Year 2000 Awareness

Organization Year 2000 Program Phase or Activity Questions:
Awareness  Assessment  Renovation  Validation  Implementation  Program Management

 Organizations Year 2000 Program Phase or Activity -- Processes:

Awareness -- Assessment -- Renovation -- Validation -- Implementation -- Program Management
 

1.0 Awareness

It is essential that executive management be fully aware of the Year 2000 problem and its potential impact on the enterprise and its customers. It is the responsibility of the chief information officer to provide the leadership in defining and explaining the importance of achieving Year 2000 compliance, selecting the overall approach for structuring the organization’s Year 2000 program, assessing the adequacy of the existing information resource management infrastructure to adequately support the Year 2000 efforts, and mobilizing needed resources.

Key Processes
1.1. Define the Year 2000 problem and its potential impact on the enterprise
1.2. Conduct Year 2000 awareness campaign
1.3. Assess the adequacy of the organization’s program management capabilities
1.4. Develop Year 2000 strategy
1.5. Obtain support from executive management
1.6. Establish Year 2000 executive management council
1.7. Appoint Year 2000 program manager and establish a Year 2000 program office
1.8. Identify technical and management contacts in core business areas

1.1. Define the Year 2000 problem and its potential impact on the enterprise

Developing and publishing a high-level assessment of the Year 2000 issue provides executive management and staff with a high-level overview of the potential impact of the Year 2000 problem on the enterprise.

1.2. Conduct a Year 2000 awareness campaign

A Year 2000 awareness campaign is an important first step to raise the awareness of executive management and line staff about the potential impact of the Year 2000 problem on the organization’s operations.

1.3. Assess the adequacy of the organization’s program management capabilities, including

policies, guidelines, and processes for program and project management, configuration management, quality assurance, and risk management
staffing levels and skill mix
The ability to successfully manage the Year 2000 program will depend on the degree to
which the organization has institutionalized key system development and program management
practices and on its experience in managing large-scale software conversion or system
development efforts. With only a few activities within federal agencies operating above
level 1 on the Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity Model,1 most
information resource management organizations lack the basic policies, tools, and
practices necessary to successfully manage a large-scale Year 2000 program. While there
may not be enough time to achieve a higher maturity level, agencies should assess, and
upgrade, if needed, their information resource management capabilities. Agencies should
consider the establishment of an enterprise competency center to provide training and to
foster adherence to proven industry system development and program management
practices. Agencies also need to consider soliciting assistance from organizational
entities experienced in performing or managing major software conversions.

1.4. Develop and document a high-level Year 2000 strategy

A high-level Year 2000 strategy provides the organization’s executive management with a
roadmap for achieving Year 2000 compliance. The strategy should discuss key Year 2000
issues, including the program’s management structure, program metrics and reporting
requirements, the mix of enterprise-wide solutions, and initial cost and schedule estimates.

1.5. Obtain and formalize executive management support through issuance of

The management support for the organization’s Year 2000 strategy should be formalized by the
issuance of a Year 2000 policy directive and/or Year 2000 program charter. Without such
support, information resource managers may not be able to mobilize adequate resources to
implement the strategy and to interact with other organizations and data sources.

1.6. Establish Year 2000 executive management council

A committee or a council needs to be established within the organization to continually
coordinate with the programmatic and functional area managers on priorities and
potential mission impact if certain processes and systems malfunction. A process for quick
conflict resolution on priorities between programmatic and functional areas is also
needed.

1.7. Appoint a Year 2000 program manager and establish an organization-level Year 2000 program office

It is essential that agencies appoint a Year 2000 program manager and establish an
organization-level program office to manage and coordinate the enterprise’s Year 2000
program activities. The solutions of the Year 2000 problem extend beyond simple software
conversion, hardware upgrades, and database restructuring. The problem--and the
solutions--involve a wide range of dependencies among information systems; the need to
centrally develop or acquire conversion and validation standards, inspection, conversion,
and testing tools; the need to coordinate the conversion of cross-boundary information
systems and their components; the need to establish priorities; and the need to reallocate
resources as needed.

1.8. Identify technical and management points of contact in core business areas

A Year 2000 program should not be viewed as a system development or maintenance effort
managed by the information resource management organization, but rather as an
enterprise-wide effort requiring the input and cooperation of all organizational units.
Thus, it is important that the technical and management staff of the core business areas
work closely with the Year 2000 project teams in the assessment and testing process.
 
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Formatted and altered  from text provided by: The United States General Accounting Office Accounting and Information Management Division HTML format Copyrighted by The Disaster Center 1998