LASCAD

On 26 October 1992 the London Ambulance Service started to use a new computer-assisted dispatch (CAD) system, known as LASCAD.[1] Poorly designed and implemented, its introduction led to significant delays in the assigning of ambulances,[2] with anecdotal reports of 11-hour waits. Media reports at the time claimed that up to 30 people may have died as a result of the chaos, despite a lack of evidence. The then-chief executive, John Wilby, resigned shortly afterwards.[3] This failure is often cited in case studies of poor engineering management.[4]

See also

• List of failed and overbudget custom software projects
• Software crisis

References

1. Nick Plant. "University of the West of England: ''LASCAD Case Study''". Cems.uwe.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
2. "Personal Computer World: Ambulances won't crash again". Pcw.co.uk. 12 June 1997. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
3. Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster (28 October 1992). "House of Commons Hansard debates for 28th October 2002". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2009.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
4. Mike Dahlin. "Coping with complexity - Jerome H. Saltzer (MIT)" (PDF). Advice to systems researchers. Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 2 December 2010.

Further reading

• Finkelstein, A.; Dowell, J. (1996). "A Comedy of Errors: the London Ambulance Service case study" (PDF). Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Software Specification & Design. IEEE CS Press: 2–4.