1. KVI Change Management Survey January 2019

2. Overview
3 Surveys completed for year 2018/ July, October and January.
Issued to approx. 450 Industry contacts
KVI achieved against our target of 90% rated as ‘Always’ or ‘Usually’:
July %
October %
January %
Overall score for the year 76.1%
July 2018 had 9 responses in total
3 anonymous
6 named
October responses doubled to 18
13 anonymous
5 named
January saw responses fall again to 9
4 anonymous

3. Individual question responses Oct 18 vs Jan 19
I receive timely and fit for purpose information to enable me to manage new changes that impact my organisation
Xoserve presents a range of solution options for each change to enable choice
I trust Xoserve to identify solutions that benefit the whole Industry where possible
Xoserve supports the ability for me to fully engage me in the change process, should I choose to
I trust Xoserve to deliver changes to agreed costs, timescales and quality
Jan 19 (9)
October 18 (18)

4. Key Feedback Received – January 2019
6 reviewers provided further comments on the Change management process
Where appropriate Customer Change will contact provider for further clarification. Where feedback is from named individual we will seek approval before publishing our responses.
Key feedback:
More visibility needed on changes that we deem to be Xoserve impacting only
The change process is now getting into the swing of the evolved process which has been refined throughout 2018.
The change process has come a long way since Nexus and feel fully engaged in it through DSG
IGTs have continued to see consistent failings in Xoserve's delivery of IGT related changes
Concerns around quality and the number of issues that appear after the event

5. Appendices: July & October 2018

6. Individual question responses July – Oct 18
I receive timely and fit for purpose information to enable me to manage new changes that impact my organisation
Xoserve presents a range of solution options for each change to enable choice
I trust Xoserve to identify solutions that benefit the whole Industry where possible
Xoserve supports the ability for me to fully engage me in the change process, should I choose to
I trust Xoserve to deliver changes to agreed costs, timescales and quality
July (9)
October (18)

7. Key Feedback Received – July 2018
5 reviewers provided further comments on the Change management process
Where the feedback was not provided anonymously, the provider has acknowledged and approved the Xoserve response before publication.
Key feedback:
Xoserve needs to present all solution options not just those preferred by Xoserve - ‘think out of the box’
The change process has come a long way in the past year – just needs final push from ‘OK’ to ‘Great’
Quality of change documentation needs to be improved
The end-to-end change process is quite difficult to engage with but acknowledge the changes Xoserve have made to better this
It's very difficult to understand what changes are in progress, what changes have been approved and when they are due to be implemented

8. You said – We did – July 2018 You Said We Did
It sometimes feels options presented are done so to push the industry towards one that may be preferred by Xoserve. It would be good to see both options that are probably invalid but were thought about and some that are more "outside of the box". Xoserve should put less emphasis on shippers making changes where the root cause is how UK Link may be handling data either initially or in downstream processes (recent examples being AQ of 1 and outgoing shipper shipper submitting reads D ).
Improvements are being made but with the delay to Cadent changes in R3 I can't rate Q9 higher. I really feel this has been a failure on the Xoserve/Cadent side in not fully preparing for a known change much earlier which has meant that it will have to now be delayed. Especially disappointing as it has a direct impact on your customers (shipper) and Cadent are not flexible to payment options i.e. netting off the invoices resulting in a portion of manual work each month.
On the survey, I think a "sometimes" or "most of the time" option would be good. I know it's better not to have a middle ground but, to me, the difference between Rarely and Usually is too great. Q6 and 9 for me would have been this
Xoserve works in collaboration with customers in developing solution options for all externally impacting changes. Solution options are discussed, accepted or rejected by our customers at DSC Delivery Sub Group meetings with agreement reached as to which one(s) are taken forward to be sent to all change managers for solution consultation.
It has been great to see DSG members working together in rationalising solution options and bringing forward new ideas and ways of working.
We acknowledge the frustration for customers in the delay to the Cadent change. In future the new capture phase introduced earlier this year will help to mitigate this happening as we now assess how much work is involved in implementing a change prior to the decision to include in a release.
Thank you for the suggestion regarding the Change Survey. We will consider this and work with the DSC Contract committee in review of the survey.
The change process has come along way in the last year (it read better on paper than it did in practice) and it just needs the final push to go from okay to great. it is less clunky and is more engaging. I have recognised the hard work Xoserve have put in, we just need to finish off the final bits and really put it to the test and then let the 'capture' process naturally evolve.
We appreciate your support in our developing change process. We still have a way to go to become 'great' but hopefully you are starting to see improvements.

