Smooth transition to the year 2000
Archived article from Jan 28, 2000
By Harvey Trabb
The fact that the notorious "Y2K Bug" hasn't affected Rutgers in any significant way to date is the result of lots of hard work and cooperation by many people throughout the university, said Christine M. Haska, vice president for institutional research and planning.
"Spearheaded by the staff of Rutgers University Computing Services (RUCS), especially those working in the Administrative Computing Services (ACS) area, academic and administrative offices on every campus played a role in bringing about the smooth transition of Rutgers' computing systems as the new year began," Haska said.
"I want to thank all of the highly skilled professionals throughout Rutgers who devoted time, talent and effort to this very successful project," she added.
Dating to 1994, the university's Y2K efforts included symposia conducted by members of ACS and held on each campus to raise awareness of the problem.
"Since the earliest days of addressing Y2K concerns, ACS staff focused tirelessly on ensuring that the core administrative applications in such areas as admissions, registration, financial aid, scheduling, payroll and financial accounting were ready for the new millennium and that the infrastructure of hardware and software was Y2K compliant," said Bernice Ginder, university director of administrative information systems and planning.
"Judging by what we've seen so far, the planning, the focused attention and the thorough testing undertaken over the past five years have certainly paid off," she said.
In 1998, a 16-member university-wide Y2K compliance committee was established to coordinate overall Y2K readiness efforts at Rutgers. The group was initially chaired by Richard M. Norman, vice president for administration and associate treasurer. Leslie A. Fehrenbach, associate vice president for administration and public safety, succeeded Norman as head of the group after he left the university last summer.
The committee coordinated detailed planning on how to address Y2K concerns. A special Web site was created to serve as a clearinghouse for information and the routing of questions. Efforts also focused on such issues as internal and external Y2K compliance, contingency planning and testing. In addition, assistance was provided for faculty, staff and students, and a variety of arrangements were made to cope with possible emergencies.
"I can't say enough in praise of everyone who took part in this effort," Fehrenbach said. "Rutgers can be proud of our response to Y2K, and while there are still some hurdles we have to clear, no critical operations have been impacted so far."
More than 150 Rutgers staff members on the alert for Y2K problems worked on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day in various locations throughout the university, including about 15 people who welcomed 2000 in the university's Y2K Emergency Operations Center in Brower Commons.
"Many of our police and emergency services personnel had also been on duty the previous night, coping with a fire in two buildings on College Avenue," Fehrenbach said. "Everyone involved in addressing Y2K at Rutgers did a great job."
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