The year 2000 date issue: an organizational problem beyond IS with strategic implications
| Pages | 165-174 |
| Date | 01 June 1999 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02635579910253715 |
| Published date | 01 June 1999 |
| Author | Frederick G. Kohun,William L. Sipple |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
The year 2000 date issue: an organizational problem
beyond IS with strategic implications
Frederick G. Kohun and William L. Sipple
Robert Morris College, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Introduction
The year 2000 computer date problem,
although identified since the 1960s, has been
sensationalized, commercialized, but not yet
universally resolved. Although estimates for
correcting the problem hover around $600
billion in direct conversion costs, there is
also an additional $1 trillion in expected
litigation costs. While the technical problem
of correcting the two-digit year field se-
quence in computer programs to a four-digit
year representation is regarded as trivial and
tedious, the more important challenges for
today's managers focus on making the date
conversion while maintaining a solid bottom
line and dealing with the associated commu-
nication and legal issues.
In order to correct the date problems, the
date fields first must be identified in appli-
cation software programs, system and middle
software, and in the computer hardware
itself. Second, the most difficult task asso-
ciated with the date conversion is in mana-
ging the resources for problem identification,
conversion, testing, and implementation.
Part of the management task, with so little
time and so much to do is to establish
priorities for conversion activities, including
the essential communications within and
beyond one's organization. Finally, the legal
implications are immense. There is liability
attached to corporate officers and directors
who did not, until recently, address the
problem for fear of jeopardizing corporate
profitability. Furthermore, should there be
losses and/or financial performance issues
attributed to year 2000 problems, corporate
officers and directors can be held accounta-
ble for criminal fraud for not fixing a known
problem with known consequences in a
timely manner. This paper presents the year
2000 computer date conversion from three
perspectives: as a technical problem, as a
management problem, and as a legal pro-
blem. In addition, a methodology for addres-
sing the conversion problem in the contexts
of strategic change management and risk
management provides a means of resolving
the problem short-term and long-range.
As evidenced by the articles both in the
popular press and in the journals, there has
been significant discussion about the poten-
tial disastrous implications of an uncorrected
year 2000 date change. Capers Jones outlines
the potential damage resulting from the date
change problem in ten major areas (Jones,
1996, pp. 2-4). Jones forecasts potential year
2000 related hazards related to airlines,
defense, finance, health care, insurance, local
government, manufacturing, national gov-
ernment, public utilities, and telecommuni-
cations, as follows:
.Airlines. Safety hazards resulting from air
traffic control malfunctions, flight sche-
dule confusion, navigation equipment
failures, and maintenance schedule dis-
ruptions.
.Defense. Security hazards may result in
these areas: base security compromised,
computer security compromised, encryp-
tion compromised, strategic weapons
malfunction, command and communica-
tion network problems, aircraft mainte-
nance records disrupted, logistics and
supply systems disrupted, and satellite
malfunction.
.Finance. Financial transaction hazards
due to interest calculations in error,
account balances in error, credit charges
in error, funds transfers disrupted, mort-
gage/loan interest payments in error, and
lease records in error.
.Health care. Safety hazards resulting from
patient monitoring devices malfunction,
operating room support systems dis-
rupted, medical instruments malfunction,
patient billing records in error, and med-
ical insurance billing in error.
.Insurance. Liability and benefit hazards
because of policy due dates in error,
benefits and interest calculations in error,
annuities miscalculated, payments
[ 165 ]
Industrial Management &
Data Systems
99/4 [1999] 165±171
#MCB University Press
[ISSN 0263-5577]
Keywords
Computers,
Disaster management,
Problem solving, Reliability
Abstract
The year 2000 computer date
problem, although identified since
the 1960s, has been sensationa-
lized, commercialized, but not yet
universally resolved. Although es-
timates for correcting the problem
hover around $600 billion in direct
conversion costs, there is also an
additional $1 trillion in expected
litigation costs. While the techni-
cal problem of correcting the two-
digit year field sequence in com-
puter programs to a four-digit year
representation is regarded as tri-
vial and tedious, the more impor-
tant challenges for today's
managers focus on making the
date conversion while maintaining
a solid bottom line and dealing
with the associated communica-
tion and legal issues. This problem
has finally been recognized as one
with organizational strategic con-
cerns and implications far beyond
the domain of the IS department.
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