Because carefully measured empirical data on finding and removing Year 2000 problems is currently hard to find, the cost model may not have been separately calibrated with the valid data collected from real Year 2000 problem removal projects. They are an easy way to quickly check if code has Year 2000 problems. Scans code and inspects. Scanning can be speeded by looking at structure charts, selecting code, and immediately jumping to the code. They can save a lot of time over just using a text editor.
Browsers can include some reverse engineering tools or maintenance workbenches.
However, just because an item is estimated to be affected doesn t mean that item will need to be changed to fix a specific Year 2000 problem. They tend to overshoot their estimates to be on the safe side. Provide a limited form of impact analysis. These tools don t replace the need for regression testing. Introduce standard or more uniform names to date-oriented fields.