TO: Vice Presidents, Deans, and Directors
FROM: Priscilla Hancock, Associate Vice President for Information Services
CC: Nancy Barrett, Provost; Andrew Sorensen, President
RE: UA Year 2000 Plans and Status Reports
DATE: July 22, 1998

For those of you who are still not sure what the Year 2000 problem is and what it might impact, let me give you a brief description. The Year 2000 problem spans the entire information technology industry. It arises from the nearly universal practice over the years of using two-digits rather than four to designate the calendar year (e.g. "98" instead of "1998"). Not restricted to only mainframe computers, Year 2000 problems can occur with local area networks, personal computers, medical equipment, and any equipment with an embedded computer chip. The University of Alabama has been addressing the Year 2000 problem in a distributed fashion with each unit handling its own issues. Unfortunately this problem is so pervasive, we will need to take a more coordinated approach.

President Sorensen has appointed me the Year 2000 coordinator for The University of Alabama. It is my responsibility to report on all The University of Alabama's Year 2000 issues and plans. These reports will be made to the state and to The University of Alabama System. In order to represent our campus-wide initiatives, I need to be informed of your unit's Year 2000 plan, priorities, current status, and costs. In your status report, please include the following information:

Computer hardware replacement costs (divided into student lab, faculty, and staff equipment)
Computer software replacement costs (divided into student lab, faculty, and staff equipment)
Network server replacement costs
Business application software system issues, plans, and costs
Embedded chip technology issues, plans, and costs
Lists of third party suppliers of data, services, or products that your unit requires to be Year 2000 compliant

These lists should only pertain to Year 2000 issues not equipment or software that requires replacing for other reasons. The state is requiring a report every quarter for 1998 and every month for 1999. Therefore, I will need your first report by September 15 in order to meet the September 30 deadline.

If you have not yet done your Year 2000 assessment, the Office of Information Services has several resources to help you. Business Machine Services already has been checking PCs on their service calls. They have notified customers of any issues. If Seebeck maintains your network server, we will be checking the server. We will be checking all hubs, switches, and routers under our control. We are available upon request to check your PC hardware compliance. Please contact Business Machine Services to request assistance.

If you are independent of Seebeck and Business Machine Services, we recommend you work with your network administrator. Shane Merritt, Seebeck's PC and Network manager, is working with all of the campus network administrators to help them with their PC and network assessment.

We are distributing free software for checking your PC hardware compliance by downloading from our Year 2000 web page (http://bama.ua.edu/~helpdesk/y2k) or picking up a diskette at the Seebeck Help Desk. We also are distributing information about fixes for the hardware issues that do not necessitate PC replacement.

Your Year 2000 assessment should not be limited to just computing hardware. Software is also a major source of Year 2000 problems. The Office of Information Services has prepared a Year 2000 web page to provide you with information about software that is not Year 2000 compliant. Given the diversity of software on this campus, we are asking each individual to be responsible for verifying that his or her software is Year 2000 compliant.

If you maintain your own business application software, I will need to know whether the software is compliant. If it is not compliant, then I will need to know your plans, timelines, and costs for achieving Year 2000 compliance. Our computing staff is willing to work with you on your RFP to replace these systems.

The Year 2000 problem is not limited to computers. Any equipment with embedded computer chips may present a Year 2000 issue. Embedded chips are found in elevators, ventilation systems, utility systems, security systems, and biomedical instruments. We are posting embedded chip information on our Year 2000 web site. You are responsible for verifying that your embedded chip systems are Year 2000 compliant. The standard method has been to contact the vendors and ask for compliance letters. Please provide me with copies of your documentation of vendor responses or lack of response.

The University of Alabama is not isolated in its Year 2000 issues. We exchange information with the Federal government, state government, banks, etc. We are dependent on services from utility companies and other third parties. We will need to verify that these third party companies are Year 2000 compliant. Therefore, I am asking you to identify third-party companies that we need to verify for Year 2000 compliance.

The University of Alabama System is providing resources to help with the Year 2000 problem. The University of Alabama System has formed a Year 2000 task force that will be coordinating Year 2000 issues across the system. There are special subcommittees being set up to address research and biomedical issues. If you need a resource group, please contact me and I will put you in touch with one. Also the General Council's office is preparing the following documents: an updated millenium compliance clause for purchasing contracts, a standard letter for requesting compliance information from vendors and suppliers, and a standard response concerning the University of Alabama's Year 2000 compliance. If you are being asked for Year 2000 compliance letters, please forward those requests to me. I will forward them on to the General Council's office.

One final caution: Please do not test your systems by rolling the date forward and seeing what happens. Some systems may fail now if tested in that manner. Also, some systems when tested in that manner have created severe problems. For example, one water treatment plant tested their system by moving the date forward and ended up dumping 99 years of chemicals into the city water supply.

I appreciate your cooperation and efforts in helping The University of Alabama be ready for the Year 2000. Together we can meet this challenge. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 348-5610 or phancock@seebeck.ua.edu. Additional information will be available in Dialog, SUN, and on our web site. Our web site will be continually updated with new information.