Oops! Technician's error wipes out data for state fund

[ZeoBandit]

Talk about a bad day at work!!!


Oops! Technician's error wipes out data for state fund
POSTED: 9:42 a.m. EDT, March 20, 2007
Story Highlights
• Computer technician accidentally wiped out huge data file and the backup disk
• File related to state fund which pays dividends to Alaskans from oil revenue
• 70 people worked weekends, overtime for six weeks to re-enter the lost data
• Error cost the state $220,000

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- Perhaps you've experienced that sinking feeling when a single keystroke accidentally destroys hours of work. Now imagine wiping out a disk drive containing an account worth $38 billion.

That's what happened to a computer technician reformatting a disk drive at the Alaska Department of Revenue. While doing routine maintenance work, the technician accidentally deleted applicant information for an oil-funded account -- one of Alaska residents' biggest perks -- and mistakenly reformatted the backup drive, as well.

There was still hope, until the department discovered its third line of defense had failed: backup tapes were unreadable.

"Nobody panicked, but we instantly went into planning for the worst-case scenario," said Permanent Fund Dividend Division Director Amy Skow. The computer foul-up last July would end up costing the department more than $200,000.

Over the next few days, as the department, the division and consultants from Microsoft Corp. and Dell Inc. labored to retrieve the data, it became obvious the worst-case scenario was at hand.

300 boxes full of paperwork
Nine months worth of information concerning the yearly payout from the Alaska Permanent Fund was gone: some 800,000 electronic images that had been painstakingly scanned into the system months earlier, the 2006 paper applications that people had either mailed in or filed over the counter, and supporting documentation such as birth certificates and proof of residence.

And the only backup was the paperwork itself -- stored in more than 300 cardboard boxes.

"We had to bring that paper back to the scanning room, and send it through again, and quality control it, and then you have to have a way to link that paper to that person's file," Skow said.

Half a dozen seasonal workers came back to assist the regular division staff, and about 70 people working overtime and weekends re-entered all the lost data by the end of August.

"They were just ready, willing and able to chip in and, in fact, we needed all of them to chip in to get all the paperwork rescanned in a timely manner so that we could meet our obligations to the public," Skow said.

Last October and November, the department met its obligation to the public. A majority of the estimated 600,000 payments for last year's $1,106.96 individual dividends went out on schedule, including those for 28,000 applicants who were still under review when the computer disaster struck.

'No witch hunt'
Former Revenue Commissioner Bill Corbus said no one got into trouble for the incident.

"Everybody felt very bad about it and we all learned a lesson. There was no witch hunt," Corbus said.

According to department staff, they now have a proven and regularly tested backup and restore procedure.

The department is asking lawmakers to approve a supplemental budget request for $220,700 to cover the excess costs incurred during the six-week recovery effort, including about $128,400 in overtime and $71,800 for computer consultants.

The money would come from the permanent fund earnings, the money earmarked for the dividends. That means recipients could find their next check docked by about 37 cents.

[darthadv]

as obi-wan said to anakin in the geonosis arena as anakin explained that they came to rescue him, as they are all being shackled to face savage beasts and certain doom, "good job!"

[graeme]

It just fills me with joy to see people using their time effectively for once.

He created jobs in the process and has, apparently, proved that he is not a witch, thus, the no "witch hunt" comment. It's about time we stopped these silly superstitions and this chap has gone a long way to achieving that goal.

Can you imagine that the authorities would actully feel the need to say that they won't be burning anyone at the stake or drowning anyone in a stupid ritual in this, the 21st century?

Well, this youngster has showed their idiotic beliefs for what they are and hopefully we can all just get along a little better from now on, without all that mumbo-jumbo.

Well done.

[darthadv]

he's probably still looking for the "any" key so he can press it and continue...