Background - The Challenge of Time
It is probably the first time in the history of computing machines, that this level of insecurity has gripped the minds of its community. In the "input, process, output" paradigm, whatever has been programmed to date, will encounter an input condition which has not been seen before- a year which doesn't have an implied "19" in its beginning and a leap year condition that happens just once in every 400 years!

Have your computer systems been designed to work beyond the last day of this century? Probably yes, if they were designed in the last 7-8 years. Unlikely, otherwise. Even if your systems have been designed to be century safe, have they been tested for all the cross-century boundary conditions? Nobody can say for sure that there are no bugs lurking around in the code waiting for the clock to chime at 00:00 Hrs. on January the first, 2000.

This impending event is most commonly referred to as the Year2000 problem - though it obviously goes beyond the year 2000.

IIS 2000 -The IIS's Solution to the problem
To address this problem, IIS has invested substantial effort in developing a solution, a methodology, based on their experience in the IT industry spanning hundreds of man-years. The stress on the word solution above signifies that IIS recognises that there is no single, straightforward, quick-fix method that can be applied to different organizations engaged in different businesses, with applications of differing complexities running on their systems. Instead IIS has chosen to develop a set of tools that address various parts of the problem. These tools can be deployed selectively and also evolve to cater to client-specific environment issues.

Getting Started
A comprehensive Questionnaire covering all aspects of the technical and business environment is presented to the organization that is considering making their systems Year2000 ready or Year2000 compliant (A copy can be obtained from the address given later). The Questionnaire aims to establish the size of the application. Interfaces within the application, between various parts of the system as well as to external systems, are identified. At the end of this exercise the client is provided with a ballpark estimate.

Next - The Impact Analysis
Initially a detailed Study of the application system is conducted. The level of documentation available is determined and 'ghost code' & third party applications where no source code is available is identified.

The client is presented with the options of:

• a 2-digit solution with a fixed or a sliding window technique. This is a practical solution but will be unsuitable for a larger operating span.
  
• a 4-digit solution, which is a clean all-comprehensive solution, and
  
• a hybrid solution that combines elements of both solutions described above.
  

The choice lies with the client depending upon their preference, time criticality, future plans to move on to a new application and budget availability.

As the next step, IIS conducts a detailed Impact Analysis. IIS' proprietary tool scans the entire system (including programs, screens, reports and databases) to build what is the IIS-2000 Date Repository. User defined loose and flexible identification criteria, and the program usage information together generate the knowledge base for impact analysis and later conversion.

The date critical areas are also uncovered during this exercise. Results of the Impact Analysis and Study are used to

• generate a strategic plan that prioritizes and sequences the business applications to be converted,
  
• define constraints,
  
• define configuration control,
  
• define the standards,
  
• provide an estimate of the elapsed time, effort and cost for the entire conversion exercise.
  

The estimate submitted earlier is further refined and a firm quote made.

The Conversion Process
A major part of the conversion exercise is carried out using automated tools for both application and data conversion. During the Impact Analysis phase, some of the dates are marked as suspects in the Date Dictionary. These dates are first confirmed through an interactive process, prior to the automatic conversion. The system is then subjected to the conversion process based on the options selected in the beginning (data expansion or sliding time window). Areas which cannot be fully converted are marked for manual follow-up.

In the process of conversion the associated databases are subjected to conversion using automated data conversion tools. The boundaries for the part of the system being 'cured' are also defined and care taken to manage interfaces to other internal and external systems. Again, a manual follow-up is required to complete the process.

Testing and Implementation phase
The accuracy of all the relevant computations as well as the unchanged functionality of the applications is established through a two-pronged testing strategy- A black-box approach to verify the existing functionality, and a detailed business testing to verify the Century Date Change.

Thereafter the converted system is implemented initially through parallel runs. If the results are satisfactory, live runs are made and the converted Year2000 ready system is handed over. Warranty support and user training is provided. Extended support can be provided after this stage if so desired by the client.

The IIS-2000 Toolset
Following tools are used at various stages of the Year2000 conversion project to automate various processes to the maximum extent possible:

Estimator

This is used to generate the ballpark effort estimate which is communicated to the client in the initial stages of negotiations.

Impact Analysis Tool: Date Identifier

This is used to identify all dates in the application that need treatment and to create a Date Dictionary

Impact Analysis Tool: Analyser

This is used to analyse the complexity and impact of changes.

Application Converter

This is used to actually change the application logic/date representation.

Data Converter

This is used for data conversion.

The Solution Environment
The IIS-2000 tool-kit has been designed to be environment independent and all environment specific processing is kept outside the core Tool-kit. There is an initial support built-in for COBOL under MVS environment but this can be easily extended to other languages and environments as well.

The tool itself runs under UNIX/Motif.

The Imperatives for Year2000 change
The time to start planning for the Year2000 change is NOW. There is no getting around the fact that this is something that has to be done. The deadline is immovable and the risks of not complying with the change are disastrous. As the deadline gets nearer, organisations that have already implemented the Year2000 change may actually have a competitive advantage over others where a question mark still looms over the timeframe for making their systems Year2000 compliant.

The resources required for the exercise are not trivial and could be difficult to generate in-house, especially for the 'short' duration. As the turn of the century gets nearer, external resources might also become scarce. With a shorter time window, the costs of conversion are also going to increase.

IIS offers a professional, timely and cost-effective comprehensive solution covering the entire project lifecycle to organizations faced with the challenge of implementing the Year2000 change.

ABOUT IIS

IIS is a rapidly growing international software services company providing software project services, product development and software consultancy on a variety of computing systems to a solely international clientele. It is ranked amongst the top 20 companies in this field in India by the software industry association and leading computer magazines. It has set up two Joint Ventures in the areas of Virtual Reality/Multimedia and Geometric Modelling.

It was the first software company in India to get International Quality Certification (ISO9001/TickIT in 1992) and also the first company to perfect a unique offshore development methodology using high speed datacom links to the US and UK for executing projects from its offshore facilities in India.

IIS currently operates in Europe, US, Mexico, South Africa, Israel and Singapore. It has its own offices in New Jersey in USA, in London in the UK, and is currently setting up one in Singapore. It has strategic alliances with Deloitte and Touche in South Africa, Grupo Tea in Mexico and is in the process of setting up alliances in Holland and Israel.

IIS employs over 400 software professionals world-wide and its client list includes major international organisations such as Merrill Lynch, European Parliament, AT&T, KPMG, ACC Bank, North West Water and ACT Financial Systems.

In addition to providing software services world-wide, IIS is a major player in India. Its software solutions wing provides consultancy in software development services as well as distributes and supports a range of international products. This covers horizontal market products such as relational database systems, GUI's, front end tools, case products as well as vertical markets such as manufacturing, finance and database marketing systems.

We can be reached at:
In USA : [email protected] (Ph: 908-248-0023)
In UK : [email protected] (Ph: 44-1753-735 500)
In India : [email protected] (Ph: 91-11-684 8046)

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