Thailand IT - Tail Wagging the Dog

[PeteC]

One success, at least for me, is the vaccination Moh-Promt application that holds all my vaccination data. On my cell phone and ready to show when required. I had to go to a Gov office in Bangkok last week and they asked to see my vaccination data, as I hadn't taken a recent ATK test, before they would let me in. Showed them the data on my phone and it was all smiles.

[buksida]

Lucky you, opposite experience here. On the first attempt, they spelled my name wrong. That took a fortnight to correct, now when I open the (cr)app, my nationality has changed to French.

I'll stick with the piece of paper.

Edit: I've never been asked for the (cr)app once.

[Big Boy]

I've used the app many times to gain access to places. However, IMHO the font on the phone is so small, many gate monitors can't be reading it. Very often, they give little more than a cursory glance, and as such, with such a small font, it must be yet another app that is unfit for purpose.

Pete, did they actually validate against your photo ID as they should, or just see you wave a phone screen at them and they let you through? For me, the first 2 times it was done properly, but these days, its all too difficult for gate monitors, probably earning 300฿/day.

[PeteC]

I had to show my passport as well.

On the app, the "Covid Vaccination Records" tab has much larger print than the "Digital Health/Vaccine Certificate" tab.

Edit: Most phones with a hand gesture you can enlarge the print on the certificate screen if needed.

[Big Boy]

As I've said, I've shown mine dozens of times, and every time they've wanted to see the Digital Health Certificate.

The Covid Vaccination Record does not have ID or passport details, so how did they validate that you were using your own phone? Or did they have time to zap through several screens on your phone? Gate monitors I've seen in action have had too high a throughput to do the job properly.

IMHO the theory is good, but application of that theory is poor.

[Big Boy]

My son, because he doesn't have Internet on his phone, just shows a screenshot. How easy would that be to manipulate?

[PeteC]

They looked at the "Digital Health/Vaccine certificate" and it/me was confirmed with my passport as mentioned above. They didn't have a problem seeing the smaller print on the certificate.

Edit: "On the app, the "Covid Vaccination Records" tab has much larger print than the "Digital Health/Vaccine Certificate" tab."

That was only a suggestion, not that I've ever had to resort to showing that.

[migrant]

Never used the app. Coming back to Thailand it was mentioned but that was all. Mrs m shrunk the vaccination paperwork down and laminated it. I keep it in my wallet but one needs good eyesight to read it. When asked it's glanced at and given back.

[Big Boy]

In that case, you probably hit the 10% who do it right. Certainly not what I've found after about the first 2 weeks of checking. I still maintain, whilst I find the app useful, it is not fit for purpose (easily abused). IMHO if you're going to create an app for such an important task, you make sure it fits its purpose by a minimum of 80%. The fact it still needs human intervention means it fails on several counts.

[Gregjam]

When I had the third jab it took two attempts to update the system as I had also renewed my passport by then as well. This was no surprise to me as these days regardless of where in the world you are it is very difficult to get two different things done with one request. When at work dealing with agents in China and Malaysia I always send separate messages for different tasks even if they are related to the same set of paperwork.
Naturally it took twice as long to get a correct certificate issued but at least I have an accurate piece of paper for the Chinese over zealous officials.

[Big Boy]

We went to a restaurant on 2nd Floor, Market Village yesterday. Our bill was exactly 700฿. Mrs BB handed over a 1,000฿, and we waited, and we waited and we waited for our 300฿ change. I was saying to Mrs BB, they're assuming it's a nice tip.

20 minutes later, Mrs BB called the girl over, and asked where her change was. She told us the computer had crashed, and they had to wait for it to come back online before they could calculate how much change. FFS 1,000 - 700 = 300 - these places employ cashiers. I wonder what the qualification to be a cashier is? We had to wait a full 35 minutes for our change, along with a lot of other disgruntled customers.

We have another thread going at the moment about AI. This sort of explains why AI is needed. Mental arithmetic is clearly off the curriculum these days.

Only in Thailand (I hope).

[404cameljockey]

Bad luck BB. But I do understand that they couldn't make any transactions without it going through the computerised system, it would screw up the day's accounting and the boss would go spare. They're simply not trusted by the bosses, either for intelligence or darker reasons. I know bar/club owners who have paid a lot of money to install fully computerised stock control and till accounting for just this reason.

And mental arithmatic has been off the menu even in the West for at least 30 years!

[Big Boy]

I understand what you are saying, but they knew what they were charging - something must have been working. Any decent system should have fallback/recovery procedures for just such an incident. This was an international restaurant, so should not have been restricted by Thai IT - it should have been a proper system with fallback contingencies built in.

The fallback system should not have included keeping paying customers waiting an indefinite time for their change. What would have happened if it was a catastrophic failure that took days to fix? Do they have camp beds in the store room?

[Nereus]

Do they have camp beds in the store room?

Probably, but the waitress is extra.

[migrant]

In the states, and I assume elsewhere many of the fast food outlets have done away with a cash register with number keys and now the keys have the items for sale. It was explained that there were too many errors.