Year 2000 (Y2K) Project Documentation and Test Data Records (schedule 112916)

Records relating to Y2K projects in all areas of government. A Y2K project is an identified unit of work on a system, or collection of systems, that deals with assessing, remediating, testing and determining that the system(s) is(are) Year 2000 ready. Typically, projects represent units of work monitored and reported to executive management.

NOTE: Y2K ready means the stage of a project where identified problems have been remediated and tested where required and/or business continuation plans and work-arounds are in place such that no disruption to a normal business operations is expected.

Work on Y2K projects typically involves investigating and remediating computer systems that identify dates by using just the last two digits to describe a year. Systems may have been programmed to insert the digits "19" in front of each two-digit date. In the year 2000, when the digits 00 are entered into date-sensitive programs the computers may, as programmed, put the digits "19" in front of the 00 so that they will read the year as 1900 not 2000. Functions scheduled to occur on or after January 1, 2000 may malfunction or fail if the system reads the year 1900 instead of the year 2000.

The Government of British Columbia initiated a comprehensive series of Year 2000 projects to minimize the effect of Y2K on government services. Projects were assigned a priority of "mission-critical", "business-priority", or "other".

NOTE: Mission-critical means a project involving a system(s) whose failure could lead to: loss of life; personal hardship to citizens; major damage to the environment; or significant loss in revenue. Business-priority means a project involving a system(s) which is not mission-critical, and whose failure could lead to the loss of a major business function. Other project means all projects involving a system(s) that are not either mission-critical projects or business-priority projects (these are low priority projects).

Technical and business analysis determined an appropriate remediation strategy for each project, one of which could be a decision to retire the system(s). Records on retired systems may still have value to government.

This government-wide special schedule has been developed to protect all Y2K documentation created by the Government of British Columbia and applies to all Y2K administrative and operational project records in all media. The nature and extent of the Y2K issue requires that extra precautions be taken to ensure that project records are available in case of Y2K issues or incidents. Project records must be available to show the steps taken by the Government of British Columbia to reduce the likelihood of any disruption in service.

Includes: all Y2K project plans and schedules for both active and inactive systems; progress reports; training modules; briefing notes; minutes; budget documents; including those for mission-critical and business priority systems; contracts; correspondence (including e-mail); memoranda; and reports.

NOTE: This special schedule for Year 2000 project records takes precedence over retention periods and final dispositions indicated in the primaries and secondaries under which Y2K records may already be classified in the Administrative Records Classification System (ARCS) and Operational Records Classifications Systems (ORCS), unless one of those records classification systems specifies a longer retention period or full retention by the government archives for a given record series. Moreover, Y2K records may be classified under ARCS or ORCS primaries and secondaries provided that the total retention period (active plus semi-active retention) is at least 10 years and the final disposition is selective or full retention.

non-OPR NOTE:  Offices will retain non-OPR copies of records for: SO nil DE

Primary-Secondary	Record Series	OPR
		A	SA	FD
-00	Policy and procedures FR = The government archives will fully retain all policy and procedures files created by the offices having primary responsibility for policy and procedure development and approval. These records have evidential value. Draft and duplicate materials which hold insufficient evidential value to merit preservation may be purged and discarded.	SO	10y	FR
-01	General	SO	nil	DE
-20	Project management - mission-critical and business priority and test data (arrange by project and/or system title) (hardcopy and electronic) (includes all project proposals and approvals, business continuation plans, partnership agreements, financial documents, certification documents, final reports, and remedial contingency plans) NOTE: Test data includes all test plans, procedures, data, results and signed completion documents, and signed final approvals. SR = For each of the mission-critical systems identified in the BC Government, core records will be retained by the government archives (e.g., business continuation plans, certification documents, final reports, remedial contingency plans, etc.).  Similar criteria will be applied to non -mission-critical systems supporting significant government functions and activities. Selection will be made in consultation with program staff.	SO	10y	SR
-30	Project management - other and retired systems and test data (arrange by project and/or system title) (hardcopy and electronic) (includes all project proposals and approvals, business continuation plans, partnership agreements, financial documents, certification documents, final reports, and remedial contingency plans. In the case of retired systems, business continuation plans for accessing data after January 1, 2000 are particularly important.) NOTE: Test data includes all test plans, procedures, data, results and signed completion documents, and signed final approvals. SR = Core documentation will be retained by the government archives (e.g., business continuation plans, remedial contingency plans, etc.) for other and retired systems supporting any significant government function or activity. Significant systems include those appraised under an agency's existing ORCS and ORS. Selection will be made in consultation with program staff. SO = when no longer required for Year 2000 system repairs or follow-up on or after January 1, 2000 10Y = All Y2K project management records will be retained for 10 years from the date of file closure. Records are to be retained until all legal and audit issues which may arise in instances of service failure caused by Y2K system malfunction have been identified. The combined active and semi-active period will ensure records are available to show all steps taken in exercising "due diligence" in efforts to prevent such system malfunctions in Government of British Columbia systems. NOTE: For transfer assistance, contact your Records Officer.	SO	10y	SR

Approval Date: 2001-03-19