elp assurethat you are on track to staying on line throughout the next millennium- or at least until the next software upgrade.An Example: Case Study - MicroCorp Widget Producers, Inc.Scenario: A small corporation, utilizing customized PC based salessoftware for Windows 95 and a larger, custom programmeddatabase/retrieval system (old). This larger system talks to theirsupplier's computer to automatically ship source materials when they arelow. The solution for Microcarpa Widgets is multi-faceted. Starting offon a checklist: Testing their PC's to determine if the BIOS will supportthe year 2000. Without this, all their software will report incorrectdates, including the operating system. Analyzing their sales software todetermine if it will handle the year 2000 correctly. Provided sourcecode is available, the manipulation of the software to support the dateformat that is settled upon (IS 8601, of course.) should not be adifficult task. If source code can not be obtained a re-write will haveto be performed. Talking to their suppliers to implement a IS compliant,or mutually agreeable, standard so that normal business particles willnot be upset. Looking at their mainframe situation to determine if thereis source code and compatible tools and compilers available. If so, arethe programmers available to make the conversion a reality? Would movingto a more modern, more flexible system be an attractive move to make?Will it be a necessary move? On the basis of this impact analysis,develop a concise and clear strategy for moving their company on tooperations in the year 2000.Even a common setup like this has many potential problems and can be avery expensive one, especially if it is not handled properly &efficiently. The biggest problem that this widget producer will have isconvincing its managers that there is a problem that needs to beinvestigated.ConclusionThe one thing that this paper needs to demonstrate is that there is nosilver flyswatter to ...
