ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook February 20, 1998 Volume 3, No. 7 Published by the Information Technology Association of America, Arlington, VA Bob Cohen, Editor bcohen@itaa.org ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook is sponsored in part by BDM International, Inc., CACI International Inc., DMR Consulting Group Inc., IBS Conversions, Inc., Softworks, Inc. and Y2Kplus, Inc. Y2K May Constitute Callback for Older Workers They're back. Or at least a few are anyway. The Year 2000 is encouraging a career encore from programmers who wrote their first lines of code when Elvis was King and the Automat was arguably bigger in the public mind than automation. The extent to whic h the legacy legion has really returned to the job seems far from clear, with few companies reporting a major employment ramp up from the ranks of the retired. Think of it as the process of natural job selection. As technical professionals age, they ascend the career pyramid. Coders become analysts. Analysts are tapped for team leaders. Team leaders turn into project leaders. Project leaders advance to prog ram managers. Obviously, not every kid who wrote a line of COBOL becomes corporate CIO. Career plateaus send people off in different directions--into new professional endeavors or retirement. As the Y2K employment engine heats up, most jobs it creates are for people actually performing "find and fix" functions. Running software tools to scan dates or parse programs. Manually inspect results and resolve exceptions. It's as much about persistence as programming. Having climbed the pyramid, few older workers may seek a role back on the ground. Reasoning, Inc. Vice President Thomas Holmes says he went looking for seasoned IT professionals 15 months ago and ran up against just one problem. He couldn't find any. Reasoning builds tools which help companies switch between software platform environ ments and runs a Y2K remediation factory. The company "reasoned" that to be successful, it would need to compensate for the missing workers by building more intelligence into its products. Now subject matter experts with ten or more years of experience in the inner workings of languages like Ada, COBOL, C or Ingres supervise the conversion activity of six to ten tool users. Holmes' hard time is reinforced by others. Not every Year 2000 assignment can be filled by a newcomer. The problem is finding older workers with the right mix of skills, experience and attitude. The turn of the century, however, may have the uncanny ab ility to turn gray into gold for the lucky few. IBS Conversions Vice President Michael Guider says that a virtual blank check awaits anyone with experience managing a large-scale AS/400 conversion program. "The Year 2000 represents the single largest te chnical program that most AS/400 shops have ever attempted," he says, "It's huge." IBS Conversions recruits at both ends of the age spectrum, and Guider reports good success attracting older, appropriately experienced workers, particularly to its software factory in Largo, Florida. He says that the predictable nature and part-time hou rs of remediation work can be attractive to those no longer blazing career paths. To really reach for the gold, however, Guider notes that IT veterans must be willing to do battle with an old nemesis: stress. "On the project management side, these posi tions have a higher stress level. The date and scope of a Y2K program can't change. Project managers and leaders have to be able to handle a high stress assignment," Guider says. Other workplace realities which may make the mature job applicant less than Y2K compliant include a long work day, a dogmatic approach, and an unwillingness to travel. Most companies also mentioned PC skills. Many returnees may have transitioned out of the software fray in the days of 3270 terminals and, as a result, they maybe lacking basic PC skills. Still, where some hiring managers may see concerns, others see creative solutions to tapping the pool of older workers. Bill Payson, who runs the Senior Staff 2000 job information databank in Campbell, CA, suggests that many firms need to re-engineer the ir thinking about Y2K employment. Unimaginative recruiters, he says, try to lure seniors back to work with full-time, on-site assignments. Payson says the 8000 technical people in his database tend to be clustered in high tech employment areas like the Washington, D.C. suburbs, in golf course communities like Phoenix and Florida, and in "Godís Acre," low pollution, low crime areas like Colorado Springs and Salt Lake City. "I