S. African govt. "confident" re rollover

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

http://www.y2k.org.za/press/releases/mpa/990805.htm

5 August 1999

Government confident about readiness for Y2K rollover; testing, revising contingency plans

he National Year 2000 Decision Support Centre (NYDSC) today announced that government departments are now testing and revising their existing contingency plans for possible year 2000 related failures.

The NYDSC today notes the following trends emerging in its respective focus areas:

Public sector compliance

National departments continue to lead the stakes in readying themselves for Y2K. Most departments are in the testing phase and will complete such work by October 1999. A particular milestone reached during the past few weeks was the certification of the transversal system by independent auditors. Transversal system is an administrative and financial application used across government departments. These systems, managed by the Department of State Expenditure, involve the following:

Personal Salary System Financial Management System Basic Accounting System LOGIS (Logistical support system)

"This is an important milestone", said Esau Mailula, Executive for monitoring year 2000 readiness in the public sector. "Civil servants will be able to continue processing vital financial and logistical information - and get paid, without a glitch."

The NYDSC is still discussing feedback from the Department of Trade and Industry and Land Affairs on their progress on readiness for year 2000. These reports will be available shortly.

At provincial level, only information from Gauteng Provincial Administration is outstanding. The report will available soon. The remaining eight provinces report good progress. The only remaining objective for them is ensuring their interface with transversal system is un-hampered.

Commenting on the work remaining for the rest of the year, Mailula said that the NYDSC would encourage national and provincial players to start focusing on interfaces between critical systems in Health, Welfare, Transport and Education, as well as the transversal system.

Mailula also said departments should constantly review their contingency plans to make sure they would cope with possible Y2K problems. "Even a Rolls Royce has a spare wheel," Mailula said.

With respect to local authorities, the NYDSC has concluded its own survey of a representative sample of 208 local authorities nation-wide. The NYDSC said that local authorities are coming to terms with their problems. The survey also indicates a much lower level of exposure than previously anticipated. The NYDSC will upload details on the survey on its web-site by the end of August.

The survey is the final official project undertaken by the NYDSC. Work on assessing local governments' readiness for year 2000 is now conducted by M2K, a Section 21 company, created by the Department of Constitutional Development (DCD). DCD governs all matters concerning local governments.

Risk analysis - key infrastructure areas

The centre's risk analysis and contingency planning team is working closely with DCD on formulating a national contingency plan. In its own analysis of risks posed to the interdependent key infrastructure areas, the NYDSC is undertaking extensive analysis of the levels of risk emanating from interdependencies between organisations. Most of these are proving to be very low.

NYDSC Chief Executive, Tsietsi Maleho said, "This is very good news for the country, since companies and organisations may not have to spend too much money on contingencies."

Emerging trends: Y2K

The Centre also wishes the public to note the following trends emerging in the Y2K discourse:

Experts believe that Y2K related failures would manifest as minor inconveniences, rather than major hazards or disruptions. The problem will surface throughout this year until probably 2001. Experts believe that public behaviour during rollover to year 2000 will prove to be the most critical factor among challenges emanating from possible Y2K related events. Contingency planning is becoming the operative phenomenon as year 2000 approaches.

Established by cabinet in March 1998, the NYDSC is South Africa's national agency mainly responsible for monitoring and reporting country's progress on readiness for Y2K, promoting awareness of the issue to the general public.

Briefly defined, the year 2000 problem is caused by the representation of the four-digit year (e.g. 1976) as a two-digit year (76). The two-digit system works fine until a change to year 2000 occurs. Then, computers or other electronic devices that use the two-digit approach could misinterpret the digits "00" to mean the year is 1900 rather than 2000. As a result, some systems could fail to function properly, or at all, after December 31 1999, or even sooner, if they reference dates in year 2000 before it arrives.

Issued by: Feriel Bowers, Communications Executive

National Year 2000 Decision Support Centre

bowersf@y2k.org.za

Tel: +27 12 427 8232; Fax: +27 12 427 8250



-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), August 08, 1999


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