Risk Manager can assess an agency's year 2000 preparedness and survivalchances
Managers can monitor their agencies' year 2000 survival chances with Risk Manager for Year 2000, a Microsoft Windows 9x and Windows NT package from GartnerGroup Inc. of Stamford, Conn. Risk Manager does not diagnose, fix or test any date code. Instead, the $19,000 standalone application presents lengthy checklists to measure a senior manager's knowledge of readiness in six areas: information technology infrastructure, facilities and equipment, supply chain, products and services, applications and procedures, and process systems.
Managers can monitor their agencies year 2000 survival chances with Risk Manager
for Year 2000, a Microsoft Windows 9x and Windows NT package from GartnerGroup Inc. of
Stamford, Conn.
Risk Manager does not diagnose, fix or test any date code. Instead, the $19,000
standalone application presents lengthy checklists to measure a senior managers
knowledge of readiness in six areas: information technology infrastructure, facilities and
equipment, supply chain, products and services, applications and procedures, and process
systems.
Organizations have concerns in all areas, said Timothy F. Scudder, GartnerGroups
vice president of compliance research.
When the manager has checked off the multiple-choice questions as completely as
possible, Risk Manager summarizes overall readiness in a hexagon-shaped graph that shows
the agencys chances of surviving the crisis.
GartnerGroup research shows that senior executives who made their chief information
officers responsible for year 2000 readiness underestimated the scope of the problem,
Scudder said. He said Risk Manager incorporates all of GartnerGroups research
knowledge related to year 2000 survival.
The app analyzes the cost of fixing code and the degree of independent validation. Used
periodically, it forms an audit trail of year 2000 progress. Users can drill down to the
underlying lists, maintained in a flat-file database, to focus their efforts on the
riskiest areas.
Risk Managers $19,000 one-year license fee includes one day of training for a
senior manager and quarterly software updates.
GartnerGroup has estimated that only half the worlds organizations will test
their year 2000 repairs, and that the costs of repairs will range from $300 billion
upward. Scudder said the figures for the full costs are unlikely to emerge until around
2002.
Contact GartnerGroup at 203-316-3268.
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