I've just seen 3 HIPER PTF's from CA related to CA-7 that also fit the reported information on the RBS outage. I'd not be too hasty in blaming staff at this point.
Jerry Whitteridge Lead Systems Programmer Safeway Inc. 925 951 4184 If you feel in control you just aren't going fast enough. -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Knutson, Sam Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 6:49 AM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: 'Inexperienced' RBS tech operative's blunder led to banking meltdown To someone who is inexperienced on platform I imagine managing a CA-7 upgrade is like having the world's smartest dog but it only responds to commands in Latin. Miscommunication is likely to be a source of dissatisfaction. The average person <30 is not stupid because they haven't been editing command decks and JCL for 25 years or lazy but software on our platform tends to be very particular and sometimes unforgiving of mistakes i.e. failure to specify QUEUE=NOFORMAT or some non-obvious phrase as part of START command. Since business is no longer content to bring in newbies and let them spend 5-10 years to reach Journeyman status under the guidance of more senior folks software is going to have to get smarter and more forgiving, documentation is going to have to be written with less assumptions about the expertise of the "systems programmer" and zNextGen (generic) is going to operate "our" mainframes weather we think they are ready or not. Some of those next generation folks are not going to be based in the home office anymore either whether we like that or not. The Register is fun reading sometimes but they rarely have enough detail to get real insight into what actually happened. So really anything we say here is just idle speculation. Feels like Friday so that's my .02 worth of idle speculation :-) Best Regards, Sam Knutson, GEICO System z Team Leader mailto:sknut...@geico.com (office) 301.986.3574 (cell) 301.996.1318 "Think big, act bold, start simple, grow fast..." -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Tom Ambros Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 8:25 AM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: 'Inexperienced' RBS tech operative's blunder led to banking meltdown "Complicated legacy mainframe system"? It's CA-7! If they think that's complicated they probably can't work a Mr. Coffee. Thomas Ambros Operating Systems and Connectivity Engineering 518-436-6433 From: Ed Gould <edgould1...@comcast.net> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Date: 06/27/2012 00:44 Subject: 'Inexperienced' RBS tech operative's blunder led to banking meltdown Sent by: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/26/rbs_natwest_ca_technologies_outsourcing/ ==================== This email/fax message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution of this email/fax is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all paper and electronic copies of the original message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN "Email Firewall" made the following annotations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Warning: All e-mail sent to this address will be received by the corporate e-mail system, and is subject to archival and review by someone other than the recipient. This e-mail may contain proprietary information and is intended only for the use of the intended recipient(s). If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient(s), you are notified that you have received this message in error and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately. ============================================================================== ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
