Though date simulators proviode instant gratification by quickly exposing date-based bugs, source analyzers can be a real workhorse in assessing year 2000 retrofit requirements. This type of product is a logical jumping off point for those who need to get a handle on the system-wide scope of their conversion effort. Code analyzers are able to scan source management configurations for date-sensitive programs, the JCL and procs that run them, the files they impact, and the business processes affected. Some also provide information on dependencies, interfaces, architectures, strategies, business rules and formulas. There are analyzers specifically tailored for year 2000 conversion efforts, as well as generic impact analysis tools adaptable for this purpose.
Some products allow user-specified searches and updates on a variety of file formats.
And some can even analyze regions and address spaces for all system date activity, identifying the best candidate programs for date-simulation testing. There are a number of products available that will accurately process dates and leap year situations. Typically these products come with hundreds of date-handling utilities callable from various languages and portable across multiple platforms. Most vendor calendar routines expect a two-digit year as input, and can determine which century field to append to the date. The decision to add this functionality generally hinges on impact analysis identifying which programs will fail.