[February 10, 1999]

For many years, a wide variety of computer programs that display, manipulate or store dates have adopted the shorthand convention of using only the last two digits of the year. If not modified, many of these programs will not perform correctly when using dates beyond the year 1999, especially if they must compare those dates with earlier dates. The University of California Retirement System (UCRS) computer system, obtained from an outside service provider approximately 10 years ago, used this shorthand convention.

The following illustrates the potential problem caused by two-digit years. If an employee asks UC HR/Benefits to compute the value of their future retirement annuity for the years between 1999 and 2025, the unmodified system would subtract 1999 from 1925, yielding a period of -74 years. This would obviously result in an incorrect calculation of the value of the employee's annuity.

To remedy this problem in the UCRS computer system, last fiscal year an outside firm was engaged to identify all the locations in the system where a two-digit year was used. Subsequently, each occurrence was reviewed, modifications were made, and extensive testing was completed. The modified system will now function correctly as the year 2000 approaches and thereafter.

Says Jim Dolgonas, Assistant Vice President, ISandC (Information Systems and Computing), "I'm confident that the University won't suffer any disruptions as a result of Y2K problems with any major University systems (such as UCRS, Payroll, Student and Financial systems) or with University facilities." ("Y2K" is an expression for the year 2000 problem.)

A broad range of information about the Year 2000 problem is available on the web. Among these are the UC's Y2K website, "Meeting the Year 2000 Challenge." This site provides an excellent overview and includes a discussion on the background and nature of the problem, coordinating solutions, and contingency plans.

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