Leveraging a Y2K evaluation to improve information systems architecture

G Brown, M Fisher, N Stoll, D Beeksma, M Black, R Taylor, S Choe, A. Williams, William Bryant, Bernard James Jansen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The cost of ensuring that information systems were prepared for the Year 2000 (Y2K) were enormous. The U.S. government spent an estimated $8.34 billion [1]. Once the cost borne by state and local governments, public utilities, and the commercial sector are included, the costs in the U.S. alone are staggering. When the Y2K costs from other countries are included, the estimated amount exceeds $3 trillion [2]. With the new millennium here, it appears that most of the potential problems were identified, although some fixes are still ongoing. One would hope, however, that organizations are able to recover more from these costs than just a positive statement "We can successfully operate our information systems in the new millennium?"

We propose that additional benefits can be gained from these Y2K costs by leveraging the experiences of Y2K testing into a method for evaluating and improving an organization’s information technology systems. In addressing the Y2K issue in the Republic of Korea (ROK) / US Combined Forces Command (CFC), we identified organizations with whom CFC must communicate, mission critical tasks, and the underlying information technology systems that enable CFC to accomplish these tasks. Through this process, CFC gained valuable knowledge concerning its operational information systems architecture. The organization now has both a baseline and systematic methodology available to improve the employment of its information management systems (IMS). With a vision of the organization’s desired information technology end state, this baseline and methodology permit us to prepare a road map of how to get there.

This article provides an overview of the CFC Y2K operational evaluation (OPEVAL) including the detailed planning and the variety of organizations involved. We cover the implementation of the OPEVAL in detail, the method of data collection, and the results in terms of Y2K issues and information concerning our IMS. We conclude with recommendations for employing this Y2K evaluation methodology in other activities aimed at improving an organization’s information systems architecture.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages8
JournalCommunications of the ACM
Publication statusPublished - 2000
Externally publishedYes

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