Software Upgrade Destroys Data For UK Schools

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the yet-another-glitch? dept

There’s that word again. Rather than admitting a major problem, the supplier of software used to manage many schools throughout the UK is saying that it was an upgrade “glitch” that corrupted and destroyed plenty of school data, much of which cannot be replaced. Apparently, the firm in question, Capita, told schools to upgrade their software, but didn’t bother to do very much testing on the new product — so many schools ended up destroying their records without any backup. The company doesn’t seem too concerned though, suggesting that most schools upgraded without any problems. Why should they care, though? This is the same firm that supposedly also screwed up two other high profile projects (“software problems behind huge delays at the Criminal Records Bureau and glitches during the introduction of the London congestion charge”) and yet they still seem to be able to get business from schools.