let’s screw with their pay…

From the erstwhile The Register comes this story about on-going information quality problems in the British Forces pay and personnel system. There have been complaints of pay being withheld for months.

The MOD blames the data input monkeys  staff and insists that the system is working fine.

“Input errors based on a degree of unfamiliarity with the new scheme have resulted in a small number of pay inaccuracies,” according to the MoD.

“Thorough investigation of these errors has shown that the JPA system is working extremely well… JPA… requires accurate and timely input from… HR administrators.”

Additional training measures are, of course, being provided to staff and the MoD is keen to point out the long term benefits of the system in terms of reduced manpower needs in HR and fewer systems to maintain.

Of course, the complexity of the payroll system should not be underestimated, particularly if there are staff at similar grade with differing pay structures. Add to that the requirement for rock solid security (given the sensitivity of the information) and the system requirements become even more complex.

However, basic validation and verification of information (perhaps a reconciliation between the new system and the old system at data migration) might have mitigated this problem.

Why is this an IQ Trainwreck? Well, they’ve pissed off members of some of the most elite fighting units in the world… not something I’d do.