ts to repairing the existingsystem may lead you to the conclusion that replacing your systemaltogether is a more attractive option. This step requires a great dealof planning and foresight. If your system is seriously affected,replacing your existing processing applications with new ones that canconvert your old data may be an appropriate decision to make.Communicate with Business PartnersWhat are your suppliers and customers doing? If your systems areinterdependent, then you need to agree on a format and a course ofaction. Using independent standards is the obvious intelligent choice,but whatever format that is agreed upon it must be implemented by allparties that will have systems affected by your own in-house changes.Develop a Strategy for Deployment and TestingOnce you have committed to a plan of action, there needs to be aschedule for deployment and testing of the new system. There is no waythat the deadline can be extended - regardless of your resources, youmust be running when the Jan 1, 2000 clock rolls over, or there will belosses to account for.The year 2000 problem is the kind of programming project, which istypically subject to delays, and setbacks - characterized by serioustime constraints, broadly defined scope and inter-compatibilityproblems. Many sources recommend that a separate project manager withexperience in these kinds of applications be hired to assist in thetimely completion of your plans. This project manager should preferablyhave experience in dealing with year 2000 conversions, but as manycompanies are finding out, such experienced personnel are few and farbetween.Testing of the software has it's own unique problems and difficulties.Not only must you make sure that the software works with post-millenniumcode, but it must work with prior code and data alongside. This processis very time-consuming and where parallel testing equipment is notavailable (most cases), a large component of the testing will have to bec...
