UK Porting - Chairman’s Report #1
Introduction
I am pleased to report that the project is going well. There have been the normal project start-up issues such as agreeing the processes to use, everyone getting to know each other, overlaps between groups etc. However, I am pleased with progress so far. The most pressing challenge is the need for the Members to release more people & time to support the project and meet their obligations. Some Members are contributing excellently, other Members could do more.
Progress Update
1. Governance
(green)
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing issues are now behind us; however there are still some issues about the project structure to be addressed as we progress. The UKPorting IPT (Independent Project Team) has received most of the signed MOUs; we have emails from the others with intention to sign.
The next major governance issue is the setting up of an Industry Vehicle to contract with the CDB (Central Database) suppliers and interact with the ongoing supply and operation of the service. This activity will initially be worked on in the Commercial Work Group before coming to the UKP Executive for signoff.
Some Members asked for a Decision Making process to be agreed for when Consensus does not work. A draft has been circulated based on inputs from the Members and agreed in principle.
2. Work Groups
a. Policy
(green)
The group has taken leadership of how the project will be fully achieved. Live topics being discussed are: creating a Project Scope Statement; defining a Procurement Strategy; investigating whether the CDB should contain All or Ported Only Numbers; defining how Inter-Operator Communication will be implemented; establishing who should have access to the CDB; establishing whether there is a need for provision of a Real Time ACQ (All Call Query) function and defining what Porting Hours will be possible under the new scheme.
b. Commercial
(amber)
Frank Chapman has been appointed as the UKPorting Commercial Director. Frank has an extensive background in IT and Telecoms, both Mobile and Fixed. The Group has met three times with a good cross-section of attendees.
Work continues towards the key Commercial Group objectives, i.e.:
- Establish entity prior to CDB and/or services contract placement
- Commercial terms for procurement contract
- Commercial architecture
A number of Principles have been drafted for review and agreement with the intention that they can be used to guide the Group’s work towards the Industry Entity structure.
The Group’s initial view is that a Company limited by Guarantee is the preferred approach.
Discussions have been initiated on Commercial terms for the supply contract.
Resource requirements have been flagged as a concern.
c. Planning & Programme Management
(amber)
The Planning Group has recognised that it needs to evolve into the Programme Management Group and that explicit ownership as well as co-ordination & reporting of the overall plan needs to come from the Group. The Group has put in place a cross project co-ordination process. It is also producing regular project status updates.
A list of Core Deliverables has been agreed.
An IPT recruited resource is now in place to create and manage a central programme office for the project.
The IPT will continue to proactively facilitate activity to ensure progress.
d. Procurement
(amber)
The Procurement activities are critical to the success of the project. The UKP Executive decided to follow a Public Procurement Procedure. This will ensure transparency and fairness of the procurement process; however it also leads to greater overheads.
I am pleased to report good focus and progress in the Procurement Group. I would like to thank all those who contributed to getting the Market Scoping document out, the OJEU notice finished and published and for all the work that has gone into getting the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) ready and signed-off. This has been good work. We have had 27 requests from potential suppliers for the PQQ.
There is an urgent need for expertise in some of areas going forward and the Programme Group, the Commercial Group, the Procurement Group and the IPT have asked for volunteers to fill various needs. A small number of Members have indicated they may be able to help. However more support will be required. I have addressed this issue further below in section 3.
e. Technical
(green)
The Technical Group is up and running with a wide range of subjects being tackled and making good progress. Areas being worked on are:
ITN Requirements – section editors appointed
A clear definition of December 08 Milestone requirement
Whether the CDB should contain All vs. Ported numbers
Inter-Operator Communications – a briefing paper is in preparation
Non-Functional Requirements – is in preparation
Initial Population of the CDB – proposals for Mobile and Fixed are in preparation
f. Business Processes
(green)
The Business Process Group is up and running with a range of topics being tackled and making good progress.
The TOR (Terms of Reference) are near agreement.
The High Level NP Process Requirements are nearly complete
A Glossary of Terms is in preparation
The ITN Requirements are in preparation
Process Workshops are planned
3. Resourcing the work from the Members
(amber)
As outlined above, the biggest threat to the project is the time available to Group Members to contribute fully; this issue has still to be addressed by most Members.
The IPT do not feel that the current valiant activity by a subset of Work Group members can continue at the pace and depth of involvement needed without them being allocated more ‘real’ time to think things through; respond well to urgent tasks and not be always worrying about their ‘day job’.
The IPT will fill gaps with central resources in extremis but the basic principle agreed with Ofcom is that Industry steps up and provides the necessary resources to meet its obligations.
We have also suggested that some activities will be better suited to workshop formats and help with people’s time. Some are already planned.
We welcome any further suggestions in this area.
Therefore, I have asked the Executive Members to ensure they make the necessary resources available or are able to trust other Members in areas where they may be short of expertise. The IPT will attempt to ensure fairness as far as we can. It will make sense, as the intensity increases, for smaller numbers of ‘subject matter experts’ from the Members to lead in particular areas as long as full visibility and interaction is available to all Members. IPT will co-ordinate the creation of person specifications for outstanding areas of work.
So activity continues apace, however, some issues to do with resourcing and delayed delivery of documents have led the Programme Group, supported by the IPT, to record the overall project as being in an AMBER state.
It will still be possible to recover some ground in the current plan but we have little, if any, room for slippage of deliverables, hence the crucial message above about the availability of resources.
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.