Year 2000 Computing Crisis: State Department Needs To Make Fundamental Improvements To Its Year 2000 Program
AIMD-98-162
Published: Aug 28, 1998. Publicly Released: Aug 28, 1998.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of State's progress in solving its year 2000 computer systems problem, focusing on the: (1) overall status of State's efforts to identify and correct its date-sensitive systems; and (2) appropriateness of State's strategy and actions to correct its year 2000 problems.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of State | The Secretary of State should ensure that senior program managers and the Chief Information Officer reassess all of State's systems using the new mission-based approach to identify those systems supporting the most critical business operations. |
Closed – Not Implemented
The State Department did not conduct a mission-based reassessment of its mission-critical systems. The State Department believes such prioritization is best conducted separately by its various bureaus, arguing that a department-wide reassessment would have reached the same general ordering of priorities.
|
| Department of State | The Secretary of State should ensure that senior program managers and the Chief Information Officer ensure that systems identified as supporting critical business functions pursuant to recommendation 1 receive priority attention and resources over those systems that do not support critical business functions. |
Closed – Implemented
State officials reported that all Y2K repairs for mission-critical systems were implemented as of May 1999.
|
| Department of State | The Secretary of State should ensure that senior program managers and the Chief Information Officer redirect its contingency planning efforts to focus on the core business functions and supporting systems, particularly those supporting systems that are already scheduled to miss the Office of Management and Budget milestone date for implementation. |
Closed – Implemented
State officials report that contingency plans have been prepared for 52 of its 59 mission critical systems. However, because State did not officially identify its core business functions, it has been unable to develop contingency plans for them and does not have plans to do so in the near future.
|
| Department of State | The Secretary of State should ensure that senior program managers and the Chief Information Officer ensure that the bureaus have identified and corrected interfaces and developed written memorandums of agreement with interface partners. |
Closed – Implemented
State officials report that they have identified and corrected all interfaces and now have Memoranda of Understanding in place with all interface partners.
|
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Topics
Contingency plansContinuity of operationsData integrityElectronic data interchangeInformation resources managementInteragency relationsInterfacesSoftwareSoftware verification and validationStrategic information systems planningSystems compatibilitySystems conversionsY2K