Subj: Year 2000 Wire/U.S. Social Security Administration --... Date: 1/25/99 6:43:20 AM US Mountain Standard Time From: AOL News BCC: Lulu010101

Year 2000 Wire/U.S. Social Security Administration -- SSA -- Selects CCD Online's Independent Validation and Verification -- IV&V -- Tool to Verify Y2K Compliance

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 1999--

CCD's Beyond 1999/Validate(tm) Software Used by the SSA

for Quality Assurance

CCD Online Systems Inc., a worldwide provider of Year 2000 (Y2K) remediation and validation tools, Monday announced that its Beyond 1999/Validate product has been selected by the U.S. Social Security Administration to verify that previously remediated COBOL code is Year 2000 compliant.

"As we make legislative and other mandatory changes in 1999 to Y2K-certified software, we want to make sure we do not introduce errors during the change process. A good quality assurance and recertification process is essential because it enables an independent review of the software," said Kathy Adams, assistant deputy commissioner for systems, Social Security Administration.

"Using CCD's IV&V tool helped us automate this quality assurance and recertification process and provided us with the accuracy and speed that we required. We are pleased with the results."

CCD Online Systems was awarded the contract to provide the software tool for the U.S. Social Security Administration quality assurance project after successfully completing a pilot program using Beyond 1999/Validate. The U.S. Social Security Administration purchased a site license from CCD through the GSA Federal Supply Schedule.

The tool, which can validate up to 100,000 lines of remediated code per person day, will help the U.S. Social Security Administration ensure a high level of quality. Key factors in the Social Security Administration's decision were CCD's ease of use, accuracy, speed, customer service, technical support and non-Y2K applications.

"The Social Security Administration is considered to be the U.S. federal agency that is the farthest ahead in solving its Y2K problems," said Jim McGovern, president and COO of CCD Online Systems. "This essential step in Y2K Best Practices methodology should reassure all government agencies and businesses that the U.S. Social Security Administration has prepared for its enterprise systems to function reliably after Dec. 31, 1999."

Beyond 1999/Validate

Beyond 1999/Validate provides CCD's many customers with an accurate, fast and cost-effective means of finding and reporting remaining date issues. CCD's IV&V software tool has a sophisticated analysis engine which, in almost every case, has found errors in previously renovated code, regardless of whether the client has used a manual approach, a software tool or both.

In customer tests, CCD's Beyond 1999/Validate typically identifies between 100 and 200 date statements per million lines of previously remediated code that was thought to be compliant. This error rate represents a major business risk and a liability issue for directors and officers, who may face legal consequences for failure to perform quality assurance.

Beyond 1999/Validate is already being used in the United States and around the world by organizations including some of the largest telecommunications, insurance, banking and consulting companies, as well as government agencies. In IV&V projects, CCD consultants are able to use Beyond 1999/Validate to check up to 100,000 lines of remediated code per person day and identify all non-compliant statements.

Running on Microsoft Windows 95, 98 or NT desktop platforms, the experience of the CCD consulting practice has demonstrated that one person using Beyond 1999/Validate can check one million lines of code in as little as 10 working days.

About CCD Online Systems

CCD Online Systems was founded in 1981 by David Lee, a leading authority on mainframe systems and author of six best-selling books on enterprise-wide business computing. CCD began helping customers prepare for the Year 2000 date change by providing comprehensive tools and services for legacy systems. Today the company offers advanced technology for enhancing and validating the successful completion of Y2K compliance.

The company's Beyond 1999 toolset includes Beyond 1999/Validate and Beyond 1999/Y2K(tm). The company also offers factory services and on-site consulting services for customers who require additional in-house technical resources.

CCD Online Systems has headquarters in Arcadia, Calif., near Los Angeles, and has U.S. offices in New York; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Denver; San Francisco; Philadelphia; Salt Lake City; and Montgomery, Ala. The company has international offices in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong, as well as a Year 2000 factory in Montreal. More information on products and services is available at www.ccdonline.com.

Note to Editors: Beyond 1999/Validate and Beyond 1999/Y2K are

trademarks or registered trademarks of CCD Online Systems Inc.

All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property

of their respective owners.

Statements made herein are subject to the Year 2000 Information

and Readiness Disclosure Act (Public Law 105-271, 112 Stat. 2386).

In the case of a dispute, this Act may reduce your legal rights

regarding the use of any such statements, unless otherwise

specified by contract or tariff. CCD Online Systems Inc. reserves

the right to change or modify any information contained herein

without notice.

--30--tjj/la* jah/la

CONTACT:

CCD Online Systems Inc.

Jan Gruenwald, 626/821-0188

or

Miller/Shandwick Technologies

Lynne Daily, 310/203-0550

ldaily@miller.shandwick.com

-- lulu (lulu010101@aol.com), January 25, 1999

Answers

I thought SSA had completed testing and had already been audited by an independant third party.

-- areseejay (areseejay@aol.com), January 26, 1999.

So the SSA, which started 8 years ago and is in by far the best "Y2K-shape" of any Federal agency, has just now (late January, 1999) acquired a COBOL validation tool. Why am I less than comforted by this news?

My employer, which has reported to the media that we're in "great shape", just discovered that (a) a security system that we just recently installed is not Y2k-compliant, and (b) our primary client (who are handling their own desktop remediation) has not finished acquiring an assessment tool, let alone finished assessment!

Just a really lousy news day all 'round...

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.com), January 26, 1999.

I work for CCD. SSA is pretty far along, and they are using our tool for independent validation. This means that they are fairly certain of catching almost all of the residual errors that are plaguing many Y2K projects. SSA has already run a pilot project with some of their code, which was evidently the basis for Clinton's claim that they had beat the bug. If the rest of the government were as far along, I'd be happier.

-- fran (fprevas@ccdonline.com), January 26, 1999.