Royal Bank of Canada Software Upgrade Goes Awry

Reader mks113 writes "Many Canadians living payday to payday have been in for a shock this week. Canada.com along with many other sources is reporting how thousands of customers have been inconvenienced following an unsuccessful software upgrade at the Royal Bank of Canada on Monday. All government employees (including me) in several provinces had their direct deposits delayed by a day or more." RBC has a comment on the mess.

Comments

Sticky karma..

[the_rajah]

I guess that bad karma is pretty sticky. Even selling their preferred A-1 shares to Baystar didn't save them.

My Canadian friends are screaming bloody murder. I don't blame them.

"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain

Re:Coincidence?

[Sique]

Now you know where the old wisdom "Never touch a running system" comes from.

Ah, Nostalgia...

[ackthpt]

Remember back when companies had Q/A departments and procedures? Wrote test plans and tried various scenarios to make sure the software was idiot and bullet proof? When routine software updates didn't suddenly pull your pants down and slap a creme pie into your face? When companies didn't just write any old thing and throw it out there for their customers to actually perform the test?

Geez, I'm showing my age again...

Re:Ah, Nostalgia...

[ackthpt]

I dont see why this isn't the case nowadays really..

It's called "Risk Management"

Sure, some big company gets burnt trying to cut some corners; I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of companies out there that demand high availability (also the gov't) still maintain policies and procedures for their upgrades.

The deal is you have companies which now asses the costs of proper testing verses the cost of defending themsevles against their product blowing up and opt for whichever is cheapest.

There are companies which must maintain a higher standard, by law or existing contract. Unfortunately the trend I've been watching over the years is an acceptable level of incompetence or defects. Manufacturers of PC parts, f'rinstance, are fine with a 15% failure rate off the line. I couldn't imagine such being acceptable with pacemakers.

Ironically, most of the PC's in the world run on some version of Windows and even XP still loses its marbles on a regular basis. Thanks to the complexity of some products, some companies simply weigh the rist and make a financial decision and some CYA plan for Image Damage Control -- Gee, sounds just like the war on Iraq, come to think of it, it's a pervasive attitude.

Re:Same as British Air Traffic Control?

[MoonBuggy]

"Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity"

Re:Just like the suits

[Dark Nexus]

You know, if she's been contacted THREE TIMES this week about payment, then she's at LEAST 2 months overdue. Going to blame the other 2+ months on the computer glitch that started on Monday? Besides, their Visa bills aren't actually DUE until about 7 working days into the month, so if she was up to date, then her payment wouldn't even be due yet.

No, that's just somebody who thinks the world owes them everything taking the opportunity to complain because it might get them something they don't really deserve.

Re:Somebody should get fired

[Pxtl]

No, this is management's fault. The only time a programmer fails is if something wasn't delivered on time, or they just don't produce, or their stuff doesn't make it past QC. Then fire them.

If bad code makes it into the wild, then somebody signed off on it. Somebody cut corners on testing. Somebody decided deadline is more important than quality. Somebody insisted it had to run the newest Microsoft code.

That somebody is the programmer's boss.

Re:Somebody should get fired

[GoofyBoy]

>Heads should roll for this one.

But are the "correct" heads going to roll?

>In cases like this, you should be lucky if you aren't held 100% liable.

If you were suppose to be held liable, do you think anything would change? Were any Professional Engineers held liable for the big blackout last year?

As one who is just making it by I offer this advic

[aardwolf204]

For the longest time I was living from paycheck to paycheck. Compared to my friends I made some pretty good money for being 20 (30K/Yr) but it didnt seem like much when you were living on your own with rent, insurance, car payments, electric, cable, phone, water, and a girlfriend. Its amazing how things add up. It just so happens that I receive the first paycheck of the month on the same day that rent is due. After paying rent I'm left with about $100. It is also convenient that the second and last paycheck of the month is received on the same day that all of the bills are due. After paying them I'm left with $300. Note I havent mentioned the G/F tax yet but that one is expensive.

Anyway, my tip is, next time you get a bonus, tax returns, some lump sum of money, spend it on next months rent before you can do anything else with it. Trust me on this. If you put it in your savings you can too easily transfer it to checking when you see Wizz-Bang4000 on pricewatch for only $499! I do this every chance I get and it really helps out a lot.

Now if I could only figure out what to do with the SO.

Those poor members of the IT department

[pbailey]

Can you imagine working in that IT department right now. My first reaction when I saw this story was that I felt incredibly sorry for those IT guys and gals. Must be hell over there right now!

I know I always sweat when releasing new software, at least I don't have to worry about effecting the bank accounts of millions of people. That would truly be scary!

Re:Banking Hazards

[Corporate Gadfly]

I finally found out what had gone wrong: the teller had entered the wrong account number into the computer and someone recieved my money in their account.

Hate to be a troll, but if you go to the bank teller, always ask them for a receipt and double-check your account numbers on that receipt. Yes, the teller shoulders some of the responsibility, but so do you.

Re:I wonder...

[tool462]

Yeah, it was probably written in the US :)

Re:Wait a minute...

[GordoTheGeek]

Stop! My Sides! You're killing me! Both you and the other moron are letting your ignorance show. You have quite succinctly demonstrated exactly what it is that I and a very large portion of the world do not like about what, unfortunately, passes for representative Americans. Bravo

It's quite sad, really: any disagreement with you automatically means that I don't like Americans and any and all arguments can and will result in violence, in this case coupled with a strange assortment of insults, what I can only guess is a swipe at my sexuality, and a comment that shows your profound misunderstanding of geography. I must, however, point out that your message, such as it is, is getting garbled by your obvious mastery of grammar and spelling.

Re:Wait a minute...

[pmsr]

Mate, according to the CIA World Factbook, Canada is "somewhat larger than the US". So, you have a neighbour country, you don't know it's size, say it is "probably" smaller than some random state in your country, and have the nerve to insult others in such a rash tone? I have to tell you this: american or not, you are a sorry excuse for a human being, and the world doesn't really need your kind. Well, maybe your mother does, but then again, what would be of some people without their moms?

/Pedro

Re:Wait a minute...

[AviLazar]

On behalf of the United States, I would like to appologize to anyone who was offended by the moronic poster who decided to insult our Northern neighbor, as well as assume that Canada is smaller then Texas. To the insulting poster - buy a globe, buy a hammer. Study the globe, and smash your keyboard so you can't type anymore.