Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Accepted
Poor design and testing of OSCAR II caused significant delays to the Whole of Government...
Recommendation
Poor design and testing of OSCAR II caused significant delays to the Whole of Government Accounts. In July 2020 the Treasury replaced its now obsolete IT system with a new system, OSCAR II, used for collecting and consolidating data from component bodies into the WGA. This update was expected to bring significant benefits including increased efficiencies, improved data collection and analysis and to lead to advancements in the quality of information in the WGA. However, the Treasury failed to anticipate a number of significant problems that arose during implementation which the Treasury estimates contributed to the delays to delivery by an estimated five months. The setbacks—which included issues with data submission by component bodies, incomplete and inaccurate report outputs, and various performance issues—took the Treasury significantly longer than would be expected to understand and resolve. The Treasury’s failure to identify and resolve these issues before the system was live indicates insufficient user acceptance testing and weaknesses in the system specification. The Treasury reports that all known issues have now been resolved ahead of the production of the 2020–21 WGA, but it anticipates that new issues may yet arise. The Treasury must demonstrate that it is now positioned to successfully manage any new issues in the normal course of business, without again impacting the overall timetable for accounts production. Recommendation: The Treasury should undertake a lessons-learnt exercise, specifically addressing but not limited to the root causes of poor design specification and testing of OSCAR II, and ensure identified improvements are implemented when applying future system changes. 6 Whole of Government Accounts 2019–20
Government Response Summary
The Treasury has undertaken a number of lessons learned exercises, including engaging the Government Internal Audit Agency to support this work and changed its practices for project managing changes to the system.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented The Treasury has undertaken a number of lessons learned exercises, including engaging the Government Internal Audit Agency to support this work. The lessons learned included more focus on getting the project governance right and investing in the internal project management team to support the relationship between the supplier and the process owners in the business. The Treasury has changed its practices for project managing changes to the system and is negotiating a new plan and approach with its current supplier, Deloitte, for the remaining stages of the OSCAR II project. The Treasury fully recognises the problems encountered after the system went live, the challenges in resolving them, and how this contributed to delays in the WGA publication. The existing contract for the OSCAR II system is due to end November 2023, and the Treasury is applying the lessons learned in deciding on the future support and development arrangements for the system.