Y2K Central – Cable & Wireless Optus.
Eleven years ago, we were all aware of the looming prospect of Y2K and the affect it could have on our daily lives.
There was a lot of hype surrounding the whole Y2K issue – whether or not there would be widespread disruption, and for those of us in IT, the ramifications of this on our systems & programmes. Make no mistake, the Y2K date issue was very real. Each ‘element’ of the business that supported their products & services, had to be tested. In systems and network elements where dates were a component, they were methodically processed through due dilligence, to be certified as Y2K compliant.
In April 1998, Advanced Database Sytems (the parent Company of the FMStudio initiative) was contracted to work within the Cable & Wireless Optus Y2K Programme Office.
We developed a systems catalogue called SysCat to capture, record, manage, monitor & track the progress of over 600 network elements through the process of Y2K compliance & certification. We then went on to map each of these elements to the business processes that supported their products and services. Business Processes like activation, service assurance, continuity, maintenance and billing. This mapping software – developed using FileMaker, was called the PDM or Product Dependency Matrix.
Two & a half years later, this software was to become pivotal to the operations centre of Y2K Central, the hub for gathering the test results and reporting on the night. Their success would be measured as the clocks counted down & ticked over at midnight on the 31st of December 1999, with the eyes of the world watching…
