of finance staff who are supposed to benefit from the new technology.

What has gone wrong

With the benefit of hindsight it’s possible to see what has gone wrong and why.

The people who are supposed to benefit are local taxpayers and Southwest One users. But the company’s annual report just filed shows that Southwest One made double the operating loss it did the year before – more than £30m in the latest accounts – and the report says the financial benefits for customers as originally forecast have not materialised.

The problem for finance end-users of the SAP system is that they are stuck on the bottom rung of a very long command ladder. However loud they shout their complaints are lost in the ether. Those near the top rung of the command ladder continue to sing the praises of the SAP system as if the finance end-users had no voice.

This indifference to the concerns of end-users can happen when changes to the system need approval from several parties in the command structure, in this case IBM, a county council, a district council and a police authority.

It was a similar story on the NPfIT: when NHS trusts faced implementation problems the concerns of managers were not heard, or not listened to. In any case remedial action could not be taken without the approval of other trusts, strategic health authorities, NHS Connecting for Health and the IT supplier.

So the things that needed to be done weren’t done; and disillusionment spread.

What can be done now?

For Southwest One and its stakeholders it’s too late to go back and start again. IBM expects £585m of revenue from the contract. Yet it will be difficult to investigate properly and overcome the reporting problems while Somerset and its partners Taunton Deane and Avon and Somerset Police continue to portray Southwest One as a success.

When a plane crashes the law in most countries requires an independent investigation, one that is often carried out in opposition to the parties that may have much to hide.

It is a pity that in computer project disasters independent investigations are not required. In the case of Southwest One a genuinely independent investigation and report could help to show what Somerset, its partners, IBM and Southwest One need to do to get the finances back on an even keel. The solution may include a graceful exit from the SW1 contract.

Having outsourced to transcend excellence, local council officials and police would be happy to return to normality. Meanwhile the risks for officials at London councils that are planning to outsource back-office services are huge.

They need to understand the dangers from the Southwest One deal before they sign anything.

If they talk to the Southwest One partners, though, they’ll need to get beneath the ebullient language of press releases. Somerset County Council’s finance staff are the best people to talk to.

**

SAP – the pros and cons

The advantages

Audit Committee, Somerset County Council – benefits of Southwest One SAP system

Finance  Purchase Orders – Having a strict purchase order policy means that the financial data in the system more accurately reflects up to date spend. The use of Purchase Orders has also enabled more consistent coding of expenditure as codes are automatically populated based on product type.

Bank Reconciliation – This process is much more streamlined with SAP because the system allows for the majority of transactions to be automatically matched without any manual intervention. This was not possible with the previous system Cedar.

Procurement Scanning and three-way matching – This allows for some automation of the payment process whereas this was not possible before.

Procurement Process – The introduction of SAP and requisitioning has tightened up our procurement process, ensuring Purchase Orders are produced.  However, it should be noted that rationalisation of suppliers has not occurred, which means that we are not procuring as effectively as we could be.

The disadvantages

Audit Committee, Somerset County Council – SAP problems and the ongoing consequence of not resolving them. [The report says that many of the problems have been outstanding since the SAP system was implemented in 2009. Phase 1 of the SAP implementation took place on 1 April 2009. This included Finance, Procurement and CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Phase 2 took place on 1 January 2010. It included Payroll and HR.]

From Somerset County Council’s Audit Committee report (verbatim)

Problems as they affect SAP finance users:

Finance System Performance – Although there have been some improvements, some SAP Finance Reports continue to run very slowly or not at all. Large reports “time out” (fail to run), meaning that Finance have to piece together overall data from smaller component parts.

Finance Business Intelligence (BI) Reports – to date, only one finance BI report is being used.  Despite the significant time and investment that has been given to BI, only one working BI report, the Aged Debtor report is being used by finance staff. This means that the Council has paid for more reports than have been delivered. It is very disappointing that we are not getting the benefits from what is reported to be a very effective reporting tool.

Open Purchase Order (P.O.) report – this report remains unavailable. An open PO report would provide staff with essential information regarding the status of POs.  Requisitioners require this report to easily view PO status, in order to ensure POs are appropriately goods receipted, closed, fully consumed and fully invoiced. An open PO report would also help finance staff to ensure that accruals are kept up to date therefore reducing the likelihood of inappropriate accruals being included in our accounts. Finance staff from both Southwest One and Somerset County Council require this report.

