EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Many computer systems used today were not designed to accommodate dates in both the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This document describes the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh's plan to address the Year 2000 problems. Some components of the plan are clearly defined and scheduled; other components are less clearly defined. Information Technology (IT) staff will be responsible for central resources, to include the IBM mainframe and its application software, VAX computers, central servers, student labs, and the Polk Library computer. Units and departments will be responsible for their servers, personal computers, and related software. Many systems are now Year 2000 compliant. Recent and future purchases of personal computers and operating system software are and will be Year 2000 compliant. No problems are anticipated in student labs because they have the most current hardware and software available. UNIX-based systems are Year 2000 compliant. The IBM mainframe computer and operating system software will be Year 2000 compliant with scheduled software upgrades. Peripheral equipment will be upgraded as necessary. In several areas, new software and/or hardware purchases will ensure Year 2000 compliance. Replacement for the VAXA computer is planned. The PeopleSoft Student Information System (SIS) will replace existing student master file software. A new computer system will be purchased for Polk Library. The CUFS accounting system and the DARS degree audit system will be upgraded with new software releases. The biggest hurdle to successful completion of the Year 2000 compliance effort is the set of software application programs developed in-house and not being replaced by SIS. Even under ideal conditions, conversion of all programs to Year 2000 compliance by the target date is unlikely. Priorities will be determined such that mission critical applications, those functions deemed essential for the University to function, will continue to run. Colleges and administrative departments will develop internal Year 2000 compliance plans. IT will inform and assist coordinators in each unit, who will, in turn, inform and assist individual users in their respective units. For locally used software, units will contact vendors/developers to determine Year 2000 compliance. Return to top. Background "Almost all computer-based systems will be adversely affected by the arrival of the Year 2000 (01/01/2000), unless action is taken now to replace, update, or change components of these systems to eliminate or otherwise mitigate the effects of this event." Warnings such as this statement from the 2000AD, Inc. company are not to be taken lightly. The Year 2000 problem usually takes one of four forms: 1. Calendar and fiscal years are coded as two digits. For example, 1997 is coded as 97 and fiscal year 1998 is coded as 98. In both cases, the century is omitted and assumed to be 19. 2. Dates are coded as six digits. For example, June 30, 1997 is coded as 970630 (or in some cases, 063097). Again, the century is omitted and assumed to be 19. 3. Leap year calculations do not calculate the year 2000 correctly. This problem occurs much less frequently than other Year 2000 problems. 4. School year semester is coded as four digits, yyys. For example, first semester for 1996-1997 academic year is coded as 9671. In this case, the century is omitted and assumed to be 19 and the decade of the second year is omitted. Software will process data incorrectly in all cases where these data elements are sorted or are used in an arithmetical calculation. Dates will be reported/printed incorrectly where the century is assumed to be 19. The other significant case where Year 2000 problems may occur is with personal computers, other hardware and related operating system software. These cases typically occur with older hardware devices. No specific pattern of problem occurrence can be identified; rather, problems may manifest themselves in many different ways. The only way to verify Year 2000 compliance is to perform a test on the device. Return to top. THE UNIVERSITY - GENERAL The University is aware of the potential Year 2000 problems related to its computer systems. The Assistant Vice Chancellor for Information Technology has been appointed Campus Coordinator for the Year 2000 project. The Campus Coordinator will organize, schedule, and facilitate the activities needed to reach Year 2000 compliance. Each of four units in the Information Technology division, Academic Computing, Administrative Computing, Central Computing, and Polk Library, has developed its own Year 2000 assessment and compliance plan. Colleges and major administrative units will assign coordinators to complete Year 2000 assessments in their respective units. By January 31, 1998, all assessment plans will be completed and reviewed and a final compliance plan will be completed. Return to top. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIVISION Academic Computing Student laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art technology, both hardware and software. No problems are anticipated in being Year 2000 compliant. All UNIX-based systems and the Microvax 3100 are Year 2000 compliant. Academic Computing will identify potential hardware and software problems and determine appropriate fixes by September 3, 1997. They will work with the campus coordinator and unit coordinators to identify problem areas. Return to top. Administrative Computing - Programming Most of Year 2000 problems that threaten the ability of the University to continue functioning beyond the year 2000 are the application programs that were written for the administrative functions of the University. These include software programs written for administrative purposes, such as financial reporting, student registration, and personnel reporting. The inventory of programs, identified by programming language, includes 1,287 COBOL, 150 Assembler, 400 Natural, 125 Easytrieve+, 60 CUFS Reporter, and 20 PL/1. These programs are used by 1,600 production jobs to process information on 950 files on a variety of storage media. Some number, to be determined, of Keymaster applications also fit into this category. Administrative Computing supports two purchased software packages: (1) CUFS accounting software will be upgraded to be Year 2000 compliant by June 30, 1998; and, (2) DARS degree audit software will be upgraded to be Year 2000 compliant by September 30, 1997. In addition, the PeopleSoft Student Information System (SIS) will be Year 2000 compliant and will replace an estimated 640 programs, to include student records and financial aids. Planning for the implementation of the new SIS is underway with software and hardware installation scheduled for the fourth quarter, 1997. Full implementation of the PeopleSoft SIS is expected prior to 2000. With the remaining in-house software, Administrative Computing has established and is implementing the following plan. A budget of $50,000 per year for fiscal years 1997-1998, 1998-1999, and 1999-2000 has been requested to assist with additional staffing and software support. 