Report for September 2019

Project Info

Programme Managers Commentary

N/A

Project Info

Project Managers Commentary

FIN119 (AP67-024)

eInvoicing

Core Funded

Milestones:

Agreed at WIS - 30-Jul-2019, these need to be confirmed with Finance against the latest Project Proposal:

RAG Status : AMBER

Report By Richard Bailey for September 2019

For reference:  SG = Scottish Government,  SGS = Scottish Government Solution

Achievements this Period

• Works have continued against the draft proposal to complete the project, though still to be formally agreed with Finance, but good progress has been made
• The LIVE pilot has been expanded, with Suppliers Fisher Scientific UK Ltd and Blackwell UK Ltd added to the first Supplier (XMA Ltd).  The pilot continues to work as expected and has now handled in excess of 300 invoices in three weeks.
• Emma McNab is taking over the Project from Richard Bailey

Issues

• Risk #7:  Project Slippage Sees its Deadline Move Closer Towards the Regulatory Deadline - AMBER

  • The current proposal, once agreed,  will see the Project complete before the regulatory deadline, assuming no further 'show stopping' issues.

• Risk #10:  Availability of Finance Staff Resource - AMBER

  • Though Finance Staff Resource has been maintained throughout, this risk remains AMBER until the Project is closed as Finance staff potentially have increased commitments to the CORE Programme.

• Risk #14:  Additional Requirements / Issues After User Acceptance Testing, That If Not Put In Place Could Have Implications on Application Support - AMBER

  • Until the pilot is completed / signed off this risk remains Amber

Next Steps

• Look to achieve sign off  from Finance against the latest Project Proposal
• PICCL the change / agree revised budget sign off of the proposal once agreed 
• Complete the eInvoicing Pilot and maintenance period 
• Draft a Closure Report
• Agree Project Sign Off / Closure

FIN126

Core Funded

Essential Finance System Compliance Updates and Document Revitalisation

Milestones:

Proposed milestones are:

RAG Status: AMBER

Report By Ken Miller for September 2019

Achievements in Last Period:

Work Stream (A)

• Configuration issues between For:sight and Finance required inputs remain outstanding but should be resolved by the middle on October.
• Testing shows that the majority of required inputs can now be processed by Arkk For:sight and a VAT return generated.
• The Tax Office have escalated the outstanding issues with Arkk with the hope for quick resolution.

Work Stream (B)

• Finance continued to liaise with Advanced in response to outstanding issues.  Advanced consultant providing remote support to resolve issues.
• UAT undertaken via TestRail.  UAT finally signed off on 10/9/2019.
• As "Change Freeze" was in effect Emergency CAB raised to allow updates to be promoted to live on 16/9/2019.
• Updates were released to live on 16/9.  Initial tests suggested that the upgrade was successful but later testing highlighted that this was not the case with installment plan letters and reminders not being correct.
• Finance liaised with Advance until resolution of core reminders problem was resolved on 25/9. 

Issues:

• (A) It has been confirmed that we will require a new legal contact.  Joanne MacConnell will be replaced by Esther Duncan.  Joanne's last day is 4th Oct and Esther doesn't start until November so there will be a gap.  During this period any correspondence should go to legalservices@ed.ac.uk, and a colleague will pick this up.
• (A) There remains a small manual element to the MTD process which may make it non MTD compliant.  This risk has raised with the UoE Tax Office and they have agreed that they are the owner of this risk.
• (B) The release to Live did not progress as smoothly as had been expected with a couple of issues still outstanding.  A review meeting has been arranged to identify the issues to ensure lesson's are learnt. 

Next Steps:

Work Stream (A)

• Dual run of VAT return via For:sight for last quarters VAT return to be carried out.  
• Review meeting scheduled for Oct 23rd.  It is hoped that a mirror June VAT return via For:sight will have been possible prior to this meeting and a comparison of the generated VAT returns undertaken.
• DPIA to be addressed once UAT has been signed off.
• Clarify issues F Eardley has raised regarding the Arkk SLA.
• Contact Arkk regarding the process to promote instance from PoC to Live.

Work Stream (B)

• Liaise with Advanced regarding resolution of outstanding issues.
• Schedule release of resolution files once they have been signed off.
• Carry out review of post go live issues and record in lesson's learned log to ensure they do not happen again.

FIN127

Finance General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Core Funded

Milestones

RAG Status : AMBER

Report By Ken Miller for September 2019

Achievements in Last Period:

• Analysis ongoing to confirm system owners and Finance responsibility with regards GDPR data compliance.

Issues

• The revised number of systems that fall within the scope of the project means that once confirmed the project timescales will have to be re-estimated.
• As a result of increased number of projects in scope it is proposed that projects identified to be replaced by the Core system will not be analysed with regards their GDPR requirements.
• As a result of rebalancing workloads the PM for this project is to transition from Ken Miller to Emma McNab.

Next Steps

• Confirm projects that should be in scope of project.

• Revised project scope to be run past the Project Sponsor.

• For systems not in scope but containing Finance data, contact system owners to confirm responsibility for GDPR compliance.

• Re-planning meeting  required to review confirmed scope and to confirm revised schedule and tasks to be carried out under this project.

FIN128

FPM Upgrade

Core Funded

Milestones

 RAG Status : GREEN

Report By Kevin Hone for September 2019

Achievements in Last Period:

• Change in budget was agreed with Finance and WIS. This unfortunately has seen an increase from 42 to 52 days.
• Change in delivery date was agreed with Finance and WIS. This has led to a move from the 9th October to 25th November.

Issues:

• Finance resource constraints and focus on higher prioritised project work means that User Acceptance Testing (UAT) has yet to be concluded.

Next Steps:

• Preparations for implementation.

FIN133

Corporate Planner Upgrade

Core Funded

Milestones

 RAG Status : GREEN

Report By Kevin Hone for September 2019

Achievements in Last Period:

• Project Brief Signed-off.
• Project team and third party all engaged.
• Work is progressing ahead of plan with early indications of achieving deployment on the 17th October rather than originally scheduled for the 15th November.

Issues:

• None.

Next Steps:

• Preparations for implementation.

FIN118 (AP56-016)

eFinancials upgrade

Closure Report

FIN123 (AP56-016)

Annual Finance Document Revitalisation 17/18

FIN125

Media Production for Annual Report and Accounts    

FIN129

PCI DSS