Fixed Assets Module – Asset Value Upload. The County Council’s asset values were not loaded correctly into SAP. The consequence of this is that we are not able to split current cost and historic cost for some of our assets. We are also not able to calculate the amount of depreciation attributable to earlier revaluation gains. Accounting regulations state that we must have the two separate values. Therefore if left unresolved we are likely to be criticised by our external auditors.

Fixed Assets Module – Access to Fixed Asset Reports

There are a number of key fixed asset reports which officers do not have access to. Without the access to these reports we are dependent on  the Application Support Team (Southwest One)  to process this work for us. We have serious concerns that Application Support will not have resources available to do this work when it is needed. This could lead to errors in our accounts which would be criticised by our auditors.

Balance Sheet Report

We do not have a usable Balance Sheet report. The “SAP standard” report shows the overall balances but it is not possible to drill down on it to show any transactional detail. It is also not possible to confirm opening and closing balances to the auditors as this is not visible within the report. In order to produce a balance sheet for the Council we have to download from another report into spreadsheets and add it to the previous years’ figures. This is not satisfactory because we shouldn’t be reliant on using spreadsheets for such a fundamental report.

SAP problems as they affect procurement users:

Contracts Register.  We were promised that all contracts would be held within SAP, supplying SCC with the complete contracts register and in turn making the procurement process more robust.  This has not happened.  Instead a number of estimated contracts were loaded.

Procurement Guidance. Procurement guidance has mainly been developed by the SCC  in-house Change Team.  Procurement guidance and training from SPS has been sparse.

Cleansing Supplier List.  The initial basic cleansing of suppliers was undertaken by retained staff.  Further cleansing has been requested since SAP go-live, but has not been carried out.  Many duplicates remain, causing problems for requisitioners and the Accounts Payable Team.

e-Marketplace. Prior to SAP, SCC were deep into a project which had delivered connectivity to an e-Marketplace (@UK) and were then looking at on-boarding the main suppliers.  With the introduction of SAP, SCC were asked to put the adoption of suppliers on hold and passed the management of the @UK marketplace to Southwest One with the expectation that they would continue adopting the main suppliers.  Management of @UK marketplace has been non-existent, with no-one in SPS [Southwest One’s Strategic Procurement Service] assuming responsibility.

Since SAP go-live, there have been no further suppliers adopted to the marketplace.  There has been talk that SPS [Southwest One’s Strategic Procurement Service] would wish to only host one marketplace and that they have not supported @UK pending decisions regarding a shared marketplace.  However, the non-support of an SCC chosen and annually paid for system, pending a possible shared system is not a situation that is acceptable given that we are now more than three years into the contract.

Purchasing Organisation.  SAP for the SWOne partners was configured with a single Purchasing Organisation (at the request of IBM representatives).  This was quickly found to be inappropriate and caused many sharing issues.  Since go-live, SWOne [Southwest One] has created a separate Purchasing Organisation for itself, but there is only one Purchasing Organisation for the remaining three Authorities.  We have spoken direct with SAP who confirmed that this has been inappropriately configured and there should be separate Purchasing Organisations for each Authority.  This would provide better confidentiality, increased control and more efficient processes within SPS.

Problems as they affect other SAP users

Vendor Search Function.  There are plans underway to improve the “Search for Vendors” function. Users may struggle to locate an appropriate vendor and therefore may request creation of a duplicate.

Other Organisational Management (OM) replication errors from ECC to Supplier Relationship Management (SRM )  There continue to be errors occurring with the replication of the OM structure from HR into SAP.  This has the effect of approvers dropping out of their positions in SRM and prevents them from being part of the P2P (Procure to Pay) process, causing frustration and confusion, potentially delaying POs and causing additional work for both Somerset County Council [SCC] & SWOne in rectifying these errors.

