A typical year 2000 project will involve surveys and interviews, planning and reporting, package evaluation, supply chain evaluation, forecasting, contract reviews, procurement, change management, disaster recovery planning, large-scale project and programme management, risk management, outsourcing management, systems development, quality management, test planning and management and much more. The list reads like a catalogue of the service lines of any major consultancy. The biggest challenge is created by the magnitude of the work and the fixed timescales. Carrying out a year 2000 programme for a major multinational needs the skills of a top army staff officer. It feels just like planning a major military campaign.
Planning is key.
You will need an inventory of all the year 2000 related issues faced by the business, including its information systems, infrastructure, embedded systems, plant control, environmental systems, products, and external dependencies on suppliers, customers and partners. Then a strategy and plan need to be created for each issue. Getting this far will take several weeks, with a substantial team that includes year 2000 experts, industry experts, and specialists in the system technologies. Then the budgets have to be committed, and the detailed planning needs to be completed and executed. Partnerships and teamwork are important.