9. You said – We did – July 2018 You Said We Did
things are definitely improving. however quality of change management documentation needs to improve. They tend to assume you are fully immersed in the change already and so use acronyms and reference numbers rather than full titles and explanations; they don't take account of the fact that many smaller organisations, who are unable to service all the meetings, rely on the documentation to make them aware of change in the first place. Slide packs tend to be overly long and would benefit from more precise summaries and less extraneous details, as it makes it hard to "see the wood for the trees".
We acknowledge your feedback on the quality of our change documentation and will continue to improve this by the removal of acronyms and industry terminology. We are always open to suggestions on how we can make this better for all our customers.
More recently we have held the first 2 Customer awareness sessions for Release 3, aimed at providing an overview of the changes within Track 1 and Track 2 to all our customers, particularly those who are unable to attend the change forums. Future sessions are being scheduled for the February 2019 release and will be held for all major releases going forward.
We have also been working to make change materials easier to find on Xoserve.com with each release having its own webpage under our Change programme menu. This will be further improved on our new website which will be launched early next year.
Some within Xoserve still need to appreciate that National Grid is a customer as well as shippers
We acknowledge your concerns in respect of your organisation. We are working hard to ensure all of our customers are highly engaged and receive a high level of service from Xoserve.

10. You said – We did – July 2018 You Said We Did
We find the end-to-end change process quite difficult to engage with and to assess the impact to our business. We acknowledge changes Xoserve have made to better this and some of these questions are difficult to provide a fair answer, as the answer would more likely be "recently".
Our main issue today is that it's very difficult at anytime to understand what changes are in progress, what changes have been approved and when they are due to be implemented. We feel there needs to be some form of central register (preferably not an excel spreadsheet!) that is kept up to date with change proposals, their current status and proposed/actual implementation date to make this easier to track and engage with.
We have these systems in place for all other industry processes with the exception of this change process.
It’s good to hear that you can see the changes Xoserve are trying to make to improve the end to end change process for all our customers. We are always open to feedback to make this better for everyone. We are doing some work to identify the impact changes have on specific customers so that we can reach out directly to those impacted as the changes are developed and implemented.
We are also in the process of producing a simplified change register – although initially it will be an excel spreadsheet we hope it will provide the information customers need in a more concise way.
In addition to the above, as part of an organisation-wide project to develop a new website for Xoserve, we will be improving our change management website pages to enable change details and their current status easier to find.

11. Key Feedback Received – October 18
5 reviewers provided further comments on the Change management process
Where the feedback was not provided anonymously, Xoserve contacted the provider for further clarification where appropriate and agreed our response prior to publishing.
Key feedback:
All in all a great improvement to the change process, its come a long way since January 2018
Need to be better balance with volume of communications and reduction in number of issues (not necessarily changes but issues can produce changes)
Change register needs to be improved to help customers to track overall changes through DSC governance
Consistency of information between Xoserve and Joint Office must be improved.
Xoserve does not always give a range of solution options nor a clear indication of funding for those solutions.

12. You said – We did – October 2018
There needs to be a better balance with the volume of communication also a reduction in the number of issues which are happening (not necessarily change but changes need to be made to fix the issues). The change process has come along way in since January, especially with the introduction of the capture process, it switched around the process which saw customers getting a better idea on the detail for deliverables. R2 and R3 releases have been decisions made on the wire rather than with plenty of time, this needs to be worked on but compared to last year when the process was really complicated and didn't deliver customer needs it is a simpler planning issue to resolve. We are not sure that a 'range' of solutions are always given, but we would prefer appropriate options are given over a range (too much choice takes longer to design and deliver). All in all it is great improvement to the change process and with the lessons learned through delivery of a couple more major releases we feel the process will become more seamless.
Alison Cross (Xoserve) met with the customer who provided the feedback to discuss it in more detail.
More detailed feedback on Issue management and communication of issues was discussed and noted which has been passed onto the issue management team.
It is good to receive acknowledgement of the improvements seen since January particularly the introduction of capture mid-year. We will continue to implement further improvements and encourage customer feedback to help us focus on key actions.
In respect of R2 and R3 releases these were scoped at the back end of the transitional period between old and new change process. Earlier engagement is now in place for future releases - November 2019 release has being discussed in October/November 2018.
Xoserve have completed analysis of how many solution options have been presented to DSG for their recommendation for each change - the average being 3 - but some changes have had as many as 6 options. We will continue to work with our customers to define solution options for all future changes.
Thank you for the positive comments on the improvements we have made so far. We have a number of actions planned next year to continue to try to make the process easier for our customers.

