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A Case of Serial Handoff: Production Problems with a Strategic Mission Critical System

A Case of Serial Handoff: Production Problems with a Strategic Mission Critical System
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Author(s): James D. White (DePaul University, USA)and Linda V. Knight (DePaul University, USA)
Copyright: 2004
Pages: 3
Source title: Innovations Through Information Technology
Source Editor(s): Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, D.B.A. (Information Resources Management Association, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59140-261-9.ch024
ISBN13: 9781616921255
EISBN13: 9781466665347

Abstract

This case describes a calamitous production failure, as it occurred at a major financial services firm. As a consequence of this failure, all North American distribution of trading information for a major London-based financial services firm via its U.S. partner’s network was disrupted for approximately 10 hours. In addition to the financial effect on the firm and its customers, the handling of this event by the operations personnel in both organizations strained the newly founded partnership and uncovered several serious procedural and organizational deficiencies. This paper consists of a description of the critical incident followed by analysis and conclusions concerning the causes of this specific production error, and then by a consideration of the broader issues involved in studying the causes of production problems in strategic or mission critical systems. Conclusions are drawn concerning the applicability of this research to practitioners and future researchers.

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