| Recurring |
unknown |
(a) The software failure incident of sending erroneous emails to students regarding graduation was a one-time occurrence at the University of Edinburgh. There is no mention in the article of a similar incident happening before within the same organization.
(b) The article does not provide information about a similar incident happening at other organizations or with their products and services. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design |
(a) The software failure incident at the University of Edinburgh was attributed to a system software error that caused the glitch in sending erroneous emails to final-year students regarding their graduation status. The university clarified that there was no breach of their systems and no compromise of student data, indicating that the failure was likely due to contributing factors introduced during system development or updates [59058].
(b) The operation phase did not seem to be the primary contributing factor to the software failure incident at the University of Edinburgh. The incident was more related to a system software error that led to the erroneous emails being sent to students, rather than issues arising from the operation or misuse of the system [59058]. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) |
within_system |
(a) The software failure incident at the University of Edinburgh was within the system. The article mentions that the emails sent to students regarding the cancellation of their graduation ceremonies were caused by a system software error. The university clarified that there was no breach of their systems and no student data was compromised, indicating that the failure originated from within the system itself [59058]. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident at the University of Edinburgh was attributed to a system software error, which was described as a non-human action. The university clarified that there was no breach of their systems and no student data was compromised due to this error [59058]. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
software |
(a) The software failure incident at the University of Edinburgh was attributed to a system software error, indicating that the contributing factor originated in the software itself. The university clarified that there was no breach of their systems and no compromise of student data, emphasizing that the issue stemmed from a system software error [59058]. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
non-malicious |
(a) The software failure incident at the University of Edinburgh was non-malicious. The incident was attributed to a system software error that caused emails to be sent erroneously to final-year students, informing them that their graduation ceremonies were cancelled. The university clarified that there was no breach of their systems and no student data was compromised. The error was acknowledged by the university as a mistake and they issued apologies to the affected students for the confusion and stress caused by the incident [59058]. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
accidental_decisions |
The software failure incident at the University of Edinburgh, where final-year students were mistakenly informed that their graduation ceremonies were cancelled, was attributed to a system software error. The incident was described as an error that caused confusion and stress among the students. The university quickly apologized for the mistake and assured the students that their ceremonies would proceed as planned. The root cause of the error was being investigated, and it was emphasized that there was no breach of systems and no compromise of student data [59058]. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
development_incompetence, accidental |
(a) The software failure incident at the University of Edinburgh, where final-year students were mistakenly informed that their graduation ceremonies were cancelled, was attributed to a system software error. The university clarified that there was no breach of their systems and no compromise of student data. The incident was described as an error caused by the system software, indicating a failure possibly due to contributing factors introduced by the development team or organization lacking professional competence [59058].
(b) The incident at the University of Edinburgh, where students received erroneous emails about their graduation ceremonies being cancelled, was acknowledged as an error by the university. The email was sent in error, causing confusion and stress among the students. The university quickly apologized for the mistake and reassured the affected students that their ceremonies would proceed as planned. This accidental error led to the university investigating the root cause of the issue to prevent such incidents in the future [59058]. |
| Duration |
temporary |
From the provided article [59058], the software failure incident at the University of Edinburgh was temporary. The incident was described as a system glitch that caused erroneous emails to be sent to students regarding their graduation status. The university quickly apologized for the confusion and reassured students that their ceremonies would proceed as planned. The root cause of the error was being investigated, indicating that it was a temporary issue that was not expected to persist. |
| Behaviour |
omission, other |
(a) crash: The software failure incident at the University of Edinburgh was not a crash. The system glitch did not result in the system losing state and not performing any of its intended functions. Instead, it sent out erroneous emails to students regarding their graduation status [59058].
(b) omission: The software failure incident can be categorized as an omission. The system omitted to perform its intended functions correctly by sending out misleading emails to students, causing confusion and stress among the recipients [59058].
(c) timing: The software failure incident was not related to timing issues. The system did not perform its intended functions too late or too early; rather, it sent out incorrect emails to students at an inappropriate time, causing distress [59058].
(d) value: The software failure incident does not align with a value-related failure. The system did not perform its intended functions incorrectly in terms of the value provided to the users; instead, it failed by sending out inaccurate and alarming emails to students [59058].
(e) byzantine: The software failure incident does not exhibit characteristics of a byzantine failure. The system did not behave erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions; it simply sent out misleading emails due to a system glitch [59058].
(f) other: The behavior of the software failure incident can be described as a misleading communication failure. The system behaved in a way not described in the options (a to e) by sending out false information to students, causing unnecessary panic and confusion [59058]. |