back to article MPs slam employment agency IT

Poor IT is hampering efficiency at Jobcentre Plus, according to a Commons report. A parliamentary watchdog has said staff at Jobcentre Plus are having to work with slow and problematic IT, which often does not have the basic functionality that would be expected in a modern office. The Commons Public Accounts Committee found …

COMMENTS

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  1. James Condron

    EDS

    is this still an EDS system? surely not another EDS system gone tits up...

  2. Daniel Bennett
    Gates Horns

    No... REALLY?

    I've had both my parents moaning about the system all their entire time working at the damn place...

    NOW they finally notice?

    Geez...

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Punched cards and englisgmen

    The Systems they use have there roots in the punched card days. They casue more grief than a manual card system and with that nothing more needs to be said.

    Also the staff have the IT sence of a monkey handcuffed trying to scratch its arse - basicly they aint realy trained about IT at all. I base this upon a recent visit were to print a single paragraph they were going to resort to print an entire 120 page document. Indeed a simple highlight and print selected would of sufficed and after showing that was indeed an option was gladly recieved. This being just the surface on how shafted the staff there are.

    Stop wasting money on 3rd parties, employ your own IT staff and dont tupe them out via contracts. Bottom line in IT if its making a profit - DONT sell it off, if its not making a profit then again dont sell it off expecting it to get cheaper as cost is praportuonal to return and you clearly havin't costed the benifits right or you dont need IT.

    Bottom line not enough IT unions in this country have erroded the skills and pay away to the extent that its a utter joke. Take attatiude to the post office to see what you get treated like when you stand up for your rights these days. Yet managers there I bet like in IT are creaming it without actualy contributing dick.

  4. AndyB
    Dead Vulture

    Yes, it's EDS

    Now there's a surprise.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    EDS

    When is the govement going to learn EDS is crap. Or do they already know this, and are actual recievie a sizable donation?

    Out sourcing IT is t eh biggest mistake any company can make let alone govement, espically to a bunch of cowboys like EDS

  6. Chris Collins

    Same old, same old

    I remember from my dole-scrounging days that my fortnightly visits to the Job Centre could be a major chore due to bad data. Old adverts, out of date information, poor keywords and abysmal regional mapping all made the visit an hour-long nightmare. Unless I was interviewed by the nice hippy chick. Unlike the evil old battleaxe, she would allow a cursory check of the list and a swift stamp of the book.

  7. Geoff Mackenzie

    Make life easier, not harder

    I've seen that job centre IT system (as I'm sure many have) and to be honest it does look like a bag of turds, but I have to object: people are always very quick to say that legacy IT systems make their lives more difficult, not easier - are they really saying they think they'd be better off with a pen and paper system!?

    Oh - and re the question about donations and whether the government's continued use of EDS and friends is stupidity or corruption, see practically any issue of Private Eye over the past few years... See also Arriva, Capita, Reliance, etc., etc.

  8. dave butler

    Not only EDS

    EDS did in fact have the initial contract, however die to many reasons (shit work perhaps ?) IBM Global took over the project. EDS controlled infrastructure (desks pc ...) and IBM the programming. A true mess...

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    BRING BACK EDS!!!

    All is forgiven :(

    My "Employer" used to have IT outsourced to EDS, largest IT infrastructure in Europe for those of you wondering. Whilst back in the EDS day I used to slag them off daily, whilst cleaning up their mess, I'd now quite happily sell my soul to them to take over from our new IT supplier...and give me back my IT job instead of the crap I've now been dumped in due to outsourcing.

  10. Joe K
    Dead Vulture

    Obvious

    I've worked for both EDS and the Jobcentre, never have i seen a more brain-dead couple so suited to one another.

    One keeps sucking up the money the other is happy to keep handing over.

    Not that the money ever reaches the "employees", so you end up with either indian data-chimps or 18yr olds here on minimum wage not giving a toss about their work.

    Yay for outsourcing!

  11. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    too tough for IBM

    http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/public-sector/news/index.cfm?newsid=5515

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  13. Harry Stottle

    I'll have to check with my sources but...

    My understanding is that there is over £200 million quids worth of new kit which they bought and paid for over 2 years ago but which they have been unable to install because they forgot to specify that the monitors on the frontline MUST be attached to secure fixed stands to prevent them being a) used as weapons and b)stolen. They had already spent their budget so they couldn't afford to buy the stands...

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    JobDroid

    Well I've just written a 500 word rant on the JCP IT systems and processes & EDC along with defending the people being spat at by addicts & unemployed teachers for fourteen grand a year on the front line at Job Centres. I then thought about the sweep possible of all staff who read the register and I'd be out on my ear, and there are non of these average £24,000 jobs where I live, its all minimum wage, I've looked.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Out Sourcing

    I work for an ousourcing firm (Not EDS), and all my dealings with local or national government tend to be the same. They don't actually know what they want from a project and when the supplier delivers what they asked and signed for its actually completely different to there actual requirements and not fit for purpose.

    The problem is that the person spending our money we've paid in tax doesn't have a clue about what the requirements are or the technology that is available to them. They all tend to be jobs for the boys merchants that don't actually have a clue what front line staff actually do.

    I'm not saying that the out sourcing firms a perfect, but surely before everyone slags them off people should look at both sides of the argument.

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