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Year 2000

Y2K PROJECT

Planning made Y2K a ‘non-event’

The transition to Y2K turned out to be a "non-event" at the U of S – the ultimate goal of the President’s Year 2000 Task Force and hundreds of unit contacts who had been addressing Y2K-related issues since October, 1998.

To date, only 13 non-critical glitches have been reported to Bob Eaton, Y2K Project Manager, and all of these problems were fixed immediately.

"This is pretty well what we had predicted," Eaton said.

"Since the project only concentrated on critical items, we were pretty sure that there would be disruptions caused by failures of non-critical components. We didn’t, however, think things would be this smooth. We’re really happy."

The successful transition to the Year 2000 is a direct result of the Y2K Project and the collaborative efforts of the institutional community. Between 400 and 700 individuals invested varying amounts of time – anywhere from one day to two years of effort – to ensure the University was prepared for Y2K.

Remediation efforts began in February, 1998, and will continue throughout and beyond the duration of the Y2K Project.

Last year, designated contacts were asked to report all unit equipment, systems, and processes to the Task Force. Mike McGillivray, Y2K Project Technical Advisor, designed a database to store and categorize this information. The database contains over 6,000 entries, including groups of data, and provides a wealth of information regarding "critical" items and areas at the University.

Institution-wide contingency plans were developed in a number of key areas, including Facilities Management, Security Services, Computing Services, and Health, Safety, and Environment, as well as Food Services, Human Resources, and the Residences.

Facilities Management was faced with the enormous task of testing hundreds of unit and institution-wide items, ranging from gas detectors and generators to fire alarm panels and heating controls. With the assistance of a Y2K consultant, Facilities Management undertook extensive review and remediation efforts, and developed a comprehensive set of unit and institutional contingency plans.

At the same time, impressive work was being done across the institution. The following examples are a small sample of such activities and functions:

• Faced with a Human Resources System failure upon transition to the new fiscal year, Computing Services worked throughout the winter of 1998-99 to ensure University employees would be paid in and beyond May, 1999.

• Computing Services and the Financial Services Division implemented two upgrades of the Financial Records System to achieve compliance by the start of the 2000 fiscal year in May, 1999. In addition, smaller, special-purpose systems were upgraded to ensure employees would continue to receive travel reimbursements and the University would be able to manage its external receivables.

• Computing Services’s upgrades to servers and connectivity and web software ensured University employees had access to functioning dial-up ports, Internet sites and the institutional network.

• The first of the Student Information Environment modifications were implemented in October, 1998 when applications for the 2000 academic sessions began to be received.

  The Student Information Y2K Project Team put additional "upgrade units" into production throughout 1999, and will continue to do so until April, 2000.

• The Interactive Voice Response Unit upgrade project ensured continued course registration and grade reporting over the telephone (via U-STAR).

• The Bookstore’s testing and remediation of its point-of-sale system last November and December enabled the sale of books, the printing of accurate receipts, and the tracking of current inventory.

• Consumer Services’ review and remediation of postage meters ensured uninterrupted mail service.

• Purchasing’s review of external suppliers ensured the institutional community would continue to receive a steady supply of goods and services.

• Health, Safety and Environment’s review of institutional labs ensured lab managers addressed issues regarding research preservation, chemical storage, and fume hood usage.

• Security Services’s review of present and potential unit security issues ensured ongoing safety of University faculty, staff, students, and visitors.

• Research Services’ co-ordination of reviews facilitated the preservation of institutional research efforts.

• Dentistry’s remediation of its booking system facilitated the scheduling of patient appointments in 2000 and beyond.

• The Phytotron staff’s attention to non-compliant host computers ensured the preservation of valuable research conducted in the growth chambers.

• The Task Force’s review of institutional units associated with Saskatoon District Health helped ensured continued unit operation.

• Individual unit reviews and remediation of desktop computers facilitated data preservation and continued unit functionality in and beyond the Year 2000.

Of equal or greater importance to what happened as a result of Y2K is what didn’t happen.

The U of S experienced little or no disruption and, as such, was able to fulfil its mandate by offering continued operation and service to its publics. According to Nowell Seaman, Manager of Insurance Services and Chair of the Y2K Contingency Planning Committee, the University did an excellent job in preparing for the transition to the Year 2000, and indicated "efforts at the U of S were among the best displayed in this country’s educational institutions."

Y2K contingency plans, along with the University’s Emergency Measures Plan, will ensure the University is adequately prepared to deal with future institution-wide emergencies, such as utility outages and hazardous weather conditions.

An emergency command centre, located in the Maintenance Building, has been established for use as required by designated members of the response team.

Eaton declared the Y2K Project a "tremendous success" and indicated all six deliverables identified in the Project Charter have been completed – namely a list of non-compliant items, an assessment of Y2K-related impact, the identification of remediation plans and costs, the co-ordination of contingency planning, a list of business partner relationships, and an overview of the application of remedies. He plans to submit the final Y2K Project report to the Board of Governors in March.

The implications of Y2K became apparent at the University upon the first system failure in February, 1997. Y2K will officially end when the institution concludes one complete business cycle on April 30, 2001 – the end of the 2000 winter academic session.

Questions or comments about the Y2K Project can be directed to Bob Eaton at -4854 or at Y2000@usask.ca. Further information is available in the Y2K website, accessible via the University home page, at www.usask.ca/y2k/

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