USDANEWS
by Ron Hall, Office of Communications
Listen closely.
If you’re hearing an incessant “tick, tick, tick,” it could be the sound of the time clock announcing the approach of January 1, 2000. As of May 31, it’s 579 days away.
That’s significant to USDA employees who use computers and information systems at work--and to the employees responsible for ensuring those computers keep working on that first day of the “new millennium.”
The problem, often referred to as the “Year 2000 Dilemma,” “Year 2000,” or even simply “Y2K,” is based on the 6-digit code which computers use for processing information--when that information is a calendar date. For instance, May 31, 1998 is recorded and stored in a computer as 980531. But in the year 2000, a date like May 31, 2000 would automatically be processed as 000531--but would be interpreted as May 31, 1900. And the next step might be a computer crash, bigtime.
To avoid that problem--and ensure that USDA computers and information systems are tested, reprogrammed, and/or replaced in order to keep functioning on January 1, 2000--the Department created, in April 1996, a “Year 2000 Program Office,” located within the Office of the Chief Information Officer, to coordinate USDA’s efforts.
The April 1997 issue of the USDA News carried a story on USDA's actions, by then, to respond to the Year 2000 matter. Here are highlights of what has happened since.
First, Secretary Dan Glickman sent a memorandum, dated August 11, 1997 and titled “Year 2000,” to USDA’s Subcabinet officials. In it he outlined a number of managerial steps, to be implemented by each USDA agency head, designed to “accelerate this project.” They included appointing “executive sponsors” and full-time “technical and program project teams” within each agency to manage its Year 2000 project.
Second, according to Sandra Ginyard, program manager for information technology systems in USDA's Year 2000 Program Office, the Department has accelerated its timetable for completion of the Year 2000 efforts in support of information systems. She said USDA’s timetable consists of five phases:
Third, according to Greg Parham, executive director of the six-person Year 2000 Program Office, USDA has been expanding its efforts to inventory of all those items that might be affected by the Year 2000 situation.
He noted that in November 1996 the Office had asked agencies to submit an inventory identifying all of their computer systems--both at headquarters and field locations. “The number of USDA computers alone,” he observed, “would approximate the number of employees at the Department.”
“But since that time,” he added, “we’ve markedly expanded the items to be inventoried.” USDA has a multitude of items which function using computer chips. Boris deSouza, program manager for telecommunications in the Office, said they include telecommunications systems such as local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), office telephones, and voice mail systems.
Evelyn Davis, program manager for vulnerable systems and processes in the Office, added that the computer chip-based inventory also includes such 'vulnerable systems and processes' as office fax machines and copiers, office building security systems and elevators, lab equipment, and various power and utility items in USDA's over 39,000 buildings and facilities. USDA also has such computer chip-based items of transportation as its “fleet” of over 38,000 motor vehicles, plus its nearly 400 aircraft that are normally used for firefighting in the National Forests.
“All those items might not be affected by the Year 2000 phenomenon," Davis advised. "But we’ve got to check them to be sure.”
Fourth, Ginyard pointed out that USDA has undertaken an outreach effort to its customers--such as farmers, ranchers, members of rural communities, and agri-businesses.
For instance, John Schell, Year 2000 compliance coordinator for the Rural Utilities Service, said that RUS employees are tabulating the results of a survey it sent to all rural electric and telecommunications borrowers. "The purpose," he said, "is to determine their Year 2000 compliance status."
Yann King, the Year 2000 project manager for the Food Safety and Inspection Service, added that FSIS sent a letter to managers of meat and poultry processing plants across the country. "We alerted them to potential 'Year 2000' problems in those plants, described what some typical problems might be, and provided an address on the Internet for more information," he said.
Fifth, Parham highlighted unique Year 2000-oriented efforts initiated by individual agencies. For instance, according to Del Fern, FSA's Year 2000 enterprise project manager based in Kansas City, Mo., the Farm Service Agency--as the lead agency in USDA’s Service Centers across the country--was the first to begin inventorying, and then certifying, the buildings and facilities at those 2,500 Service Centers. "To date, at those Service Center sites," he affirmed, "we've been able to certify, as being 'Year 2000 ready,' virtually all of the 6,700 personal computers and the 2,500 mid-range computers and about half of the office systems and security systems."
"We expect to complete the whole certification effort at the Service Centers by June 30."
In addition, Ed McManus, manager of the National Finance Center's Year 2000 Readiness Project, said “To my knowledge, we’re the only ones in USDA to publish a newsletter, for employees, devoted solely to Year 2000.”
“By January 1, 2000 USDA will have spent over $120 million to address our Year 2000 situation,” Parham advised. “We still have work to do--but we are on track.” ¤
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