get calls from recruiters asking how many COBOL programmers I have in Des Moine s. If I were a retired COBOL programmer, Iíd get the hell out of Des Moines," Payson says. A recruiterís attitude, Payson says, is to ask the job candidate to give up the golf course and "hole up in a motel in downtown Chicago." He said one software guru in his job databank came to terms with his new employer by being clear on his re-entry req uirements: two annual trips to Europe, golf twice a week and $35 per hour. Payson asserts that companies are often not willing to be creative, failing to use the mix of part-time, telecommuting, flexible schedules that can make a return to work attractive. Sometimes creativity can be as simple as having the maturity to succeed. "Many of the human resource managers are kids," Payson claims. "Itís hard for people in their twenties to size up a person of their parentsí generation." Although he says that with Y2K, companies donít have the time to be prejudiced, Payson suggests u sing senior recruiters to hire senior programmers. Payson says one-third of the people in his listing are registered because they need the money; the remaining two-thirds are simply bored and looking for something useful to do. Whether "get out of the house" translates successfully into "get a Y2K job" r emains to be seen. Federal law prohibits age discrimination, but laws donít fix COBOL code. Companies may turn a blind eye to the applicantís age, but they are not about to drop their productivity goals. According to Grant Smith, Regional Director at Information Management Resources Inc., a Santa Ana, CA-based firm specializing in systems integration and Y2K work, who gets hired is more about behavior than hair color. Smith has recently hired two seniors and is quite happy with their contribution. Smith says factors important in his business are whether projects get delivered on time and within budget. He looks for people who can take a job and get it done. "Supervision costs a lot money," Smith says. What about the extra money employers may need to pay to attract more experienced, more highly compensated staff? "I will pay you $1 million if you can make me $2 million," Smith said. "Itís about margin, not dollars. Itís very important to know you hav e low maintenance people." Software Factories Feel Pull Towards Testing With the calendar bearing down, customers may be insisting that Y2K companies selling factory-style find and fix services offer testing also. Several Y2K firms claim to be feeling this marketplace demand for expanded testing services. And that could be a pull of Titanic proportions. Bruce Hall, Marketing Vice President at Trigent Software, Southborough, MA, says setting up a testbed is a five year activity. Hall says that less than two percent of firms have testbeds complete enough to test their systems fully. "There is no time to f inish and many people have no clue where to start," he says. Normal maintenance introduces changes to one to two percent of programs, Hall claims, while Y2K hits 30 to 50 percent. "Itís very traumatic," he says. "The decision to outsource ëfind and fixí has become a ëno-brainer.í Now testing support, including project management, methodology, tools and staff augmentation, is being requested." Is remediation the tip of the century iceberg? Perhaps so. Hall predicts massive failures because, even if its remediated, companies will not have the time to test. "The simple reality is that software must be tested in its host environmentÖ.if testing takes its historical route, companies test in the time that is left. A quick unit test may be all that time allows," Hall said. While initially hoping to use internal people to write test scripts, companies are looking at their past track records in this area and turning outside for help, according to Hall. He says today that that could mean asking service companies to provide re gression testing of unfixed as well as fixed code. The market, he says, is also moving to seek project management and methods support necessary to test systems in trans century mode. Syntel CTO Ken Kenjale agrees that the market is moving in the testing direction. He said customers are asking his firm to create their test cases for them. According to Kenjale, no amount of Y2K testing is sufficient. "There are millions of combinatio ns and permutations" which can cause errors, he says. "It doesnít take anything to run a tool," Kenjale claims. "You must understand its impact. That is a high risk area." Kenjale says test expertise is required to know what and where to test and what it means. Date