The most interesting (IMO) part from the full report https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Investigation-into-the-British-Army-Recruiting-Partnering

The most interesting (IMO) part from the full report https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Investigation-into-the-British-Army-Recruiting-Partnering-Project.pdf https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Investigat... Looks like it's not entirely the fault of Capita, but the Army's overall approach was flawed: The Army initially attempted to develop the IT infrastructure The Department approved the Programme on the basis that the Army would use its existing IT infrastructure to host the online system. In 2012, the Department was therefore responsible for developing the IT infrastructure to achieve this. Capita was responsible for developing the new online system. As we reported in 2014, the Department encountered problems with the delivery of the IT infrastructure, and deadlines were repeatedly missed. The main problems were that the Department: • Had to manage a relationship between two providers who had no contractual relationship with each other; • Underestimated the complexity of what it was trying to achieve and, consequently, the resources required to manage the risks; and • Had an Army project management team that was inexperienced and under-resourced. The Army originally intended to introduce the new online recruitment system by July 2013. In December 2013, it accepted that its approach had not worked and passed responsibility for implementing the whole approach – the hosting infrastructure and the online recruitment system – to Capita. The Department’s Accounting Officer accepted that the failure to manage the dependencies between the Atlas and Capita contracts was ‘unacceptable’. Capita took responsibility for developing the online system. Capita initially intended to use an ‘off-the-shelf’ commercial system but underestimated the complexity of the Army’s requirements. It found the level of customisation needed to support the three Armed Services’ recruitment processes meant that an off-the-shelf system was not a viable technical solution. In February 2015, it therefore began to develop a new bespoke system. Capita then encountered problems developing the new application and missed launch deadlines in July 2015, April 2016 and April 2017. The main problems involved the scale of the three Armed Services’ processes and requirements, and the number of interfaces with other IT systems. For example, the Armed Forces have over 250 job roles, each with its own eligibility criteria and rules, which means a new Army candidate can have 27 possible pathways through the recruitment process. Capita told us that these requirements made system development more complex than standard online recruitment systems.