DSS Check-in

## Summary ### Immediate Bill Payment Processing Challenges The team faces urgent pressure to resolve bill payment processing errors by the next day to prevent customer impact, particularly for end-of-month payments. Approximately 11,000 errors are backlogged, with new errors accumulating weekly, creating a "needle in a haystack" scenario for identifying critical issues. While not all errors are critical (e.g., some are flagged as DSS-related but non-critical), the volume obscures high-priority fixes. The immediate goal is to reduce error counts to enable transparent customer communication about progress and mitigate reputational damage from delayed resolutions. ### DSS System Issues and Access Constraints Upstream data ingestion via the DSS system is identified as a recurring source of errors, requiring urgent attention to prevent future bottlenecks. Key challenges include: - **Output service code access**: Critical troubleshooting is hindered because the codebase resides solely on Matthew’s local machine, with no team access. Matthew’s unavailability until Monday delays resolution, forcing workarounds. - **Error origin ambiguity**: Discrepancies exist over whether errors stem from DSS formatting, the output service, or UBM processing. Examples of "yellow-flagged" DSS errors need analysis to determine if they require upstream fixes or UBM workflow adjustments. - **Long-term solution dependency**: Resolving core issues may require integrating DSS fixes with UBM changes, but UBM’s complex codebase and slow iteration cycles (e.g., changes taking weeks) complicate coordination. ### Reporting and Visibility Gaps A lack of real-time, consolidated reporting exacerbates response delays and misalignment. Critical developments include: - **New Power BI dashboard**: A pre-production report is being developed to unify bill IDs, customers, and error statuses-addressing the absence of a single source of truth. This aims to replace fragmented Excel exports and accelerate decision-making. - **Interim Appsmith solution**: A read-only UI connected to the UBM database allows ad-hoc querying and exports, reducing dependency on dev teams for data pulls. - **Report consolidation initiative**: Over 40 existing Power BI reports will be cataloged in a living document, with plans to sunset redundant or one-off reports (e.g., those used less than biannually) to streamline focus. ### Team Coordination and Process Improvements Operational inefficiencies require structural changes to handle recurring crises: - **Recurring check-ins**: Biweekly (Tuesday/Thursday) syncs will be established for core members (e.g., Faisal, Jay, Tim) to monitor error resolution and prioritize tasks without leadership overhead. - **Expedited issue handling**: A dedicated triage team or SLA-driven process for P0/P1 issues will be explored to prevent urgent fixes from stalling in sprint backlogs. - **Communication channels**: Transitioning from Teams messages to threaded channels (e.g., "DS Ops and Product") improves issue tracking and reduces context-switching. ### UBM Team Workload and Prioritization The UBM team’s capacity constraints and process rigidity delay critical fixes: - **Workload imbalance**: Customer onboarding and data repairs consume significant resources, leaving minimal bandwidth for error resolution. A proposed triage team could handle exports/imports separately. - **Prioritization inertia**: The team’s adherence to legacy workflows (e.g., manual Excel handling) conflicts with urgent needs. Restructuring work "buckets" (e.g., feature development vs. expedites) and setting clear SLAs are proposed solutions. - **Mindset shift**: Encouraging the team to challenge "how it’s always been done" (e.g., fixing upstream issues in DSS instead of UBM) is essential for long-term efficiency. ### DSS Team Expansion and Integration Three new India-based developers will join to bolster DSS capabilities, focusing on: - **Backend support**: Assisting Shake with error resolution and backlog management, leveraging their UBM database experience. - **UBM integration**: Training on DSS semantics and UBM workflows to facilitate cross-system troubleshooting and reduce silos. - **Sunsetting DSS**: Long-term plans include phasing out DSS by migrating its functions to UBM (targeting H1 2025) to eliminate redundancy and simplify architecture. ### Knowledge Sharing and Documentation Bridging knowledge gaps is critical for sustained progress: - **UBM training for DSS team**: Shake and new members will learn UBM’s data model and error codes to diagnose issues faster, using real examples from recent reports. - **DSS schema documentation**: Creating a reference for UBM-related DSS workflows to clarify handoff points and dependencies. - **Error code analysis**: Collaborating with Jay to categorize errors (e.g., DSS vs. output service vs. UBM) and build a remediation roadmap for October.