Y2K preparations prove to be effective By Jewel Gopwani Daily Staff Reporter Nearly two years of preparation seems to have paid off for University and Ann Arbor city officials who remained on call during the turn of the millennium Friday. University Spokesperson Julie Peterson said she spent a quiet evening at the emergency command center located in the Public Safety Building without any disruptions due to Y2K. Officials were focused on problems that could have occurred if computers failed to properly recognize the "00" date. Thirty University officials staffed the command center beginning at 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve including Peterson and ITD Chief Information Officer Jose-Marie Griffiths. But by 2 a.m. on New Year's Day, Griffiths said she let most of the staff go except for a "skeleton crew" of about three or four ITD staffers who handled callers on the University's Y2K hotline. During New Year's Eve, Peterson said ITD officials held conference calls every two hours so representatives from University departments could give the command center status reports on their systems. Those who staffed the command center, also followed CNN's coverage of New Year's Eve, held meetings throughout the night and updated its Website, www.year2000.umich.edu. Griffiths said at least three ITD staffers were on duty at the command center until yesterday afternoon. Mayor Ingrid Sheldon said the city also did not have any problems with its computers. She said the city spent "several millions of dollars" on re-evaluating and updating its computer systems. "It was stuff that had to be done eventually but we did it sooner rather than later because of Y2K issues," Sheldon said. Sheldon added that about 300 city employees, one-third of the city's workforce, were on duty on New Year's Eve. University Health System spokesperson Kara Gavins also said University Hospitals did not experience any Y2K computer problems. While the first birth of the new millennium did not occur at University Hospitals, Gavins said a kidney transplant was performed at 11:58 p.m. ITD Director of Operations Management Al McCord said the University spent about two years preparing for the new millennium. "We went through a very extensive analysis process to determine which systems were vul- nerable," McCord said. He added that the University then worked with software manufacturers to replace, modify or upgrade problematic systems. Gloria Thiele said the University primarily worked with the city and Detroit Edison to deal with concerns such as water, energy and telecommunications that are externally provided to the University. As of Monday, Griffiths said, ITD polls of each University department showed no negative reports. While the University did not experience any major problems, Griffiths said the only inquiries students and faculty have made to the University's Y2K hotline involve "a few devices that are showing the wrong date." Griffiths also said some students and faculty have had problems with the University's server. Students who have used the University's telephone grade reporting system are able to retrieve their grades, but the system does not recognized the new century. Students are given the option to retrieve grades for "winter 19-zero" and "fall 19-one" instead of winter 2000 and fall 1999 semesters, respectively. But, Griffiths said the University's plans for New Year's Eve were not a waste of energy or money. "All of our testing shows that we would have had failures otherwise," Griffiths said. She also explained that the extensive preparation offers benefits that will be useful in the future. "For the first time, we have a comprehensive institutionwide emergency plan," Griffiths said. She also said the University now can react to an emergency quickly with a command center like the one prepared for New Year's Eve. "It was worth the extra planning," Peterson said. Although the command center has been shut down, Griffiths said students and faculty can request help for Y2K related problems by calling the University's Y2K number at 1-800-UM-Y2KOK. Originally on page 1A in the 1-5-2000 issue of the Daily.