[LINK] NAB computer problems

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

On 28/11/2010 2:25 PM, Fred Pilcher wrote:
> Does anyone have any news on what caused the NAB's computer problems?
>
> The ABC says "a corrupted file jammed the bank's payment system"
> (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/28/3078486.htm), whatever
> that means.
Fred,

There appear to be two "explanations"

The first is the corrupt file version.

The second is reported in the SMH today and is to do with a mainframe 
upgrade, but this has, reportedly, been denied by a NAB spokesman.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/nab-cannot-say-when-customers-will-get-money-20101128-18cdl.html

<quote>

THE crippling NAB payment processing failure that caused chaos for 
thousands of customers will continue today, and has been attributed by a 
bank source to human error rather than the corrupted file the NAB has 
blamed.

...

The bank source said NAB made a failed attempt to upgrade its ageing 
legacy mainframe on Wednesday night. An attempt was then made to process 
the payments while the failed upgrade was being reversed, which caused 
crucial data to be corrupted.

An NAB spokesman, George Wright, denied that the faulty upgrade was to 
blame, without providing specific details about the cause.
</quote>

I don't believe either explanation, as they stand. The NAB mainframe 
environment is outsourced to IBM and is far from aged. The corrupt file 
explanation sounds most improbable.

The only bit that sounds plausible is "human error"  What that could be 
is anyone's guess.

Declaration of ignorance: I have no inside knowledge here and am working 
only on news reports.

-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
email:	 brd at iimetro.com.au
website: www.drbrd.com