| Microsoft Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure
& Resource Center |
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Y2K
Readiness - Data
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Data generated
through the use of applications presents a challenge to any
organization.
If the data includes dates, a problem arises because often years
are entered as two digits (YY), yet most PC programs calculate in
four-digit years (CCYY). Most programs automatically expand YY dates
to CCYY dates, making a variety of century assumptions. Data is thus
often turned into incorrect information that is not apparent to the
user who doesnÆt know what century the program is assuming.
Your data can also be affected by customizations built into an
individual documentùan example of this would be a macro built into
an Excel spreadsheet. These "mini-programs" may utilize date data to
perform their calculations, and potentially generate incorrect
information. Each and every document or spreadsheet on your system
may be at risk.
Every organizationÆs approach to document and data assessment
will be unique. The quantity of documents and how in tune each
individual in the organization is to Y2K issues will contribute to
the ease or difficulty of tackling this issue. Your strategy should
be built on addressing the problem on a document by document, per
machine basis.
Special Note on Data Interface
An end-to-end
view of your organization and its computer systems is the best way
to understand problems and risks related to data interfaces. Even if
your PC platform is Year 2000 compliant, there may be an interface
from that PC to a legacy system that is not working properly with
dates. If this is the case, any information placed into the PC
environment can cause problems. It is imperative that the interfaces
between your PC and other platforms be understood, inventoried,
analyzed, prioritized, fixed and tested, just like any other portion
of the Year 2000 project.
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It
is essential that you build an overall list of the document and data
software on your system. The following is a list of Microsoft
products you may be using. Once youÆve compiled your own list, your
first step is to check the product pages for these software packages
for Y2K compliance:
- Outlook 97, 98;
- Word 95, 97;
- PowerPoint 95, 97;
- Excel 95, 97;
- Access 95, 97;
- FoxPro Professional 2.6
- SQL Server 6.0, 6.5, 7.0
Operational
Data
Operational data is defined as the data that is
currently in use. Structured data such as tables, spreadsheets and
databases can be affected by Y2K compliance issues. Unstructured
data such as email can also be affected. In most cases, converting
the 2-digit data to 4-digit date data will solve the problem. You
may want to consider the following steps:
- Classify user data according to the type of data.
- Determine way of conversion for each class of data.
- Program or prepare conversion tools.
- Convert user data to 4 digits.
The conversion of user data
depends heavily on the conversion of the corresponding application
software. Make sure that there are synchronization points where user
data and application software are ready for joint testing. In some
cases the upgrade of application software requires additional
conversion of user data.
Often user data and self-developed code are tied together in one
object, as in Excel macros. In this case the conversion of the
self-developed code and user data has to be done at the same time.
Long Term Back up Data
Back up data contains
all data that is stored during backup on tapes or hard drives at the
end of the day, the end of the year or at the completion of a
project. The challenge is:
- Backup data can contain self-developed softwareùi.e. Excel
macros.
- Backup data can only be used with certain versions of
application software.
Back up data
must be converted for three reasons:
- The built-in applications may not be Y2K compliant.
- The backup data may contain date data that is not Y2K
compliant and needs to be converted to the 4-digit state.
- The backup data may no longer work with the current
application in use. The retrieval and use of older backup data has
to be testedùin addition, converted back up data has to work
together with the operational data in use.
We
recommend the following steps:
- Identify the mission critical backup dataùfor example,
customer data.
- Identify the important system configurations.
- Classify backup data according to their data types.
- Program or provide adequate conversion tools both for
retrieval and for new backup (test conversion tools).
- Convert the back up data or establish a plan for online
conversion of the backup data.
All stored documents and
data must be assessed to insure that you can transfer these
documents from whatever storage media they exist onùtape, WORM or
CDùand that the documents and data can be processed if necessary.
This inventory is even more important if you update your current
software to newer Year 2000 compliant versions.
Documents with high possibility of date field usage like Excel
spreadsheets must be assessed. It is possible that you may have more
than one version of a particular document on your system. If you fix
the master document you need to know who in your organization has
other versions. Then you must distribute the corrected version to
all that need to work on the document.
| Additional Resources |
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Microsoft
has developed three date migration add-in tools that you can use
with Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows. These can help you prepare
dates in Excel workbooks for transitioning from earlier versions of
Excel or for auditing workbooks for the Year 2000. This article contains
additional details about these tools.
