Imagine returning to school in January 2000, and the heat in your house does not work, the elevator--if you have one--is stuck on the first floor and your key card does not work.

These are some of the possible results of what has been called the year 2000 computer-date problem--a recently discovered problem that industries, universities and governments worldwide currently face.

Joseph T. Yanci, manager of the Year 2000 Project Office at the U.S. State Department says the problem is a serious global issue that will affect all facets of the technological world.

"We recognize it as a [global] problem affecting industry, academia and federal governments worldwide which will cost billions of dollars to fix," he says. "And the clock is ticking."

The computer-date problem stems from computers' having been programmed with only the last two digits of the year. So rather than identifying the year as 1997, the computer only knows it as "97."

Concern was raised in the computer industry a few years ago over how computers would interpret the year 2000: would it be seen as a new century, or read simply as the year 1900?

When some systems were set to the year 2000 in a trial run, many computers crashed or misinterpreted data. For example, some credit cards with an expiration date past the year 2000 failed, saying that they were 99 years past their expiration date.

And while Harvard may not have to worry about such specific cases, the University is working hard to solve any complications that may arise from the year 2000.

The year 2000 computer-date problem is being addressed across the University by auditors, deans and administrators.

In some cases, the millennium bug problem has already been fixed. With the admit of the class of 2000 last year, the registrar's office underwent its first trial run of its system, which according to Dean of College Harry R. Lewis '68, "was uneventful."

"Indeed, since some of the data fields are for class year, we had our first test more than a year ago, when we admitted the class of '00," he adds.

"Next spring, there will be a test of the payroll system actually running with the system date set forward to the year 2000," says Gene C. Madden, managing auditor of information systems. "Each unit based on what the system is and what the impact would be were it to fail has developed some of its own testing plans."

For the past year, the scope of the problem has been assessed and plans have been put into effect for converting systems to make them ready for the year 2000--or making them compliant--or replacing the systems.

Madden says that his office is currently assessing the problems and determining what systems, if any, could pose a problem.

"In the administrative areas, which is where we've focused our attentions so far, we're in pretty good shape," Madden says. "The major systems are already compliant or there are plans in place to either replace or repair them."