13. You said – We did – October 2018
change briefings tend to consist of ludicrously long powerpoint slides or difficult to understand presentations. you need to provide more succinct briefings, that are clear and focused, so those of us that are just 'dipping in' occassionally to keep a watching brief can more easily identify relevant information. Your meeting minutes tend to only list change reference numbers, not titles, which makes it difficult if you haven't memorised every change reference!
Alison Cross (Xoserve) met with the customer who provided the feedback to discuss it in more detail.
It was acknowledged that the change process was not always easy to engage with when a customer is just 'dipping in' occasionally. Xoserve will looking into ways to make the long slide packs easier to navigate for individual changes. We are also due to launch a new Xoserve.com in the new year which will hold all Change proposals and their current status along with a new simplified change register that will help to more easily identify changes that will impact an organisation.
In addition Xoserve now holds Customer awareness sessions for each Release which provide a high level overview of the changes due to be implemented - this is augmented by Release Circulars published on Xoserve.com
We have already started to action the addition of titles against reference numbers in documentation and communications although there may be occasions where some slip the net. We are also ensuring the MOD references are included to aid in reviewing the change history.
For a constituency of small organisations, cost is often a important factor in deciding to progress changes. This includes where changes are proposed outside of the constituency group for split funding - we would appreciate if Xoserve could work with the organisation to make clear the funding arrangements when published for Solution Review.
Anonymous feedback thus Xoserve were unable to contact customer to discuss. Please contact Alison Cross if you would like to discuss your feedback further.
Xoserve will provide support for IGTs in respect of the DSC Framework. At the DSC Change Management Committee (ChMC) it is decided who should be funding a change based on the budget and charging methodology. This is reviewed again at the point the change is approved for delivery. IGTs have 2 votes at ChMC so have an opportunity to vote on changes that impact them as defined in the DSC arrangements IGTs have signed up to. The constituency is advised to work together to discuss these changes, including proposed funding, to ensure the vote is representative of all constituency views.

14. You said – We did – October 2018
The change process remains difficult to follow and we have little confidence in whether we have a full grasp on the overall changes through the DSC. The information provided is not clear to determine what action is required, what stage of governance a change is at or what is being requested from Shippers. The change log shows some improvement, however is still very much focussed on what information Xoserve needs to manage and track change and not its customers. We welcome the changes and streamlining of the change proposal forms. The hand off and consistency of information shared by JO and Xoserve must improve. Currently in order to monitor the change landscape shippers must access multiple platforms, pages, sheets and updates without any clear picture of the level of impact.
Alison Cross (Xoserve) met with the customer who provided the feedback to discuss it in more detail.
The feedback had been provided to ensure that Xoserve remained aware of the desire and need for improvements to the change process although they acknowledged some improvements have already been made. The new change proposal pages on the refreshed Xoserve.com, where all Change proposals will be stored going forward, along with a simplified change registered should assist in mitigating the issues currently being experienced.
The customer also provided further feedback on the quantity and quality of communications issued by Xoserve. This feedback has been passed to the relevant teams within Xoserve and we will work with customers to put a better process in place.
Additional understanding of the wider implications and consequential change should be considered by Xoserve when providing change solutions.
Anonymous feedback thus Xoserve were unable to contact customer to discuss. Please contact Alison Cross if you would like to discuss your feedback further.
DSC Delivery Sub Group is the forum set up to discuss the impacts of changes - which include implications and consequential change. Xoserve also issue solution consultation and design Change Packs for each change during the change lifecycle which provide organisations the opportunity to review and submit their responses (representations) which will then be reviewed by the DSC Change Management committee in their decision making.
In addition Xoserve now holds Customer awareness sessions for each Release which provide a high level overview of the changes due to be implemented - this is augmented by Release Circulars published on Xoserve.com