Campus administrators insist that SDSU is completely prepared forY2K and that the Y2K computer “bug” will affect students onlymarginally, if at all.
Michael Car, records officer and judicial coordinator forAdmissions and Records, said there is a chance that a small fractionof students may encounter problems with registration.
“For example, a doctoral student might not be recognized in thesystem,” Car said. “In that case we will have to register the studentmanually while we de-bug and fix the problem.”
SDSU is one of only nine out of 23 California State Universitycampuses that has completed a year 2000 project. For nearly threeyears, SDSU computer administrators have worked to assure a smoothtransition into the year 2000.
Now all SDSU can do is sit back and wait to see what happens.
Robert Newhouse, Director of University Computer Operations said apower loss caused by a power company is the worst-case scenario, butthere are diesel-powered generators ready in case of a power loss.Disk and tape drives will be used to back up data, he said.
Managers from each administrative department have been testingtheir own software and hardware for possible bugs. No system problemshave been reported.
Car said Regline will be working before and after the New Year andthat students shouldn’t be alarmed.
Computer support technicians will also be on hand to monitor SanDiego State University’s computer network.
Newhouse said a staff of 29 analysts will be monitoring computersystems on campus on Jan. 1 to make sure systems run smoothly intothe new year.
Car estimated Admissions and Records expenditures alone on the Y2Kproject to be more than $1 million. Its Y2K project has been going onfor the past seven months.
The former Admissions and Records database system wasn’t Y2Kcompliant, Newhouse said. The system was replaced as part of astandard replacement process. Y2k highlighted the importance of this,he said.
The new Y2K-compliant Student Information Management System wasinstalled this Fall to run administrative programs. Its installationcaused some delays for students seeking records and transcripts earlyin the semester.
SDSU’s Y2K effort began in early 1997 with the selection of aspecial team of eight analysts who managed the project.
Bill Flint, SIMS/R project manager, said all the software thatruns the student information on the system such as curriculum, coursecatalogs and the Regline has been tested regularly for potential Y2Kproblems.
“I didn’t see anything critical that would implicate systemdifficulties,” Flint said.
Susan Mar, information systems consultant in Academic Affairs,said mission-critical applications such as student records, financeand human resources have been tested for bugs related to Y2K. Nothingserious has been reported, she said.
End users will occasionally run an old software application onuniversity computers. Mar said the data stored on these programsstill needs to be converted to a newer platform to assure no glitchesare found.
These programs are rarely used and will not cause major problems,Mar said.
“There are some old DOS files that are still used every once in awhile and will have to go,” she said.
Newhouse said the total SDSU cost of the conversion has not yetbeen determined. Computer hardware and software that was upgraded, hesaid, was part of standard upgrading costs.
Administrators said they will be able to determine the total costof the project after Jan. 1 when all components of campus systemshave been evaluated for effectiveness.
Newhouse said university computer operations staff is ready forJan. 1. He said most of the newer computers purchased by theuniversity after July 1997 were already Y2K compliant.
Newhouse said the university has been sending quarterly progressreports to the Chancellor’s Office, which reports the Y2K conversionprogress to the state.
“We’ve done everything we can to make sure the computers will runon Jan. 1,” he said.
