topic Re: New Billing System in Plusnet Feedback

New Billing System

ITWorks — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 11:50:22 GMT

Given yet the latest price increase , we was all emailed the following:

"Here at Plusnet, we believe in doing you proud. So over the last few months, we’ve been busy working away on a range of improvements that will make your experience even better. Investing in our products and services means that from time to time we have to increase our prices and make changes to our services,"

Given the above statement , when is the fit for purpose billing system going to appear PlusNet (been coming since summer 14) ?

What are these improvements that will make our experience better ?

Lets see if PN can give a proper reply. (even getting a reply to this topic can prove difficult)

Regards
Mike

Re: New Billing System

HarryB — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 12:26:30 GMT

I can assure you it's definitely being worked on, however I'm afraid I don't have a target date that I can share at the moment.

Re: New Billing System

ITWorks — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 14:21:22 GMT

Thanks for your response @HarryB , but it is the same response for over the last 2 years .

Given it has now been two years since this meant to have gone live, in my view its one big project fail

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Tag removed

Re: New Billing System

rongtw — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 14:09:01 GMT

Its just like asking what has become of PN New Network this seams to have been left by the wayside

Re: New Billing System

HarryB — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 14:10:22 GMT

Customers are constantly being migrated over to the new network daily. I'm not sure why you think that's stopped.

Re: New Billing System

chenks76 — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 14:13:39 GMT

@ITWorks wrote:

Thanks for your response @HarryB , but it is the same response for over the last 2 years .

Given it has now been two years since this meant to have gone live, in my view its one big project fail

would you rather it was launched before it was ready ?
Or would you rather they waited until it was functioning correctly?

you can't win with some people.

Re: New Billing System

ITWorks — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 14:49:47 GMT

No of course not , but when a project is over run by two years and with no indication to when it will be delivered , it does not look very good at all does it.

Re: New Billing System

chenks76 — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 14:55:33 GMT

the only mistake made was publishing a proposed launch date.

Re: New Billing System

MauriceC — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 14:56:38 GMT

@chenks76 wrote:

would you rather it was launched before it was ready ?

Or would you rather they waited until it was functioning correctly?

Of course not! But I would expect it to be delivered AND fully functional within a reasonable timescale. Having worked in the industry, two years to implement a billing system is excessive. 9 -12 Months would be generous.

Something else must be the cause of the delay.

Re: New Billing System

ITWorks — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 15:03:42 GMT

@chenks76 You mean dates , summer 2014 , 2015 ,2016

The mistake was not starting on a new billing system years earlier than what they did , if PN need years and years to have it working

Does anyone know of a company the size of PN with such and out dated and near zero flexibility in their billing system

Re: New Billing System

rongtw — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 15:37:43 GMT

HarryB ? so what percentage of customers have moved to the new network ?? i cant remember how long ago it was first started ?

Re: New Billing System

ITWorks — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 16:19:45 GMT

@rongtw given this post: https://community.plus.net/t5/Plusnet-Feedback/Plusnet-New-Network/m-p/1300543#M68869

I would think January this year .

Re: New Billing System

rongtw — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 17:46:14 GMT

thats 8 months am sure it cannot take long to move PN customers , Be nice to see what HarryB says what percentage have been moved

Re: New Billing System

HarryB — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 07:48:06 GMT

I'm afraid percentage of customers moved is not something I will be discussing. However I can confirm that the migrations to the new network are an ongoing process at the moment and still happening.

Re: New Billing System

rongtw — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 07:54:37 GMT

I didn't think PN would make any % of commercially sensitive information

But once again its a ongoing process and still happening ,,,,,, Just as ITworks has said the new billing system is still ongoing and still happening

Re: New Billing System

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 08:26:34 GMT

I’m sorry guys but does anyone here actually have the remotest idea as to how complicated writing software is? Considering what you are dealing with here I can imaging that the formal specification is as thick as a phone book and may well have taken many, many months to complete, only to be revised later when issues not previously considered appear on the horizon.

Writing a billing system of this nature is a seriously complex task, and must be done correctly and tested and tested and tested again as you the customer will be the first to point out any of its failings. Then add to this we don’t actually know how many people are working on this project, or how much of their time they allocate to it in any given day, as I assume they will have other things to do besides this.

In the software world hinting at a release date can be poison and chances are that this will bite you in the bum as is the case here.

Re: New Billing System

rongtw — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 09:34:53 GMT

Whilst i agree with your sentimets , writing code is someting very hard to get right the first time LOOK at this forum

What is most annoying is the fact the PN Keep insisting that they are going to improve but in fact all that happens is promises and sorry,s .

And if you look how well they have handled the present debarkle the saga of capping uploads continues with no explanation from PN

Re: New Billing System

HarryB — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 09:47:53 GMT

@rongtw wrote:

LOOK at this forum

What is most annoying is the fact the PN Keep insisting that they are going to improve but in fact all that happens is promises and sorry,s .

That's not really fair considering the amount of changes/fixes/improvements that went through last week, advised here.

Re: New Billing System

billnotben — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 09:49:21 GMT

In the real world people are paid to do jobs/tasks. If they don't they are sacked and replaced. That's the harsh facts of life.

In the plusnet world people are paid to say sorry, make excuses, and make promises they don't keep.

Is that really what you are saying? That plusnet is exempt from reality.

Re: New Billing System

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 10:30:45 GMT

@rongtw - Exactly, this forum is a good example, and this is only HTML, JavaScript and CSS; so a billing system written in C++ or any other programming language makes this forum pale into insignificance. No it wasn’t right the first time, and maybe it won’t be on the second or third time, which is exactly why things take so much longer than is originally estimated. There are so many variables to consider: OSs and their various browsers, third party libraries that don’t actually work the way they say they do and of course users and how they interact with the site, and their expectations of what they think is right.

@billnotben - I’m not saying Plusnet are exempt from reality, far from it, it’s evident to me that this is their reality; in the IT world this is how things are. Yes, there are many, many examples of projects from other sources being done and delivered on time, but equally there are many that are not and whose budget and release date creep up almost daily.