Does Vendor compliance count??

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

I need some assistance with this compliance thing. It is my understanding that in order to be compliant, company's vendors have to be compliant right? Well today, I was talking to a relative that works for a major insurance company. I ask how the company's Y2K effort was coming along. Their Y2K efforts are coming along just fine except for one small problem. It appears that vendor(s) are "REFUSING"(this is not a typo) to accept tapes(somebody help me on this one) from the insurance company because they cannot handle all demand. I ask again if he meant refusing as in refusing. He stated that is exactly what is going on. Now my question is don't these companies need to have vendors in compliance also in order to claim the same??

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), May 21, 1999

Answers

Ask him what "tapes" he's talking about.

I know that the most of the stuff that most insurance companies use (particularly for actuarials) is Y2K ready and has been for some time. Just before I moved to Birmingham, the various companies were sending our family's agency Y2K-ready rating software, too.

I have no idea what this guy is talking about. Could you amplify?

-- Stephen M. Poole, CET (smpoole7@bellsouth.net), May 21, 1999.


I will see this person again tomorrow and ask him to clarify.

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotamil.com), May 21, 1999.

The "venduh" thing is one reason you have to take Gary North's position with a grain of salt. Companies have vendors, and the vendors have vendors on and on. Everything is linked. As long as some little three man show in Dry Gulch, Elbonia isnt compliant, the whole world wont be compliant. At least that's what Gary's position comes down to, a chicken and egg problem.

My position is somewhat similar, I say that organizations dont become compliant, only systems become compliant. Only some well defined subset of your company's "infrastructure" can be considered compliant. It will obviously have external dependencies and possibly have external data links but that is a different (and sticky) issue.

This is the way all things are, Ford doesnt guarantee the nations highways, gasoline, or other drivers, only the car, bumper to bumper.

All too many companies STILL dont have their internal act together. In that case, who cares about their venduh's? They're probably screwed anyways.

There are always external unknowns.

-- quasimodo (hunchback@belltower.com), May 21, 1999.


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