Year 2000 awareness program

286 Pages·1998·18.3 MB·English

by  Massachusetts. Information Technology Division

V33/3
UMASS/AMHERST
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
aieobtoibsa^is information Technology Division
*
i
•4R
Year 2000 Awareness
March 1998
T. Louis Gutierrez
ChiefInformation Officer
Val Asbedian
Director, Strategic Planning Group
Prepared By:
ITD Year 2000 Program Management Office

Year2000 Awareness Program March 1998
INTRODUCTION
Inthis binderisa collectionofYear 2000 outreach materials representative ofthe Commonwealth's efforts
to raiseawareness ofthe issue throughoutthe state: attheagencylevel, as wellasatthe local city andtown
level.
The InformationTechnology Division (ITD) coordinatesa Year2000ProgramManagementOffice (Y2K
PMO) consistingofaproject managerandfiveadditional full-time staffpeople. This group was
establishedto:
• Ensure accurate monitoringofthe Commonwealth'sprogress in meetingthe Year2000
challenge;
• Identify riskareasandriskmitigationactivities;
• Disseminate lessons learnedto stateagencies; and
• Serveas aYear2000 resource to stateagenciesanddepartments inthethreebranches of
government
ThePMO hasbeeninvolved innumerous Year2000activities:
• One-on-one interviewswithagencyYear2000 coordinatorstoidentify Commonwealth
missioncritical andessential systems anddeterminethe status oftheremediationeffort. A
summary oftheinterview results is includedhere inChapter5.
• Sponsoring monthly User Groupmeetingsand quarterly Year2000 Days. TheUserGroup
meetingsprovideaforumfortheexchange ofinformationbetween Commonwealthentities.
Year2000Days provideagencieswiththeopportunity to learnwhatvendorsand
commercialsgroupsaredoingregarding Year2000. InformationrelatedtotheUserGroups
(including meetingminutes) andYear2000Days canbefoundinChapters 8,9,and 10.
• OutreachEfforts. ThePMOdisseminates informationtoagencies, mostlyviae-mail, to
agenciesapproximately twiceamonth. This information includesnotices ofupcoming
PMO
meetings,publications, andfrequently electroniccopies ofmaterialthe haspreparedfor
agencyuse. ThePMO's distributionlistispresentedinChapter 11. ThePMO alsoworks
withmunicipalorganizationsandagenciesthatareliaisonsto municipalandlocal
organizationsto raiseYear2000awarenessanddistribute practical information. A listofthe
mostrecentoutreachactivities isprovided in Chapter7.
• Researchanddisseminationofinformation. ThePMOhasproduced reference materialfor
useby the agencies. Inadditiontothe Year2000 home page,
http://www.state.ma.us/y2k/ thePMOhaswrittenawhitepaperontestingPC BIOS,
,
has developed a sample Year2000 ProjectPlananda sample Year2000 TestPlan, has
createdaletterand spreadsheetsforagency use to contactvendors and landlordsregarding
Year2000compliance, andhaspublisheda second edition of Year2000Compliance,
MeetingtheChallenge. Copies ofbotheditionsofMeetingthe Challengeand someofthe
PMO
otherdocumentsproducedbythe are included in Chapters 14and 16 through20.
ITD's outreach efforts havebeen supportedby otheragencies withinthe Commonwealth: theOperational
Services Division (OSD) now requiresthatall contractshave astandardY2Kclause; theBudgetBureau
requiredagencies to submit separatedetailed plansfor Year 2000 remediation withtheirannual spending
plans; and, Year 2000 issueshavebeen prominently covered in ITD'squarterly bulletin since the Winter
1997 issue.
A complete listofall theChapters inthisbook is provided onthefollowingpage.
InformationTechnology Division
Year2000ProgramManagementOffice

^
Secretary Baker's Letterto Agency and
Table of
DepartmentHeads
Letters fromthe CIO
Contents
Y2K ChfOfiftlOiH' rtfFvenR
4
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5
6
VJLlULdLIl E/llUILi lO IVlUIUCipdllUcS alia LOCal
7 Governments
User Uroup MeetingMinutes
8
icarzuuu Uay Agendas
9 ;
UdCl VJIUUp /AllLIiUaJILL LISLb
10
rA\goCplnlrC\yr TLisilcbtunlKUiUilfl1U11UIl TLIiScItSc
11
VI'zOticv PrNi/vlii^i MA-ng/c^nncy/ Tnd14i1sooainisc
12
rV^CllCy opCUUlllg rlalld h
13
ITD's Year2000 Home Page
14
ITD's Quarterly ITBulletins
15
ITD's Year2000 Meeting the Challenge, i
16 1stEdition
mrasmggfg 1TD's Year2UU0 Meetingthe Challenge,
nd
lllilMJilM 2 Edition
VendorManagementPacket
Letterto Landlords
Open & Close Presentations
29
30
31
£hAVFPY RFAPV INDEX* INDEXING SYS'FW

