Agencies To Test On, And On, Into The Year 2000

<B> Agencies To Test On, And On, Into The Year 2000</B>

By Sarah Welt

As Feb. 4, the first day travel agencies could book travel for the year 2000, came and went, travel management companies reported that all systems involved in the process met the challenge. While agencies continue to test and tweak their systems, formulate contingency plans, communicate progress to clients and survey the Y2K readiness of their third-party suppliers, most report they are ahead of the curve when it comes to preparedness for January travel.

Most of the systems that still need remediation are those that do not directly affect corporate bookings. Navigant International, for example, still is testing telephone systems and internal computers, while at the same time converting all its agencies to Amadeus' Global Max back-office accounting system, a project it hopes to wrap up by May. American Express is converting clients on the PC-based reporting tool LifeSight to its newer, Y2K compliant travel data reporting product, TripPower.

Many travel agencies report that clients have become much more interested in their Y2K status as the millennium continues to approach--with some going so far as to request site visits to agencies to see their progress firsthand. Amex reported that it has completed several face-to-face reviews with its largest customers. And Lynwood Hayes, vice president of technology for Duluth, Ga.-based Travel Inc., met last week with two clients who came out to meet with him personally. "They came to the site, reviewed all my projects and walked through headquarters with me to ensure that they would not have any interference with travel come January," Hayes said. "I expect many more such visits this year."

Several agencies reported that clients seem more at ease over the Y2K readiness of their travel management partners. Navigant International's corporate controller John Coffman has had a few clients request more information than what the agency provided in a form letter it mailed out, he said, but most "have not pushed that hard at all, and a lot of people have a better comfort level." Richard Spradling, corporate vice president for information technology at Maritz Travel Co. in St. Louis, said the number of client inquiries seems to have peaked late last year, so that "we're actually not getting very many questions lately."

Still, not every customer is feeling so secure. Boston-based John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. has a very aggressive Y2K approach and recently asked its agency, American Express, for a status report in writing. Said corporate travel services manager Frederick Fischer, "I am very disappointed with American Express Travel Services because they are not yet fully compliant. We like them very much, but I am surprised that they are telling me at this late time that they are not really going to complete the bulk of their testing until June." In addition, he said, he is concerned about the readiness of Amex's software products.

But Amex Y2K project director Lisa Grieco said there is no cause for concern on either count. Y2K testing on Feb. 4 went smoothly and "we are not incurring any major issues," she said.

Perhaps even more importantly, she noted, clients need to remember that "today is not Jan. 1, 2000," and completing testing by June still gives the agency six months' leeway. On the software side, Amex is migrating clients to TripPower on a customer-by-customer schedule, while AXI, as a product developed only over the past couple of years, was built from the outset to meet Y2K requirements.

Amex spokesperson Melissa Abernathy added that the agency is undergoing audits for a small number of huge corporations that require such reviews of all vendors. In one such audit, by a huge telecommunications customer she declined to identify, it scored among the highest of all suppliers, she said.

Indeed, Grieco noted, any good agency surely will continue testing even though the February results showed no problems. The first issue is to identify systems that might have problems, then to fix the problems, and then to retest the fixes continually to make sure they work both alone and in interaction with other systems.

Amex has been doing two types of testing: integrated testing, which checks how different systems interact, and stand-alone testing. "Stand-alone testing is happening today and a lot of it has been completed. We are in the midst of doing integrated testing and that will probably continue through the year because the point of testing is to find the errors. Grieco said, "We can't say we will complete testing by June, because in any IT situation testing continues even after you roll it out. Integrated testing will continue throughout the year and even into 2000."

She added that Amex has worked with the various CRS vendors for a year now and is "very pleased with issues to date."

While all the agencies with whom BTN spoke tested their CRS booking process on Feb. 4, most still have more testing planned. At Carlson Wagonlit Travel, the remediation and testing of all systems impacted by advanced bookings was completed by the end of 1998, and for all other systems, "we intend to complete renovation by June and have everything done by September," said vice president of global systems development Loren Brown.

Carlson has spent "in the tens of millions worldwide" on Y2K compliance, under the guidance of senior vice president and chief technology officer Richard Smith.

Brown said his comfort factor regarding systems in North America and Europe is high, while in Asia-Pacific, "we are ahead of schedule because they are more reliant on third-party vendors."

"We took a change in approach last year that is now paying big dividends," he noted. "Before, we had a centralized team focusing across Europe. But we went into each country and dedicated individuals to the project, so that was their sole job. That had a dramatic effect on advancing the program."

The WorldTravel Partners-BTI Americas Y2K project team has expanded its focus beyond just January, and plans to also test how its systems will handle Feb. 29, the 2000 leap year's extra day, and bookings for Sept. 9, 1999, or 9/9/99--a date some think might cause computer errors because "999" is a computer term used to denote the end of a program.

"The GDSs and airlines have done a good job," said WTP-BTI Americas co-president Danny Hood. The agency's concern is on "some property management systems and secondary car rental systems."

Rosenbluth International in Philadelphia identified over 90 separate year 2000 projects worldwide and formed a program management office and global executive advisory committee to handle all Y2K issues. It recently sent all clients a detailed packet of information that said functional, compliance and independent testing will continue throughout mission-critical business areas, including telecommunications systems, CRSs and back-office systems. "It is important for us to conduct independent testing, even if we have received compliance certification from suppliers or third parties," the packet said.

On the telecommunications front, upgrades of telephone switches at Rosenbluth branch locations are scheduled to be complete by the end of the second quarter. It has assessed its CRS inventory, host platforms, and internal and third-party software, and all the major CRSs have passed its functionality tests. The Vision back-office system, however, was still in need of work; testing there is still in progress.

Rosenbluth, too, will test for Sept. 9, 1999, and the leap year.

Meanwhile, Travel Inc. has spent $250,000 on the Y2K issue. "We set up workstations at the different offices throughout the company, with Worldspan assisting on the other end, and simply tried every feasible date," Hayes said. "We were able to book fine." The agency's hardware is 92 percent compliant now, and will be 100 percent by June.

Travel Inc. has asked all third-party software suppliers to fill out preparedness surveys. By October, all such systems will be checked, fixed and attached to the CRS.

Amex's Grieco agreed that dependence on third-party suppliers has been the biggest challenge in assuring Y2K readiness. If a vendor "has a delay in their compliance, it affects you and will ultimately delay you in certifying a particular product, system or business process," she said.

Maritz's biggest issue was "coming to grips with the amount of resources required, getting all the infrastructure and application components lined up for some date in the future. Executing test groups and certifying those test groups was a major effort," Spradling said.

For Carlson, the biggest Y2K challenge was "establishing the appropriate sense of urgency in Europe and then dedicating resources to getting it done," said Brown.