 |
Lessons Learned from Army, Navy, Air Force Y2K Projects |
Army
Lessons Learned - Mr. William Dates, Project Manager, Army Y2K Office
- Experience:
- 98% of Army mission critical systems are certified Y2K compliant - 93.5% have completed
fielding. All mission critical systems scheduled to be completed prior to the end of
October 1999.
- Significant progress made - optimism high (disruptions will be local and of short
duration).
- No Y2K problems with weapons systems to date.
- One Y2K failure of a tactical system (TYC-39A tactical switch). Software fix implemented
in May 1999.
- One leap year problem (GCCS-A D1) fixed and successfully retested.
- Some problems with locally-procured COTS equipment.
- Y2K failures that have occurred are minor and were quickly resolved.
- Non-Y2K failures, e.g., power outages, are more prevalent that Y2K errors.
- Y2K testing is a major risk reducer of Y2K failures on January 1, 2000
- Recommendations:
- Still work to be done on late systems, operational evaluations, and exercising
contingency plans
- Need to test all PCs and servers even if recently purchased on a contract with a Y2K
warranty clause.Example: Servers on critical intelligence network in 10th Mountain
Division found to be non-compliant despite vendor guarantee. Fix made onsite, Feb 1999
- Dry runs are essential prior to actual testing to assure completeness and accuracy of
evaluations.
- Results from Army Op Evals are disseminated to Army units and commands.
- Other Lessons Learned:
- Foreign Military Sales - Need to track retired/replaced items.
- Auditor Involvement - Early formal involvement and make an integral part of the overall
management strategy.
- Databases On-line. - Need well understood definitions for key data elements.
- Information Distribution - Y2K Listserver and General Officer E-mail distribution.
- Y2K Opportunities - Early retirement/replacement of marginal systems.
- Getting a handle on inventory. - Using Y2K Supplemental resources to increase software
engineering capabilities
Army
Systems - Category |
Total |
Fixed |
In
Progress |
|
|
|
|
Mission
Critical |
413
|
370
|
43
|
Other
Major Systems |
758
|
679
|
79
|
Non
Major Systems |
23,567
|
22,341
|
1,226
|
Personal
Computers, Comm, Facility Systems |
594,184
|
558,378
|
35,806
|
Total
IT Devices |
618,922
|
581,768
|
37,154
|
- 618,922 Total Information Systems and Information Technology (IT)
Controlled Devices
- Unknown number (probably millions) of
embedded chips with IT in weapons systems
Navy
Lessons Learned - Mr. Dave Wennergren, Y2K Program Executive, DoN
- It's all about information superiority
- Total Asset Visibility
- Critical Infrastructure Protection
- Information Assurance
- Information Sharing is critical: Enterprise-wide database -
every
Sailor, Marine, Civilian, and their families will be Y2K aware and Y2K
ready.
- 203 Major Installations - Approximately 932,000 Devices
- Priority: Mission Essential Services (Power, Potable Water, Waste
Water, Safety, Security)
- Use existing structures whenever possible
- Issues:
- Interfaces with local community
- Overseas host nation support
- Contingency plans/work-arounds in lieu of some fixes
- Manual setting of automatic controls
USAF
Lessons Learned - COL Mike Marro, Deputy Director, Air Force Y2K Office
- Focus on the Process, not on the Systems (Critical Information Flows
and Decisions)
- Leadership - Y2K as an additional duty - Many organizations placed Y2K low on priority
list--assigned low-ranking POC
- Must get senior leaders (responsible for mission) involved early
- IV&V contractors brought new ideas - Teamed with AF--not adversarial role, Found new
opportunities for process improvement
- Great benefits from independent look
should have had tools 3 years ago
- Configuration Management
- Must ensure systems tested/certified dont develop Y2K problems from subsequent
changes
- Some changes necessary for mission, safety, legal, etc reasons
- Standard approach needed early in process or allow Services to handle internally
- Must control configuration
the system you end up with must be the one you
tested/fixed
- Central database for DoD needed to keep an enterprise view of Y2K, Information collected
has tremendous value, but costly to obtain and maintain
- Cost must be justified
- Data collection must be standard
cant piecemeal together database
- Air Force Audit Agency - Non-traditional approach--Management Advisory Service,
- Tailored outbrief to local commanders provides real-time data to help fix problems
- Audits boosted Y2K visibility, Got senior leadership involved
- Get Auditors involved early. Use them to help people fix problems
not report them
- Funding Issues
- No additional funding needed for Y2K - attitude a problem
- Contractor support critical for testing - Experience not available in units
- Long delay in funding causes problems - End of FY fast approaching and some funds still
not disbursed
- Competing requirements for dollars pushed Y2K down priority list
you get what you
pay for!
- Review
- Start early
- Get senior leadership involved
- Focus on the process/mission
| Total Lines of Code |
Errors |
Errors per Line of Code |
| Total Errors |
144 |
16.1 |
| Major Errors |
17 |
1.9 |
| Minor Errors |
121 |
13.5 |
| Pending Analysis |
6 |
.7 |
Problems
Reported from the Field
- PC BIOS, OS, Applications and Data not compliant
- Applications could not recognize Jan 01 00, buffers would load up and stall
- Hard coded dates were missed
- Not aware of a program that sorted legacy data by year
- Two-digit year used in file names became three-digit years (e.g. 99-100) due to
unexpected difference in Y2K-compliant C compiler.
- Extra two digits in the compliant software caused problems when data was transferred to
a downstream application
- Old systems information has been stored with two-digit years. Compliant code does not
know what to do with two-digit dates
- Leap Year problems
- Unable to query after leap year date
- Archiving and Retrieving messages around 29 Feb failed
- Software looked at future year rather than past year to determine # of days in year.
Caused problems going into or out of leap year.
Copyright 1988-2012 Richard
Collins, All Rights Reserved