Step 1 - Take Inventories to Determine Areas of Risk

The first step is to identify any potential year 2000 problems by taking inventories.

Computers (hardware) which have been distributed by or inventoried by ITS will be checked for Y2K compliance by ITS staff. The departmental coordinator will be sent an Inventory of the department's desk top equipment (computers and printers). If any equipment is not on the Inventory, you must add it to the list. Cross off any equipment which you no longer have. Updated lists must be returned to the ITS Y2K Liaison within 30 days of receipt.

You need to inventory applications, i.e. software, which are not ITS supported.  In addition, you should inventory software (e.g., Menu Management ), and processes (databases or spreadsheets which are date specific) which are specific to your department. Before you begin your inventory, it is suggested that you read all parts of Step 2, which contain information on specific vendor products that are already year 2000 compliant. This may save you a great deal of time!

Other inventories should be made of department functions or services to determine if you may be affected by other sources of Y2K problems, including loss of services or materials from outside vendors or other College departments.

Important: You will not need to consider the Servers or any ITS mainframes, servers and hosts, or centrally maintained applications including Banner, the College e-mail systems, or telephones. These will be addressed by ITS.

Below are suggested forms for taking your inventory. You can print the forms by printing from Netscape (File, Print, Page).

Inventory Worksheets

To assist you in completing the inventories, we have created two worksheets to be filled out for software and applications for each computer. By "computer" we mean any desktop microcomputers /workstations or any laptop or portable computers maintained in the department. The first worksheet is:

Year 2000 Inventory of Applications and Programs Worksheet
The following types of software should be recorded on this form:

Any software not on the ITS Supported Software List

Year 2000 Inventory of Databases and Shared Data Worksheet
The following types of software should be recorded on this form:

Databases, spreadsheets, report formats, etc., maintained by your department and in active use
Data received from or sent to external sources for research, academic, or administrative purposes

You may have other equipment, not computers, which may have date sensitive computer chips. These may affect critical processes, and need to be checked.

Year 2000 Inventory of Embedded Processors Worksheet
The following types of software should be recorded on this form:

Equipment with chips in them (lab equipment, environmental controls, access controls, security and alarm systems, chemical storage and waste management, patient care equipment, etc.) or anything else that 'knows' or records the current date or has functions based on the date.

Fax machines and copiers also may fall into this category, but they will all be tested or replaced by the Purchasing Office, is necessary. If you have concerns about this equipment, contact Jim Hardy.

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