wfn.org | PC(USA) Expects No Computer Glitches to Arrive with New Year

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

21-December-1999 
99433 
 
    PC(USA) Expects No Computer Glitches 
    to Arrive with New Year 
 
    Officials say Y2K is nothing to get bugged about 
 
    by Evan Silverstein 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) officials are optimistic 
that precautions taken across the denomination will ward off any Year 2000 
computer glitches. 
 
    From the Presbyterian Center here to synod offices and presbyteries 
across the nation, officials say computer systems have been fixed or 
upgraded and should be ready for the new millennium. The fear is that the 
start of 2000 could cause problems in some computer systems that may read 
the new year as 1900. 
 
    "My gut feeling is that we're in fairly good shape," said Kathy 
Lueckert, deputy executive director of the General Assembly Council (GAC) 
and coordinator of the denomination's Y2K task force. "But we are somewhat 
dependent on what happens to us from the outside with utilities. We should 
be able to be up and running with few problems after the first of the year, 
but if major utilities, particularly electric, gas, water and telephone, 
have trouble, then we'll have trouble." 
 
    The task force, called into action by GAC's audit committee, has worked 
for more than two years to assure that systems programmed at the center can 
handle the changeover and recognize "00" as 2000. New computers and 
software patches for old ones have helped maintain readiness. Barring 
outside problems, the denomination's nerve center should experience no 
disruptions. 
 
    This means that popular computer-based systems, such as PresbyNet, 
which provides online access to electronic discussions, news and 
publications, should be resistant to the millennium bug, as too should 
PC(USA)'s World Wide Web site (www.pcusa.org). 
 
    "We have done everything we can," said the Rev. Merrill Cook, the 
system administrator. "If something breaks, we'll fix it." 
 
    PresbyTel, an information service of the church that uses telephone 
consultants, should also be unaffected, thanks to a newly installed 
automated telephone system at the center. 
 
    Meanwhile, if you are a retired minister or church employee, don't 
worry, the millennium bug is not expected to cause a delay in processing 
benefits. 
 
    "I don't see that happening," said Dom Palladino, chief information 
officer for the Board of Pensions (BOP), which provides such services as 
pension income, death benefits, disability protection, medical benefits 
coverage and income supplements, and assistance for the emergency needs of 
former church workers. 
 
    Advance notice and careful planning has helped BOP deal with Y2K 
computer issues. In 1994, officials conducted a strategic systems plan "and 
what we did was, we went outside and really purchased all of our software 
and we got out of the custom software programming business. We made sure 
whoever we purchased from had Y2K compliant systems," Palladino said. 
 
    Board officials, who also prepared computers for leap year in 2000, 
recently commissioned a project to test all facilities as an additional 
precautionary measure. They also are working with companies that provide 
services to BOP - such as hospitals, HMOs, banks and investment managers - 
to ensure that they have plans to fully comply with Y2K requirements. No 
snags have been reported. 
 
    "We have already begun to process business dates into the next 
millennium correctly," Palladino said. 
 
    Presbytery of Monmouth officials in Tennent, N.J., are confident they 
can withstand an attack of the millennium bug. That's because they replaced 
the office's six computers and server last summer. 
 
    "We are set for Y2K," said Nancy Rodman, the presbytery's Resource 
Center director. "What we did first of all was bought all new computers, 
because we were simply not compliant. We had very old computers. We were 
going to crash when the year turned to 2000." 
 
    Upgrading to avoid the Y2K bug has been a bonus for the presbytery, 
allowing it to plan an Internet presence in the new millennium. 
 
    "In addition to getting us Y2K compliant, it means that we will shortly 
have a web page, which we did not have," Rodman said. "It means that we 
will be on e-mail, which we were not." 
 
    Presbytery officials also held a workshop to instruct congregations on 
ways they can help around the community in the event of a Y2K crisis. 
 
    It's the same story at the Synod of the Sun in Denton, Texas, where all 
systems are go. 
 
    "We checked all the machines to make sure that they could handle the 
year 2000, plus handle the leap year calculation," said Billy Ham, the 
synod's network administrator. "As far as we're concerned we pretty much 
have taken care of the problem." 
 
    Ham said officials there started checking for potential Y2K threats 
last year, finding that one accounting package could not handle the 
changeover to 2000. 
 
    "I feel like at this point we have taken care of all the problems we 
could anticipate," he said. "If something does come up, we will have to 
simply deal with it. I don't think life is going to come to a screeching 
halt." 

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