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About page:
- Swiss Finish + Peter Principle analysis
- Documented Swiss IT disasters with verified sources
- Archive.org links for source verification
- Includes: INSIEME (CHF 116M), Juris X, Soprano, SECO scandal,
  Swiss E-Voting, FIS Heer, Credit Suisse legacy IT, Swisscom outage

Privacy page:
- Satirical take on data collection (we don't)
- Static site, no tracking, no database

Terms page:
- Satirical terms of service
- Disclaimer matching the site's tone

404 page:
- Custom error page with IT disaster references
- Links back to working content

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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---
title: "About SwissFini.sh"
description: "Where Swiss precision meets the Peter Principle"
---
## The Swiss Finish: When Perfectionism Meets Its Peter
In financial regulation, "Swiss Finish" refers to Switzerland's tendency to add extra requirements on top of EU standards—because apparently, Brussels isn't bureaucratic enough. In technology, we've discovered an even more fascinating phenomenon: **the Swiss IT Finish**—where projects don't just fail, they fail with characteristic Swiss thoroughness, precision, and eye-watering budgets.
This site documents what happens when the [Peter Principle](https://web.archive.org/web/20241201000000*/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle) ("In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence") meets Swiss institutional culture. The result? IT projects that don't merely exceed budgets—they transcend them. Systems that aren't just delayed—they achieve temporal permanence. Software that isn't merely abandoned—it's elevated to the status of cautionary tale.
---
## The Hall of Swiss IT Excellence
### Federal Government: INSIEME (2001–2012)
**Cost:** CHF 116 million (written off)
**Duration:** 12 years
**Outcome:** Corruption charges, suspended officials, zero usable software
The crown jewel of Swiss federal IT disasters. The Federal Tax Administration spent over a decade and CHF 116 million trying to modernize their systems. The result? Violations of procurement law, corruption, bribery charges against the IT chief, and then-Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf pulling the plug.
The project achieved the rare distinction of having its director simultaneously serve as client, sponsor, and project manager—a conflict of interest so elegant it could only be Swiss.
**Sources:**
- [NZZ: Insieme – IT-Debakel im Bundeshaus](https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/insieme-das-it-debakel-im-bundeshaus-ld.1693578) ([Archive](https://web.archive.org/web/20220729033312/https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/insieme-das-it-debakel-im-bundeshaus-ld.1693578))
- [Heise: IT-Großprojekt der Schweizer Finanzverwaltung gescheitert](https://www.heise.de/news/IT-Grossprojekt-der-Schweizer-Finanzverwaltung-gescheitert-1714061.html) ([Archive](https://web.archive.org/web/20231025013240/https://www.heise.de/news/IT-Grossprojekt-der-Schweizer-Finanzverwaltung-gescheitert-1714061.html))
- [SWI: Four indicted in federal IT corruption case](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/bribery-and-misconduct_four-indicted-in-federal-it-corruption-case/45267664)
---
### Canton Zürich: Juris X (2016–2024)
**Cost:** CHF 15.6 million (for Juris X alone; CHF 36.5 million for the replacement)
**Duration:** 16 years across multiple attempts
**Outcome:** Justice system still runs on 30+ year old software
The Zürich Justizdirektion's quest to replace their ancient case management software has become a multi-generational saga. After the first attempt exploded from CHF 8 million to CHF 24 million before being cancelled in 2016, the successor project "Juris X" was awarded for CHF 15.6 million—double the original quote.
When contractor Abraxas finally admitted they couldn't deliver, parliamentary oversight called it a "Scheitern mit Ansage" (failure foretold). The canton now pays CHF 4.8 million annually just to keep the 30-year-old system running.
