ITS will take responsibility for testing all ITS supported software. Since testing other software on ITS supported machines may result in system problems for the desktop machine, it is recommended that you proceed on testing conversions only after conferring with ITS. Step 6 - Test Conversions and Solutions
If you are going to test your software you must first backup everything before testing anything to an external storage device. Changing system or input dates may cause corruption of existing databases or system logs, etc. Until you are ready to install the year 2000 conversion permanently, be sure you can restore the system to continue current (20th century) processing.
Test the complete environment in which the process or application will actually run: the hardware, operating system, and application or program. Date processing can involve interactions between all components of the environment, and what works on one platform may not function in the same way on others.
Test data should include dates in the 20th century, dates in the 21st century, and transactions or processes that span the century rollover. Also test leap day, year 2000 (2/29). Just resetting the system to a date in the year 2000 and testing that the process works may not be enough. Be sure you will be able to process data or files with dates in both centuries.
Be sure to include completely invalid dates in test data to test error handling routines.
Remember: It is critical that all interfaces and data transfers between subroutines in an application, or between other applications and processes be tested. If your system or program shares data with any other systems, whether central College administrative systems, other departmental systems, or an external agency or source of data, testing must be coordinated among all parties.
Recommendations for contingency planning [different site]
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