EDITOR:
A small article again in the Guardian (Feb.16, 2018) about "Phoenix." An additional $186 million to stabilize the federal computer payroll system. The money is mostly for hiring new pay advisers. I imagine these people staring into the abyss of the haunted Phoenix payroll system, which apparently is unfixable. Too many variables and patches now.
Compare to buying a nice expensive sweater. After you start wearing it, you notice it does not enhance you the way you had expected. Could be the fit or the colour. It was expensive and you want to wear it. You start to accessorize, hoping for improvement. Experience will tell you this is the wrong course of action. It will never be quite right. Luckily you still have your old sweater.
To me it seems the Phoenix payroll system is doomed and it is nobody's fault really. Maybe it is the name. Most likely, it was built and implemented too hastily without proper planning or testing in an eagerness to centralize and save money. Otherwise this could not have occurred.
Realizing the system was not functioning as it should, one would also have tried to fix it, because already so much money was spent, but eventually it would have been discarded. It would also have cost an enormous amount of money, but at least the old properly functioning de-centralized system would still be in place. Why not go back to this old payroll system?
Annet Tol,
Cornwall