Understand jobs or on-line interfaces that invoke them
Determine their expected life
Modify these interfaces for year 2000 readiness if it
saves effort, computing resources, or avoids building a
bridge to undo what the existing interface does.
For example, if an existing interface converts VSAM to DB2,
and a new bridge would convert DB2
back to VSAM, it may be
preferable to remove the existing interface.
However, if the original interface will remain
beyond the year 2000 conversion effort, it may be
preferable to build a bridge to the interface;
because the bridge can be removed without
impacting the original interface as much as
internal modifications would.
Existing interface programs can come from legacy
systems or from a bridge in a previous partition;
but if the interface comes from a legacy system
rather than your year 2000 project, the interface
modification activity is different from bridge
construction in that it requires understanding
existing code and the context in which it runs.
Achieving this understanding may be more
difficult than making the modifications
themselves.