Y2K: What to expect on April 1

This week, ZDY2K introduces you to the issues surrounding April 1st, when the first major fiscal calendars roll over into 2000. It's a date that will give some solid indications about the nature of Y2K problems, because for many financial systems, it is the beginning of the year "00."

Based on the progress of Y2K remediation in New York and Canada, there are several hotspots where problems will, if they are going to happen at all, erupt with sufficient severity that the public will feel the impact. For the most part, problems will be contained and corrected before they cause problems visible to the outside world -the kind of day-to-day processing problems IT professionals deal with may increase, but they will be fixed without major incident because these governments are aware of the potential for errors on or around April 1.

If these hidden problems happen, but no one in the public is affected, it's reasonable to say that Y2K is increasingly likely to be a non-crisis that society deals with like other changes in the environment. The tides change twice a day, and worldwide shipping depends on the tides, but the response to those changes is coordinated and based on planning by people all over the globe. No one outside the shipping industry, except sports fishermen, pay much attention to the tides, and so it may be with Y2K.

But some problems may be felt by citizens waiting for checks, benefits or services that depend on the fiscal calendar. These errors may arise in the form of errant tax bills, as has happened in some states implementing Y2K fixes, or a delay in processing of a new unemployment claim. In other areas, such as national defense and police or emergency services, April 1st is almost irrelevant, since their systems are more dependent on the Gregorian calendar - except, of course, payroll and management information systems, which are keyed to the fiscal year.

Based on our analysis of the readiness of systems in Canada and New York, here are the systems that could produce the most visible and painful problems around April 1:

— Canada
• Health Canada
• Food and drug regulation
• Medical services to native tribes
• Occupational Health and Safety
• Public Works and Government Service
• Public Service Compensation
• Government Financial Transaction
• Receiver General Services
• The Province of Nova Scotia

— New York
• Licensing and Registration
• Child and Family Services
• Civil Service Health Benefits
• Corrections Financial Management System
• Education, Child Nutrition Services
• Empire State Development Financial Management Systems
• Environmental Conservation Fiscal and Human Resource Management
• Family Assistance Personnel and Payroll
• General Services Financial Integrated Imaging System (records)
• General Services Fleet Credit Cards
• Health Emergency Medical Services
• Higher Education Debt Management and Collection
• Insurance Department Licensing System
• Insurance Department Financial Accounting
• Insurance Department Examiner Billing
• Insurance Department Personnel System
• New York State Lottery
• Mental Health Pharmacy System
• Real Property Service
• State Police Ticketing System
• Tax & Finance Case and Resource Tracking System
• Tax & Finance Human Resources System
• Tax & Finance Account Reconciliation
• Thruway Authority Personnel System
• Thruway Authority Toll Collection
• Veterans' Affairs Data Collection for Federal Fund Reimbursement The list of systems that pose little problem, based on their progress, is longer. These systems remain at risk, though, because repairs may prove faulty. They include:
  — Canada