names, for instance, are found in source code, JCL, screens, reports and files. Not only can errors be introduced by dates not found, but also by the fix itself. "Itís easy to make changes," Kenjale says, "itís harder to have a good lev el of confidence that the changes have been done right." Tactical Strategy Group President William Ulrich says that while factories may be offering certain types of test-related support, the difference is in the details. According to Ulrich, software factories may offer to test the dates in routines theyíve mo dified for the client. Theses firms cannot, however, test the code in its native environment. Like Hall, Ulrich says such testing must be conducted at the client site, with subject matter experts who understand the applications and data thoroughly. "A third party is likely to have little or no knowledge of the application," Ulrich says. As an example, he says that a hard-coded business date might be obsolete and completely meaningless to the operations of the enterprise. Without knowing its significa nce, the outside firm might trigger a test case to check for it anyway. Ulrich maintains that the test team, composed of those with test, application, system and business expertise, are best assembled and managed on-site. "Consultant Small Business Administration Offers Y2K Advice The Small Business Administration has gone on-line with Y2K advice for small businesses. The website includes compliance definitions, a check-list, a Y2K directory and related useful information. Check it out at http://www.sba.gov/y2k/. Business to Business Panasonic Industrial Co., Atlanta, GA, has signed a Y2K conversion contract with American Software Inc. TriTeal Corp., Carlsbad, CA, has announced the availability of TED 4.3, an updated version of their enterprise desktop software. McCabe & Associates, Columbia, MD, has entered into a Y2K partnership agreement with BDM International, Inc. CACI International Inc., Fairfax, VA, and Information Analysis Inc. have been awarded Y2K remediation contracts by the US Navy. Information Analysis Inc. has also announced the availability of UNICAST/2000 for CA-ADS, a new software tool that automates Y 2K compliance for the CA-ADS language. CACI has also won a $5.2 million Y2K contract with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration in Tallahassee, FL, along with other Year 2000 work with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Serv ices and Montgomery County, Maryland. Correction: Syntel, Inc. Troy, MI, has signed an IT applications management agreement with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Georgia, not a Y2K conversion contract as reported in the last issue of Outlook. Sponsor Advertising BDM International, Inc. Are you confident that your renovated software applications are millennium-ready? Have you also validated the associated hardware, firmware, interfaces, third party software, and non-information systems that keep your business running? If not, BDM can help you mitigate business risks across your enterprise with our BDM SMART ValidatorSM solution. SMART Validator helps you to objectively validate that each and every automated system affected by Year 2000 performs as intended. SMART Validator provides customers with detailed processes, checklists, compliance statements, and guidelines to validate a nd maintain compliance beyond Year 2000. With 37 years of large-scale project management and testing experience backing our solutions, you can count on BDM and SMART Validator to help you prove Year 2000 compliance across your organization. (800) 794-6085 e-mail: year2000@bdm.com http://www.bdm.com. CACI International Inc. -- Restore 2000 CACI leverages 35 years of information technology experience and over 10 years of reengineering systems - solving the same problems Y2K poses - to offer a total solution to the Year 2000 challenge: Restore 2000SM. The Restore 2000 methodology applies a comprehensive three-phase process to your information systems: Assess, Plan, and Remediate. Furthermore, we give you the option of buying our methodology or our services - both backed by CACI experience and Y2K expe rts. Restore 2000 is certified by the ITAA as meeting the highest standards of Y2K compliance. In addition, software development processes at CACI have been independently certified as being at Level 3 of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Capability Mat urity Model. Achieving SEI Level 3 provides clients further assurance that CACI solutions successfully and effectively deliver Year 2000 compliance while allowing you to save money, reduce risk, and minimize systems disruption. With approximately 3700 employees worldwide and FY97 revenues in excess of $270 million, CACI provides a depth of experience and expertise you can rely on. We've performed Year 2000 conversions for many of America's biggest enterprises, including major he alth insurance providers, retail clothing manufactures, gas companies, airlines, and government agencies. Superior functionality backed by decades of experience - CACI's Restore 2000. DMR Consulting Group Inc. DMR Consulting Group Inc.