Highways Agency National Faults Database (NFDB)

The National Faults Database (NFDB) is an web-based software fault tracking and auditing system. Its primary purpose is to provide a means by which the Highways Agency, software manufacturers and site engineers can obtain up-to-the-moment information concerning the status of faults on the various motorway control and monitoring software systems currently operating in the UK.

Registered users may log on to the central database (housed at SSL offices) simply by pointing their browser to the NFDB home page, http://www.nfdb.co.uk, and entering their account details.

In a typical scenario, a site engineer who has discovered a fault would log on to the NFDB to report the fault, including details of the faulty system and version number, the site at which the fault occurred, and additional information. The engineer would also assign the fault to a particular company, generally the manufacturer of the faulty software system, for investigation.The assigned company would be notified of the fault, and they would be able to either accept the fault or redirect it to another company if they believe that the cause of the fault lies elsewhere. Once the fault has been accepted, users at the investigating company would be able to add details of the investigative action that they have carried out to the corresponding fault record in the NFDB. When the fault has been corrected, users at the investigating company would then be able to close the fault, but the creator of the fault can reopen the fault if it has not been corrected to their satisfaction.

At all stages in the fault-reporting and solving process, users at the Highways Agency and users who have access to the NFDB can oversee the progress made on a fault.

The NFDB has been developed using Java, Java Server Pages, CSS, and HTML. The user interface is separated from the logic, making new features quicker to add and ensuring that the NFDB is robust, scalable, and user-friendly.