Techies, what's with the RBS computer?

[Deleted User]

I wouldn't want to be there person on the service desk to own this:

What's the problem?
It's broken?
What's broken?
EVERYTHING

Glad we don't get many P1s. This will be killing their 9s figures

[Deleted User]

Dreamnine wrote: »

It says here that a software update is responsible: http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/rbs-unable-to-say-when-banking-problem-will-be-fixed-1-2370937

Whenever doing upgrades you should have a 'backing out' plan in case of disaster....

Ximian

Susan Allen, customer services director for RBS-Natwest retail, told ITV News it was difficult to say exactly when all the problems will be resolved.
She said they were due to "an error in our system which we believe we have now fixed but we are clearing the backlog".



Been watching too many episodes of The IT Crowd, sounds like the redhead explaining the issue.

bazster

Dreamnine wrote: »

It says here that a software update is responsible: http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/rbs-unable-to-say-when-banking-problem-will-be-fixed-1-2370937

Told ya so!

bazster

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Whenever doing upgrades you should have a 'backing out' plan in case of disaster....

"Should" being the operative word...

bazster

ringo_24601 wrote: »

I wouldn't want to be there person on the service desk to own this:

What's the problem?
It's broken?
What's broken?
EVERYTHING

Glad we don't get many P1s. This will be killing their 9s figures

Believe me, I've been there. That 30-second silence as it dawns on everyone just how bad it is, and the blood drains out of all their faces...

[Deleted User]

bazster wrote: »

Believe me, I've been there. That 30-second silence as it dawns on everyone just how bad it is, and the blood drains out of all their faces...

Reminds me of the time i accidentally stopped* all the order messages flowing from an EPR to a lab system in a very large London hospital. That was a very brown trouser moment

* We did fix it eventually and it caused no clinical issues

tocsin

bazster wrote: »

Believe me, I've been there. That 30-second silence as it dawns on everyone just how bad it is, and the blood drains out of all their faces...

What's even worse is when everyone _EXCEPT_ the guys who are responsible for the 'issue' recognise how bad it is...

I once had a Technical Architecture job for a big govt dept. Essentially, that involved acting as the 'glue' between several IT/ services suppliers (and as the fall guy front and centre to the customer).

One IT supplier would say "nowt to do with us" - but would then go away and fix it pdq.

Another would say "nowt to do with us", even though they had made system changes the night before - and sat fat, dumb and happy FOR A WEEK of escalations before properly investigating :mad:

I took early retirement after a couple of years of that job... :j

ChiefGrasscutter

Nilrem wrote: »

*In much the same way as some manufacturing companies have been quietly buying up legacy hardware because they might have a bespoke bit of software that won't run on modern PC's, controlling a machine that costs millions to replace (IIRC some looms for carpets etc still require floppies to load patterns on them, and specific software for the patterns). I think NASA was stockpiling 8086/8088 chips and the like just before Intel stopped making them, as various bits of their hardware were built around them.

Yup,
Been there.
NASA was buying up scrap/junked Z80 spectrums at one point as the processors inside them were also used in the space shuttle and NASA wanted some chips from the Z80's that still worked. The stuff in the space shuttle had all been designed/approved/space & radiation harded tested etc during the long development process so it could not be changed hence NASA's frantically trying to find sources of now non manufactured chips........

sillygoose

Pah! software is for softies. I used to work in major UPS (uninterruptible power supplies) that ran banks, data centres, Internet providers, major corporates even nuclear power stations. Tried to not make a habit of it but there were a few times I made it all go down, everything, even the lights went out. The carnage was breathtaking. Even worse when you can't leg it because you crashed the electronic door locks.