[LINK] NAB computer problems

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Pilcher, Fred wrote:
> Thanks Bernard.
> 
> You wrote:
> 
>> 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.
> 
> Not that I'm competent to judge, but they certainly sound dodgy. I doubt we'll ever know precisely what caused it, but the fallout is sure to be interesting.
> 
amazing what you can find online....
> NAB, National Australia Bank  (Contracting through Global Consulting Services ).
> 
> October 2002 è October 2003
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> Technical Specialist PPTE Stress Lab.
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> NAB’s PPTE facility is an environment that mirrors the NAB’s production environment including a 4 system IBM mainframe PLEX, associated midrange systems and front end (client) systems.
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> The PPTE environment allows NAB applications to be realistically “stress” tested before additions and changes are deployed in production.   In this environment issues such as sociability and scalability of applications is tested under realistic production conditions. 
> 
>  
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> My main activities in this environment were to provide mainframe technical skills for the ongoing operation of the PPTE environment.   My role was as a member of a team of technical specialists which comprised 4 to 5 people working a shift roster from 8am till 10pm.   
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> The duties of the team comprised:
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> ·         very routine tasks that were well documented in a (large) procedures manual, 
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> ·         ad-hoc demands for support covering all aspects of the complex environment.
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> All members of the team needed  to be able to complete any of the routine tasks,  while the ad-hoc requests occasionally required collaboration or perhaps co-ordinated with application specialists,  systems programmers and automation specialists from outside of the team.
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> More specifically the tasks for this role included:
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> ·         Regular rebuilds of the MVS environments to keep them in technical alignment with production.  Each rebuild was referred to as a “Snapshot”
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> ·         Weekly re-establishment of the “snapshot” to provide a recurring point in time so that tests could be repeated or re-run realistically.
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> ·         Operator support for the MVS PLEX and for major subsystems such as DB2, IMS, CICS, MQ, VTAM, RACF, JES2, OPC etc etc
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> ·         Simulated online transaction replay runs using TPNS.
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> ·         First level mainframe technical support for both application and environmental issues during the weekly testing cycle.
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> ·         Interaction with the wider support infrastructure at NAB to resolve problems in the PPTE/Stress environments.
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> ·         Environmental tech support for the EFUNDS CONNEX transaction “switch” used by NAB
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> ·         Environmental tech support for the EFUNDS CrossCheck testing tool used  by NAB
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> ·         Environmental technical support for midrange (and beyond) systems where they interact with  the mainframe transaction and database servers.
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> ·         Development and maintenance of support and tailoring facilities needed to manage the PPTE/STRESS environment.
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> ·         Contribution to the procedures manual used within PPTE.
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>  
<http://esvc000093.wic057u.server-web.com/MikePorrittCurrentCV.htm>

-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://ramin.com.au
Tel: 0414-869202