Not just the main post office in Barga has been having difficulties since the start of this month but it would appear that an incredible 14,640 post offices covering most of Italy are also having serious problems operating normally.
It seems that the culprit is their operating system, SDP – Service Delivery Platform which has been updated on most of the post office computers and is not behaving as it should.
The main aim of the SDP system was to remove the 14000 individual servers and replace them with a central data centre but something is still not right with the setup.
According to their own website, they have in fact been having problems with the SDP since it was first installed over a year ago, so it’s a bit of mystery why after more than 12 months they have still not yet ironed out the wrinkles.
Long lines of angry people have been forming in and outside the post office for the last 4 days as the start of the month is the time that pensions are paid… at least they would be paid if the staff could get their computers to co-operate.
It has not been a good year as far as public relations for the Post Office as concerned in the city as at the start of this year a petition was started collecting signatures in Barga Giardino. The aim of the petition was an attempt to stop what has been viewed by many people as a gradual decline in services offered by the Post Office in this area. The office in Barga Giardino had recently shut the doors in the afternoon and had only been open for business during the mornings – causing long lines of waiting people and discontent among the population. (full article here)
In March that petition containing 1020 signatures was handed over (article here) and in April the third sportello in the main post office was opened (article here) but this week all that good news and positive feeling has evaporated as once more the system is not working as it should.
So far, no real news on just when this problem will be solved, watch this space.
Back on 2008 – “The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, today visited the Technological Hub of Poste Italiane, a hi-tech “quadrilateral” hosting the control rooms that guarantee the quality of postal services and security. The Premier was welcomed by the Managing Director of Poste Italiane, Massimo Sarmi and by the Chairman Giovanni Ialongo, who showed him how this “centralised intelligence” works and what it is used for.
The Hub, the first of its kind in Europe, makes it possible to continually monitor the efficiency, quality and security of the postal service throughout Italy directly from Rome, and to intervene in real time to solve any problems that may arise.
The strategy of investment in research and development implemented by Poste Italiane in recent years has made it possible to create an integrated system of networks that makes Poste Italiane a major infrastructure at the service of the public, businesses and the Public Administration.
This hi-tech hub is the latest in a series of substantial investments that Poste Italiane has constantly been making in order to improve its logistic and technological infrastructures, already the densest and most wideranging in Italy, and make them even more accessible to the public. This on-going evolution –has allowed the Company to become a candidate for working in partnership with the Public Administration, collaborating on important projects of major significance for society and on projects designed to simplify processes in order to help bridge the gap between the Institutions and the public – Managing Director of Poste Italiane, Massimo Sarmi during 2008