Fears over Government departments not having IT systems ready in time

Despite efforts by Government departments to tackle the Year 2000 problem, there are concerns that some offices will not have their IT systems prepared on time.

In particular, there are fears that Y2K preparation work at the Revenue Commissioners, Foreign Affairs and the Garda may, in some instances, run beyond September.

This is significant because in old COBOL programs and some other programs developed inhouse for specific applications, 99-99 was used as an eternity code. Where an event had not happened yet or would never happen this date could be entered to indicate a non-event. Now as September 9th 1999 approaches, it is possible some systems may fail as they understand this date to be non-existent.

This is causing concern in the private sector, particularly among those companies that work with the Revenue Commissioners' customs (AEP) and export tracking systems. Many multinationals integrate these trading systems with their own in order to assess the amount of duty owing on certain goods for export, and to secure automated customs clearance.

The Revenue Commissioners says it is confident all of its Y2K testing will be completed by July 31st, 1999, and its project has not slipped beyond this target completion date. However, The Irish Times has learned that work on trading systems is expected to take until the autumn to complete. As a result, there are concerns in the private sector that there will be too little time for companies to check their own systems against that of the Revenue Commissioners.

According to Ms Catherine Lucey, director of IBEC's electronics federation: "Clearly the Revenue Commissioners have been working very hard on a comprehensive revamp of their systems, but we would like them to recognise that these need to integrate with companies' in-house systems. They need a window for testing to ensure they match up, and this should happen over the summer months."

Ms Lucey suggests that a dedicated website or publication by the Revenue Commissioners of its plans for its trading systems would go some way towards putting minds at ease.

The Revenue Commissioners has said it intends to provide facilities in the "latter half" of 1999 for users to transmit test data to the customs (AEP) system in order to verify whether their systems will be compatible post-2000.

The Revenue's Y2K project has been under way since 1996, and with approximately 190 software experts working over this period, the total cost has been estimated at around £5 million (#6.35 million). Its VAT, corporation tax and income tax systems are already live and Y2K compliant, while a new PAYE system is due for installation at the end of March.

The Garda Y2K project has been incorporated as part of the comprehensive PULSE (Police Using Leading Systems Efficiently) system which started in November 1996.

Phase One, which includes all systems that might be affected by the millennium changeover, is scheduled for completion by the end of 2000. There are approximately 150 people working on this project.

According to Mr Tommy Quinn, Garda head of IT planning, the new system (Beta Release 1B) which will hold details of criminal records, firearms, registered vehicles, stolen vehicles and missing persons, will undergo pilot testing from May until the end of July.

After that the mainframe on which all these systems currently operate will be switched off, and a gradual roll-out of the system to Garda stations throughout the State will begin. This is expected to take well into 2000 to complete.

In the interim, the data entry process will be centralised as all information is shared across the new system, and more than 1,500 gardai will be trained to draw information from the system.

Mr Quinn does not see Y2K as a major concern, as all the information will be centrally available. The biggest priority, he says, is the Command and Control system which controls and records 999 calls. It was made fully compliant last week.

The fingerprint system is earmarked for completion at the end of this month, and the on-the-spot fines system will be compliant by the end of June.

"Insofar as we can be, we are reasonably confident," says Mr Quinn. "It would be fatal to lose the command and control system, but we could live with anything else that might fail."

He says the Garda contingency plans will only be put in place for systems which are not compliant by the end of this month. Contingencies are likely to involve reversions to paper based systems and semi-automated processes.

Unlike some other Government departments which acknowledge - albeit somewhat grudgingly - the right of the public to be kept abreast of Government Y2K projects, the efforts of the Department of Foreign Affairs remain shrouded in secrecy. The Department is probably the least dependent on IT systems, though it is responsible for the passport system.

The Department says work on this is 70 per cent complete, while regular office systems will be made compliant through routine upgrades. A budget of £1.327 million (#1.7 million) has been set aside by the Department to tackle Y2K in 1999. It is in the process of tendering for a contractor to implement its Local Area Network upgrade, but a spokesperson for the Department has said it is confident the new system will be completely operable - through its 50 offices worldwide - by July 31st.

It added that contingency plans are being considered and will be formalised by the end of July.

To retain a full level of service, the Department has deemed 70 per cent of its services to be "mission critical", though it added: "The Department of Foreign Affairs would function perfectly well without information technology. We could do all of what we are required to do without the IT systems. However, we are confident all our internal Y2K systems will be compliant in time."

(# - Euro)