As Y2K Approaches, Harvard Says All Systems Are Go

With all the hype over what may or may not happen as the date rolls over to 2000, possibly causing computers to think it is the year 1900, the "Y2K" bug has infected holiday plans--if not computer systems--around the globe and at Harvard.

Carol Carmichael, project manager for Y2K efforts at University Information Systems (UIS), knows this better than most. She and her husband, and a team of 30 UIS staff members, will ring in the New Year from UIS Headquarters at 1730 Cambridge St.

As a local coordinator for the University's Year 2000 Project, Carmichael has been preparing for Y2K for just under two years, and will be on hand to monitor systems should anything out of the ordinary happen come Jan. 1.

Ensuring a human presence to assess any damage done by confused computers is the final measure being taken by the University in a chain of precautionary strategies.

Along with UIS staff, Carmichael has spent the last 18 months testing the compliancy of hundreds of systems, including ones which control the University's Internet access, e-mail, telecommunications, the library catalogue Hollis and payroll.

Preparations have been extensive--staff members have been identifying and fixing systems as well as ensuring that all outside vendors are equally Y2K-compliant. Now Carmichael says UIS has finalized its contingency plans and is ready to greet the new year.

"We're planning to keep the Internet feed up and live and the telephone lines open when the date changes, and as long as AT&T is fine, we can keep things going," she says. "But we will have generators at our main building at 1730 Cambridge St., so even if the power goes out we can keep the Internet up."

"We're in good shape--we have compliancy on everything we've done," she adds.

All Systems Ready

Given the size of the University, Harvard has long been at work to ensure Y2K compliance.

There is keycard access to safeguard, research experiments to protect, and heating systems to keep functional. Not to mention the thousands of academic, professional and health records the University has stored away on its students, employees and faculty members.

Within FAS, meetings and coordinated activities to ensure Y2K compliance have been ongoing for the last two years, says Lenox C. Grasso, FAS' local coordinator for registrarial systems.

Grasso jurisdiction covers many potential Y2K-related problem areas--computer networks, elevators, heating systems, research experiments, even ventilation hoods in chemical laboratories.

Since 1995, Grasso's office has been working to reprogram hundreds of database fields and computer applications that contain students' housing and course records.

And as far back as the summer and fall of 1996, Grasso helped the registrar's office get ready to contend with the matriculating Class of 2000 and ensuing onslaught of "Class of 2000" entries.

"Today, we are about 97 percent complete with everything, so there is little need for alarm or concern here

due to the year 2000," Grasso predicts.

Coordinators at the Medical School have also been hard at work to ensure that there are no widespread interruptions of power or water that could paralyze long-term and irreplaceable research experiments.

"Each department has prepared

their own department-specific emergency preparedness contingency plan and will have one or more representatives working on New Year's Eve to monitor their labs, systems and other equipment," says Jane Garfield, local coordinator for the Medical School's operations.

In case matters do go awry, Garfield says emergency generators, supply trucks of dry ice and diesel fuel will all be standing by.

The End Is Near

At the head of this massive undertaking are Year 2000 Project Coordinators Liz Eagan and Scott Bradner.

As overseers of the project for the last two years, they act as liaisons between a myriad of local coordinators, administrative deans and vice presidents, each of whom have reviewed and approved contingency plans.

Now, with Y2K just a few short weeks away, the project coordinators' work seems to be nearing completion.

This past Monday morning, the most recent report to the University-wide committee met with good results; the contingency planning process in each school and central area had been reviewed by the University's Risk

Management and Audit Services, Eagan says.

Currently, 98 percent of the University's critical hardware and more than 97 percent of its software has been designated compliant. Eagan says remaining hardware and software that is not yet compliant either will be by year's end or is already backed by contingency plans.

To ensure that the Harvard community remains informed about the status of the schools and offices, the Year 2000 Project has activated a telephone help line. The number is (617) 384-2000 from outside Harvard; if calling from within the school's phone system, the number 4-2000.

On Dec. 23, when the University officially shuts down for winter break, the line will switch to an automated system with recorded announcements from school and central service areas, giving status over the holiday period.

In the long run, coordinators say all their planning for Y2K has simply left them in better shape to deal with any other random--and far less predictable--disasters that might come their way.

Now that Harvard is prepared to take on the millennium, Eagan and Bradner say that they feel secure in the knowledge that the University's computer-operated systems could withstand likely natural disasters--blizzard, storms, power outages, for example.

Such confidence makes it easy for the pair of Y2K coordinators to shed any doomsday fears of the coming New Year.

As Bradner points out, "We're preparing for a weekend over winter break."