The Commonwealth .of Massachusetts
Executive Office For
Administration and Finance
STATE HOUSE ROOM 373
BOSTON, MA 02133
ARGEOPAULCELLUCCI
GOVERNOR TEL [phone]
CHARLES D. BAKER FAX:[phone]
SECRETARY
To:
From:
Subject: Year2000 Compliance
Date: September29, 1997
We face aunique challenge inthehistoryofCommonwealthoperations-aturn ofthe century,
coupledwithheavyreliance onautomated operational systems.
Therefore, effective immediately, it is orderedthat:
1. Uninterruptedturn-of-century service delivery is each agency's top operationalplanning
priority.
2. The managementofeach agencyofthe Commonwealth is responsible forassessing itsYear
2000 preparedness andbringing its systems into compliance, ordevising replacementand
contingencyplans for insuring smooth operations throughtheturn ofthe century, and having
such assessments and plans committedto writing.
3 All purchases by Commonwealthagencies ofnew software, systems, enhancements or
.
equipment shall beYear 2000 compliant.
4. New acquisitions which do notaddressspecificallyidentifiedYear2000 deficiencies in older
systems should notbe put forth as "Year2000" initiatives.
Agencies are directedto reviewplanned and ongoingtechnology initiatives in lightofthis
directive and suspend all such initiatives which detract from Year2000 preparedness efforts,
otherthanthose specificallymandated by statewide directives orrequired by law.
The InformationTechnologyDivision, through its Year2000 ProjectManagementOffice, will
continueto offerassistance to agencies intheirYear2000 compliance efforts. TheOperational
Services Division is availableto assistwithtechnology procurementmatters relatedtoYear2000
compliance. Please feel free to contactthese agencies.

The Commonwealth ofMassachusetts
Executive OfficeforAdministration andFinance
Office ofManagement Information Systems
OneAshburtonPlace • Room801 • Boston • Massachusetts • 02108
Telephone(«17)TO4975
Ftcrimfle (617)7X7-3766
To: Interested Parties
From: Louis Gutierrez, ChiefInformation Officer
TimBradford, ChiefOperations Officer
Date: March 11, 1996
OMIS
Re: Technical White Paper
ONUS is committed to the process ofkeepinginformationtechnologymanagers inthe
Commonwealth informed onmajorissues impactingIT project planning, costs and
implementation. One ofourgoals is to conveyto Commonwealth departments an awareness to
impendingIT issues by distributing informative technical white papers.
The technical white paper attached foryourreviewis related to the impact thatyear2000 may
have onyourIT software and hardware. We have chosenthis topic because the window of
opportunity for ayear 2000 conversion is closingin on a project deadline that cannotbe changed.
We welcomeyour input on this issue andvalueyour experience with providing effective solutions
and pointing out potential problem areas that may not have surfaced.
The technical white papers are being coordinated by OMIS, Strategic PlanningBureau. Formore
information, please contactRoy Bean at 973-0805.
OMIS Technical White Paper
Year 2000
The turn ofthe century is less than fourshortyears away, a little over 1,300days.
Are we, as Commonwealth Information Technology Managers, still procrastinating year 2000
modifications to our software and hardware components? Certainly, the year 2000
modification is technically simple to correct, however, the modifications are labor-intensive and
will require time and effort to undertake. If Information Technology Managers have not done so
already, now is thetime to develop an implementation plan to solve the year 2000 dilemma for
theirorganization.
OMIS would like to assist Information Technology Managers with year 2000 planning by
pointing out several key areas to investigate for potential problems. Summarized below are
potential problem areas to research. A more detailed description ofeach area can be found on
the Internet atthefollowing address: http://www.year2000.com
Leap Year: The rules governing a leap year states that not only the year be divisible by four,
but ifthe year is a century mark, it must be divisible by 400 as well.
Vendor Products: Ensure that vendor products support four-digit year format and any
interfaces to those products are in compliance.
Programs: Review date references in software source programs, Job Control Language
(JCL), Procs, ISPF Dialogs, TSO Clists, REXX, SQL, Sorts and data files. Carefully check
date calculations, some programs are currently doing calculations based on a date(s) in the
future. These programs could be erroneously calculating against the year '00' right now!
Reports and Screens: Ensure that data input screens conform to the new date format.
Review report date fields and also output screens for the use offour digit year.
PCs; Many PC's cannot handle the transition to the year 2000. The PC may reset the
system date to the BIOS date when January 1, 2000 clocks in. This can be tested by setting
the system date on your PC to December 31, 1999 11:55, shut off the PC and wait 10
minutes. Power up the PC and checkthe date, it may have reverted to the BIOS date.
Data: Expansion of a two-digit year to four digits most likely will require a data file conversion
and an increase in disk utilization.
Testing: Rigorous testing must be performed, not only will programs abend, but some will
appearto perform normally due to date comparisons and calculations not causing an error.
OTN-YR2000-FY96-01