Citizen Portal. While the Citizen Portal (SCC’s website) has been delivered and improvements made, those improvements have been difficult and time-consuming to execute.  SCC’s website is not as flexible as the Authority would like. Further, SWOne has stated that the SAP solution is not ideally suited to delivering “Do it Online” forms.  SWOne has agreed to describe and recommend an alternative solution for SCC services to be efficiently online enabled, while retaining the benefits of the SAP solution. It is not fully compatible with some of the latest versions of Internet Browsers. The SAP solution is also not fully compliant with the “A” and “AA” Accessibility Standards. SCC is currently not able to quickly and cheaply make services available online, where those services require an online form to be completed.

The Communications team believe that 65% of customers will not be able to use the site without making adjustments to their browsers (using the “compatibility” mode) or using Internet Explorer 7. Some customers with disabilities may not be able to use parts of the website. We have not received any customer feedback on this issue, however SCC is concerned that it is not fully compliant with the required standards and has recorded its request through SAP that the system is made compliant. Some mitigating features have been put in place by SWOne, .e.g Contact telephone numbers are now listed on the website.

 Problems as they affect Accounts Payable SAP users – the ongoing consequence of not resolving

e-Invoicing.  Prior to SAP, SCC had implemented e-Invoicing through the eMarketplace (@UK) and had targets identified in terms of increasing e-Invoicing over the next three years.  When SAP was introduced SWOne chose not to include e-Invoicing. This was not the desire of the client.  Since SAP go-live, e-Invoicing has ceased and SCC are keen that it is recommenced.  E-invoicing would also benefit SWOne financially, as it would reduce scanning costs and resources required to verify the image in Cockpit.

Problems as they affect Human Resources SAP users

E-Recruitment  This module has not yet been delivered or signed off by Partners (Somerset County Council, Taunton Deane Borough Council, Avon and Somerset Police). SWOne continue to handle recruitment through the old processes.

Organisation Structure Report.  Managers do not have sight of their teams in terms of structure – list view only. This impacts on the data available to SCC as the Change Programme progresses.

Learning Skills Overview (LSO). While this is being used by SWOne Corporate Training team, it is difficult to demonstrate that the Adult Social Care Learning & Disability Team (ASC L&D) would benefit through switching to LSO due to the low and reducing number of delegates that could book themselves on to the system.  In the face of major organisational changes (for example the Futures Project) there does not appear to be a satisfactory cost/benefit to changing the current arrangements.  ASC L&D Team continue to handle course administration through the current system and associated processes.

Thank you to Dave Orr whose persistence and public interest concerns over Southwest One have elicited much information that would otherwise not have come to light, or to our attention. 

Southwest One’s troubled history – blog of local MP Ian Liddell-Grainger.

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Posted in Campaign4Change

BRICS countries face identity card IT project delays

Posted on 31/01/2012 | 2 comments

By David Bicknell

Two of the BRICS countries are wrestling with project management challenges as overambitious IT projects face an uncertain future.

India and Russia, which are two of the emerging so-called ‘BRICS’ – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa – nations have implemented large identity card schemes which are now facing implementation hurdles.

In India, an ambitious biometric identification scheme for 1.2 billion people faces is likely to have to be redesigned if it is to survive.

The Asia Times says the Indian government has budgeted US$603 million to give a 12-digit number to each of 600 million residents by March 14, 2014, in the first two phases of the  project, dubbed “Aadhaar”, which means “foundation” or “support.”

The Asia Times says the Indian government had asked the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) project to enroll 200 million people by January 2012, in a first phase.

The UID number, which is set to prove identity, though not citizenship, would be supported by biometric devices such as facial recognition systems, eye and fingerprint scanners. However, a committee in the Indian Parliament has questioned its practicability and credibility.

The Standing Committee for Finance also challenged the legality, quality of technology and potential misuse of the UID information collected over the past two years.

The project had “no clarity of purpose,” observed the 48-page report from 53 parliamentarians, “and it is being implemented in a directionless way with a lot of confusion”.

It concluded: “In view of the afore-mentioned concerns and apprehensions about the UID scheme, particularly considering the contradictions and ambiguities within the Government on its implementation as well as implications, the Committee categorically convey their unacceptability of the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 in its present form. The data already collected by the UIDAI may be transferred to the National Population Register (NPR), if the Government so chooses. The Committee would, thus, urge the Government to reconsider and review the UID scheme as also the proposals contained in the Bill in all its ramifications and bring forth a fresh legislation before Parliament.”

