|
This is one of the more technical parts of the project. Part of this work will be very familiar to Emergency Management Type People (and if you´re such a person, this would be a good part of the project to volunteer for). But this part of the project also needs the skills of Information Systems and Y2k Expert Type People. If you´re a person of that persuasion, this is a crucial place for you to contribute your effort.
A key thing to focus on in this risk and readiness assessment phase is that which remains to be done. An emerging pattern in Y2k status reports is to say "we´re XX% done with the YYY Phase of our work." This can be compared to when you were a child and told your parents, "I´m 3/4 done with my term paper." What your parents were really interested in was:
What have you done so far?
What are you finding to be harder (or easier) than you expected?
What do you have left to do?
As the people you are assessing grow closer and closer to the "due date" for their work, you will need to work hard to let them know that you´re on their side and not out to "get" them, just like your parents were there to help you with that final crunch on the big paper. But clearly, the earlier you can understand what remains to be done the better.
I have a couple of things that you may find useful when you´re working through this part of the project. Both are located on the Tools page of this site. The first is a framework that you can use to interview a project manager to see how things are going. The second is a framework for readiness assessment that might help get you started.
Here are some of the things that you could do
Early 1999
- Establish readiness "report card" tracking (and communication) mechanism
- Establish risk and readiness mapping (GIS) system
- Establish preparations priority-setting process
- Conduct readiness assessment of large employers, health care providers
- Conduct readiness assessment of public utilities, communications
- Conduct readiness assessment of government agencies, schools
- Conduct readiness assessment of transportation functions
- Conduct readiness assessment of large buildings/complexes
- Conduct readiness assessment of emergency equipment and supplies
- Assess availability of experts for Y2k emergency work
Throughout the year of 1999
- Update readiness assessments in Q2 1999
- Update readiness assessments in Q3 1999
- Update readiness assessments in Q4 1999
Examples
Here´s a wonderful Y2k audit report that gets into all kinds of detail and may prove useful for the nitty-gritty planning stage where you´re actually getting out there and counting things.
|
