Hi Tom,
Yes, I believe that ATQuote has been stopped by vested interests. I would push Matthew Hall for a retraction as he has no grounds to stop the quote system being used, as you point out.
Kind regards,
John.
> On 15 Oct 2014, at 16:41, "Tom Woodward" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Dear All
>
> I have been asked to clarify some points about SLC's instructions to centre
> managers to not use the ATQuote comparative quotation service for equipment and
> AIT Training quotes (www.atquote.co.uk). As there is a fair amount of
> confusion on this topic, I thought it might be useful to share this publicly,
> and would appreciate this being forwarded to other relevant mailing lists.
>
> As you may know, Matthew Hall emailed centre managers on 21st August,
> instructing them not to use ATQuote, stating that it appears to be in conflict
> with the QAF, and has not been signed off by SLC.
>
> I have confirmed with SFE that there is no clear conflict with the QAF, and
> that this statement to the sector was likely made in error. In fact, DSA-QAG
> were contacted soon after the service went into beta. They have examined
> sample quotes produced by ATQuote to confirm that they comply with the QAF
> Template for equipment and training quotes, which is a requirement for most
> quotation services in the sector, and no issues have been raised.
>
> I have also confirmed with SFE that they do not maintain a list of 'signed off'
> services, and that there is not currently a process for submitting a service to
> be 'signed off'. In actual fact, it appears that SFE were unaware of several
> of the services being used to source equipment and training quotes, much less
> having signed them off. This appears to be no obstacle to their continued use
> in the sector.
>
> Currently there are several online tools used to source equipment and training
> quotes for DSA purposes. The majority of the equipment suppliers have an
> online portal. In addition there is the CQS service, the Zelda service in use
> at Contact Associates, and the NNAC Wiki and CLASS Dataservices site which are
> used for AIT Training quotes. At present, there has been no clear statement
> from SLC, either to my company or the wider sector, explaining why ATQuote is
> the only service, among many functionally identical services, that is not
> permitted.
>
> As the concerns in Matthew Hall's original email appear to be unfounded, it is
> unclear why the instructions to centre managers have not been retracted. It
> also raises questions about why this action was taken without verifying the
> statements made about ATQuote, or indeed contacting my company to discuss them.
> I am hoping that clarification on all these issues will be forthcoming.
>
> Best
>
> Tom Woodward
>
> Sunstone Consulting Solutions
> www.sunstonecs.com
> [log in to unmask]
> 07940 002 190
>
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