Meanwhile in Russia, according to the Moscow Times, a universal electronic card is facing delays, with a rollout scheduled for this month now being pushed to January of 2013.

The card – a combination of an electronic ID, driver’s licence, car insurance certificate, ATM card and migration document, among other possible functions – is the result of a project the government estimates will cost as much as 150 billion rubles to 170 billion rubles ($5.2 billion to $5.6 billion) to put in the hands of every citizen.

Limited initial use of the card was scheduled to take place this year, but the law that set up the project was amended in December to allow for a one-year delay.

The Moscow Times reported that the program will begin to function next year and that this year will be spent organising sites that will receive applications for the card. Application sites are expected to be set up at post offices, banks, and other locations.

A ministry spokesman confirmed that infrastructure for the project is just beginning to be created, and only four out of 83 regions having begun work on it.

“The delay in starting the project is related to issues around interagency cooperation and underdeveloped infrastructure in some regions,” said Yulia Kuchkina, a spokeswoman for the Universal Electronic Cards company (UEC). “Pilot cards are being issued — with employees of government agencies and ministries becoming the first users. In Moscow test cards have been received by employees of the Moscow Department of Information Technology,” she added.

Mail Online India: Setback for Planning Commission as Prime Minister bats for UID

Standing Committee for Finance Report

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Posted in BRICS, Campaign4Change, change management, Government IT, IT projects, procurement, project management, public sector

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IT company’s “tea at the Ritz” offer to GP leaders

Posted on 30/01/2012 | 4 comments

By Tony Collins

An IT supplier to the Department of Health and the NHS has offered “tea at The Ritz” or two tickets to a West End show to GP leaders in return for helping to organise an event that would give the company a chance to demonstrate its systems.

TPP SystmOne, which says in its marketing literature that its systems hold a third of the country’s patient records and have more than 90,000 users, has ceased to offer the incentives, the Department of Health told Campaign4Change.

“We were made aware and asked the supplier about this activity,” said a Department of Health spokesperson. “The supplier has subsequently confirmed that they have ceased offering incentives to GPs.”

TPP also offered GP leaders a £25 Marks and Spencer voucher; and wished Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to some potential customers with an offer of a box of Hotel Chocolat chocolates.

“To find out why 1800 GP practices have already moved to SystmOne, just call me on the number below to book your short GP demo. Book before 24th December to get a box of Hotel Chocolat chocolates on the day of your demonstration …”

In its separate offer of tea at The Ritz, a TPP SystmOne manager told the senior partner of a London health centre last year that the company’s system was available free of charge through the government-funded GP Systems of Choice initiative.

“Following recent success in the London area, TP are looking to sponsor local practice manager meetings. We’ll provide lunch and refreshments for all your attendees. As a thank-you the organiser of the event will receive afternoon tea at The Ritz or two tickets to a West End show of their choice! All we ask in return is a short slot at your meeting so we can demonstrate the benefits of SystmOne.”

Parts of the NHS have clearly-defined rules on the acceptance of gifts or hospitality. NHS Sheffield tells its staff:

“All offers of hospitality should be approached with caution. Modest hospitality, for example, a drink and sandwich during a visit or a working lunch is normal and reasonable and does not require approval of a manager. Offers of hospitality relating to theatre evenings, sporting fixtures, or holiday accommodation, or other hospitality must be declined…”

The guidance adds:

“Casual gifts by contractors or others, e.g. at Christmas time, must not be in any way connected with the performance of duties …”

TPP’s offer was not against the law. If all GP system suppliers offered the same or similar incentives, though, GP leaders could be inundated. Under the government’s health service reforms GPs who form part of Clinical Commissioning Groups will take on responsibility from primary care trusts for paying for GP systems.

We asked CSC, which supplies TPP SystmOne under the National Programme for IT, whether it was aware of the incentives and whether it, or TPP, wished to comment.

“Because we are in active negotiations with the government, we are not able to comment in depth on the programme until those negotiations have concluded,” said a CSC spokeswoman who said that the same applied to TPP as “they are a supplier to us working on the National Programme”.

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Posted in Campaign4Change, Government IT, managing outsourced services, NHS, npfit, supplier relationships

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