**Sources:**
- [NZZ: IT-Flop in Zürich](https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/it-flop-in-zuerich-wenn-behoerden-digitalisieren-geht-es-zu-oft-schief-ld.1772142) ([Archive](https://web.archive.org/web/20231230011015/https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/it-flop-in-zuerich-wenn-behoerden-digitalisieren-geht-es-zu-oft-schief-ld.1772142))
- [Inside-IT: Scheitern mit Ansage](https://www.inside-it.ch/scheitern-mit-ansage-heftige-kritik-aus-der-politik-fuer-zuercher-it-projekt-juris-x-20240308) ([Archive](https://web.archive.org/web/20240327071646/https://www.inside-it.ch/scheitern-mit-ansage-heftige-kritik-aus-der-politik-fuer-zuercher-it-projekt-juris-x-20240308))
- [Tages-Anzeiger: Debakel für Zürcher Justizdirektion](https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/debakel-fuer-zuercher-justizdirektion-it-projekt-gescheitert-ueber-30-jahre-alte-software-wird-nicht-erneuert-884320881718)
---
### Federal Parliament: Soprano (2018–2020)
**Cost:** CHF 7.9 million (plus CHF 1.77 million court-ordered compensation)
**Duration:** 2 years
**Outcome:** Cancelled, lawsuits, nothing delivered
An information system to help parliamentarians track media and publications. Awarded in 2018, abandoned in 2020, litigated thereafter. The Bern Superior Court ordered the federal government to pay CHF 1.77 million in compensation to the contractor—for a system that was never completed.
**Source:**
- [NZZ: Gescheitertes IT-Projekt kostet den Bund 18 Millionen Franken](https://www.nzz.ch/schweiz/nun-erwischt-es-auch-das-parlament-gescheitertes-it-projekt-kostet-den-bund-18-millionen-franken-ld.1720016)
---
### SECO Corruption Scandal (2014)
**Cost:** CHF 99 million in IT contracts
**Bribes:** CHF 1.7 million
**Outcome:** Criminal prosecution
A SECO employee awarded CHF 99 million in IT contracts without public bidding, while accepting CHF 1.7 million in bribes including cash, event sponsorships, and football tickets. The scandal was uncovered by investigative journalists at Tages-Anzeiger and Der Bund—not by any internal controls.
**Source:**
- [SWI: Swiss public sector scandal reaches court room](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/swiss-public-sector-scandal-reaches-court-room/46835944)
---
### Swiss E-Voting (2019)
**Cost:** Undisclosed millions across multiple cantons
**Duration:** Years of pilot programs
**Outcome:** Security researchers found "significant" flaws; system cancelled
When Swiss Post's e-voting system was subjected to public security testing in 2019, researchers from the University of Melbourne found a cryptographic flaw that could allow undetectable vote manipulation. The federal government cancelled the "third way" of voting, and Swiss Post scrapped the entire system.
Nine cantons that had been offering e-voting had to stop. A citizens' initiative was launched to ban online voting for at least five years.
**Sources:**
- [SWI: These are the arguments that sank e-voting in Switzerland](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/e-voting_these-are-the-arguments-that-sank-e-voting-in-switzerland/45136608) ([Archive](https://web.archive.org/web/20190802132328/https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/e-voting_these-are-the-arguments-that-sank-e-voting-in-switzerland/45136608))
- [Wikipedia: Electronic voting in Switzerland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voting_in_Switzerland)
---
### FIS Heer / Army Command System
**Cost:** CHF 700 million approved
**Duration:** Ongoing
**Outcome:** "Functions with limitations"
Parliament approved CHF 700 million in 2006/07 for a military command information system. By 2011, the Armaments Commission confirmed irregularities in procurement. The command database reportedly still only functions "with limitations"—Swiss military precision at its finest.
---
### Private Sector: Credit Suisse Legacy IT
**Applications:** 3,000
**Integration cost:** USD 13–14 billion
**Outcome:** UBS keeping only 10% of Credit Suisse's systems
When UBS absorbed Credit Suisse in 2023, they inherited what one former technology MD described as a system where "pretty much every department built and maintained its own risk systems." UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti admitted the technology "keeps him awake at night." The bank is decommissioning 90% of Credit Suisse's 3,000 applications.
