Implementation & Migration Working Group Update: “We’re Good to Go!”

“Its been the task of the Implementation & Migration Working Group to focus on two key aspects of the 21CN programme since it started out in October 2005: Customer Engagement and Transfer Engineering” explained Dave.

“Throughout that 12-month period we’ve created what we hope everyone involved will agree is an ‘assured environment’. By that I mean we’ve walked our customers along every step of the journey. We’ve provided them with an absolute mountain of information at every stage so that everyone knows exactly where they can contribute and exactly what’s happening. We’ve truly listened to our customers and placed great value on their feedback. We’ve successfully resolved any pockets of issues. With the result that now, as we get to the final preparatory stages before Pathfinder, we and all the communication providers have no major concerns. We’re all confident that we’re good to go.”

The work of two sub-groups to the main Implementation & Migration Working Group has helped to ensure that this confidence is very well-founded. Migration Command & Control — “like NASA Control” according to Dave — has been laying the plans for the switch-over of the 500-600 Cardiff companies to the next generation network and will naturally be monitoring their progress second by second as Pathfinder goes live. While the experts in the Business Continuity sub-group have explored and worked through all the possible ‘best case’ and ‘worst case’ scenarios to achieve a stand-by resource of solutions to meet every eventuality.

End-customers in and around Cardiff will soon be party to that shared confidence as well. The Implementation & Migration Working Group has been liaising closely with another Working Group — Communications. This is the one responsible for creating and distributing the messages and information that customers, the media and other interested parties in and around the Welsh capital will need when the Pathfinder button gets pressed on 27 November. The group will then review the effectiveness of the switched-on communications campaign through Pathfinder and prepare for continued communications through the rollout period. 

Another key output from the Communications Working Group is the development of the 'switched-on' brand — the brand created to explain the process of migration (see article 'the UK Communications Industry gets 'switched-on') that will be maintained throughout the five year migration programme. The whole 'switched-on' campaign is designed to be independent and non-commercial providing an important public information service about the process of migration. This body of information has been generated and agreed centrally and has been passed on to each communications company for them to use in their own way in their own internal and external marketing campaigns.

Dave concluded: “One of the important pieces of feedback that our Group had from the CPs was the need for significant review periods to be built into the implementation and migration process — and BT refreshed its plans to take this on board. Regular status reviews will therefore continue to be important throughout Pathfinder too. That’s apart from the big review — and the big learning — that will be necessary for everyone involved in 21CN when Pathfinder comes to a close next June. We’ll genuinely want to know how it was for you!”