1. Establish a test environment and methodology for testing by June 30, 1997. 2. Complete a pilot project, using the personnel system, to bring a major in-house system into Year 2000 compliance by September 30, 1997. 3. Complete an analysis and assessment of existing software to: establish standardized date routines; identify interrelationships of programs and files to break the problems into manageable components; and, identify goals, objectives, constraints, and resources to reach Year 2000 compliance. This activity is currently underway. 4. Identify and prioritize mission critical systems by December 31, 1997. 5. Continue converting systems to be Year 2000 compliant as priorities are determined. 6. Notify departments whose systems cannot be made Year 2000 compliant before problems occur. Even under ideal conditions, full Year 2000 compliance before problems emerge is unlikely. In fact, some problems already exist in the University's personnel system, e.g., inability to process faculty contracts in the twenty-first century. Programmers' time is limited and further reduced by the need to implement SIS, DARS, and CUFS. Other systems require annual changes to meet federal and state requirements and to meet other agencies' critical need to bring their systems into Year 2000 compliance. Limited staff resources impose the need to establish strict priorities. While projects have been identified for the next three years that are three times the average workload for the administrative programming unit, the assumption is that it is within the unit's capacity to bring the mission critical programs into Year 2000 compliance. Increased efficiency is possible by eliminating development of new programs and enhancements to existing programs and enlisting the assistance of customers in identifying those reports and programs that are basic to the continued functioning of the University. To assist in increasing efficiency and setting priorities the Administrative Computing Steering Committee is asked to support the following recommendations: 1. Establish a moratorium on new programs and enhancements to existing programs. 2. Request customers to identify alternate methods (defer or provide paper reports) of supplying new data as requested by outside agencies. 3. Appoint a Year 2000 Coordinator from each administrative unit by June 30, 1997. The responsibilities of the Coordinators will be to: a. Act as liaison between unit and appropriate programming staff to identify mission critical programs. b. Develop work-arounds for those programs that may not be updated by 2000. 4. Advocate, wherever possible, the need to simplify policy decisions, so as to reduce computing and programming costs. 5. Heighten the awareness of administrators, legislators and governing boards of the costs of requesting data in new formats and changing or creating more complex policies. Return to top. Administrative Computing - Central Resource Some of the central resource hardware is now Year 2000 compliant; all central resource hardware will be Year 2000 compliant by June 30, 1998. Vendors will be contacted to determine and verify the status of Y2K compliance. Where necessary, hardware will be upgraded. Hardware replacements, if needed, will also require corresponding software to be purchased. If significant purchases are needed, current budget allocations may not be adequate to support those needs. The target date for central resource operating system to be Year 2000 compliant is December 31, 1997. The major current operating system is MVS/ESA on an IBM 9221-170 mainframe computer; this operating system will be upgraded to Version 5.2.2 and be Year 2000 compliant by June 15, 1997. All supporting software for peripheral equipment will be reviewed; if necessary, the software will be upgraded by June 30 1998. Return to top. Polk Library The KeyNOTIS computer system in the library will be replaced with a new Year 2000 compatible system before 2000. This replacement will be part of a System-wide migration to a new automated library system, currently being directed by the UW System Library Automation Task Force. Return to top. DEPARTMENTS and ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS Individual personal computers, department servers and similar devices are the responsibility of the department, as are any software systems installed locally. The Campus Year 2000 Coordinator and IT division will inform and educate departments about Year 2000 issues with a top-down information approach. By September 3, 1997, each college and major administrative unit will be asked to appoint one staff member to work as coordinator with unit/IT staff to identify and resolve all Year 2000 issues. A series of regularly scheduled meetings and training sessions will be established, beginning in September 1997. Unit coordinators will conduct assessment programs and report to the Campus Year 2000 Coordinator on a regular basis, with a final assessment report due by January 31, 1998. The Campus Year 2000 Coordinator and IT division will also distribute appropriate information and guidelines about the Year 2000 problems in various University publications. The first item will be an article in the April/May 1997 issue of the Connections newsletter. For application software used internally in the unit, each unit will contact the vendor or developer of the software, such as the Koehn Institute, to determine if the software is Year 2000 compliant. If the software is not Year 2000 compliant, the unit will be responsible for fixing the problem. Return to top. Return to Information Technology. Return to Year 2000 Page Return to UW Oshkosh. Last updated: August 1999