Wingless GD

Surely one of the funniest posts ever to grace the pages of PPrune. Absolutely priceless.

Nurse, the screens...:}

Now get off our Forum you blunt git.

LFFC

I suspect the HRMS system Pontius referred to is the Civil Service System. Similar usage but not directly related to the Military JPA System. The teething troubles initially obvious within HRMS, and many are still unresolved, should have been a warning for JPA 'managers'.

lm

Still no flying pay today :uhoh:

Yes, my mistake - I found that out earlier when I had a look at the HRMS website. But my comments still stand - the wheels really should have learnt from that lesson!

By the way - I also noticed that the HRMS website uses SSL security! They are obviously concerned about Civil Service security.

Wingless GD

Would that be the same person that allegedly joined EDS a short time ago?

Likewise :mad:

Remarkable
 

In a previous posting I suggested the IDIOT who signed up to this crock would now be working for the company. Now, someone else seems to think this too. Well, after also dumping this WARFIGHTER S**T on us, he leaves to pamper his oversize fat ass in civvy street.

Banker. Or a word that sounds similar.

as in "Laughing all the way to the Banker"...

The problem at our station is being exacerbated by mixed messaging coming from admin house. Depending on who you talk to, we're still using old forms/process for some functions and when you speak to OC Accts (The Warrant carrying kind) the message is it's all JPA, go away sort it out. A lot of the procedures seem to be being made up as people are going along.

I've even seen that our accts guys have been demanding post-dated checks against advance of allowances for overseas detachments not on an FSI. I would be interested to see where this is written down as acceptable practice... Any admin guys care to comment?

Without doubt, some of the guys/gals in PSF are doing all they can (as I'm sure at other stations) but some are using it as an excuse to be obstructive and unhelpful. I personally have had a professional AND proactive service from SACs and Cpls who were anticipating problems and sorting them before they appeared. Hence, my pay this month included all the correct elements during a period of change. I appreciate I am lucky!

Many thanks to those going the extra mile at the moment. As for the others- you know who you are!

EDS: The single point of failure
 

After some more light-hearted reading on the web I came across this little snippet the Girls and boys from EDS seem to have pulled through and caused yet another IT fiasco.
Why, why, why do we continue to use a company that continues to fail us? Are there nice little backhanders going on in the upper Gov echelons?
To quote the article; 'By chasing cheap deals via economies of scale, the Government has made a rod for its own back -- putting too many desktops running the same software in the hands of one supplier. It might cost slightly more and be harder to manage,' it is nince to see these flaws being addressed, however this is from a IT Web News Site, not the common browsing for most people.

Well and a little further reading leads us onto the savings for the MOD. Giving the Ministry of Defence a cost savings of £174m over the first three years of its £4bn IT outsourcing deal.

Yes these are a little dated but, they foretold the troubles to come.

Oh and to the nice Mods can we merge both the JPA Threads now?

Quote from http://www.bae-it.na.baesystems.com

In March 2006, EDS launched the EDS Defence Advisory Council, comprising a panel of defense experts from around the globe to develop new insights and ideas for existing and prospective defense clients. The DAC is led by retired Air Chief Marshal Sir Anthony Bagnall, a retired senior Royal Air Force (RAF) commander with 41 years of service. Council members review defense trends and advise on best practices. The membership of the council will consist of members from the UK, Germany, Canada, France, United States, Italy and Australia.

The Register
 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/09/eds_jpa_raf/
JPA stuff from Mark Ballard of The Register, garnered from Pprune.
Thank you Mark:ok:

<<a full in-service date of November 2006>>

Some one is telling porkies. As I said earlier, on the Defence Intranet

On Monday 30 Jan JPA was rolled out at Northwood for a pilot run until 24 Feb 06. It was an opportunty for arond 280 personnel from the JSU to experience a pre-production version of JPA application in a realistic environment. They will be able to test JPA and provide feedback prior to the application of JPA in the RAF in March.

Then at the end of March the Army announced that JPA would be delayed by 4 mnths until the end of Mar 07 so that the network infrastructure could be put in place. the Army has announced on the Defence Intranet that they are delaying JPA until Mar 07.

I got a glossy little pamphlet entitled 'The JPA customer Charter' through the post today. It was complete with an 'Investors in People' logo on the front.

I would have prefered a pay statement.

Or my pay.

Still no flying pay :ugh: tired of complaining, but won't stop. was on hold for over 10 mins today with jpac and did give up:(

Still no pay statement.

i managed to see mine online before they removed that fuction, but i've not received a hard copy :*

WIWO72 - mine's a large scotch please!

Surely you know that anyone using the Scottish Officer's full name is required to buy drinks for all those who notice!

That piece in The Register is excellent. Love his closing comment!

EDS JPA RAF
 

An EDS JPA staff member told me the following.
None of us here have any respect for our employers or senior management at all. This fiasco that it JPA has only confirmed to us that EDS are in this game for the money and nothing else.
To let you guys understand what's going on in Glasgow, the JPA section are a small newly formed group of people numbering in total 34 (not counting the pensions side of things which has it's own problems) including the managers. Probably there are about 30 admin staff who have only had 3.5 days training on the oracle system (not on RAF pay and allowances) before the 20th March. They are also from an army background and most of them haven't a clue about the idiosyncracies of the RAF. They were led to believe that this system would work just as you were and no contingency was ever built in to handle the number of phone calls that have (understandibly) been coming in to them. The Glasgow JPAC enquiry centre staff feel they haven't been trained well enough to cope with the calls and as you know they have been taking names and numbers for some of the processing staff to get back to you with the answers to your queries. It is not helping that the managers refuse to answer their own phones and tell staff to lie to people about when they can expect a call back. All this at the time when the staff need to be inputting all the element entries for the supplementary pay run on the 15th. Yes there has been overtime but with an average staff wage of under £15k it is not the huge amounts you may imagine. That is always assuming that staff are not so disgusted at the end of the week that they can't wait to see the back of the place. As a final word all I can say is that the staff have complete sympathy for your terrible situation as they have all been shafted by EDS for 4 and a half years now - they know what it feels like. They are getting nowhere with their management who are all in denial of any problems. The staff at EDS Glasgow would like to remind you that payment of any bank charges incurred can be claimed back through your unit HR and that if they were allowed to, I'm sure they would urge you to contact your MPs

Very interesting post admin glasgow. Sounds like you boys are as pissed off with the system as we are, and I don't blame you.

Good luck with those disillusioned people finding new jobs when they walk out in disgust. At least they have that option :(