UK Porting - Chairman’s Report #2
Introduction
I am pleased to report that the project continues to progress well. Over 75 contributors, mostly from the Members, have been working hard to achieve the project milestones. We have, however, arrived at a point where to evaluate the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) and author the Invitation To Negotiate (ITN) (Request For Proposal [RFP]) we have to step up the level of intensity as well as obtain a small number of contributors from the Members on a near full time basis for a few weeks. BT and Vodafone have agreed to do this and I would like to thank them for this extra level of support. The project status is AMBER due to the delays in obtaining resources to focus on the ITN production. This will cause a slippage on some interim deliverables.
Progress Update
1. Governance
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing issues are now behind us.
The next major governance issue is the setting up of an Industry Vehicle (PortCo) to contract with the CDB (Central Database) suppliers and interact with the ongoing supply and operation of the service. This activity was focussed on recently at two Commercial Group workshop sessions. Good progress was made and a paper outlining the agreed way forward will be prepared to go forward to the Executive for their agreement.
A Decision Making Process was agreed by the Executive after some discussion and clarification. It provides a mechanism to primarily ensure that decisions properly reflect the views of the Members whilst allowing some flexibility for Fixed or Mobile only issues to be dealt with by Fixed and Mobile Members.
A guideline budget for 2008/09 was approved at the UKPorting Executive for the UKPorting Independent Project Team (IPT) costs. The Budget and remit of the IPT will be reviewed by Ofcom once the Industry vehicle (PortCo) is set up and able to operate.
2. Work Groups
a. Policy – The group has reached an ‘in principle’ agreement to populate the CDB with the routing information for all numbers in use so that legacy routing mechanisms can be eventually phased out. Work in progress includes recommendations for Message Hub and CDB access.
b. Commercial – The Commercial group has been making substantial progress on the likely structure of an Industry Entity that will be responsible for ordering the CDB, managing ongoing operations and relationships with the CDB suppliers. Proposals have been made on company models and funding models, some work needs to be completed before a formal proposal will be put to the UKPorting Executive for ratification in the coming weeks. A decision has been made to go ahead immediately to appoint legal advisors for the new Entity (PortCo) and to set up PortCo within 10 days.
c. Planning & Programme Management – Substantial planning activity has taken place and the Programme Group are currently outlining the detailed activities required to enable us to deliver the requirements for the December 2008 and September 2009 deadlines. All the groups are working well together, both inter-company and inter-work group, with the general approach being constructive and positive.
d. Procurement – Good progress has been made in the PQQ process, 8 potential suppliers have signed up and are being evaluated by most members as we go to press. A short list of those suppliers will be produced for the project to fully engage with. Resources have been made available for the next major deliverable, getting the ITN (RFP) out to the short listed suppliers.
e. Technical – The group has been working on requirements for the ITN (RFP). This has included papers to assist the Policy group in making its recommendations, a significant contribution on non-functional requirements for the ITN/RFP and initial ideas about CDB population and migration & transition processes. They are also heavily involved in PQQ response evaluation.
f. Business Processes – The group is planning to issue a combined mobile/fixed high level process description document by the end of May. In support of this it has a work plan underway to reach agreement on a wide range of porting process issues including message sequences, validation criteria, porting hours, reject reasons etc.
We have of course encountered many issues that have had to be resolved or worked round as the project takes shape. However I am pleased with general attitude, progress against the major milestones and our ability to deliver.
Peter McD. Black
Chairman UKPorting
Green means no issues have been identified that will impact the plan.
Amber means some issues have been identified that are being dealt with that could impact the plan if not resolved.
Red means issues have been identified that could impact the plan that no solution is yet available for.