Date: Fri 16-Oct-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: MICHEL

Quick Words:

Year-2000-computer-Y2K

Full Text:

Town Takes Steps To Avoid Computer Problems In The Year 2000

BY MICHELE HOGAN

The Town of Newtown, the school district, and Northeast Utilities on which

they depend, report that everything is right on schedule for their computer

systems to greet the year 2000 without a hitch.

Henryk Michnowicz, director of technology for the Newtown school district,

said that he just returned from a conference on year 2000 (known as Y2K)

problems for municipalities, and he has "just a little sweat on the brow, not

too much."

The worry, with the Y2K bug, is that computer hardware, software or other

technology may shut down or give incorrect data when confronted with the year

2000.

The solution is the laborious checking of hardware, software, vendors of

needed supplies, and any date-embedded technology for things that could go

wrong, then testing, and if necessary fixing them before the year 2000.

Although this may sound easy, many businesses are still scrambling to complete

inventory lists and make contingency plans.

There is a strong temptation to do very little preparation for Y2K, because

checking systems is not an appealing task, and there is no apparent return on

investment.

The Y2K bug stems from a programming short-cut frequently done in the 1960s

and 1970s when computer memory and storage were very expensive. Programmers

often used just two digits to identify a year. At first, this worked fine. A

spreadsheet for 1970 would be represented as "70" within the system and nobody

and no computer ever confused it with 1870 or 2070.

Now programs are far more lengthy and complex and many still have a plethora

of embedded two-digit date codes. With the two-digit system, 2000 would be

recorded as 00. 1900 would also have to be 00. A program or portion of a

program reading 00 as 1900 instead of 2000 could result in all sorts of

computer glitches, from the generation of incorrect data to computer

shut-down.

Even if a firm or public agency's own computers is Y2K compliant, what about

the computers of suppliers they depend on? What about electrical power to run

the computers?

Far from being a problem only for mainframe computers, the Y2K bug can crop up

in any date-dependent technology, from elevators to radar guns, from pension

payment systems to traffic light regulators.

Utilities

Phil DeCaprio, millennium program manager for Northeast Utilities, reported

that their millennium testing that begun in 1995 is right on schedule, and all

critical areas, including power plants, will be fully tested by July of 1999.

Starting with the preparation of a full inventory of computer software,

equipment and devices, he said that the millennium team has been

systematically working through potential problems.

After checking all computers, they are now looking at embedded code in various

devices, such as programmed door locks on buildings and date sensitive

monitoring equipment.

The team has also identified 800 vendors of needed supplies, and are preparing

contingency plans in case their supplies became unavailable for up to three

months. He also said that safeguards are being put in place for the power

grid.

He said that December 31, 1999 falls on a "light load period" but full

contingency plans and personnel will be in place just in case.

Town

Ben Spragg, finance director for the town, said he is "relatively comfortable"

with the year 2000 approaching. He has received background information on the

problem for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and looked for

potential problems within the town financial department.

Mr Spragg said his biggest concern is the risk of defaulting on debts due to

computer glitches. He was reassured, however, when two of the three banks the

town deals with reported that their banking systems checked out as compliant,

and the third promises full compliance by the end of 1998. (The three banks

are Fleet, People's and State Street in Massachusetts).

Payroll and retirement benefits for town employees are contracted out, and

contractors have assured the town that they will be fully compliant by the end

of 1998.

As far as tax billing is concerned, one subcontractor has assured compliance,

and the other promised it, by the end of 1998.

For in-house programs, Mr Spragg said that accounts payable is installing new

software to ensure compliance.

Mr Spragg will check data entry systems for Excell '97, to ensure spreadsheets

and database information is recorded with a four-digit year, to overcome

compliance issues with this program.

Although he cannot guarantee that nothing will go wrong, he does not expect

computer glitches to be insurmountable or critical. He said that because of

this, the finance department does not have plans to test the date change-over

ahead of time.

He said that he hopes that all the services they depend on, from automatic

heating oil delivery to state-operated traffic light regulation, are being

checked by those in charge.

The police department is aware that radar guns used to record speeding

vehicles could be at risk of Y2K compliance problems.

Schools

The Newtown school district is starting a systematic approach to minimizing

Y2K problems.

Mr Michnowicz said they are contacting all software vendors, and requesting

Y2K compliance information on all software used by the district.

He said that the makers of the Phoenix system, which looks after district

payroll, are promising full compliance. "We are on top of that one," he said.

Teacher retirement funds are looked after by the state of Connecticut, and

non-certified staff can opt for the town's pension plan.

He said that as the date approaches, he would assume that most software

manufacturers will make patches (small programs that overwrite non-Y2K

compliant lines in a program).

The schools use mostly Mac computers, which are already Y2K compliant. Mr

Michnowicz said that the district will be testing all PCs ahead of time.

For the five NT servers in the district, they will be upgrading with latest

software, which is Y2K compliant.

For the school district, he sees the problem as more of an inconvenience than

a risk. He said, "I don't think anything we do here will be impacted."

Test Your PC

To test your own PC computer for Y2K compliance online, you can go to

www.pcmag.com/y2k. PC Magazine reported that of 10,000 users who have tested

their equipment, twenty percent found their computer to be non-Y2K-compliant.

More information on Y2K is available at various websites, such as

www.y2knews.com, www.year2000.com or Yahoo! .