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Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

ns.nl

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Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#161

Post by glitchcrab »

jollybean wrote: post #100
postingposts wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My very good guess is that you had a database failure caused by a crypto virus. They will not wish to announce that this was the root cause until A. A plan of action to avoid a future infection can be enumerated. B. They can be certain they will restore the functionality of the trains. The other part of my guess is that they have a SQL db which is stored on /likely/ a windows server instance. I’d even surmise that th…

What would lead us to be inclined to believe that this is a 'very good guess'?

People are very good at putting 2 and 2 together and getting 655.

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#162

Post by withinboredom »

j0e1 wrote: post #148

What jumps out at me after reading this notice is how it completely lacks any apology. I am not prescribing what it should say but merely observing that having lived in North America for sometime now, it seems hard for me to imagine for such a notice to not sound profusely apologetic here. Note: I do not consider words like 'unfortunately' and 'extremely unpleasant' apologetic. Also, I understand there are cultural d…

Why would they be sorry? They’re the ones who are missing millions? of Euros in revenue due to this issue while the passengers just had to take a bus or bike somewhere. They probably would tell you that if you had to bike, it’s healthier that way. A little bit of rain won’t make you melt.

/s

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#163

Post by kwhitefoot »

resonious wrote: post #146
MetaWhirledPeas wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> everything else in their IT land outside this system runs off SAP (likely including the actual distribution of the output of crew scheduling) so if I had to gamble I'd say the failure happened somewhere in the integration between them. I have a reflex repulsion for off-the-shelf "enterprise" software. You pay millions of dollars to subscribe to a suite of (seemingly) bad, bloated software that takes more work to cu…

My previous boss recently tried to pick up an enterprise solution. He runs a non-software company that has a lot of custom internal apps - 90% built/maintained by interns. Of course the intern-built custom apps are super buggy but the bugs get fixed immediately, and the system is tailored to the company's way of doing things. The company spent an obscene amount of money just demoing a full-fledged SAP-type thing to p…

Agreed, except for the spreadsheets. Please get people to use server based databases instead. They are no longer difficult or expensive to install or use and make life so much better even for 'interns' and it will reduce their workload dramatically as well as increasing the quality of the solution..

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#164

Post by wolverine876 »

mushyhammer wrote: post #53
user_7832 wrote: post #8

I was in the station for a different reason when I heard the announcement. The people entering and hearing the announcement were unsurprisingly very crestfallen, but it appears that twitter helped organize a lot of travel, with people posting where they were/going and picking up other travellers. Also probably worth noting is that trains here are used fairly frequently, however unfortunately this isn't the first time…

> with people posting where they were/going and picking up other travellers. That’s ludicrous, I wish people helping other people this way was more common.

Imagine if we did that all the time! An online ride board.

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#165

Post by Tabular-Iceberg »

Scoundreller wrote: post #139
CaptainZapp wrote: post #130

Reminds me of when the entire Swiss train network shut down in 2005[0] This was, however, not due to a computer glitch, but problems in SBB's electrical grid, which lead to overload of some of the lines and then to a complete shutdown of the entire grid. Warnings were displayed on control consoles, but were drowned in 1000s of other meaningless warnings (there's a lesson for an UI designer here). I was in the ICE fro…

> There we had something of an impromptu party until there was no more power for the cash register and they stopped sales. Funny how the entire system has ground to a halt and the bartender is still worried that their cash register receipts and inventory won’t reconcile and shuts that part down too.

I’m puzzled by the lack of resilience in retail sales. I thought “always be closing” was supposed to apply to all types of sales. A receipt pad and a credit card imprinter under the counter would be a very cheap backup. It would be slow, but at least they would be closing.

It can even be considered a national security issue in the case of food, medicines and other vital services.

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#166

Post by rgj »

t0mas88 wrote: post #149
rgj wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> sidenote: If anyone out there is an SAP specialist ns.nl looks like a pretty great place to work: 36hr week, 5 weeks vacation, pension, and free unlimited 2nd class + low cost 1st class train travel. Those are pretty standard terms here in .NL. 36 hours is considered fulltime by most employers, including government and semi-government. Pension is offered almost everywhere and at least 4 weeks vacation is the legal…

Indeed pretty standard, even in non-government it would be 40 hours but all other terms the same and most likely a company car + private use of it instead of the train. And I'm also sure they have a significant on-call setup of the IT teams for any out of office hours issues, just like every other large 24x7 kind of organization.

Of course they do. But the real specialists will most likely have been able to keep themselves out of the on call schedule.

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#167

Post by withinboredom »

bourgeoismedia wrote: post #76
snorkledoodle wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes even local stuff. U.S. states, our provincial government level, have processes in place to account for Americans living abroad to vote in state and local elections. It’s guaranteed by law, I think. Our states handle all voting on behalf of the federal government anyway (registration, voting day operations, counts, all often under the misleadingly named office of a Secretary of State), so it’s a natural cons…

A shocking thing for me is that if you're an American living abroad registered to vote in California you're allowed to vote by email (well technically fax, but there's a DoD email alias you can send your scanned ballot PDF to and someone will print it out and fax it, which counts). Oh, and if you vote any ballot this way other than a write-in for federal offices you might also get a residency audit and have to pay Ca…

In SC, you vote in a web app if you live out of the country.

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#168

Post by at-fates-hands »

pjmlp wrote: post #116
supernova87a wrote: post #108

While having algorithms and computers dictating every aspect of train movements, crew scheduling, resource allocation is efficient and in a sense optimal, I think there's something compelling to be said about having a system that can survive with human-rememberable patterns when such an optimizer fails. That it can fall back on (or have at the core) simple patterns that people can still operate without algorithmic in…

There is an Isac Asimov book about this. A crew is stranded in space, because of a computer malfunction and no one on board remembers how they used to be programmed.

Is that "The Last Question"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Question

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#169

Post by n3k5 »

rendall wrote: post #109
samstave wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think Oracle, with business logic on top. (JDEdwards, Oracle, SAP) were the OGs of BI. (and bloat, and McKinsey infiltration into many a large F100+) -- They are old school, entrenched, but yu would jump off a cliff supporting any of this legacy stuff. It will persist as the inertia on huge systems is heavy. But yeah - I wonder if they are signing any NEW business... aside from military bunker grade stuff (which will…

> McKinsey infiltration into... What is McKinsey infiltration ?

I don't know about “McKinsey infiltration into many a large F100+” first-hand, but from context I'd guess it's simply getting consultants from McKinsey & Company[0] jobs in the ‘infiltrated’ firm, on the basis that it has no in-house employees capable of properly setting up / running the bizarrely complex and idiosyncratic SCM-ERP-HCM-BI-etc. software in question.

Basically: You have a problem; Oracle/SAP says they'll solve it for you. Now you have a second problem; they say McKinsey'll solve it for you. Now you have …

[0] https://mckinsey.com

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#170

Post by adhesive_wombat »

usr1106 wrote: post #78
boomboomsubban wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a relatively free election, there's a strong incumbent bias that undoubtedly helps him win but there's no evidence the entire thing is rigged. Dictators can be popular, the best example is Napoleon.

The government made extra payments to their typical supporters like pensioners and rural areas. Economically strong regions and younger professionals pay the bill and are free to vote against, but they remain a minority.

Yes, but the question was about Hungary, not the UK.

Though since there's no election for a while and they don't apparently get elected based on promises delivered, just promised made, they haven't shied away from breaking the pensioner-bait promises anyway for this year and removing the triple lock (pensions rise at least as fast as the largest of inflation, earnings or 2.5%).

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