Our Company (Electric and Gas Utility) has completed modifying our Business Systems and is concentrating fully now on what we call the Enterprise Year 2000 Portion.

I believe that we are doing all the right things but I was wondering if there was any type of listing which I could compare with to see if:

1) Are we addressing that issue 2) Are we addressing it correctly 3) Are we going far enough to consider the issue addressed? (i.e. After contacting Key Suppliers and getting "Readiness Disclosure Statements" or answeres to our Survey about their plans, what should be the next step? Or is this far enough?

I was just wondering what might be out there to use as a guide to ensure that we are addressing all we can.

Thanks

-- Anonymous, February 22, 1999

Answers

Joseph,

There's a variety of reference sources for a sanity check on coverage and methodology of your specific program. Here's two:

International Telecommunications Union (good basic program checklists and plan templates): http://www.itu.int/y2k/toolkit.htm

North American Electric Reliability Council (several different program templates and methodologies): http://www.nerc.com/y2k

There are also some Y2k websites that deal with legal issues. You might wish to do a Yahoo! web search on keywords YEAR 2000 LEGAL.

My own editorial opinion on vendor statements: in the immortal words of Ronald Regan, "Trust, but verify." This may even extend as far as auditing key suppliers.

In short summary, whole books have been written on the issues you bring up. Check out the euy2k.com bookstore for some recommended titles (http://www.euy2k.com/bookstor.htm).

-- Anonymous, February 22, 1999