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Why some DVLA digital services don't work at night

(dafyddvaughan.uk)
124 points edent | 8 comments | 12 Jan 25 20:20 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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abigail95 ◴[16 Jan 25 15:43 UTC] No.42726784[source]▶
Something is missing here, why do batch jobs take 13 hours? If this thing was started on an old mainframe why isn't the downtime just 5 minutes at 3:39 AM?

Exactly how much data is getting processed?

Edit: Why does rebuilding take a decade or more? This is not a complex system. It doesn't need to solve any novel engineering challenges to operate efficiently. Article does not give much insight into why this particular task couldn't be fixed in 3 months.

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that_guy_iain ◴[16 Jan 25 16:03 UTC] No.42727097[source]▶
> Edit: Why does rebuilding take a decade or more? This is not a complex system. It doesn't need to solve any novel engineering challenges to operate efficiently. Article does not give much insight into why this particular task couldn't be fixed in 3 months.

You do know the UK government has been cutting all their budgets to the bone for about 10 years? That means everywhere is pretty much understaffed.

And how do you know it's not a complex system? I would think that a system like that would be somewhat complex. It's not just driving licenses but a whole bunch of other things that are handled by the DVLA.

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1. abigail95 ◴[16 Jan 25 16:19 UTC] No.42727320[source]▶
The system may or may not be complex but the data is has to store and transform is not. Because it handles drivers licenses. A function that has been done on pen and paper and filing cabinets.

Study the data, study the operations, reduce complexity.

Since you imply you know more about UK budgets than I do - how much is the DVLA budgeted for IT operations like this and how much more would you give them to expect this problem solved?

I can argue real numbers but vibes about bone dry budgets I cannot.

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2. that_guy_iain ◴[16 Jan 25 16:44 UTC] No.42727646[source]▶
> The system may or may not be complex but the data is has to store and transform is not. Because it handles drivers licenses. A function that has been done on pen and paper and filing cabinets.

It handles more than just driving licenses... The DVLA do more than just driving licenses.

> Since you imply you know more about UK budgets than I do - how much is the DVLA budgeted for IT operations like this and how much more would you give them to expect this problem solved?

It's not budgeted anything for this as far as I know. I believe it's handled by Government Digital Services which handles lots of the digital services for various departments. The budget for all of GDS is about 90 million most of which isn't for .gov.uk. A rewrite of that size I would expect to cost about 50-60 million in total but take several years.

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3. ellen364 ◴[16 Jan 25 17:06 UTC] No.42727892[source]▶
Are you suggesting that a process once done using pen and paper can't possibly be complicated?

I have no insight into the DVLA, but the idea that no paper process could ever be complicated is really funny. The UK enjoyed/loathed centuries of bureaucracy before computers were invented. At one point getting a divorce required an Act of Parliament specifically naming the unhappy couple! Being restricted to pen and paper hardly inhibited the human ability to create complex systems.

4. skippyboxedhero ◴[16 Jan 25 23:11 UTC] No.42732117[source]▶
Any business which took 50-60m to rewrite something that simple wouldn't exist.
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5. nsteel ◴[16 Jan 25 23:35 UTC] No.42732333{3}[source]▶
What? Like Fujitsu? Still going strong bidding on gov contracts and providing garbage.
6. kalleboo ◴[17 Jan 25 01:43 UTC] No.42733160{3}[source]▶
I know of a large international retailer everyone here has heard of that had at least 3 aborted attempts to rewrite their 70's VAX-based warehouse management software stack (an internal attempt, an Indian outsource attempt and an SAP attempt) they spent that much at least with zero to show for it. They had all the issues with "too many sales in one day causing batches to not finish" and "but this warehouse wants to open 24/7..." and still couldn't get it rewritten
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7. gunian ◴[17 Jan 25 08:37 UTC] No.42735319{4}[source]▶
couldn't get it rewritten as in the logic was impossible or more like with a specific budget, random set of KPIs etc?

idk for some reason I feel like projects like this should be allowed more flexibility by shareholders

8. that_guy_iain ◴[17 Jan 25 09:08 UTC] No.42735504{3}[source]▶
That simple? You probably couldn't even list all the things the DVLA is responsible for. I also doubt you could list all the laws and policies relating to driver licenses.

And you would be shocked at how expensive big rewrites actually are.