We have a need to replace various legacy information
systems in the near future. These needs are becoming more critical at a time when our
resources are decreasing, the complexity of the systems and the associated business needs
are increasing, and time is running out between now and the certain inability of many of
the University's systems (not just those defined as "legacy") to function in the
year 2000. We can no longer plan each
system in isolation of the others, and with no thought to the consequences of missing what
were typically, after all, soft or non-existent deadlines.
As such, the "Business 1999" initiative was
established in August, 1996 to prepare a definition of how the University's business will
be conducted in the spring of 1999, given the opportunities available with existing
technology, the constraints imposed by practical limitations of dollars and resources, and
the technical implications associated with the year 2000.
