Daily Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, IA
03-09-07
Daylight Saving Time's early arrival creates 'Y2K2' bug worries
PHIL ROONEY, Staff Writer
Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday in March instead of the first
Sunday in April thanks to the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That is this Sunday,
March 11, at 2 a.m.
Who knew?
Apparently there were some, but until recently the DST element in the act that
was promoted as supporting clean energy alternatives and encouraging
investment in renewable and nuclear energy hasn't been a topic of much
conversation.
Information technology professionals are well aware of the change and what it
may do to computer systems that are programmed to perform specific tasks at
appointed times. The problem essentially comes from the place inside computers
and computer systems that essentially tells it to update for Daylight Saving Time
at a particular time in a certain time zone. That, in many cases, needs to be
updated.
Some IT pros have taken to calling it Y2K2, a reference to earlier computer
concerns as the calendar was about to turn over to 2000.
Marie Mayer, an information technology communications specialist at Iowa
State University, said the concerns have been building within the IT support
community for weeks.
"With Y2K we began planning four years out," Mayer said. Even some major
vendors were not releasing needed information as recently as three or four
weeks ago.
One of the most obvious potential problems comes with people in companies
who work with shared calendars and schedule meetings. Mayer recommends
putting the time in the title of the meeting to avoid problems.
While the biggest problem in some situations will be people who show up early or
late for a meeting, uncertainties continue as to the depth of the problem.
"I think we're going to find out next week," Mayer said.
Anything running on a central system needs to be updated, she said, and the
change provides a good excuse to update everything.
One area of potential concern is with medical monitoring, where a
pharmaceutical dose may be connected to a specific time. Security operations
that lock or unlock doors are another potential source of problems.
"The further you dig into it, the more you realize the potential it has to screw
things up," Mayer said.
Mayer also said some time zones are changing, and other countries are going to
DST that didn't do it before, a consideration for those operating in a global
market. Those changes are not necessarily taking place at the same time as they
are in the United States.
The potential problems don't stop with your PC or the system in your workplace.
Cellular phones and other mobile communications products also have a potential
to be affected.
"Look and see what the vendor for your device is doing," Mayer recommended.
Roger Hertz, system vice president and chief information officer for Methodist
Health System, which includes Physician's Clinics and Jennie Edmundson
Hospital in Council Bluffs, said the staff has long been aware of the potential
problems but depends on computer companies for many of the solutions. That
has kept them busy, and everything from medical records to time clocks to the email used for scheduling has been inspected, he said.
"We will probably be very active right up until the time it changes this weekend,"
Hertz said.
The biggest concerns have been with areas that involved patient care, including
the dispensing of medication and planning appointments.
"That's really the area where we've put in the most time," he said.
Technical and clinical staff will be at Jennie Edmundson Hospital from the early
morning hours Sunday.
"It's kind of a mini-Y2K," he said. "Really, for a lot of vendors, this kind of snuck
up on them."
Jim Mahlberg, information technology director at Iowa Western Community
College, said his staff has been working to avoid possible problems.
"We're definitely taking a look at all our systems," he said.
Most of the operating systems and applications are set for the old DST change in
three weeks, Mahlberg said, and the staff has had to run some new applications
and packages to make sure things are changing as they were supposed to
change.
Some door-locking systems at the college run off a clock, and fine arts has a
ticketing program that must be adjusted. Food service has a computer that
determines when students can eat that also operates off a clock. Even the billing
department has a timing element that could affect the students.
"The college probably has over 50 applications on any given system," Mahlberg
said "It's keeping us busy."
Microsoft has a patch for older operating systems that originally was offered for
$40,000, but that has now been reduced to $4,000, he said, and IWCC hasn't
needed to buy one yet.
"There's no price tag except for my staff time, now," he said.
Mostly IWCC technicians are going around the school and checking on the
applications, but many vendors have been contacted and weren't aware of the
potential problem, he said. A daily news item that goes out to faculty and staff
included a message to remind them of the change and to make a note regarding
future meeting times that could be altered by the computer change.
"I'm sure a few of us will be out here on Sunday checking things out," he said.
"It's a good thing it's Sunday, not Monday. That way we do have some time to
check things out."
And then be ready for the return to Central Standard Time that comes on Nov. 4,
one week later than usual.