Archive for November, 2009

The pains of poor testing: Loss of customers, blocked airways and public ridicule

I picked up on a couple of headlines in the press last week that deserve entry into our Software Testing Hall of Shame.

Computerworld reported that the Co-operative bank was ‘losing customers’ through system problems.

Co-operative Financial Services has severe system problems that are causing it to lose online customers. Users told the BBC they were unable to access their accounts at times, and that transactions online often do not work.

Marc Palmer, from Gloucestershire, who runs a small business, told the BBC: “A lot of the time you can’t even log in. Other times, you can’t see your bank balances or any of your accounts listed. There comes a time when it’s damaging to your business.”

The bank is now set to upgrade its systems in response to the complaints of customers, who vowed to move to a competitor, BBC Radio 4’s Money Box programme found. John Hughes, director of retail products at the bank, apologised for the “inconvenience, difficulty, frustration and irritation we’ve caused our customers”.

FAA Computer Glitch Delays US Flights

Flights ground to a halt throughout the USA on Thursday morning, reported Stickyminds, after a mysterious computer glitch hampered a key Federal Aviation Administration flight processing system.

The system electronically inputs pilots’ flight plans to computers, telling air traffic controllers the anticipated route and altitude of each flight after taking off. ABC News, who originally broke the story, said Controllers they spoke to had to enter those plans manually, resulting in a slowdown of takeoffs and landings.

Bird Brain Collider

Oh, and because it made me chuckle, I’m including a tweet this week, courtesy of @danfusionhttp://twitter.com/danfusion/status/5460071784. Speaking about the latest in a string of failures concerning The Large Hadron Collider, he says ‘Thinking about software testing: How many times has an app broken because of a bird brain with bread?’ If you haven’t read the story, It seems that the billion dollar piece of machinery has yet again gone caput, this time due to a bird dropping a piece of bread on a section of the accelerator!


Software Testing Hall of Shame – London Stock Exchange halt trading due to glitch

The latest in a string of technical problems at the exchange that has frustrated traders.

Another entry to our Hall of Fame, courtesy of Computerworld. Last week the stock exchange halted trading on 243 instruments after a server software problem affected its TradElect and Infolect platforms.

Monday’s problem began at 3.12pm, and trading in one in 12 instruments was halted for the rest of the day. Instruments affected included commodity trades such as heating oil, wheat, sugar, gold and platinum, as well as company shares including BP and Severn Trent. All are said to be trading normally now.


Software Testing Hall of Shame: Big Blue Red Faced over poorly tested congestion charging debacle

This week IBM step up to the podium in our Software Testing Hall of Shame. Computerworld UK yesterday reported that London’s congestion charging payments system crashed after IBM took over the contract.

 

London drivers were unable to pay the congestion charge online on Monday, following a system glitch after IBM took over the work from Capita. The problem emerged after IBM began a “significant upgrade” to the transport agency’s computer systems. IBM had spent the weekend - when no congestion charge is applicable - migrating data from Capita’s databases to its own systems, as it took over the work.

 

It looks as though the IT giant was not very ‘rational’ in its approach and did not fully test the system before go-live on Monday, as Computerworld reported “there were issues with the new systems and some of the data matching between different programs.”

A spokesperson at Transport for London, which operates the congestion charge, apologised for the online problem and insisted no registered drivers would be penalised if they had had problems paying. She added that the glitch was “resolved by the afternoon and all of the new IBM systems are up and running as they should be”.

The IBM system upgrade is aimed at saving TfL £200 million on running costs by 2018, but so far IBM has only cost the company, in terms of lost revenue.


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