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UW advances on year 2000 computer plan

"Substantial progress" has been made in complying with four recommendations concerning the University's plan to make its computer systems year 2000 compatible, the UW internal auditor told the Board of Regents at its February meeting.

The recommendations were outlined in a December 1997 report by the UW Internal Audit Department, which had reviewed the University's overall plan. The progress made on those recommendations is "keeping the University year 2000 project on track," said G. Max Whisler, UW director of audits.

In addition, UW departments, which are responsible for evaluating their critical computer systems, can now get assistance through a new web site created by C&C and the Department of Audits at http://www.washington.edu/tech_home/2000/. The site has various links designed to save people research work and to provide basic tools to deal with the situation, Whisler said.

The year 2000 issue results from the past computer programming practice of storing the year field as two digits instead of four. If the problem is left uncorrected, hardware devices, system and application software, and other devices controlled by embedded computer chips could shutdown or provide inaccurate information.

The state Department of Information Systems (DIS), which is charged with reviewing year 2000 plans of state agencies, has given the UW plan a green light in the one representative area it reviewed—the Financial Accounting System. DIS worked with the UW internal auditors and Computing and Communications (C&C) to evaluate the Financial Accounting System. A green light designation from the state indicates that the plan is considered to be on schedule and at a low risk for failure.

Computer software applications that affect safety and public health, payroll and the core of the University's business are defined as "significant" and are being reviewed centrally. UW departments are responsible for updating systems within their units.

The following progress on the internal auditor's recommendations was reported:

Recommendation: Strengthen Project Management

  • Departmental responsibility has been assigned to the respective vice provost, vice president, and dean offices. These departments were required to complete risk assessments and action plans by March 1.
  • The Year 2000 web site was created to assist departments.

    Recommendation: Complete inventory of embedded devices

  • Facility Services created a Year 2000 Committee to ensure action plans are in place and monitored.
  • The Medical Center Year 2000 Committee is reviewing equipment and monitoring progress.

    Recommendation: Take measures to reduce staff turnover

  • C&C has made market salary adjustments and implemented several organizational improvements.
  • Medical Center Information Services (MCIS) has evaluated current salary levels and salary adjustment requests are being prepared where needed.

    Recommendation: Complete inventory of central campus and medical center external interfaces

  • C&C and MCIS are completing an inventory of external interfaces, such as banks and third-party insurance carriers, and contingency plans are being developed.

    UW internal auditors will continue to monitor the project's progress, perform and refine testing plans for critical departmental systems and report quarterly to Executive Vice President Weldon Ihrig.

    A C&C staff of 35 began renovating the larger central University systems in 1993. These systems include 5,000 programs and 18,000,000 lines of code. ¶