MBOS Audit Sub-Group Update
March 2023
Progress Update
Since the last update the MBOS User Acceptance Testing (UAT) focus has been in two areas, that of driving test progress and ensuring that we have sufficient test coverage to generate business confidence in the Oracle product. Quality being one of the programmes key requirements the functional teams have reviewed the testing scope and to ensure all elements are being thoroughly tested. This has resulted in a significant number of additional tests being added to UAT scope, approx. 55% more.
The issues encountered at the start of UAT which caused a significant slowdown in initial rates of testing have been addressed by Infosys as UAT has progressed. There remains a larger number of defects being raised at this stage of the testing than is ideal but the testing process has moved to a more normal cycle of test and defect resolution. As all defects need to be resolved and tested before exiting UAT and this creates a risk to closure of this phase.
The delays in progressing through the test process have continued to present challenges of balancing business as usual activities with programme demands for some of the specialist resources needed. Additional testing resources have been brought into the programme and changes to ways of working have been made to mitigate some of this contention.
Pace has ramped up after the Christmas period and significantly during February. In terms of closing UAT and moving into the next programme phase, payroll remains the biggest risk area and also the critical path area. Payroll testing paused over the Christmas period whilst changes to functionality have been built and data is reloaded. This addressed a core Oracle upgrade to their UK payroll software but also resolved some build defects that were preventing testing.
Testing for payroll recommenced on 28 January and good progress has been made since then and the programme has now reached 81% of UAT testing executed and 77% of 5012 test scenarios passed.
MBOS Go-Live Date
The final go-live date is yet to be confirmed but the team are targeting the end of UAT testing during early April and a detailed evaluation has been conducted on potential go-live date options. There is often in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) programmes, never a perfect choice of go-live date as it must balance many considerations such as programme, team, cost and BAU operations across the whole organisation and it is sometime therefore thought of as finding the “least worst option”. For MBOS there are two options that fit this either November 2023 or February 2024 and the Programme Board will keep both options under review.
For a go-live to be possible completion of all phases of payroll testing, together with the technical and business readiness for cutover sit on the critical path. There are many other elements which need to be completed for a successful go-live, but these have more flexibility in how and when they must be completed. The key high-level tasks that need to be completed to remain on the critical path are:
· Complete Payroll UAT
· Complete PPR (Payroll Parallel Run) readiness and system preparation
· Complete PPR Phase 1, 2 and 3 testing. It is worth noting that each of these phases increase in the level of quality required to exit the phase
· Complete cutover preparations, business readiness and contingency planning
In the resource area internal resource availability issues are mitigated and knowledge by augmenting with external specialist skills where needed. In terms of quality, there is a strong dependence on the timely resolution of defects within the UAT and PPR phases. To ensure visibility and focus whilst maintaining the supplier relationships there has been increased engagement with the Infosys senior team.
In the quality area high standards continue to be retained through the exit criteria and defect resolution process.