BlackHawk Information Services, Inc.
Contact Information:
PO BOX 1897
Danville, CA 94526
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: Thom Downey, 510-244-6701
Fax: 510-830-4252
Visit our home page: http://www.blackhawkis.com/
Visit our Y2K page: http://www.blackhawkis.com/year2000.html
Who We Are
BlackHawk Information Services, Inc. provides software development and
project management services to Information Technology organizations, to
support their in-house and outsourced development/maintenance efforts.
These services are available to IBM and Tandem based computing
environments.
BlackHawk is an experienced Y2K service provider, and is currently
working as a Y2K service provider for various Fortune 500 companies.
BlackHawk is among the leaders of the industry in addressing the
challenges that the Year 2000 poses for business and government. This
leadership is due to the expertise of BlackHawk professionals who have
successfully confronted the challenges of Year 2000 Projects first hand.
This "hands on" involvement has enabled the development of BlackHawk's
strategies and methodology for dealing with the uniqueness of a Y2K
Project.
BlackHawk has used their experience in confronting the challenges of a
Y2K project, and blended it with the seasoned experience of BlackHawk
Information Technology experts to create BlackHawk 2000 - a
comprehensive solution for resolving the business/system problems
companies face with the Year 2000.
The problem
For reasons that seem terribly short sighted now, to save storage space
or save key strokes, most IS groups have allocated 2 digits to store
year. For example, 1996 is stored as "96" and 2000 will be stored as
"00". It made sense then, 10 to 30 years ago, when storage space was
very expensive. Also who would have thought that the software created in
the 70's or 80's would still be used in the year 2000.
When the year 2000 comes, and it surely will right after 11:59:59 pm on
12-31-99, all these programs will stop working, and IS will have the
biggest mess they have ever seen. Date is an integral part of any system
and is used in almost every program. Dates are used in sorting records
in date order, comparing dates to determine chronological order,
calculations to find number of days between two dates, etc. These logics
will not work, or will not work properly, when used with 2 digit
representation of year 2000. For example, year 2000 represented as "00"
will be interpreted as being earlier than 1996.
There are less than 4 years left until year 2000. However, most
companies do not have 4 years to fix the problem. If a company has a 12
month event/planning horizon, they will experience the problem by the end
of 1998. If a 24 month horizon exists, the problem must be fixed by the
end of 1997, less than 1.5 years from now.
The Solution
This is not a technically challenging problem. Technically speaking, all
that needs to be done is to increase the field size to accommodate a 4
digit year. This may not be the right solution for many companies, but
it is clearly the easiest and most straight forward method for fixing
the problem. Note: There are many other options for fixing the
problem, from using a sliding window method to using computational/binary
data. This may involve lengthy discussion; however, we will be happy to
address the options with you. Please e-mail us with questions:
[email protected]
It is, however, a project management nightmare due to its sheer size.
Every program and database in the system must be reviewed, modify
databases that have 2 digit year fields, convert affected field data,
modify programs that are affected, test and implement.
A few highlights...
-
Y2K problem is for everybody.
Any program using dates will have problems and most programs do.
-
Y2K problem must be addressed NOW!
It is one of the largest projects IT organizations have seen; one that
could take many years to complete.
Corrective action should finish by 1999, leaving that year to work
out any problems.
Industry experts predict severe resource shortages due to increasing
Y2K conversion efforts as we near year 2000.
-
Y2K Inventory Phase must start NOW!
Start the process of determining the scope of the project (Inventory &
Assessment) now. It is this phase of BlackHawk 2000 that will determine
the overall scope of the Y2K problem, through a complete inventory of
the system and an analysis of the impact.
During this phase of BlackHawk 2000, we will identify entire system
components including interfaces to/from external systems, identify
general date related problems and solutions, and provide a high level
project plan for the overall scope of the project. For more details
see: http://www.blackhawkis.com/year2000.html
BlackHawk 2000
BlackHawk 2000 is a comprehensive solution for resolving the
business/system problems companies face with the Year 2000. It has been
specifically created to address the unique features of a Year 2000
project, regardless of hardware/software platforms.
BlackHawk professionals tailor the use of its methodology to the
business/systems environment of each client. They complement this
strategy with the proper selection and use of automated software tools,
efficiently bringing closure to the tasks required by each life cycle
stage of the project. The efficient and effective nature of BlackHawk's
strategy ensures success in meeting Year 2000 compliance objectives by
reducing project complexities and costs to the client.
The BlackHawk 2000 strategy for solving a client's Year 2000 problem is
based on the use of its methodology, and the expert project management
and technical personnel assigned to effect its use. This methodology
consists of six (6) life cycle stages:
- Inventory & Assessment
- Requirements
- Detail Design
- Construction
- Integration Testing
- Implementation & Support
What we can do
Using BlackHawk 2000, we can deliver a solution to your organization in
various ways.
- Companies can outsource the entire project to BlackHawk.
BlackHawk's team of professionals will handle all aspects of the project
from inventory & analysis, design, programming, testing, implementation
and production support. The BlackHawk team consists of Project Manager,
Development Manager, QA Specialist(s), and Programmer/Analysts.
BlackHawk services include the recruiting of technical professionals, and
we can assemble a team of any size. Through our strong ties with
overseas programming service providers, those resources can be involved
as part of the BlackHawk team as a cost savings measure.
- BlackHawk can be responsible for project management, working with
internal or external resources. A small team of BlackHawk professionals
will oversee project management tasks of the entire project. Additional
resources can be employees or contractors of the company, or an
outsourced company - domestic or oversees.
- BlackHawk can provide just the impact analysis of the Year 2000
problem by doing only the initial phase of the project. The Inventory
and Assessment phase will determine the size of the entire project and
extent of the problem; and will provide a detailed inventory of which
components will be impacted, and a high level project plan to address the
problems. Companies then can use whatever resources they have available
to them to complete the project.
How to Contact us:
- Via E-Mail: [email protected]
- Via Phone: Thom Downey, 510-244-6701
- Via Fax: 510-830-4252
- Via regular mail:
BlackHawk Information Services, Inc.
PO BOX 1897
Danville, CA 94526
Copyright ©1997 BlackHawk Information Services, Inc.
All rights reserved.
To the Year 2000 Information Center™