Selling management on your Y2K efforts requires a winning
proposal and excellent implementation. Here's how to ensure
buy-in.
Y2K Success Stories from the Field: Pitching to Management on Y2K
Selling management on your Y2K efforts requires a winning
proposal and excellent implementation. Here's how to ensure
buy-in.
As IT professionals, our focus tends to lean toward technology—buying
the latest and greatest tools and toys, documenting the
latest installation, and upgrading procedures. However,
the Year 2000 dilemma’s subtle strike on information
technology is its financial bite on corporate budgets.
It’s not enough to anticipate how the new millenium
will affect our networks technically. We also need to
understand its financial impacts. The fact is, management
buy-in is key to achieving a successful Y2K-compliant
network.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Is my company currently addressing Y2K issues?
- Does my company’s leadership understand the
technological impact of Y2K?
- Do top managers understand the need to be Y2K-compliant?
- Does my company’s leadership understand the
resources necessary to accomplish a Y2K-compliant network?
- Are they prepared to budget and allocate the necessary
resources to such a project?
How do you convince management of the importance of Y2K
to your company? How do you create a plan to present to
management? Finally, how do you create a Y2K upgrade plan?
The
Details |
- Subject: A division of a major electronics
firm.
- Size: Just under 1,000 nodes.
- Current and future OS plans: Currently,
Unix, Macintosh, and Windows 95, moving
to Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack
3,with plans to upgrade to SP4 is
necessary via SMS.
- Began Y2K testing: 3rd Quarter 1998
(after all documentation ws approved
and finalized).
- Expect completion: End of 1998.
- Size of Y2K team: About 10 people.
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5 Steps to a Proposal
First, you need to understand management’s role
in and view of Y2K. In my company, where management is
current with Y2K issues, corporate initiatives began years
ago, setting the stage for a well-structured process.
If your company hasn’t considered or addressed Y2K
issues, you need to act fast.
Now that we're into 1999, time is critical. The most
important lead into any discussion with management about
year 2000 is the powerful and compelling fact that if
your company isn’t compliant, it may experience a
business boycott. Many compliant companies, in an effort
to maintain and prosper in the new millenium, will refuse
to conduct business with non-compliant companies. This
could be devastating to your business. Make certain your
management team understands that this mandate is becoming
more commonplace. Next, get started on five quick steps
to create a successful Year 2000 proposal.
Our
Testing Lab |
Our testing lab consisted
of a Windows NT server (200MHz) and an
NT laptop (which was part of our leasing
program). The cost was minimal since we
were able to test unallocated machines
in our lab before distributing them to
our user base. I suspect that the cost
would run several thousands of dollars
to set up. Our lease program is a result
of our Y2K effort. The laptop hardware
is Y2K-compliant, so we needed to test
software, backups, printing, and e-mail.
We also initiated a Y2K upgrade to PCs
that didn’t necessarily need to be
replaced. We established minimum standards
for the PCs on our network (that was one
Y2K initiative), which included RAM, hard
drive, clock speed, and OS (NT4 SP3) minimums. |
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1 Gather as much objective information
about Y2K as possible. If you’re your own
IT department, be sure to spend some time after hours
gathering information. Numerous Web sites detail the latest
news on Y2K issues (see “Additional
Information”). Some of these sites feature hardware
and software tools for testing compliance. A great number
of trade books also address the many impacts.
2 Compile the information relevant
to your company. Don’t choke your managers
with pounds of hypertext documents printed off the Web
featuring doom-and-gloom melodramas about the Y2K dilemma.
Focus on your company’s needs. Make a strong and
serious attempt to empathize with management instead of
broadcasting your newly acquired knowledge. Addressing
pertinent issues will only strengthen their consideration
of your plan. For example, if your company deals heavily
with financial matters, put an emphasis on researching
how Y2K can affect spreadsheets, payrolls, and investment
applications. Research as much as you can, so when it
comes time to test your solution, you’ve covered
all the bases.
3 Research your vendors’ Web
sites for more information. If your company uses
Dell computers and Hewlett-Packard printers, for example,
what do those vendors have to say about Y2K? Investigate
software vendors’ Web sites, such as those for Adobe
and Microsoft. Most major vendors have Y2K links explaining
their efforts and provide documentation explaining how
they’ve tested for compliance. Some hardware and
software may require only upgrade patches rather than
replacement. Be sure to indicate what’s needed only
for your company, not for Y2K compliance in general. Be
empathetic to cost considerations. Propose replacement,
but be ready to upgrade as a minimal effort. If necessary,
contact the vendor directly via customer support or a
direct sales contact if you need more specific information.
4 Remember the company’s budget.
When considering your proposal, make certain you create
a worst-case scenario and a contingency plan. Worst-case
may entail replacing most hardware and software in your
company. You really don’t know how management will
react. Will they reach deep into the firm’s pockets,
or immediately shun the idea? Therefore, include a hard-hitting
worst-case situation, but soften it with some additional
options. In your contingency plan, be as frugal as possible.
That let’s management know that you want to help
address the Y2K issues using limited resources.
5 Show your research to the management
team. The final step is to present your well-researched
proposal. If your company is large enough to justify it,
I suggest that you set up a mini-conference at which you
can show slides and distribute copies of your information.