**Sources:**
- [eFinancialCareers: UBS is fretting about Credit Suisse IT systems](https://www.efinancialcareers.com/news/ubs-is-fretting-about-credit-suisse-it-systems-and-credit-suisse-technology-m-ds-have-quit)
- [CTOL: UBS Tackles Massive Credit Suisse IT Migration](https://www.ctol.digital/news/ubs-credit-suisse-it-migration-swiss-phase-billions-at-stake/)
---
### Swisscom Emergency Number Outage (2024)
**Duration:** 8 hours
**Timing:** During flood warnings
**Cause:** "A software update led to a malfunction that triggered a domino effect"
Switzerland's emergency numbers (112, 117, 118, 144) were unreachable for eight hours during severe weather. CEO Urs Schaeppi apologized: "The failure shook me a lot. That is absolutely not what we expect from ourselves."
**Source:**
- [SWI: Swisscom boss says sorry for network failure](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/swisscom-boss-says-sorry-for-network-failure/46784822)
---
## The Pattern
A 2019 academic analysis of 15 large IT projects in the Swiss Federal Administration found an **accumulated loss of one billion US dollars**, concluding that "project failure was primarily caused by poor project governance capabilities."
Common themes:
- **Silo mentality:** Each department builds its own systems, uncoordinated
- **Conflicts of interest:** Project managers who are also clients and sponsors
- **Regulatory gold-plating:** Adding Swiss requirements on top of standard solutions
- **Nobody truly responsible:** In confusing organizational charts, accountability evaporates
- **Warnings ignored:** "Scheitern mit Ansage" appears repeatedly in postmortems
As NZZ put it: "Too complex, too big, too high ambitions."
---
## Why This Site Exists
SwissFini.sh exists because Swiss tech nationalism deserves scrutiny. When institutions claim technological superiority while their actual track record tells a different story, someone should document the gap between rhetoric and reality.
We apply the same skepticism to SCION that should have been applied to INSIEME, Juris X, and the e-voting system. Being Swiss-made doesn't make something good. Being heavily funded doesn't make something viable. And being from ETH Zürich doesn't make something immune to the Peter Principle.
---
*All facts may be satirical. All satire may be factual.*

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---
title: "Privacy Policy"
description: "How we handle your data (spoiler: we don't)"
---
## Privacy Policy
*Last updated: December 2025*
### The Short Version
We don't track you. We don't want your data. We have enough problems documenting Swiss IT disasters without adding "data breach" to our portfolio.
---
### What We Collect
**Nothing.**
This is a static website. There is no:
- User registration
- Login system
- Analytics tracking
- Cookies (except the ones your browser might cache)
- Newsletter signup
- Comment system
- Contact form that actually works
We're a Hugo static site served by nginx. The most sophisticated technology on this server is `try_files`.
---
### What We Don't Collect
- Your name
- Your email
- Your browsing habits
- Your opinions on SCION
- Your Swiss Post tracking numbers
- Your Insieme project management credentials
- Your Juris X access tokens (if those existed, which they don't, because the project failed)
---
### Third-Party Services
**Google Fonts:** We load fonts from Google. Google's privacy policy applies to their font delivery CDN. We have no control over what Google does, but then again, neither does anyone else.
**Your ISP:** They can see you visited this site. If you're concerned about that, we recommend a VPN, Tor, or simply not working in Swiss government IT procurement.
---
### Data Retention
We retain zero data for zero days. This is not because we're privacy-focused visionaries—it's because we literally have no database.
The only logs that exist are nginx access logs on the server, which rotate automatically and are used exclusively for debugging when things break. Which, unlike Swiss government IT projects, happens rarely.
---
### Your Rights
Under GDPR, revDPA, and the general principles of human dignity, you have the right to:
1. **Access** your data: There isn't any.
2. **Delete** your data: Done. It never existed.
3. **Port** your data: We'll email you an empty JSON file if you really want.
