Questions always arise in my mind when organizations talk about having systems that are not mission critical. Why did an organization spend big bucks developing a computer system if it wasn't needed for the purposes of the organization? Or do they mean they have a system they could avoid using for some limited period of time? What if that time period goes by (which most time periods seem to do)?

If the system you work with has been deemed non-mission-critical, what does that make you? How long do you think your job will last after 1/1/2000? Have you asked your employer whether any systems have been labeled as non-mission-critical? <<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.......

-- Dan Hunt (dhunt@hostscorp.com), June 26, 1998

Answers

Consider a supermarket.

If ALL its computer systems were down and it had to go back to cashiers totting up using desktop calculators, it would TODAY be out of business very fast. However, if EVERYONE was in the same mess, then it wouldn't be. The result would probably resemble shopping the the (historical) Soviet Union -- no consumer choice, just take what's in stock or leave it! The difference would be everyone would be focussed on how to improve matters as quickly as possible, and free to put their ideas into practise.

Taking this idea a bit further, there's probably a heirarchy:

#1. Keeping the checkout tills working. #2. Keeping local inventory and stock-control working. #3. Keeping automated re-order functions going #4. Keeping automated demand-prediction reports going.

(I don't work at a supermarket so the above order may not be right, and is certainly over-simplified)

#4 is not mission critical until #3 is fixed. Perhaps more pointedly, #4 is not critical until the *competition* have fixed #1 to #3 and are working on #4. In other words, short of a complete collapse or replacement of the market economy by something else (TEOTWAWKI), the recovery from Y2K will work using free-market rules: keep up with the competition, or go out of business.

-- Nigel Arnot (nra@maxwell.ph.kcl.ac.uk), June 29, 1998.

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE REPORTED ON 3/19/98 THAT ACCORDING TO JOHN KOSKINEN ,THE FEDS Y2K CZAR , THE FED GOV'T HAS 60,000 SO CALLED SECOND TIER SYSTEMS. THIS IN ON TOP OF THEIR APPROX. 6000 MISSION CRITICAL SYSTEMS. LIKE YOU I FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE THAT ONLY 10% OF THESE SYSTEMS ARE TRULY MISSION CRITICAL. IF THEY ARE NOT IMPORTANT WHY DID WE HAVE THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE?

-- STEVE P. (KITP@PACBELL.NET), July 02, 1998.

Many companies have systems that generate various type of reports, systems that store images of letters received from customers, human resources data bases for tracking employee training, etc. - these are not mission critical - necessary in today's business, probably, but not critical to keeping the business up and running.

-- Rebecca Kutcher (kutcher@pionet.net), July 03, 1998.

90% of them?

-- Rocky Knolls (rknolls@hotmail.com), July 03, 1998.