"I'm sure there will be problems of some form, but we as of now haven't identified any," he says. "We hope we're not in for a big surprise."

Nevertheless, Martin says that FAS will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that there are no problems come the new millennium.

"We continue to talk about it, but in fact, in most of our systems, appointment systems, we have four digits [already]," he says.

Building Awareness

Madden says that, like many problems, the best way to attack it is to increase people's awareness of it.

"We're still in the process of trying to design an awareness program that will reach as many people as possible," he says.

According to Madden, the year 2000 problem is highly recognized at Harvard.

"Certainly within the [Information Technology] organizations, we found the awareness very high," Madden says. "Everyone was well aware of the problems and has...already taken care of the issues on or around their systems or were developing plans to specifically address their systems."

And most administrators say that although the problem is serious, the University has it under control.

"My impression is that the problem is significant, but certainly not overwhelming," says Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Jeremy R. Knowles.