When David Hyman began working at the S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children’s Services 20 years ago, he was not at all concerned with any technological glitches the year 2000 would bring to the agency.
His reasoning was simple: JFCS had no computers in those days, when he was executive assistant to the executive director.
Today, the agency has more than 70 computers and Hyman, now JFCS’ information systems manager, is making sure the social service agency will be able to use them once the new millennium arrives.
Like many large Jewish agencies preparing for the year 2000, JFCS has inventoried its electronic equipment at all 12 Bay Area branches to see what is Y2K-compliant and what needs to be upgraded or replaced. The issue of Y2K-compliance has arisen because many operating systems and software applications have a two-digit dating program that will revert back to 1900 instead of continuing through 2000.
Hyman started taking inventory and testing software about a year ago and is in the process of updating a few applications and replacing two computers that were not Y2K-compliant. Hyman is not worried about a drastic system meltdown, but he is not taking any chances either.
“I won’t take a vacation around January,” Hyman said. “I will be here just in case.”
At Jewish Vocational Service in San Francisco, Dina Plotkin, manager of information systems and network manager, is spearheading a methodical approach to Y2K. She began preparing in January, when a computer consultant from Office Information Systems in Oakland addressed the process of “disambiguation” — replacing programs that have ambiguous two-digit dating with four-digit dating — at a January staff meeting.
Following the meeting, JVS put together a 12-person team to begin taking inventory and writing grants. Plotkin estimates that she will have to replace 13 of the agency’s 80 computers at a total cost of $28,000. She expects all upgrading and replacing to be done by October, at which point the team will begin making contingency plans to prepare for any potential problems.
“I feel like we are in pretty good shape,” Plotkin said.
Other agencies with large numbers of computers are also tackling Y2K issues. The S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation is replacing about 25 of its 90 machines, according to Jim Massara, director of information systems. Since the beginning of July, the JCF has been replacing four or five computers a week.
For large synagogues such as Reform Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, Y2K will not become a priority until after its busiest time of year — the High Holy Days.
“We can only do things one at a time,” said controller Pam Mergen, who is overseeing computer replacements at Emanu-El. “We are still in the planning stages and we have not implemented any changes yet.”
Mergen started taking inventory in the winter. She expects to replace more than half of Emanu-El’s 40 computers during a 10-day period in October or November.
A number of synagogues and religious organizations with fewer computers are in the process of making upgrades, but on a smaller scale.
The Board of Rabbis of Northern California, which has just two staff members and two computers, will not make electronic changes before the secular new year, according to Rabbi H. David Teitelbaum, the executive director.
“We are a relatively small outfit,” Teitelbaum said. “We have computers, but we’re not planning on doing anything about this.”
In addition to making sure their computers are ready for the new millennium, the larger agencies are also coping with voicemail Y2K compliance. While computers can often be replaced individually, if the voicemail system isn’t Y2K compliant, the whole system may need replacing. Plotkin said JVS will spend about $10,000 to purchase a new voicemail system. JFCS also had to replace its voicemail system, according to Hyman.
Hyman added that many potential Y2K problems have been fixed indirectly by other upgrading efforts in the past few years. While he is working to ensure Y2K compliance, he also wants to tackle a larger project: enabling JFCS caseworkers from Palo Alto to Sonoma to keep in touch with one another via e-mail.
“We have come a long way in 20 years, but I don’t want to stop until everyone is connected,” Hyman said. “That is expensive but we are trying to do it little by little as we can.”