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The devil is in the detail
by loiswakeman @ 17 Jan. 2007 - 11:31:40

As you may know, HMRC was formed from the Inland Revenue (IR) and Customs and Excise (HMCE). So, there was lots of work to do rebranding their web site contents. Unfortunately, it didn't all go quite to plan, as you can see (at the time of writing) on this page:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/cip.htm

I also include a (doctored so you can see more at a glance) screen shot, in case they realise the mistake:

HMRC

As anyone will realise upon reflection, "ir" is quite a common combination of letters in English, so a blanket "find 'ir' and replace with 'HMRC'" is unlikely to be very productive: but that's what they did! So, we have these interesting phrases to decode:

ExpHMRCy Date
E-HMRCOS/Computacenter
The Institute of Internal Audits UK and HMRCeland
Car HHMRCe
Coach & Driver HHMRCe
ShHMRCley Hutton
Evacuation ChaHMRC Maintenance
FHMRCearms and Explosives Training Regularisation
FHMRCst Aid Training Services
Citizens Advice Bureau, Northern HMRCeland
Lorry and Driver HHMRCe
DHMRCect Solutions International (DSI)
Cega AHMRC Ambulance Ltd
Office Machinery RepaHMRC
Rowan Corporate Location, Trading as SHMRCva Relocation
HMRCon Mountain
Turner VHMRCr & Co
Telephone DHMRCectory Advertising
Training & Conference Room RequHMRCements
FHMRCst Option Hotel Reservations

Even a little intelligence applied to this would have helped: making the search case-sensitive and only looking for whole words. So would the use of a spellchecker.

Moral: Search and replace can be a very powerful tool used with discrimination, but a blunt instrument otherwise.

(My thanks to fellow ISTC member Alison Peck of Clearly Stated for drawing this to my attention.)

4 comments | Permalink | Recommend this post
Tags: hmrc, search and replace, spellchecker, typo,

Comments: Hide subcomments

deleted user [Visitor]

17/01/07 @ 12:21

Just as importantly, and something I often complain about on this site when they make changes, check and test changes. This mistake should not have got through even a simple check.

MrFlightyMrFlighty [Member]
17/01/07 @ 19:15

That's why I trust them with computer systems and databases as much as I do, which is as little as you can guess it is.

menhirmenhir [Member]
18/01/07 @ 22:25

You are quite au fait with computerisms I see, I get a bit lost with case-sensitive searches. I can just about manage a simple Boolean one and keep everything L/C that I do. I hope I shall never have the joy (not!) of dealing Revenue, Customs & Excise on-line. It's bad enough, dealing with them on paper.

You know, I do have to thank the IR (oh yes - ir searches - I am slow...)for enabling a pension claim just in time; no-one else informed me. I was told by DSS I was born at the wrong time of the year!! How about that for an excuse.

ianrthorpeianrthorpe [Member]
22/01/07 @ 17:56

The moral of this tale: never rely on software - computers are not intelligent.

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