PDA live tracking on line today

answer=42 · Post by **answer=42** » 02 Oct 2017, 11:38

Got told this morning that the PDA gps tracking facility has been enabled from today. This should give access for authorised people to see where PDA's are in real time (DOMs?) and record data on where they have been at all times. I don't know whether this is nationwide if so but be aware that big brother now has a good handle on exactly where you are, how fast you are moving, whether you are trying deliver to neighbour, taking a break, going off route..............................etc etc.
Good news maybe for those with walks that are genuinely too big and want to prove it, bad news maybe for those who make their walks look a bit bigger than they are!

Post by **POSTMAN** » 02 Oct 2017, 11:55

Royal Mail & CWU Addendum Covering the use/study of PDA Outdoor Actuals

Dear Colleagues
Further to LTB 251/17 (https://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communi ... 15&t=79664" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) regarding the use/study of PDA Outdoor Actuals. The department has been in discussions with Royal Mail reviewing the Phase 1 activity of PDA Outdoor Actuals to understand the current position following the phase 1 go live date in May 2017, which has seen the app launched across circa 600 routes.

In connection with this there has also been validation exercises, with the project team starting to visit all of the 13 Delivery Offices currently in scope as part of Phase 1 and working with the local manager and CWU Rep (Area Rep where the unit does not have a Unit Rep) to validate whether the information generated for each delivery duty/walk is correct.

As a result of the above further discussions had taken place with Royal Mail regarding the decision taken by them for the need to deploy/load the App onto each and every PDA device Nationally before the autumn pressure period begins and that there was limited timescales to do this. In addition the project is also being driven by an IT Software Company which has been contractually engaged by Royal Mail at significant expense and is dependent on milestone completion timescales for the project.
In recent weeks the department has been in discussions with Royal Mail regarding an Addendum to the original agreed document, which has created a number of pressures between both them and us, particularly given the nature of the current Trade Dispute. This is because the deployment of the App will also see a number of other software updates deployed at the same time and any delay would have huge risk to the quality of data produced from the existing data and also add in further large financial costs.

As the deployment of the App is similar to that of a smart phone update, there was and is the ability for Royal Mail to deploy the App to PDA devices, with or without our agreement or indeed involvement and knowledge of the CWU Nationally and OPGs would be none the wiser, until the update had been completed and we find out through reports into HQ.

This could have led to the department considering calling for all Branches and OPGs not to use the PDA device at all. Obviously this was communicated to Royal Mail as the position we would adopt should they not agree a set of words through an Addendum and for this to be cleared by the Postal Executive.
Therefore, we have agreed the attached Addendum through the Postal Executive whilst also ensuring the necessary safeguards are in place, this would enable us to better manage a potentially difficult situation.

The App will be deployed to the full PDA estate starting from w/c 2nd October and due to be completed by 16th October. The plan is for the App to be deployed in 6 phases across the delivery and collections estate.

From a managerial, local representative and employee perspective, no individual will have to do anything whatsoever, it will purely be a Technical/Software application deployed in the background to ensure the IT infrastructure and solution architecture including: data flows, platform hosting, system availability and system performance can cope with the increase in number of PDA’s, along with the number of transaction scan events throughout the busiest period of the year.
Both parties have been absolutely clear that no data reporting or access to any of the platforms detailing the outputs from the App will be available at unit level as a result of the above.

The increased deployment of the App will ensure more information will be available to inform the talks regarding how full National deployment to all Royal Mail Collection and Delivery units will take place and the timescales for expected completion. These talks will also resolve any issues experienced and that have been raised during phase 1 with the extended activity to establish what future reporting and information applications could be produced, plus who will have access to this data going forward.

Therefore whilst we are acutely aware of the seriousness of the current impasse in National Talks and the subsequent Trade Dispute, we feel committing the company to a further addendum regarding this initiative is the right course of action in order to ensure that we don’t lose sight of the current National ballot and that this matter didn’t become a flashpoint and therefore side track us from the Four Pillars Campaign and overall prosecution of the National dispute. It is for this reason that we have decided to communicate this to Branches and reps as a memo.

As always any questions on the above/attached should be directed to the Outdoor Department.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Baulch
Assistant Secretary

sussexlad · Post by **sussexlad** » 02 Oct 2017, 14:11

Don't see a problem here. If they want to see where i am then they are quite welcome to because i have nothing to hide. It's the same with going for a drive in the car, how many ANPR cameras do you drive past!! Does that bother me? Not really.

answer=42 · Post by **answer=42** » 02 Oct 2017, 14:55

sussexlad wrote:Don't see a problem here. If they want to see where i am then they are quite welcome to because i have nothing to hide. It's the same with going for a drive in the car, how many ANPR cameras do you drive past!! Does that bother me? Not really.

