Agenda - 02-15-1999 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Date: February 15, 1999 To: Orange County Commissioners From: John B. Smith Chair, Information Technology Committee Subject: Y2K perspective The ITC wishes to make known to the Commissioners its concern for potential Y2K problems for the county and to offer several suggestions to help address those problems. Y2K has been a topic on the Committee's agenda each month since September, 1998. W~ endorse the actions taken so far by the Information Systems group, but as we move into the calendar year, the Committee strongly recommends that Y2K issues be raised in IS priority, just behind maintaining everyday operation of the County's basic computing infrastructure. We had hoped that the emphasis for the year could be on upgrading legacy systems, and while we hope that work can continue on such tasks where departments are ready to move, we have concluded that the emphasis should be placed, for now, on Y2K. The Committee sees three main areas of activity: 1) Update, as needed, PCs and Network Because most of the PCs and the network hardware and software are relatively new, few problems are anticipated here. However, these systems do require, in some cases, particular releases of software and/or the installation of particular "patches." As soon as possible, an inventory of the standard hardware and software components being used, as well as certain specialized components, should be compiled along with any updates that are required to make them compliant. Each computer and network device should then be checked and upgraded, as needed. This is a task for which outside help may be available. If so, appropriate consultants should be engaged and begin work on this task as soon as possible. Since many organizations will probably need outside help for similar tasks, the ITC believes it is imperative to move immediately on this and the other tasks listed below. 2) Implement immediately fhe IS plan to create a duplicate of the mainframe system, assess and fix problems on that version, then upgrade the production system. While we hope that mainframe applications, primarily databases, will require relatively few fixes, each such program must be checked and updated, as needed. The Committee concurs with the IS plan to lease a similar computer, install current software on that machine, and test and fix problems on the duplicate system before upgrading the production system. However, again, work should begin immediately. Since IS is currently short-handed in this area, locating an outside consultant who has experience with county software and who could supplement current personnel resources would be highly desirable. 3) Every department should be strongly encouraged to view potential Y2K problems as their problems, not just IS' problem, and begin making contingency plans. Each department can assist by compiling an inventory of all systems on which it depends, including not just county systems but systems in state and federal government, other counties, and the private sector. Having done so, each department should then prepare a contingency plan for how it can operate should one or more of those systems fail. The ITC will continue to discuss these and other issues with respect to potential Y2K problems at its regular meetings. It will be happy to assist the Commissioners in any way it can.