TIM BOMB
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Just about every haulier in the land has now embraced computerisation. Clever you. But just round the corner is a disaster waiting to happen if you don't ensure that your systems are adjusted to deal with the millennium date change. Patrick Hook investigates how rogue technology could destroy your business.
The massive publicity given to what is grimly referred to as the Millennium Time Bomb has at least ensured that most people have heard of the problem. Quite how many have actually decided to do something about it is another question.
The real problem is that for most hauliers engrossed in the hour-by-hour job of running a business, the millennium is a long way off and any decision that can be dealt with tomorrow will not be dealt with today.
Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Modern computer systems are nothing if not complicated, and sorting out any bugs that may be waiting to explode in a company's face will take more than five minutes with a torque wrench, a hammer and a size 12 boot.
Fortunately, that message appears to have got through and several of the companies CM spoke to have at least begun to look at the problem, while others are well on the way to ensuring that their computer systems are millennium-proof.
Serious disruption
For some, however, an early start may not be enough to prevent serious disruption to a business's day-to-day operations. Simply put, the millennium time bomb is, for many companies, a good deal closer than 1 January 2000.
"There is plenty of opportunity for systems to cause serious difficulties long before the year 2000," says David Bowater of Microlise, a computer software house specialising in IT solutions for logistics and the supply chain. "Anything which involves a date is susceptible."
The first signs of impending mayhem may come with products that have a long shelf life. As goods with an expiry date after 31 December 1999 begin to arrive in the warehouse, computer systems designed to keep track of the "sell by" date may read the year 2000 as 1900 and reject the new stock as already out of date.
Even if the system is manually overridden, there is every chance that it will be wrongly written off as out-of-date stock and held as unavailable for picking and dispatch.
As the months slip by, more problems will surface as data such as delivery dates, shipping dates and other future appointments are keyed into the computer's memory showing the double zero of the new century.
Nor do the difficulties end there. From route planning and scheduling, to payroll data and vehicle maintenance programmes, every aspect of the haulage industry is now controlled, to a greater or lesser extent, by computer. Journey data recorders, fuel cards and temperature monitoring devices—the list of applications that have to be checked goes on and on.
"There are no easy solutions to this," says Joan Wykes, information technology manager for the Freight Transport Association. "If there were, they would have been sorted out a long time ago."
Shortage of space on the original computer memories lies at the root of the current conundrum, and only recently has technology been able to overcome some of the restrictions that prevented the development of computers with a decent-sized memory.
In an effort to make efficient use of the space available, computer programmers used only the last two digits of the year in the systems that made the machines work. With hindsight, this appears to have been an irresponsible piece of short-term expediency, but in reality they had little choice. Now, with the approach of the year 2000, we are all about to reap the whirlwind.
But, according to the experts, there are a number of things that could and should be done—and quickly.
This is the plan of action: • Scope the problem. From the one-man, one-PC, one-vehicle operator through to the largest consortium, there is a need to know precisely what the problem is and its extent. Scoping studies are simply a way of identifying what needs to be tackled, how and by what date. It involves making a complete inventory of every piece of computer equipment in the organisation, not forgetting that the heating, lighting, lifts, clocks, refrigeration plants, engine management systems, security systems, telephone answering and management systems and more, are all probably driven or controlled by a computer chip.
• Software. List the name and/or supplier of the software against each item of hardware.
• Contact the system supplier. This applies to both the hardware and software suppliers which may or may not be the same organisation. Many computer companies will produce the hardware and load it with someone else's software. Most of the larger suppliers will, for some time now, have ensured that their products are 2000compl iant, but it would be foolhardy not to check.
• Action plans. If the news is all bad, then it is best to crack on. The scoping study will have indicated the critical dates and the systems that need to be tackled. Action plans should have a narrowly defined objective, the steps needed to achieve that objective, and the date by which it must be completed. This may be as drastic as throwing out the old PC and buying a new one, or as painless as arranging for the system to be inspected by an IT consultant.
It is important to remember, however, that simply buying a new PC and new software may not solve the problem because the data— all the information keyed into the firm's computer systems and relevant to its continuing in business—may not work with the new programs. Make sure that it does before buying any new equipment.
• Testing systems for 2000
compliance. Do not test any system before copying every program, operating system and scrap of data held on the machine to a floppy disk or tape streamer. If the system is not able to roll over to the new century, deliberately putting in a post-2000 date may result in total loss of data. All testing should be done on a stand-alone PC which is not connected in any way to the rest of the network. If in any doubt, seek expert help.