While many agencies are just starting to tackle the year 2000 problem that is likely to cripple many federal computers, a software design group in the Air Force has already created a process to test that dangerous date codes are fixed.
The Standard Systems Group has not only fixed its first computer system, which tracks telephone circuits on Air Force bases, to guarantee that it will work in the year 2000, but it has created a certification checklist that makes certain any computer system has been thoroughly tested for year 2000 compliance.
"When we began working the year 2000 issue at SSG back in 1995, there was no process in place," says the group's Year 2000 project officer, Capt. Billy Legg. "As a result, we worked very closely with Air Force Communications Agency officials to lead the development of a process which is now being used Air Force-wide to validate systems as being year 2000 compliant."
The year 2000 problem could be catastrophic for federal computers. When the date changes to Jan. 1, 2000, the six-digit date field (e.g., 01-01-00) in many computer programs will think it is 1900. Government computers will either shut down or read dates incorrectly. For instance, a 65-year-old retiree might be unable to collect Social Security checks because the computer would show he hadn't been born yet. Agencies and corporations are struggling to fix the billions of lines of data that do not have four-digit year codes.
Verifying that all those lines of coding are actually fixed will be 45 to 55 percent of the overall correction effort, according to industry analysts at Keane, Inc., and Viasoft, Inc., two private sector companies that have teamed up to provide year 2000 compliance solutions. And if even a few incorrect dates are overlooked, their presence could harm an entire software program.
The SSG certification process tests a system with current year data, leap year dates and dates during and after 2000. After a project manager validates that it can handle them all without conflicts, the group's quality assurance section tests the system before certifying it as year 2000 compliant.
Legg says he and his staff are eager to share the group's compliance certification process with other agencies. They can be contacted through the Standard Systems Group's Director of Public Affairs, Terry Hines, at (334)416-4323.
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