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Year 2000 Frequently Asked Questions |
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Honeywell Commercial Aviation Systems (CAS) Year 2000 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) Q. How will Honeywell handle post January 1, 2000 questions? As of January 31, 2000 Worldwide operations at the former Honeywell, Inc. continue to function smoothly,
with no significant issues reported. Note: This is a final update. New information will be provided Q. How will Honeywell handle contingencies at the rollover? Although Honeywell has evaluated all airborne and ground equipment in use at airlines today for Year 2000 readiness (and we are confident there will be no issues), we have developed contingency plans for all critical areas including customer response to inquiries. We will provide a singular focal point approach for customers to contact us in the unlikely event that they experience some difficulty during or after the rollover at midnight on December 31, 1999. Customers experiencing suspected Year 2000 impacts, or those who may have questions, will be able to contact the Honeywell Customer Response Center (CRC) in Phoenix at the following:
CRC personnel are and will continue to be on duty 24 hours a day 7 days a week, including the December 31st through January 1st holiday period to respond to any issue. Q. What is the Year 2000 Rollover? The approach of the Year 2000 presents the prospect that, on January 1, 2000, unless their software is corrected, computers with time-sensitive software programs may assume that the year is 1900. That could either force the computer to shut down or lead to incorrect calculations. Another date related problem surrounding the year 2000 is the fact that it is a special case leap year that happens once every 400 years. Systems and applications that do not recognize the year 2000 as a leap year may cause all dates following February 29, 2000 to be offset incorrectly by one day. Q. Why do we have this problem?Programmers industry-wide used two digits in the past instead of four digits to designate the year to save (then-expensive) storage. |
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Q. What issues may arise? At a minimum, applications that are dependent on date fields may fail on or before January 1, 2000. Furthermore, because of interdependencies within Honeywell, the failure of any one system or application in a given Business Unit may impact another or all remaining business units. The problem can range from reporting erroneous dates to possible systems failure. In most cases, however, the problems may entail users having some difficulty in assessing historical records that encompass events occurring in the Year 2000 and beyond. Calculations built upon dates with only two digits for the year will not execute properly because they will not see dates in the 21st century as being larger numbers than those in the 20th century. Example: 2000 – 1998 = 2 but 00 – 98 = -98 (or 98 if the application does not allow negative numbers). The result of this might be that your accounting software sees all accounts receivable as overdue due to the fact that no customers have paid in 98 years. Technically, the problem is simple to understand. The solutions to the problem tend to be fairly simple as well. The scope of the problem, however, makes it difficult. Every piece of hardware, software, and embedded system must be taken into account. Q. What is Honeywell doing about the Year 2000 Rollover? We have established a corporate-wide Year 2000 program office with a program manager, executive sponsorship, and quarterly reviews by corporate officers and the board of directors. Additionally, each corporate business unit, including Commercial Aviation Systems (CAS) businesses, has identified a Year 2000 program manager and a team of individuals to support such effort. In fact, every employee has been asked to participate in the effort to insure we address all aspects of the way we do work and how the Year 2000 could affect our business. We are focusing on four areas of interest that we believe will ensure a comprehensive understanding of potential Year 2000 issues that might exist. These four areas are:
Q. What is Honeywell’s statement of Year 2000 readiness? "Year 2000 ready" means that Honeywell Products / Software will process dates and times in such a manner that the technical and functional requirements of Honeywell Products / Software will continue to be materially met without interruption for the years 1999, 2000 and leap year calculation for the year 2000.
Q. Can you describe Honeywell’s process for Year 2000 readiness? Honeywell has implemented a three phased effort aimed at achieving Year 2000 readiness. Q. When did this initiative begin, and when is it scheduled for completion? The Honeywell corporate Year 2000 program began in 1993. The goal is to have all critical work completed by September 30, 1999. The Year 2000 team will continue its work up to and beyond the year 2000 rollover as needed to insure all facets of our business remains supportive of our customer’s needs. Q. What is the current status of the Honeywell CAS Year 2000 effort? Overall, Honeywell Commercial Aviation Systems (CAS) products do not have Year 2000 safety-related issues. To date, we have found only a very few nuisance issues in some of our products and no flight safety or critical performance issues. We have communicated these issues to customers. We continue to assess all possible impacts of the Year 2000 rollover on our products and our business operations. Honeywell Commercial Aviation Systems (CAS) has conducted an aggressive, proactive Year 2000 program, which included our internal business systems, design and manufacturing tools, as well as products/services. We believe the actions taken to date assure that safety-related issues have been adequately addressed and that we have reduced the risks to both our customers and our company. We are ready for Year 2000.Q. Honeywell’s analysis or testing indicates that a system or product is Year 2000 ready, is that a guarantee that there will be no Year 2000-related problems? Honeywell is examining only its own systems and software for Year 2000 readiness. For example, we generally are not addressing total aircraft integrated systems readiness (unless specifically performing that work under contract) since the OEM’s would provide that view. Also, users may have software they developed on their own or purchased from third parties. Honeywell cannot say how these programs may be affected by the Year 2000 rollover. Q. What are Honeywell’s plans for resolving potential Year 2000 rollover issues on products? For current products, Honeywell will either correct or document issues that exist. As new products are being developed, they are analyzed/tested for Year 2000 readiness as part of the overall certification process. Q. What approach will be taken to address Y2k readiness of existing Honeywell CAS products? The approach for Products is as follows: Q. What business / development systems are being evaluated to determine Y2k readiness? Q: How extensive are Year 2000 rollover issues for Honeywell CAS products and systems? Overall, Honeywell CAS systems do not have safety-related issues. To date we have found only nuisance issues in a few of our products and no flight safety or critical performance issues. We continue to assess all possible impacts of the Year 2000 rollover on our products. In addition, there are no internal business or design, manufacturing or test equipment or software impacts that would preclude continued Honeywell operations in support of all of our customers. Q: How can I find out which specific Honeywell CAS products are affected by the Year 2000 rollover or obtain other information regarding the overall Year 2000 project? To obtain specific product information regarding the Year 2000 rollover, follow the prompts on the Honeywell web site, http//www.honeywell.com. If a product cannot be found, you may continue to follow the prompts leading to an e-mail message to Honeywell. In addition, Technical Newsletters are issued on a regular basis to all customers of Honeywell avionics products and services. Q. How will customers be notified if we have Year 2000 issues? Honeywell CAS has communicated the condition of its products to the OEMs who are in turn providing The information to end users. In addition, we continue to issue updated information on the status of the Year 2000 effort and our family of products through Technical Newsletters distributed minimally once every two months to all customers and through our Honeywell website. It is also our intent to maintain normal business contact communications, such as through marketing, contracts and customer service personnel. Q. How do we handle questionnaires? It has been our practice to distribute information to our customers by way of letters, meetings/discussions, telecons, etc.; that is through normal channels of communication between the customer and the Honeywell customer contact. We will continue to do this rather than complete individually prepared customer surveys. We intend to make information, including these Q&A’s, available to our customers as well as Honeywell customer contact personnel for their use in communicating with those customers. Q. Who are the Commercial Aviation Systems (CAS) contacts regarding Year 2000 information? If you have any questions regarding Honeywell CAS products, services or general Year 2000 readiness, please contact one of the following Honeywell representatives:
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