..
 FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
What is the year 2000
problem?
Many
software and hardware products were
designed to store dates using a two-digit
year (e.g., 98) instead of a four-digit
year (e.g., 1998). This was done to save
what was, at the time, valuable memory.
As we make the transition to the year
2000, some applications could
misinterpret 00 as 1900, 1980 or some
other date.
In
addition, 2000 is a leap year. A leap
year occurs at the turn of the century
every 400 years, and some applications
have failed to accommodate this.
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How does the problem
affect my system?
Your
computer system consists of several
components: applications (such as word
processing, spreadsheets and databases),
an operating system (e.g., Windows® 95),
a basic input/output system (BIOS) and a
central processing unit (CPU).
When
your application requires a date, it is
requested from the operating system. The
operating system, in turn, requests the
date from the BIOS, which requests it
from the CPU clock. The CPU returns the
date to the BIOS, which may interpret the
date before reporting it to the operating
system. The operating system may then
format the date before reporting it to
the application.
If any
one of these components fails to properly
process the date, the application may
store or display the date incorrectly.
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What do I need to know
about using dates?
How your
application stores and displays dates, as
well as how you enter, edit, export and
import dates can affect how your
application handles date information.
Date
Storage
The format an application uses to store
dates can affect how it displays and
processes date information. If an
application stores dates in a format that
includes the century information (i.e.,
1998 instead of 98, or 2002 instead of
02), it should have little difficulty
displaying and processing dates after the
turn of the century.
If the
application stores dates in a format that
does not include the century information
(i.e., in two-digit year format), the
application may have difficulty
displaying and processing dates after the
turn of the century.
Date
Display
You can display date information in many
different formats, such as 12/31/1998,
12/31/98, December 31, 1998, or 31 Dec
1998. We recommend that you always
display dates with a four-digit year to
avoid possible ambiguity.
Date
Entry
The date format you use to enter date
information can affect how the
information is stored. For speed and ease
of use, many people prefer to enter dates
with two digits for the year (mm/dd/yy).
If you choose to enter years in this
format, the application must make an
assumption about what year you intended
when it stores the information.
We
recommend, however, that you always enter
dates using four digits for the year to
avoid possible ambiguity.
Date
Editing
The method you use to edit date
information can also affect how the
information is stored. If you edit a date
by removing a four-digit year and
re-entering the year with a two-digit
entry, you may alter the original century
designation. We recommend that you edit
dates by re-entering a four-digit year.
Import/Export
Exercise caution when you are moving date
information from one application to
another. If date information that is
displayed with a two-digit year is
exported to an application with different
two-digit year entry assumptions, the
date information may be changed. If
either application fails to handle date
information correctly, the data can
become corrupted.
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What are some of the
critical areas of date exposure in my
applications?
The
level of date exposure varies from
application to application; the impact
that the year 2000 may have is largely
dependent on how well the application
deals with this exposure. The following
are possible areas of date exposure
commonly present in software
applications:
A date
stamp occurs when the application assigns
a date that users cannot edit (for
example, when a file is saved, or if the
Insert Date feature is used). These
features assign the date based on the
operating system date.
A date
assumption is applied by an application
when you enter dates using only two
digits to represent the year. The
assumption is required to determine what
century you intended. For example, an
application may use the 100-year date
window: 1951 – 2050. If you enter a
two-digit year between 51 and 99, the
application assumes 1951 – 1999. If
you enter a two-digit year between 00 and
50, the application assumes 2000 –
2050. The pivot date window used varies
from application to application.
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Can my operating
system's default date formats affect my
applications?
The
default date formats of your operating
system can affect your application. Be
sure to set all the operating system
default date formats to include a
four-digit year; for example, we
recommend that you set your Short date
style in Windows to include a four-digit
year.
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What can I do to be
ready for the year 2000?
There
are several things you can do to ease
your transition to the year 2000.
- Confirm
that the hardware components of
your system are year 2000
compliant by contacting their
manufacturers.
- Confirm
that the applications running on
your system are year 2000
compliant by contacting their
manufacturers.