(formerly DMR TRECOM), an Amdahl company, is a global consulting organization of over 7,000 employees providing a comprehensive range of information technology services. Our Year 2000 Practice comprises a comprehensive offering of consulting, assessment, remediation, testing, and implementation services utilizing a formal methodology (APM/2000), best-in-class software tools, and six global conversion centers. We have mul ti-disciplinary experience in most mainframe, mid-range, and client-server/desktop environments. APM/2000 includes: … Program Management … Enterprise-Wide Assessment … Impact Analysis … Conversion Delivery … Testing and Implementation Year 2000 Risk Management Consulting Services include: Program Review, Stakeholder Readiness Assessment, Risk Management and Vendor Compliance Research. Contact: Stephen Frycki Managing Director, Year 2000 Services - US Phone: 201-200-3923 Fax: 201-200-9046 Email: fryckis@dmr.com Websites: http://www.dmr.com IBS Conversions, Inc. IBS Conversions, Inc., founded in 1982, is the first service organization to receive ITAA*2000 Certification for IBS/Solution 2000TM methodology, products and services. IBS is a recognized leader in automated conversion/migration software and consulting having translated millions of lines of code for companies worldwide. IBS/Solution 2000 IBS/Solution 2000TM is a full suite of Year 2000 services and products: Full project Analysis, Pilot Project and Repair, staffing and management/methodology Scan/Repair Conversion Factories for Mainframe and AS/400 environments Project Methodology Qwik-Sizer Analysis Licensing Scan/Repair Tools for AS/400 Y2K Projects License Conversion Factories/Tools to other Consulting Firms http://www.ibs2000.com SOFTWORKS, Inc. HOT DATE 2000/SIMULATE Preparing for the new millennium isn't easy, especially in the data center. Ensuring an accurate conversion could be a daunting task. That's why SOFTWORKS has created HotDate 2000/SIMULATE. HotDate 2000/SIMULATE is a comprehensive identification, testing, and simulation utility created to locate the programming changes needed to prepare for the Year 2000. Using a simulated Year 2000 environment, HotDate 2000/SIMULATE locates and tests pote ntial date problems the Year 2000 will cause to your individual programs, applications, and entire system. HotDate 2000/SIMULATE is transparent to your applications and supports all programming languages. For more information about HotDate 2000/SIMULATE, call SOFTWORKS at 800-727-4422. Http://www.softworkscc.com Y2Kplus, Inc. Y2Kplus provides a portfolio of "best of class" software products and outsourcing services that address Year 2000 issues. These offerings are available both to IT Solution Providers and IT organizations. Y2Kplus has offerings that address the following needs: * A comprehensive Renovation Preparation offering to enable you to prepare complete and accurate packages of software components ready for mainframe code renovation. * A powerful Code Renovation set of offerings that will renovate: * multiple languages including COBOL, Assembler, Pl/1 and Natural code for mainframe systems; * mid range COBOL systems running on DEC, HP, DG, NCR, Unisys, Wang, Prime, Bull, Tandem, and IBM AS/400 platforms. * A Re-engineering tool for mid range COBOL systems that will enable you to rehost to other platforms, thereby providing "value beyond year 2000". * Code Renovation outsourcing services for all of the above systems plus IBM AS/400 RPG. * Data Commander, a testing tool that enables you to warp test data dates to allow you to do future date testing by updating your current test data stream and then compare results of test runs before and after 2000. * Services for development and management of Comprehensive test plans and strategies to help your organization create effective baseline tests, improving the quality of risk mitigation derived from forward date testing. For more information, please send email to info@y2kplus.com, visit our web site at www.y2kplus.com or call Dave Ehlke at 781-863-8111. Calendar February 23-24, '98 