4. **Object** to processing: We're not processing anything. Object away.
---
### Contact
If you have privacy concerns about this website, please consider that:
1. You've already given more data to your coffee shop's loyalty program
2. We genuinely cannot identify you
3. The person who built this site has better things to do than track Swiss IT policy enthusiasts
That said, if you've found an actual privacy issue, we'd be embarrassed and would fix it immediately. Unlike certain cantonal justice departments, we believe in addressing problems before they become 16-year sagas.
---
### Changes to This Policy
If we ever add tracking, we'll update this policy. Given that we can't even figure out how to add a working search function, this seems unlikely.
---
*This privacy policy is provided as-is, without warranty, and with approximately the same level of legal rigour as a Swiss federal IT project scope document.*

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---
title: "Terms of Service"
description: "The legal bits (satirically presented)"
---
## Terms of Service
*Last updated: December 2025*
### Agreement to Terms
By accessing SwissFini.sh, you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, you can close this tab—a feature that Swiss e-voting users in 2019 probably wished their voting system had.
---
### Intellectual Property
All original content on this site is provided under principles of fair commentary and satire. We cite our sources, link to archives, and try harder than most Swiss IT projects to document our work.
The facts we report are sourced from:
- Major Swiss news outlets (NZZ, Tages-Anzeiger, SRF)
- Official government documents
- Court records
- Academic analyses
- Archive.org (because sources sometimes disappear)
The satirical commentary is our own. If you can't distinguish between factual reporting and satire, we recommend a career in Swiss government IT oversight—they seem to have the same problem with distinguishing between project plans and reality.
---
### Disclaimer of Warranties
This website is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind.
We do not warrant that:
- The site will be available 24/7 (but we aim higher than Swisscom's 2024 emergency services uptime)
- All information is current (projects may have failed further since publication)
- Our satirical takes will age well (they might become too generous as more details emerge)
- Reading this site will not cause existential despair about the state of institutional IT
---
### Limitation of Liability
In no event shall SwissFini.sh be liable for:
1. **Direct damages** arising from our content, including but not limited to:
- Coffee spat on keyboard while reading about INSIEME
- Career reconsideration after learning about Juris X
- Sudden urge to audit your organisation's IT procurement
2. **Indirect damages** including:
- Loss of faith in Swiss technological superiority
- Inability to unsee the CHF 116 million write-off figure
- Compulsive checking of project milestone dates
3. **Consequential damages** such as:
- Becoming "that person" at parties who won't stop talking about government IT failures
- Developing an unhealthy interest in the Peter Principle
- Starting your own satirical website about institutional dysfunction
---
### Accuracy and Corrections
We strive for accuracy. All factual claims are sourced. If we've made an error:
1. We'll correct it promptly
2. We'll note the correction transparently
3. We won't spend 16 years and CHF 36.5 million failing to fix it
To report an error, find us however you can. We're a static site, not a helpdesk.
---
### Satire Notice
This is a satirical publication. The humour is intentional. The IT failures are unfortunately real.
We mock:
- Institutional dysfunction, not individuals (unless they're public figures making public decisions with public money)
- Process failures, not the workers stuck implementing them
- The gap between Swiss tech rhetoric and Swiss tech reality
We don't mock:
- Sincere attempts to improve government IT
- Whistleblowers
- The journalists who actually uncover these stories
---
### Governing Law
These terms are governed by the principle that satire is protected speech, common sense should prevail, and anyone who reads a satirical website's terms of service this carefully probably has opinions about software licensing we'd love to hear.
---
### Severability
If any provision of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in effect. Unlike Swiss government IT projects, we don't abandon everything when one part fails.
---
### Contact
For legal inquiries, please first consider whether:
1. We have any assets worth pursuing
2. You really want to be the person who sued a satire site
3. The Streisand Effect exists
---
*These terms are provided with the same binding authority as a Swiss federal IT project's original scope document—which is to say, subject to revision, extension, abandonment, or complete reimagining at any time.*