- Set
the date defaults in your
operating system to display date
information with a four-digit
year.
- Enter
dates using four digits for the
year where possible, to avoid
ambiguity.
- Be
aware of the two-digit year entry
assumptions made by your
applications, if you decide to
enter dates using only two digits
for the year.
- Ensure
that you have current backup
files of all your critical data.
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How does Prognet
evaluate products?
All
products go through the Year 2000 Product
Evaluation Program. We conduct our
product evaluations using real world
scenarios to determine if the
applications will operate as designed
using various identified year 2000
critical dates.
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What does Prognet mean
by "Year 2000 Compliant"?
"Year
2000 Compliant" means that the
product will:
- function
normally when the operating
system date advances to 2000
- process
multi-century date information
correctly and in an unambiguous
manner, regardless of the
operating system date
- recognize
February 29, 2000 both as a valid
operating system date and as a
valid date entry
provided
that it is used in accordance with its
associated documentation and other
published operating recommendations and
exceptions (publicly available from
Prognet's Year 2000 Web site), and that
all other products (such as, hardware,
firmware and software) used with the
product properly exchange date data with
it.
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What does
"Compliant with Minor Issues"
mean?
"Compliant
with Minor Issues" means that there
is some exposure to year 2000 date
issues. The issues we have identified,
however, should not affect the overall
performance of the product.
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What does "Not
Compliant" mean?
"Not
Compliant" means that the product
does not meet Prognet's standard for year
2000 compliance.
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What does "Will
Not Be Tested" mean?
"Will
Not Be Tested" means there are no
plans to test this product for year 2000
issues. "Will Not Be Tested"
should not be interpreted to mean the
product is or is not year 2000 compliant.
Because Prognet does not plan to test
this product, it cannot determine how
this product will function after Dec. 31,
1999. If you are concerned about the year
2000 status of the application, we
recommend assessing it in your particular
operating environment.
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How does Prognet decide
which products are evaluated for year
2000 issues?
Prognet
evaluates all new products before they
are released, as well as major upgrades
of all existing products. Prognet is also
evaluating a number of historic products
that have a large user base. Users of
historic products should be aware,
however, that they may be using versions
that were developed by a software
manufacturer before Prognet acquired
distribution and development rights for
the product. We suggest that users
contact the product developer for year
2000 product information.
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Will Prognet warrant
that its products are Year 2000
Compliant?
Prognet's
commitment to prepare for the transition
to the year 2000 should not be considered
in any way to be a further representation
or warranty on Fire software or a
certification or guarantee of year 2000
readiness. You assume all risk and
liability associated with your reliance
upon year 2000 information provided by
Prognet.
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Should I test my Year
2000 Compliant Fire products?
Prognet
has made every effort to ensure that its
product testing is accurate. However,
because each customer's environment is
different from Prognet's testing
environment, it is always the
responsibility of each customer to assess
and evaluate their Prognet products
within their own environment. This
includes being aware of the relevant
issues and contacting the manufacturers
of the various components that make up
your system to determine what testing
they have completed. You should also set
all your default date formats to display
a four-digit year.
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How can I contact
Prognet?
Prognet
welcomes requests for information
regarding year 2000 issues. However, due
to the great volume and diversity of
these requests, Prognet is unable to
complete individual questionnaires for
year 2000 product information at this
time. In order to provide our customers
with the most current year 2000
information as quickly as possible, we
have created this Web site which is
updated as new information becomes
available.
Requests
for information may be sent to the
following address:
| Mailing
Address: |
Year 2000
Customer Service Representative,
Prognet
Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
No.1, Neelakandan
Street,
Nungambakkam, Chennai - 600 034,
Tamilnadu, India. |
| Telephone: |
044-28170440 |
| Fax: |
8290341 |
| E-mail: |
prognet@fireav.com |
Please be aware that a
response may take two to three days due
to the large volume of information
requests that we receive. Be assured,
however, that we will answer each
request. Your patience in this matter is
greatly appreciated.
|
.