Downloads
The Date Fix Wizard allows
you to change the date format of two-digit-year dates quickly and
easily or to modify serial number dates so that they fall within a
specified century.
The Date Migration
Wizard handles specific kinds of dates that are in workbooks
created in earlier versions of Excel. These dates use years that are
two-digit numbers between 20 and 29.
The Date Watch
Wizard monitors your work for year-ambiguous dates and formats.
| Tools |
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Below
is a list of Year 2000 remediation tools, with links to the
companies that may be able to assist you in your Year 2000
remediation efforts. For a tool to be listed on this site does not
indicate an endorsement or recommendation on the part of Microsoft
for either the manufacturer, its products or the underlying
technologies being used. You will need to do your own assessment to
determine if the tools offered meet your needs. For information
regarding these companies or their Year 2000 solutions, please
contact the companies directly.
Data
Scan, analyze and revise your Microsoft
Office documents.
If you
are a Year 2000 Tool provider and would like to be listed in the
Tools Guide, please email Y2Ktools@microsoft.com.
Please Note: We are no longer going to be accepting new
entries into the tools guide after October 20, 1999.
ALL COMMUNICATIONS OR CONVEYANCES OF INFORMATION TO YOU
CONCERNING MICROSOFT AND THE YEAR 2000, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THIS DOCUMENT OR ANY OTHER PAST, PRESENT OR FUTURE INFORMATION
REGARDING YEAR 2000 TESTING, ASSESSMENTS, READINESS, TIME TABLES,
OBJECTIVES, OR OTHER (COLLECTIVELY THE "MICROSOFT YEAR 2000
STATEMENT"), ARE PROVIDED AS A "YEAR 2000 READINESS
DISCLOSURE" (AS DEFINED BY THE YEAR 2000 INFORMATION AND
READINESS DISCLOSURE ACT) AND CAN BE FOUND AT MICROSOFTÆS YEAR 2000
WEBSITE LOCATED AT http://www.microsoft.com/year2000/
(the "Y2K WEBSITE"). EACH MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT IS PROVIDED
PURSUANT TO THE TERMS HEREOF, THE TERMS OF THE Y2K WEBSITE, AND THE
YEAR 2000 INFORMATION AND READINESS DISCLOSURE ACT FOR THE SOLE
PURPOSE OF ASSISTING THE PLANNING FOR THE TRANSITION TO THE YEAR
2000. EACH MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AND IS UPDATED REGULARLY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
MICROSOFT THEREFORE RECOMMENDS THAT YOU CHECK THE Y2K WEBSITE
REGULARLY FOR ANY CHANGES TO ANY MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT. EACH MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS"
WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. CONSEQUENTLY, MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL
WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. MOREOVER,
MICROSOFT DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE
USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF ANY MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT
IN TERMS OF ITS CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE. NO
ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY MICROSOFT OR ITS
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVES SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY OR IN ANY WAY
DECREASE THE SCOPE OF THIS WARRANTY DISCLAIMER. IN NO
EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER REGARDING ANY MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT INCLUDING
DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS
PROFITS, PUNITIVE OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT OR ITS
SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION
MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN EACH MICROSOFT
YEAR 2000 STATEMENT IS FOUND AT THE Y2K WEBSITE AND IS INTENDED TO
BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH OTHER INFORMATION LOCATED AT THE Y2K
WEBSITE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO MICROSOFTÆS YEAR 2000
COMPLIANCE STATEMENT, THE DESCRIPTION OF THE CATEGORIES OF
COMPLIANCE INTO WHICH MICROSOFT HAS CLASSIFIED ITS PRODUCTS IN ITS
YEAR 2000 PRODUCT GUIDE, AND THE MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 TEST CRITERIA.
ANY MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENTS MADE TO YOU IN THE COURSE OF
PROVIDING YEAR 2000 RELATED UPDATES, YEAR 2000 DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS, OR
REMEDIATION SERVICES (IF ANY) ARE SUBJECT TO THE YEAR 2000
INFORMATION AND READINESS DISCLOSURE ACT (112 STAT. 2386). IN CASE
OF A DISPUTE, THIS ACT MAY REDUCE YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS REGARDING THE
USE OF ANY SUCH STATEMENTS, UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED BY YOUR
CONTRACT OR TARIFF.
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Overview