back to article Royal Navy and Air Force get low-code bridge in UK military recruitment saga

Perhaps learning from the not-insignificant errors attributed to the Army’s efforts at recruitment IT, the UK’s Navy and Air Force have decided to farm out development of their systems with the award of a £9.5m contract to low-code software specialist Pegasystems. A contract award notice said the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy …

  1. BebopWeBop
    FAIL

    Truly Crapita can do no bad. One has to wonder how many civil servants or/and military personnel are expecting jobs when they leave their current employers.

    1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

      Stranger things have happened ..... and are happening all the time too, nowadays.

      One does have to ask, given the litany of admitted failures, are they, Capita, a Trojan Horse destroying homegrown talent in favour of a foreign power, or is it just serial incompetence based upon the fraudulent promise of excellent products and services ‽ .

  2. IGotOut Silver badge
    Stop

    Here we go....

    Cloud.

    Block chain

    AI

    And now low code.

    This year's bullshit bingo candidate.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Here we go....

      This year's bullshit bingo candidate so far. There's plenty of time left.

    2. Klimt's Beast Would
      Facepalm

      Re: Here we go....

      Doesn't it count more if you combine them?

      I wandered lonely as an AI,

      Yet my low code was only block chain,

      But the cloud precipitously saved my bacon.*

      * It doesn't make any sense to me either.

  3. Mark C 2

    Low code

    Nothing fancy, just re-branded BPM. It does work under the right conditions and automating a well-defined process is a good example where BPM works well. I have used Pega in a bank to automate credit processing which is highly regulated and needs to support large volumes, way more than RN/RAF applications.

  4. trevorde Silver badge

    Better solution

    Press gangs!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressment

    1. Outski

      Re: Better solution

      If the RAF were to follow the Navy's "accustomed to the sea" model, and press those "accustomed to the air", that'd be half the population up for grabs

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Better solution

        Do the Armed Forces still operate a "don't ask, don't tell" policy for those "accustomed to the sea" men?

        1. Outski

          Re: Better solution

          UK armed forces went straight from dishonourable discharge, loss of medals, rank & pension elements for anyone held by a Court Martial to be wearing rainbow laces, to full on "Come on in the water's lovely" - Don't Ask Don't Tell was never a thing here, only in the US.

          Happily, last month's court ruling goes some way to redressing the consequences of the former stance, but won't make up for the damgee of the intervening years: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/16/british-soldiers-sacked-for-being-gay-can-get-their-medals-back

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      Re: Better solution

      > Press gangs!

      WordPress gangs, since it's low code.

    3. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

      Re: Better solution

      Press gangs!

      Give the contract to the same part of Capita that employs the TV Licence "Operatives". As they roam the country in search of TV Licence evaders, they could do some opportunistic "recruitment" for the forces

  5. Claverhouse Silver badge

    Back in the Mists of the Past

    I vaguely remember a time when military recruitment had passed on from grabbing people and hitting them with sticks, yet still needed no computing; instead youths, mostly, strolled into Army Recruitment Centres.

    No doubt spoilt by the IRA --- though if anywhere should be securely screened from attack it is such places --- but it didn't cost billions to run.

    1. rg287

      Re: Back in the Mists of the Past

      Armed Forces Career Offices still exist. You need somewhere to do Phase 1 candidate interviews before actually sending them off to a selection centre somewhere.

      The IRA were an issue. Most centres have discreetly armoured glass and you have to be buzzed in through the front door.

      But they've reduced the number and some are also "branch" offices, usually staffed full-time by Army bods with RAF and Navy/Marine advisors only available a couple of days a week. There aren't many where you can walk in and bods from every service are available to talk to you. In many cases they're no longer a one-stop-shop covering the whole process between enquiry and central selection, meaning you might have a small office in your town where you can sign up and talk trades, but you then need to travel to go to an interview, or book appointments to speak to a relevant advisor.

      Consequently it makes increasing sense to centralise and digitise the administration, which also reduces physical paperwork being held in branch locations, simplifying DLP/Infosec from a Physical Security standpoint. They also want to avoid recruit details being shipped between offices via USB stick cough. Shipping a dossier of recruit details from an office to a handful of Selection Centres is one thing, but when they can be bouncing to different recruiting offices there's far more scope for material to end up in the wrong place.

  6. John70

    A recruitment application where "no personally identifiable information" will be used...

    Won't that make recruitment a bit difficult?

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      No name, rank or number?

  7. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Facepalm

    So now it's low code

    They obviously haven't the faintest idea what it is, but it's trending, so we'll ask for that.

    Um, guys, low-code means you don't need a coder to write it up. You can do it yourselves. THAT'S WHAT IT'S FOR.

    Tendering for a low-code "specialist" is like hiring someone to eat your food for you. You can eat it yourself.

  8. Claptrap314 Silver badge

    Thanks

    With all of the garbage that the FAANGs are up to, I needed something to bolster my Libertarian impulses. Nothing restores my faith in government like a good breakdown of what they actually do.

    1. NeilPost Silver badge

      Re: Thanks

      As described ... they could probably get Reed or Indeed to filter out the dead-heads with their ‘algorithm’ and save a pile of dosh. Same comments to the Army seperatly.

  9. Starace
    Devil

    Capita

    Don't know why anyone else bothers to bid - Capita get gifted contracts they can't deliver then have to immediately sub work out to the opposing bidder to get a working solution, while sitting back taking a cut.

    And people wonder why these things end up such a mess and late...

  10. Korev Silver badge
    Joke

    If they're "losing" so many candidates, why don't they see if they can use Dido Harding's Track and Trace system?

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