Standards Australia throws the book at Y2K

Standards Australia has released a handbook on how to ensure year 2000 compliance for software applications. "HB134-1999, Year 2000 compliance measures for software" has been published amid growing concern over how well prepared small and medium enterprises are for the millennium bug.

With only six months to go, the guide is designed to address a distinct need for 'self-help' information about the impact of the year 2000 problem (Y2K) on software applications.

HB134-1999 sets out testing requirements and procedures for ascertaining Y2K compliance of software. It covers software types ranging from those available on IBM PCs, Motorola mid-range mainframes and embedded chips.

The software may be used for producing reports, screens, processing, calculations and interfaces, and includes end-user tools such as spreadsheets and databases. The handbook identifies levels of compliance for these types of software, and, depending on the nature of their use, recommends appropriate action.

Sandeep Mathur, year 2000 compliance expert and author of the handbook, said HB134-1999 also provided a list of dates which were deemed to be critical in the year 2000, and described tests required to ensure software compliance for those dates.

"The dates you test will depend on the kind of processing you are doing on your software. An accounting software, for example, must be tested for month and year-end processing," Mr Mathur said.

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE AT RISK

Mr Mathur said many small organisations were making the mistake of focusing purely on their hardware for year 2000 compliance.

"Some organisations have already felt the impact of problems. Some software may fail way into the year 2000. In other words, both the software and hardware have to be compliant," he said.

Of equal concern is the disturbing silence of small and medium enterprises on the progress of their Y2K compliance activities.

"Unlike the larger organisations, which have adequate Y2K methodologies, many SMEs have very little knowledge about how to solve their Y2K problems and, as a result, are taking chances," Mr Mathur said.