Another phase of challenges
ICT
Phase II
In the year 1582, inaccuracies in the measurement of time had thrown official
dating two weeks out of sync with astronomical reality. The Catholic church
needed a new and more accurate way to determine the start of its annual Easter
rituals. But when Pope Gregory XIII ordered the adoption of a new style calendar,
since spread into general use throughout the world, he was unwittingly creating
a problem for later and more technical societies in the 21st century.
Team efforts
What's NewS Issue 1 January/February 2000
True, by replacing the Julian calendar
with the Gregorian, he restored a
closer correspondence between the
calendar and the actual seasons - and
therefore the celehration dates for
movable Catholic feasts. Pope Gregory
instituted a 'leap day' once every four
years. Also, to maintain a more precise
link with the actual length of the solar
year, he proclaimed an additional 'leap
day' for all centuries evenly divisible by
400. The restdt of his ecclesiastical procla
mation is that our year 2000 ranks
among the exceptional leap years
(as did the year 1600). However,
this obscure fact was not one that
every computer systems designer
took into account when producing
software and machines. Indeed, this
historie tie between religion,
cosmology, and computers explains
why Rabobankers - who successfully
negotiated the first millennium transi-
tion with flying colors - are now being
asked to once again mohilize their
resources to make sure that the second
and final transition is overcome just as
smoothly as the first (which was so
much more heavily publicized).
'There's an understandable weariness
with the whole millennium issue,' remarks
Hans Reusch, the millennium project
manager. 'We have all worked terribly
hard and we managed admirably to avoid
any serious millennium disturbances
during the first transition. The strong
temptation is to sit hack and assume that
the whole problem has been solved. This
is not quite the case. We've done well so
far, hut we're not out of the woods yet.'
Indeed, this continuing (if somewhat di-
minished) concern lies behind an ongoing,
ntodified freeze on the installation of new
1T systems. While the moratorian through
3 I March, 2000 has been lifted because
of system stability, no implementations,
except for emergency bug fixes, will be al-
lowed between 23 February and 6 March
(which has been designated as Phase II in
the millennium challenge). Strict measures
aimed at minimizing millennium related
credit risk are being kept in place and
Phase II will involve a range of reporting
and other precautionary procedures that
are intended to obviate any unexpected
updated transition period plans
(TPP-IIs) as well as business
continuity plans. In the period
leading tip to the transition,
offices are also expected to
review earlier Y2K test reports
to see if any special actions need
to be taken before and after 29
February, and to submit contin-
gency plans for communication,
both internally and externally,
in the event of actual crisis. This
is all common sense.
The second document distributed
by the millennium program team
is a checklist to assess the func-
tional readiness of particular
software applications: i.e., their
ability to handle dates between 28
February through I March. (This
document suggests such questions
as whether the application has
been specifically tested for dates
that fall within the second transi
tion period, whether the interfaces
have been functionally 'chain
tested,' whether interest rate
calculations have been consistently
applied, and so forth.) We've tried to keep
all of this as simple as possible,' says
Reusch. 'While there is certainly no need
to duplicate all of the effort that we've
already put into the Y2K issue, there are
some clear and necessary checks that
definitely need to be made. And the offices
will need to maintain discipline in their re
porting procedures. The key point is that
we shouldn't underestimate the situation.
We might sail through once again with
flying colors. But this second transition
could also prove more challenging than
the first. Don't forget: the leap year will
occur in midweek. We need to be well pre-
pared because, unlike the first transition,
there will be no weekend comfort zone
to cushion us if anything goes wrong.'
surprises stem
ming front the extraordinary leap year it-
self. 'It is crucial that we remain vigilant,'
says administration chief Alain Younes.
The millennium program team has also
distributed two docuntents to help offices
in their preparations for this event. The
first is a schedule of activities that needs
to be completed during the third week of
February, in the run up to the transition
itself. For instance, offices need to specify
which members of staff will be available
or on call during the switchover, and draw
up a clear list of responsibilities. They are
also expected to draw up and submit
