From...

by Kathleen Melymuka

(IDG) -- In January, a World Bank report estimated that only 21 of 139 developing countries had taken concrete steps to address the year 2000 problem. The report went on to anticipate year 2000 impacts on power, telecommunications, energy, food distribution and medical care in developing countries.

That bleak picture means another layer of misery for the developing world and additional year 2000 burdens for U.S. companies doing business abroad.

But the good news here is that the scope of the year 2000 problem has forced a few industries to work together to obtain and share information, develop resources and provide help around the world. "We are seeing a lot of good, cooperative efforts," says George R. Juncker, vice president of the Bank Supervision Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Fed's point man on year 2000.

By collecting data on infrastructure issues around the world and issuing recommendations, these organizations have, in effect, become general resources for year 2000 project managers everywhere.

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FINANCE: The financial community is a leader in year 2000 information sharing, and one of the chief vehicles for international cooperation is the Global 2000 Coordinating Group, representing 234 financial institutions, banks and securities and insurance companies in 46 countries -- from Aetna Inc. to the Czech Republic's Zivnostenska Banka. Membership is free.

One subgroup, called Custody 2000, has identified several dozen top custodial institutions that safeguard currency and securities. Each Custody 2000 member is auditing the year 2000 preparedness of several of these custodians, eliminating the need for audits by other institutions. "That's the type of cooperation that will be needed over the balance of the year to get through the date change," Juncker says.

Other subgroups on year 2000 assessment, disclosure, testing and risk management/contingency planning have issued extensive, detailed best practices papers that can benefit not just financial institutions worldwide but other businesses, too. The document on risk management, for example, offers suggestions for handling risks such as simultaneous failures in multiple systems and locations, cascading failures that build on one another and external failures. The paper also includes risk management time lines and checklists, tips for building and running a year 2000 command center and strategies for "wellness checks" of systems after the date change.

All the documents are available for free from the Global 2000 Web site (www.global2k.com). Juncker says that kind of sharing is essential because even though the U.S. financial industry is "well-advanced" on year 2000 work, "I would characterize international progress as uneven," he says. "The greatest vulnerability internationally is infrastructure," like energy, telecommunications, power and water.

The group has developed templates for countries to assess their status, and as responses trickle in, it's posting them on its Web site for anyone to read. Global 2000 is planning to use the self-assessments to identify countries, regions and infrastructure elements at greatest risk for year 2000 failure and then engage public- and private-sector assistance.

Given the international situation, Juncker says, "Everyone recognizes there are bound to be problems." So for the rest of the year, Global 2000 will focus on contingency planning, such as helping organizations plan for manual work-arounds and fallbacks.

AIR TRANSPORTATION: For air carriers like Federal Express Corp., the biggest international year 2000 task is assessing "vendors" -- the 375 airports the company uses, and air traffic authorities around the world. "The general state of year 2000 awareness fluctuates widely outside the U.S.," says Dinah Allison, managing director of FedEx's year 2000 project. That's why the company and more than 250 other member airlines funded a $20 million year 2000 project through the International Air Transport Association (IATA) last June.

The project is targeting every international airport used by IATA members. It identified more than 120 airport components -- from runway lighting systems to fire trucks -- likely to be affected by the date change. Then it began sending teams to assess year 2000 progress by walking through the runways and air traffic systems of high-volume airports worldwide.

That information is available to member airlines on a protected Web site so they can plan accordingly. For medium- and low-volume airports, IATA is providing regional training seminars and program support.

The association "has opened doors that couldn't have been opened otherwise," Allison says. "I can't imagine what we'd have done without it."

The IATA also has developed a set of compliance guidelines, including advice for setting up a year 2000 program, staff responsibilities, methodologies, inventory checklists, reporting and monitoring strategies, sample supplier letters and questionnaires, testing recommendations and legal considerations. The entire document is available at www.iata.org.

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS: The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Y2K Task Force, established in March 1998, has created a year 2000 workgroup on intercarrier testing. The group recently held a successful, limited, worldwide test. More complex testing is scheduled for later this year.

Last April, the task force distributed a 20-question self-assessment survey. Based on 328 responses from the offices of 287 operators in 132 countries, it has published an overview of individual telecommunications companies' preparedness by country on its Web site (www.itu.org), information invaluable to telecommunications industries and any company dependent on international communications.

The site includes other features useful to a general audience, such as guidelines on embedded systems and links to other year 2000 organizations.

ITU is using the self-assessment responses to identify regions with the greatest needs.

It has held workshops on four continents; more are planned.

ITU workgroups are looking at information management, contingency planning and relationships with outside groups, and the Web site includes contact information for key people in each group.

Despite those efforts, there's little confidence in the international telecommunications network.

"We are anticipating that many developing countries are not going to make it," says Skip Patterson, year 2000 project manager at Bell Atlantic Corp. in New York.

But working through ITU, Patterson is reasonably confident that at least the most vital links, among the world's primary financial centers, will hold.

RETAIL: Though most international year 2000 groups have grown from well-established international organizations, the U.S. retail industry's effort shows how much a domestic group can achieve.

Because changing fashions preclude stockpiling, information on international preparedness is extremely important to retailers — but hard to get, says Morton Mease, director of planning and technical services at Montgomery Ward & Co. in Chicago. Mease has quizzed overseas organizations, but "the information coming back is very vague and nonspecific," he says, particularly in areas such as the Middle East.

To leverage their information, Montgomery Ward and 159 other retailers have been sharing it through the National Retail Federation's Year 2000 Survival Committee. Mease says members have put away their competitive attitude to cooperate on year 2000. "We're trying to share rather than waste time and money. This committee has been free and open about things we've done and mistakes we've made."

The committee has published "Ready or Not," an extensive guide to year 2000 best practices, on its Web site (www.nrf.com). It also has polled 82,000 international suppliers, including vendors of merchandise and technology, and posted the responses on a protected area for member access. It has met with agencies responsible for international shipping, oil, gas, electricity and telecommunications, but much of its best information has come from its own members.

When retailers visit overseas vendors, they report back to the group on local issues. Members returning from abroad recently reported that their suppliers weren't even thinking about infrastructure issues such as power and communications. "Infrastructure issues have not become part of their year 2000 plans until we raise it," Mease says, "and that's scary."

Melymuka is Computerworld's senior editor, management. Contact her at kathleen_melymuka@computerworld.com.