4.2 After the system went live, the high level of completion errors by applicants (estimated at 50 per cent in mid April 2002 by Capita26) and the higher than expected volume of paper applications immediately caused problems at the front-end of the process. These problems highlighted operational and data quality issues, leading to delays in processes and systems primarily designed to handle telephone applications.
4.3 The telephone application route also did not work as envisaged or specified. Nor did the online identity authentication process, which relied on interaction with the customers to complete a drill down set of questions to authenticate identity. These processes used real time online access to other databases which proved operationally impractical. All of these issues caused significant delay to the Bureau's customers. Figure 8 shows the volume of Applications and Disclosures from March 2002, and Figure 9 lists the main problems which occurred after going live.
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26 Unaudited figure supplied by Capita.