[foundation-board] Situation with data.gov.uk CKAN work

Mon Aug 2 11:25:51 UTC 2010

Thanks for getting back to me Rufus.

Perhaps I wasn't clear, what I was after was your interpretation of
the risk factors of the 4-step process John has outlined:

>> The process is:
>>> 1.  TNA finalises it plans / proposals to CO for all elements of our
>>> delivery for data.gov.uk
>>> 2.  TNA - CO reach agreement on the budget for the financial year, on
>>> all strands of data.gov.uk delivery by TNA.
>>> 3.  POs raised to TSO, to cover OKF costs (and also, to cover TSO's
>>> costs to date, which is more than we owe you)
>>> 4.  Payment to OFK by TSO

Without understanding what could or could not go wrong with this
process, it's hard to know whether or not to be reassured by his
latest email.

On another point:

>> Also, can you give us an idea of what "pushing extremely hard" for
>> payment would entail at your end?

> Well it involves calling/writing to John Sheridan or people at Cabinet Office.

Which people? At what point? With what frequency? Employing what tone?
Your email to John dated 12 July is more apologetic than I would
expect given how late the payment is. One argument for passing on the
chasing of the payment to your admin assistant once he/she is on board
is so that a more strident tone might be employed without risking the
relationship between you and John ("good cop, bad cop"). Although I
understand, as you say, that there'll be some lag time with this as
you train them up on various things, and the budget and management
accounts is still the priority, from my perspective.

Cheers

Becky

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