Our main companies information database is held on a mainframe computer, which allows Online Transaction processing between 7a.m. and 7p.m. each day. Hundreds of staff are entering new information and amending existing information daily. At 7 p.m. our overnight batch work commences, which produces Annual Returns for despatch, information snapshots for customers, reminder and default letters, certificates of incorporation and change of name, plus dozens of other essential (sometimes statutory outputs.
Hi Andrew – thanks for the comment. I can see why they might have to take their systems offline for a night or so if they’re updating things.
I think it would be better if they could provide a static snapshot via their public servers, and an alternative ‘live’ snapshot that went offline while the statutory stuff was being generated. As long as you tag the information as being older than tonight then you’d be ok. Look at google maps – those picture were taken months ago, but people are ok with it. It should be the same in these circumstances.
Thanks for the comment Pete. I agree that a snapshot of the data would be a way forward. Being government related probably means they have archaic rules to adhere to that restrict what they can do.
Went to the Companies House website online company search just now. I got a message saying they are only open 7am till midnight. Realising that this had to be a joke I did a bit of searching and fount out that actually it isn’t. Their computer system sucks so much apparently that they have to run batch processes in the evening that stop the website from functioning. Apparently, according to Companies House, “Most Web Services that offer 24/7 access have fixed information”. Really? Google, slashdot, digg, wikipedia, etc etc etc…… all contain fixed information. Maybe not. Maybe they’re more dynamic than Companies House. Companies House tracks 2 million companies. Thats nothing compared to google. Find the original post about companies house webcheck
Hi Andrew – thanks for the comment. I can see why they might have to take their systems offline for a night or so if they’re updating things.
I think it would be better if they could provide a static snapshot via their public servers, and an alternative ‘live’ snapshot that went offline while the statutory stuff was being generated. As long as you tag the information as being older than tonight then you’d be ok. Look at google maps – those picture were taken months ago, but people are ok with it. It should be the same in these circumstances.
Thanks for the comment Pete. I agree that a snapshot of the data would be a way forward. Being government related probably means they have archaic rules to adhere to that restrict what they can do.
Went to the Companies House website online company search just now. I got a message saying they are only open 7am till midnight. Realising that this had to be a joke I did a bit of searching and fount out that actually it isn’t. Their computer system sucks so much apparently that they have to run batch processes in the evening that stop the website from functioning. Apparently, according to Companies House, “Most Web Services that offer 24/7 access have fixed information”. Really? Google, slashdot, digg, wikipedia, etc etc etc…… all contain fixed information. Maybe not. Maybe they’re more dynamic than Companies House. Companies House tracks 2 million companies. Thats nothing compared to google. Find the original post about companies house webcheck
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