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Why some DVLA digital services don't work at night

(dafyddvaughan.uk)
124 points edent | 3 comments | 12 Jan 25 20:20 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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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. skippyboxedhero ◴[16 Jan 25 23:10 UTC] No.42732106[source]▶
Public-sector employment in the UK is at record highs. Despite apparently cutting inputs, productivity has collapsed to the same level as 1997 in the public sector. It is wildly overstaffed/overfunded by any estimation (and to be clear, there have been no cuts...the cuts in the early 2010s were not particularly significant, around 2-3% of GDP, public spending is as high as it has ever been in the UK, it was significantly lower under Blair...the only time it has reached this level is WW2 and 1975, the financial year the UK govt was bankrupted).

DVLA isn't complex. We live in a world of regulation, rules, and standards. Almost every large business does stuff like this at a global scale. It isn't complex, it just has to be complex so the budget is filled (and Fujitsu can get their contract).

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2. youngtaff ◴[17 Jan 25 08:44 UTC] No.42735363[source]▶
Public sector employment is at a high because we had to hire thousands of staff due to Brexit… probably the most stupid productivity destroying own goal a country has ever committed (so far)
3. that_guy_iain ◴[17 Jan 25 09:14 UTC] No.42735549[source]▶
This is what we call cherry-picking stats. You pick a single stat but ignore everything else. Your comment seems to imply that the UK government has been lying about austerity for 10 years. While I don't trust the tory party and think they're corrupt with their deals-for-buddies approach, I don't think they outright lie for 10 years.

The policing budget is so bare-bones that the police have literally admitted they will not attend all 999 calls. To make that clear, they have admitted if you call them in an emergency they may not show up. NHS waiting times are sky-high. The number of NHS hospitals and beds are rock bottom. We can dig and dig into various public sectors and see them being terrible because of austerity. Which Labour is kinda being forced to continue due to the effects of covid on the finincals of the UK (and Brexit)