I agree, like I said, potentially good news for some and I've certainly not got anything to hide, bring it on in fact. Mind you, Postman's post shows that, at least in the short term, unit level monitoring is not going to happen just yet, which overall is probably a good thing.
Someone's going to use the data though, I just hope it turns out to be in a positive way.

worktotime · Post by **worktotime** » 02 Oct 2017, 14:56

sussexlad wrote:Don't see a problem here. If they want to see where i am then they are quite welcome to because i have nothing to hide. It's the same with going for a drive in the car, how many ANPR cameras do you drive past!! Does that bother me? Not really.

to right I'm the same nothing to hide where I am or what I do on delivery

, but theres some in my office that might have a problem with this , I hope there use it to clock finishing times as well as it may stop the idiots starting early , not using the methods , and not taking meal breaks.

Gummage · Post by **Gummage** » 02 Oct 2017, 16:00

hmmmm

DGH · Post by **DGH** » 02 Oct 2017, 16:09

Gummage wrote:Next they'll start paying for actual hours worked, instead of a fixed number of hours per Walk

To be honest that's only fair. If you don't want to do the work for the hourly rate of pay, don't do it. I agree at the moment, and more so historically, there is/was a goodly amount of ghost overtime that was agreed with managers rather than performed by (at least semi-) deception. But of the company don't want that to happen, it's fair enough really.

thekiddykid · Post by **thekiddykid** » 02 Oct 2017, 17:24

I am amazed that the early logging off of a PDA is not flagged up in the managers office!!! We still have numbskulls coming in 45 mins before their start time, racing around, then coming back an hour early

. Is the technology that far behind at Royal Mail???

scoobymunster · Post by **scoobymunster** » 02 Oct 2017, 18:26

thekiddykid wrote:I am amazed that the early logging off of a PDA is not flagged up in the managers office!!! We still have numbskulls coming in 45 mins before their start time, racing around, then coming back an hour early . Is the technology that far behind at Royal Mail???

Log off time isn't necessarily accurate. I usually log off on last loop, yet with travel time/end of duty stuff etc. I can still have 45+ mins left to my day. I admire everyone's optimism, I can see this data being used to question peoples work rate rather than trying to evenly balance the workload.

Interested-seeker · Post by **Interested-seeker** » 02 Oct 2017, 19:01

Gummage · Post by **Gummage** » 02 Oct 2017, 19:09

DGH wrote:
Gummage wrote:Next they'll start paying for actual hours worked, instead of a fixed number of hours per Walk
To be honest that's only fair. If you don't want to do the work for the hourly rate of pay, don't do it. I agree at the moment, and more so historically, there is/was a goodly amount of ghost overtime that was agreed with managers rather than performed by (at least semi-) deception. But of the company don't want that to happen, it's fair enough really.

What we need is a formal agreement on Hours Guaranteed for a Walk
When employees are guaranteed a minimum number of hours for a Walk, they are paid the guaranteed minimum for Walks when they work less time than the guaranteed minimum.

franco1 · Post by **franco1** » 03 Oct 2017, 06:56

The way I see it rm want us to go down the performance route.
What this means is your performance will be monitored.
Finish early and a discussion will be held and you'll be given more delivery points. Finish that early and you'll be given more. Finish that on time and you'll be assessed whether you could do more. Finish that late and you'll be assessed as to why.
A never ending drive until you are emotionally stressed and physically exhausted.

Gummage · Post by **Gummage** » 03 Oct 2017, 07:58

franco1 wrote:The way I see it rm want us to go down the performance route.
What this means is your performance will be monitored.
Finish early and a discussion will be held and you'll be given more delivery points. Finish that early and you'll be given more. Finish that on time and you'll be assessed whether you could do more. Finish that late and you'll be assessed as to why.
A never ending drive until you are emotionally stressed and physically exhausted.

Ryanair

Interested-seeker · Post by **Interested-seeker** » 05 Oct 2017, 20:03

I've changed my opinion about this now.

Just realised that it is probably so that they can calculate route times and use these for when they bring in route ownership. Problem will be that not every day is the same and everyone works at different paces.

mark.cup · Post by **mark.cup** » 05 Oct 2017, 20:28

Just one more reason to strike or in a minute we will be like Amazon workers getting tracked on a pisstop