Be sure that the business boycott issue
appears first and foremost, since in my experience that
issue strikes home quickly. Start with a brief
explanation of the Y2K problem and move into how it affects
your company. Present information on your vendors and
their testing. Include statistical information from your
research regarding global impact. Let management know
you’ve contacted vendors and are prepared to work
closely with these vendors to achieve compliance. Your
proposal should also include time factors for in-house
testing efforts, in addition to possible budget adjustments.
Conclude your presentation with your financial scenarios
(worst-case and contingency), and immediately follow up
with an offer to propose an implementation plan. At the
end of your presentation, be sure to conduct a question
and answer period. This allows you to reveal more information
than you had in your presentation and gives management
the opportunity to express concerns. You may also find
that you’ve overlooked some important issues.
Is
the Year 2000 problem just a lot of hype,
or is it a real concern in your company?* |
58% |
31% |
11% |
|
Real
concern |
Lots
of hype |
What
problem? |
*Based on 384
responses to a visitor poll at mcpmag.com.
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6 Steps to the Implementation Plan
Since your implementation plan will need management approval,
make it even more perfect than your proposal. Your plan
demands high detail and strict scheduling, especially
if you’re left with only nine months to the year
2000!
Again, customize the plan around your company’s
needs. Your primary concerns will be your networking equipment
(routers, servers, and the like), workstations (hardware,
BIOS, and OS), software (business-critical applications
including e-mail), and peripherals (such as printers and
tape drives). These are the basic considerations.
I suggest that in the process of creating your implementation
plan, you address longer-term goals with your equipment.
In my division, we implemented a PC lease program with
standard configurations with minimum settings for RAM,
hard drive size, processing speed, and standard software
packages for business-critical needs. While this may not
be suitable for all companies, it’s a good idea to
propose standardization. This will definitely ease your
company’s financial considerations in the future.
You’ll also want to consider raising the bar on those
specifications. For example, if the systems in your company
each have different amounts of RAM and hard drive space
and are purchased from different vendors, you may want
to consider streamlining and increasing those sizes for
the future. If your workstations are running under 32M
and 64M of RAM, propose 128M. If your average hard drive
size is one or two gigabytes, propose four as a minimum.
These are just suggestions to ease future expansion costs.
So, let’s get to the plan. Here are the six steps
to a great implementation:
1. Preliminary. In this
step, you need to develop a strict schedule. Start backward
from the end of the year. You know your deadline is year-end,
but don’t stretch it that far. Give yourself some
buffer time. If you can bolster your team with additional
staff, now is the time. Set up a team and assign tasks
based on the following steps. You’ll also need to
start documenting procedures that will be followed for
the remaining steps. Procedural documentation is critical
to implementation.
2 Inventory. One of the
least entertaining but most important steps is gathering
all the information on all of your company’s network
and operation systems. Include routers, servers, workstations,
peripherals, and any software currently owned by the company.
Enter this information into a spreadsheet for later steps.
This is a good step to assign to your additional staff
(if you’re fortunate enough to get them).
3 Assessment. Once your
spreadsheet is complete, analyze the information. Match
your inventory items with the information from your research.
Find out what patches and upgrades are necessary for each
item. For example, if you’re running legacy operating
systems, you may want to consider upgrading to Windows
NT 4.0 with the latest service pack, which, Microsoft
assures us, is Y2K-compliant. In some cases, operating
system patches will provide you with a Y2K solution. Remember
your standardization efforts here. Gather all pertinent
vendor information regarding products and testing procedures.
A variety of testing software and tools can help you determine
if your hardware and software is compliant. (I can’t
make recommendations, since I wasn’t responsible
for picking tools in my division.) Be sure to include
costs for proposed upgrades and replacements.
4 Planning. In this step,
you’ll want to share with management the results
of your findings to date. Impress them with your detailed
inventory spreadsheet highlighting what’s necessary
for each item to reach Y2K-compliance, including the approximate
associated costs. Here’s where you’ll have a
more defined idea of worst case and contingency costs.
Distribute your procedural documentation for the remainder
of the implementation with management.
5 Conversion. This is another
critical step because it involves defining step-by-step
procedures for testing your upgraded and/or replaced hardware
and software. My suggestion here is to set up a test lab
where you can set future dates on servers and workstations,
run date-sensitive applications and macros, copy and print
files from servers and workstations, send and print e-mail
messages, and the like. If you lack the resources to set
up a test lab, schedule an “off” weekend where
company staff won’t be allowed to work on the network
(including dialing in). Then set your systems forward
to 11 p.m. on December 31, 1999 and start testing functionality.
[Read “A
Matter of Due Diligence” for information about
how to achieve this.—Ed.]
6 Implementation. Here it
is—the final step to Y2K compliance. After you’ve
completed thorough testing, it’s time to implement
your solutions across your company. Deploy all your new
hardware, software, and upgrades. Remember to give yourself
extra time at the end of the rollout so you’re not
spending New Year’s Eve with that special workstation
instead of that special someone.
At the end of your implementation, follow up with management
to address the success of the rollout. Let your clients
and vendors know you’ve addressed the Y2K issue to
the best of your ability and that you look forward to
doing business with them in the next millenium.