December 31, 1999, 11:59 PM
By Russ Finney
July 7, 1997
Year 2000 issues are heating up! As the clock keeps ticking towards Saturday night, December 31, 1999, MIS departments all over the world are analyzing their risk of being bitten by the "Millennium Bug". Every company, large or small, has the potential of being impacted by the date change from 1999 to 2000. Have you analyzed the date change risks which may exist within your business?
To get a better understanding of the Year 2000 issue, take a moment to read You've got to be Kidding! an excellent paper written by Peter de Jager which presents one of the easiest to understand explanations of the year 2000 issue I have read to date. Another important discussion of these concerns is presented in the Critical Issue Report: Facing the Year 2000 Problem, an important paper written by Leon A. Kappelman and James J. Cappel. Both these works highlight the need for action now - before it is too late!
Formulate A Year 2000 Action Plan
It is vitally important for companies to formulate their strategies and actions now for dealing with their year 2000 risk areas. A useful approach to tackling this work is to follow the five steps listed below:
- Investigation and Analysis
During this phase it is important to identify all systems which may be impacted by the year 2000 problem. The Year 2000 Issues List gives a good breakdown of the kind of issues for which your organization should be searching. Of course, the main problem is modifying or replacing programs, databases, and files which use two digits for the date instead of four. In addition, take a look into the Year 2000 Legal & Accounting Issues which are outlined in this document. If your company is publicly traded, your auditor may already be asking you about your year 2000 plans. The final end product of this phase should be a list of all your systems requiring attention. - Detailed Planning
Once all the systems have been identified which require analysis, a workplan and master schedule should be created. Questions need to be answered such as:
- Who will perform the work (staff member or outside contractor/consultant)?
- Will systems be upgraded under the terms of your maintenance agreements?
- Which systems will be modified and which systems will be replaced?
- What are the ground rules for making the changes - are enhancements allowed?
All of these decisions should be assembled into the year 2000 master plan. - Vendor Coordination
The odds are good that you will be working with an outside vendor to solve this problem. It will either be the company which supports a licensed system which requires modifications or upgrading, or it will be some temporary resources you will use to perform the work on your in-house developed programs. In either case, adequate coordination is essential. Obtain each vendor's year 2000 solution proposals for their respective software products. Review the proposed vendor solutions. Contract the resources now to do the work before time runs out! - Implementation
As you company performs the necessary activities to fix these problems, some important decisions will need to be made. Review the Year 2000 Checklist to get a sense of what the decisions and policies are that you need to consider. If your problem is extensive, it would be wise to phase this work over a period of time in order to keep all of your systems as stable as possible. - Testing
As each modification is made, a disciplined testing approach should follow. The key to year 2000 testing is avoiding disruption of regular business activities. Each change should be analyzed for the degree of end-user approval required to certify the results. Year 2000 enhancements are an enormous challenge. Good luck!
A Few More Important Resources
The majority of year 2000 issues are contained within the mainframe application programs which companies are still using. Who could be better to assist you with these mainframe year 2000 problems than the folks at IBM? Fortunately, IBM covers these issues throughout their various web sites. I have chosen the following three web pages as good starting points for obtaining this important information:
IBM's Perspective on the Year 2000 Issue
A high level paper from IBM explaining the year 2000 issue as well as the urgency for companies to take action.
IBM's Year 2000 Technical Support Center
IBM's "one stop shopping" site for year 2000 assistance. Good pointers to specific IBM resources, and weekly updates regarding year 2000 activities.
IBM's Year 2000 Conversion Methodology
Specific topic papers which address each of five approach steps which include planning, implementing, and testing the required year 2000 solutions.
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Copyright © 1999, Russ Finney, All Rights Reserved. Originally written for The Mining Company.