The International Conference/Expo New York, NY Info: 212-734-4412 On Year 2000 Computing February 23-24, '98 An Action Plan For Year 2000 Orlando, FL Info: 781-235-2895 Compliance - Seminar http://www.masp.com February 23-24, '98 The Y2K Maritime Issues Conference New York, NY Info: 800-237-7203 http://www.motivatorsconference.com March 4, '98 ITAA Y2K Task Group Meeting Arlington, VA Info: 703-284-5312 http://www.itaa.org/year2000.htm March 9-11, '98 DCI - Managing Y2K Projects: Washington, DC Info: 508-470-3870 The Key Issues External & Internal http://www.dciexpo.com March 10-12, '98 DCI - Testing For Y2K Compliance Washington, DC Info: 508-470-3870 http://www.dciexpo.com March 17, '98 Washington DC Y2K Group Meeting Washington, DC http://www.bfwa.com/bwebster/y2k March 18-20, '98 SPG Year 2000 Conference & Expo New York, NY Info: 508-652-1010 http://www.spgnet.com March 23-24, '98 IBC's Y2K Legal Compliance Conference New York, NY Info: 508-481-6400 http://www.ibcusa.com/conf/2000legal March 23-24, '98 An Action Plan For Year 2000 Boston, MA Info: 781-235-2895 Compliance - Seminar http://www.masp.com March 26-27, '98 The Y2K Legal Crisis: Legal Washington, DC Info: 800-308-1700 Issues Conference http://www.legalwks.com April 1, '98 ITAA Y2K Task Group Meeting Arlington, VA Info: 703-284-5312 http://www.itaa.org/year2000.htm April 2-3, '98 The Y2K Legal Crisis: Legal Chicago, IL Info: 800-308-1700 Issues Conference http://www.legalwks.com April 6-9, '98 Year 2000 National Symposium Atlanta, GA Info: 508-393-3266 BrainStorm Group, Inc. http://www.brainstorm-group.com April 14-15, '98 An Action Plan For Year 2000 New York, NY Info: 781-235-2895 Compliance - Seminar http://www.masp.com April 20-22, '98 SPG Year 2000 Conference & Expo Orlando, FL Info: 508-652-1010 http://www.spgnet.com April 21, '98 Washington DC Y2K Group Meeting Washington, DC http://www.bfwa.com/bwebster/y2k April 27-28, '98 Year 2000 Millennium Bug New York, NY Info: 800-931-6722 Investment Conference April 29-30, '98 Y2K Info Net Technology Conference Toronto, Canada Info: 905-454-8577 May 6, '98 ITAA Y2K Task Group Meeting Arlington, VA Info: 703-284-5312 http://www.itaa.org/year2000.htm May 18-20, '98 IBM Y2K Technical Conference Las Vegas, NE Info: 800-426-8322 http://www.training.ibm.com/ibmedu/conf/yr2000/ May 18-20, '98 IQPC's Year 2000 Industrial & Houston, TX Info: 617-482-3258 Process Control Systems Conference May 18-19, '98 An Action Plan For Year 2000 Boston, MA Info: 781-235-2895 Compliance - Seminar http://www.masp.com June 1-2, '98 An Action Plan For Year 2000 Chicago, IL Info: 781-235-2895 Compliance - Seminar http://www.masp.com June 3, '98 ITAA Y2K Task Group Meeting Arlington, VA Info: 703-284-5312 http://www.itaa.org/year2000.htm June 22-25, '98 Year 2000 National Symposium Chicago, IL Info: 508-393-3266 BrainStorm Group, Inc. http://www.brainstorm-group.com June 22-23, '98 An Action Plan For Year 2000 San Francisco, CA Info: 781-235-2895 Compliance - Seminar http://www.masp.com June 29-July 1, '98 SPG Year 2000 Conference & Expo Chicago, IL Info: 508-652-1010 http://www.spgnet.com July 1, '98 ITAA Y2K Task Group Meeting Arlington, VA Info: 703-284-5312 http://www.itaa.org/year2000.htm August 5, '98 ITAA Y2K Task Group Meeting Arlington, VA Info: 703-284-5312 http://www.itaa.org/year2000.htm August 10-13, '98 Year 2000 National Symposium San Francisco, CA Info: 508-393-3266 BrainStorm Group, Inc. http://www.brainstorm-group.com September 2, '98 ITAA Y2K Task Group Meeting Arlington, VA Info: 703-284-5312 http://www.itaa.org/year2000.htm September 23-25, '98 SPG Year 2000 Conference & Expo San Francisco, CA Info: 508-652-1010 http://www.spgnet.com October 7, '98 ITAA Y2K Task Group Meeting Arlington, VA Info: 703-284-5312 http://www.itaa.org/year2000.htm November 4, '98 ITAA Y2K Task Group Meeting Arlington, VA Info: 703-284-5312 http://www.itaa.org/year2000.htm November 9-11, '98 SPG Year 2000 Conference & Expo Boston, MA Info: 508-652-1010 http://www.spgnet.com December 2, '98 ITAA Y2K Task Group Meeting Arlington, VA Info: 703-284-5312 http://www.itaa.org/year2000.htm ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook is published every Friday to help all organizations deal more effectively with the Year 2000 software conversion. If you would like to receive this free publication, please sign up on the web at https://www.itaa.org/transact/2kout looksub.htm. Copyright ITAA 1998. All rights reserved. The Information Technology Association of America, 1616 N. Fort Myer Drive, Suite 1300, Arlington, VA 22209. Internet: http:\\www.itaa.org