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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: B.K.Myers who wrote (5556)	4/18/1999 9:55:00 AM
From: J.L. Turner	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

British companies are not showing "Due Diligence" Sunday Times sunday-times.co.uk April 18 1999 DTI showcase companies rapped over 2000 bug COMPANIES at the Department of Trade and Industry's showcase Bug Park are so far from beating the millennium bug that they are being publicly warned they cannot claim to have shown "due diligence" if a client were to sue them over mishaps in the new year, writes Sean Hargrave. The 15 Bug Park companies, which are regularly inspected by the government to monitor progress, are criticised in a new report by Action 2000, the government taskforce. It set up the business park at Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, last year to gain an idea of how British businesses were tackling the millennium bug. Action 2000 says that while all the organisations are at least aware of the general problem, their planning is not taking into account the bug's knock-on effects. The report comes just a month after Tony Blair criticised British businesses for having insufficient plans to ensure that the switch in date to 2000 was not accompanied by computer mayhem. Two in five companies were not prepared for the bug, he said in March. In addition, only half the country's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) had acted on a list of 11 critical steps the DTI says companies must take. The average company had only worked its way down to No 5. Action 2000 is now warning the Bug Park companies that it is one thing to know and recognise there is a problem, quite another to act on it. The government agency has drawn up a five-point action plan to allow its showcase companies to see where they are going wrong. At the simplest level the companies are being reprimanded for not testing their own systems fully. "Bug Park participants are carrying out testing in a more systematic and documented way than previously," the report said. "However, the level of activity was still found to be below the level required to provide evidence of 'due diligence' should an organisation become involved in future legal actions." One of the most crucial concerns is supply chains. The Bug Park companies are being criticised for not realising that they are not in the clear unless they have assurances from companies they deal with that all those companies' systems, as well as the computers used by their associates, are bug-free. "Organisations must seek assurances, preferably written, to ensure that they don't suffer because an essential link in their supply chain has failed to deal with the bug," the report said. Bug Park companies also came under fire for not fully addressing the problems posed by embedded systems. These computer systems use chips that are literally embedded within machinery so they cannot be easily accessed. Action 2000 called for "more stringent plans" to identify and tackle the issue. The companies were also told to spend more time drawing up contingency plans and communicating on year 2000 problems with their workers and clients. The Bug Park comprises 15 separate organisations in the Welwyn area that allow Action 2000 regularly to audit their readiness to cope with the computer glitch that, if left unchecked, will see some computer systems fail to recognise the date change. Among the 15 are a bank, a travel company, a manufacturer, a pharmaceutical research base and the local police force. They were chosen to include as many varying sectors as possible. Action 2000 published its report to highlight the fact that these organisations knew they would be publicly scrutinised by the DTI's consultants, yet still had not guaranteed year 2000 compliance. The government hopes this will make other companies tackle the problem before it is too late.