Speaking to Utility Week, CGI vice president for energy and utilities in the UK Tara McGeehan warned that data quality issues remain a “significant concern” for the project.
“The thing that always hits on big programmes is data quality, and this one is no different. The timescale is tight so it’s right to call that a concern.”
McGeehan added there is likely to be an issue with the different formats the data is currently held, which needs to be resolved.
“There’s bound to be differences in the way one company presents even basic things like names and addresses. The issues of quality may not be the accuracy but it might be in terms of format and how it’s presented.”
She told Utility Week the design phase of the IT system development is due to be completed in November, with the build to be completed in April next year. This will then allow a year for testing and shadow operation ahead of the non-domestic retail market opening in April 2017.
McGeehan said the “substantial testing window” could provide “room for flex” within the programme, should the predicted data quality issues, or other problems, arise. She added the market is currently due to open as scheduled, despite the data quality concerns.
The warning echoes those made in July by Market Operator Services Limited’s (MOSL’s) Ben Jeffs, who acknowledged that poor data quality “remains a key issue” for the sector ahead of market opening.
Earlier this week, CGI was awarded a five year, £15 million contract to design, build and operate the central IT system for the English water market.