The transition from BEIS-led programmes to the enduring arrangements has been an area of focus for the Panel.

Towards the end of 2018, the Panel considered the powers and provisions needed for overseeing releases on an enduring basis, resulting in SECMP0061 being implemented in February 2019. The Panel is now reviewing the underlying mechanisms for delivering SEC Releases as documented in the SEC Release Management Policy. As the BEIS-led programmes come to an end, Modification Proposals, which can be raised by any SEC Party in response to issues or concerns they have with the current arrangements, will be the primary driver of change to the SEC.

Expert groups under the transitional arrangements are also being retained under the enduring arrangements. In particular, the Technical Specifications Issues Resolution Subgroup (TSIRS) will become a sub-group under the Technical Architecture and Business Architecture Sub-Committee (TABASC), ensuring this group of experts can continue to review and resolve issues in this area.

Please see responses to Q1 and Q2.

The Panel recognises that the lead-time for some modifications to reach decision has been too long. Primary drivers behind this have been the duration of DCC Assessments and obtaining full DCC implementation costs, which have resulted in significant delays to decisions on some proposals. The Panel is working to ensure that the DCC reduces its timescales in line with the new SLAs introduced into the SEC in November 2018.

The Panel has been fully engaged and supportive of the initiatives SECAS has developed and implemented over the last 12 months, in order to streamline the SEC Modifications Process and ensure it provides an effective and efficient mechanism for change. These improvements are now beginning to realise benefits, with Panel Members providing positive feedback from their Party Categories on the new Development Stage.

The Panel will continue to monitor and drive improvements to the process to ensure that it is fit for purpose.

Please refer to the response provided to Question 1 above.

The Panel believes that the underlying framework is effective, however has expressed some disappointment regarding the timescales for delivery of DCC Assessments and the cost of change are falling short of expectations.

The wider BEIS-led projects such as Release 2.0 and SMETS1 Enrolment and Adoption have also contributed to delays, impacting both the DCC’s ability to complete Assessments and the time it takes to implement changes. The Panel also schedules SEC Releases to avoid overloading Parties with too much change.

The Panel recognises the frustrations of Parties and is working to ensure the Modifications Process is effective and allows for change to be progressed. The Panel has been fully engaged and supportive of the initiatives SECAS has developed and implemented over the last 12 months, in order to improve the SEC Modifications Process and ensure it is delivering an effective mechanism for change.

We acknowledge that modifications are taking longer to progress than we would expect, and we are taking steps to address this.

We are working with the DCC to reduce their timescales in providing DCC Assessments, to align with the SLAs introduced into the SEC in November 2018. The DCC is now engaged earlier in the process as business requirements are developed, and we are encouraging a lighter-touch approach at the Preliminary Assessment stage. The Panel will continue to monitor timescales and act as necessary.

Additionally, since the start of the year, several changes have been introduced to the modifications framework in order to streamline the process. The Development Stage, overseen by the Change Sub-Committee, was introduced to ensure the issue or problem identified in a proposal is fully understood, before any consideration of solutions begin. We have also placed greater onus on the Proposer to own their proposals and seek industry comments offline, minimising the number of Working Group meetings needed.

We will be performing a post-implementation review of these changes at the start of next year, where we will assess the impact these changes have had and what else we can do to further improve the framework.