Atlas in BF

‘ATLAS’ (the replacement for CID) and the challenges facing its' roll-out in Border Force

PCS details the proposed roll out of ‘Atlas’, the replacement for ‘CID’ in Border Force, the problems that are likely to ensue, and our concerns

Background

PCS first met with the team overseeing the roll-out of the CID replacement ‘ATLAS’ across Border Force on 7 January 2020. Although ATLAS (which is primarily a caseworking system that is the latest IT to follow in the footsteps of PAS, and then CID at the Border) has been under development for some time it appears that Border Force itself only became involved at a very late stage. So late in fact that many of the fundamental design principles of Atlas had already been finalised, though a Border Caseworking function has been agreed. Atlas is being developed using Agile methodology and we were informed that the initial deployment will not be an improvement on CID; rather it will only provide a level of functionality that allows CID to be decommissioned. This, we were told, was expected to happen by September 2020. The Border Force team’s aim is to make the transition to ATLAS as pain free as possible. Looking to the future we were told that they had made a bid for funding to secure continuous improvement of Atlas.

Roll-out and Training

As of 22 January 2020 the training programme proposes training 600 Border Force ‘users’ who in turn will assist in training all remaining staff. Originally plans were to trial at specific ports, but this has been revised, in consultation with regional change leads, to ensure that their own regions can support what is proposed in favour of 600 individuals across the country. It is proposed that all Border Force staff will be trained by 31 March 2020. Since deployment of some of the MI tools will not happen until after initial deployment of Atlas, Border Force staff will need to duplicate some of the data entered on CID onto Atlas (otherwise known as ‘dual keying’), possibly until CID is finally retired in September. This represents an additional time and workload burden on already stretched staffing numbers, and could have an impact on the ability of Border Force to meet its targets and fulfil its requirements under the Operating Mandate.

Detention Gatekeeper & authorising Detention

The most immediate problem facing Border Force is that from 4 February 2020 Immigration Enforcement will require all requests for detention space via the Detention Gatekeeper to be processed on Atlas. Since at that stage most Border Force staff will not have been trained this presents some very practical and logistical challenges to operational efficiency. There are ongoing discussions about the possible short term use of central points of contact to undertake Atlas data entry, but at the time of writing there are no firm proposals in place. PCS has already been contacted by members concerned at the potential for breaches of statutory detention time limits due to the lack of Atlas trained staff. Whilst no firm proposals exist the team are keen to play down the risks, and assure us that measures will be in place by 4 February. Obviously this remains to be seen.

Challenges Facing Atlas

These seem too many to mention but in summary:

Timing: The start of 2020 will see EU exit in some form, the roll-out of Border Crossing, and the final move of functions from Adelphi to Metis. ATLAS presents yet another demand on an overstretched group of staff.

‘Dual Keying’ (or Duplication of Data Entry): As already mentioned, until September 2020 some data entry will have to be duplicated on both CID and ATLAS, meaning more work for operational staff.

Incomplete Functionality: At this late stage there are still some required Border Force functions that have not been finalised on Atlas, nor fully tested yet.

Miscellaneous: This includes amongst others the absence of any port reference numbers in favour of a person centred reference, that we are aware is perceived to be an issue by those that have practical operational experience of using CID. We are now however assured that this is being progressed.

PCS Concerns

Whilst it is clear that there has been involvement from a number of potential Atlas users and that the current and likely future problems with Atlas are not the fault of the Border Force team, they are worryingly numerous. Apocryphal accounts already speak of new cases taking three times the length of time to put on Atlas compared to its CID counterpart. Despite claims that the system is intuitive many accounts refute that, and there are still many parts of the operational process that have not been tested by users.. All of which means additional work stress and pressure placed on operational staff. We are told that there still remains the nuclear option to halt the roll out of Atlas into Border Force at the proposed time. There is, however, significant pressure to proceed with deployment and this would be the option of last resort.

PCS acknowledges the hard work and invaluable input of those operational staff who have tested the Atlas system and identified concerns to be addressed, without whose feedback under severe time pressure the Border Force rollout of Atlas would be in a far worse position than it now is.

Feedback

The Border Force team rolling out Atlas welcome front line feedback, so they can make informed decisions about the success and impact of the new system. Therefore PCS requests that any constructive and factual feedback on the successes or failures of ATLAS be sent to the authors of this briefing, so we can send it direct to the decision makers within the Border Force team. Meanwhile PCS will keep members apprised of ongoing developments.

Kevin Mills (Assistant Group Secretary), Stephen Taylor (Assistant Group Secretary)