The United States leads the world in preparing for problems associated with the date change. Yet Y2K experts, including U.S. Sen. Robert F. Bennett, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem, predict that potential computer glitches will nonetheless seriously affect a wide array of public services and economic segments, including electrical utilities, communication, health care, transportation, trade, and industry. The bulk of the payments will occur later in the process, after contracts have been fulfilled. System failures could cause much of our environmental information, as well as our billing and reporting data, to be faulty or missing. Work will continue into 1999 on three remaining systems.
Many agencies face similar problems with older programs.
Mike Bycura, Johnson's colleague in the Information Resources Division, has been named agency coordinator for assessing and resolving the embedded system problem. Many of these embedded systems can only be tested by the vendor, and we really don't know what they're going to do. Potentially, some of these machines may shut down Jan. 1, 2000. Embedded systems exist in agencies throughout the state. The DIR has been conducting biweekly meetings with the General Services Commission and agency coordinators for embedded systems to ensure that there is an accurate inventory of such systems and that contingency plans, conversion efforts, and other initiatives are properly coordinated.