Information System Failures
collaborative Discussion

Information system failures can be expensive and detrimental to the wellbeing and safety of its users, one such instance would be the RBS June 2012 system failure which left customers of not only RBS bank but all other factions such as NatWest and Ulster without access to accounts, incorrect charges and failed mortgage payments. The immediate concern was due to a failure in a piece of batch scheduling software; however, this was escalated further when it was found to take over a week to fix. Due to RBS changing internal computing structures to outsourcing engineering work, the updating or maintenance phase of the system was not kept up to date. The lack of training and implementation of testing new updates to the system resulted in a failure that was inexcusably delayed in fixing. This resulted in failed payments causing credit scores to suffer and those left abroad with no financial access. Although RBS was implementing changes to save 20% on wage payments by outsourcing the fine given due to the damage caused by the failure far exceeded these savings. The failure of RBS using outsourced and undertrained staff to maintain a live system caused a danger to the personal data and finances of their customer and proves the importance of supporting and maintaining information systems. BBC. (2014) RBS fined £56m over 'unacceptable' computer failure. BBC. Available From: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30125728 [Accessed: 08/03/2022] Worstall , T. (June 25th, 2015) RBS/NatWest Computer Failure: Fully Explained. Forbes. Available from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/06/25/rbsnatwest-computer-failure-fully-explained/?sh=4955f67467c7 [Accessed: 08/03/2022] Shelly, B., Cashman, T. & Rosenblatt, H.(2006) Systems Analysis and Design: Sixth Edition. Chapter 1. Thomson Course Technology Cours Sommerville I. (2015) Software Engineering. 10th. ed. Essex: Pearson

This is a good example of how an IT failure has a significant impact on customers. The failure in a piece of batch scheduling software and the outsourcing of the support staff for that software to India are some of the causes of this IT failure (Leach, 2012). According to Glick (2012) a routine maintenance patch caused the collapse of an overnight batch run and the failure was affected either by a testing problem or by the lack of a contingency plan in dealing with this kind of problem. RBS was fined £56 million in 2014 by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). The FCA revealed that RBS was aware of potential problems on their system when was conducted an internal audit in 2010 (Treanor, 2014). This case shows that skilled IT professionals are vital for the organizations and how important in a Systems-Development Life Cycle are the testing, implementation and maintenance phase. Moreover, the poor IT resilience of RBS and its inadequate management of IT risk had such a negative impact in solving the system failure (Pratley, 2014). REFERENCES Glick, B. (2012) ‘RBS fiasco shows vital role of IT professionals’, Computer Weekly, p. 9. Available from: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=77842038&site=eds-live [Accessed 20 March 2022]. Leach, A. (2012). RBS collapse details revealed: Arrow points to defective part. Available from: https://www.theregister.com/2012/06/25/rbs_natwest_what_went_wrong/ [Accessed 20 March 2022]. Pratley, N. (2014). RBS's IT woes are not simply down to lack of investment. The Guardian. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/20/royal-bank-scotland-it-woes-fine [Accessed 20 March 2022]. Treanor, J. (2014). RBS fined £56m for IT breakdown. The Guardian. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/20/royal-bank-of-scotland-it-breakdown-56m-pounds-fine [Accessed 20 March 2022].

The example that you mentioned above is (I think) one of the good examples of Information system failures in financial institutes and banking. Based on the first report wrong update of CA-7 software, that automatizes banking processes (such as the update of account balance). There are different sides to this financial disaster: outsourcing of system management to India or lack of sufficient testing in the software. There should be more control in the maintenance process. Banks should constantly invest in IT solutions that may prevent such disasters in future by monitoring their operations and evaluating when the IS should be updated or changed. Moreover, Banks should put more effort into securing their software and databases. Centralization of these processes should be a good idea rather than outsourcing them to other institutions. Finally, a detailed security plan against IS failures needs to be created and applied, because it will help to minimize the effects of any type of failure (systems, security etc). The Register( 2012) RBS collapse details revealed: Arrow points to defective part. Available: from: https://www.theregister.com/2012/06/25/rbs_natwest_what_went_wrong/ [Accessed 17 May 2022]. Bawaneh, S. S. (2018) Securing Information Technology for Banks and Accounting Information Systems, International Journal of Applied Engineering Research vol. 13 (6): 3291-3300.