Government departments are to join the private sector in facing scrutiny over their handling of the year 2000 issue.
The Auditor-General’s office has just completed a survey of 282 government entities to determine their readiness for the turn of the century and hopes to table its report in Parliament by the end of this month.
“Our focus was primarily on the processes being followed,” says Bill Gebbie of the Auditor-General’s office. “Have they developed an inventory of risks, have they given priority to the ones at risk, that sort of thing.” Gebbie hopes to at least raise awareness of the Y2K issue and to encourage government entities to follow a systematic approach towards fixing any problems they encounter. “Plenty of people are aware of it but going from awareness to actually doing something is a bit of step.”