The Year 2000 challenge is a big priority for the City of Toronto. The city has a full-time Year 2000 team that reports directly to the Policy and Finance Committee. All city commissioners have direct responsibility for implementing our program within their sectors. Our goal is business as usual for all city services on January 1, 2000.

The Year 2000 preparedness team is made up of City of Toronto employees and experts on the Year 2000 challenge. Each City of Toronto department has a Year 2000 project manager and a quality assurance manager, while corporate project managers are working with all the departments and external partners. We have a budget of $150 million for our work.

Our plan has five components:

taking inventory of all priority systems
assessing their state of readiness
remedying them where necessary
testing the new systems, and
implementing them.

The city's Year 2000 plan is extremely comprehensive, covering all city services and coordinating closely with agencies such as the police, Toronto Hydro and the TTC. We are confirming the Year 2000 readiness of all city suppliers and training city staff. We are looking at both information systems and embedded chips in non-IT systems. If an application involves dates, it's in our plan.

We have identified 84 City of Toronto "priority one" business functions. These are functions that affect the health and safety of city residents, affect the city's finances, or have legal implications for the city. We are preparing for the date change by fixing, testing and implementing solutions for all systems that support those functions. Priority one business functions include services such as water supply, ambulance services, social assistance and traffic lights.

The Year 2000 Project Office provides support to all aspects of the project, and is responsible for:

• Reporting to Strategic Policy and Priorities Committee
• Development of standard processes
• Planning, tracking, and financial management
• Delivering quality assurance, standards, procedures and strategies
• Training and education of staff involved in Year 2000 activities
• Providing expertise in contingency planning
• Establishing clean management policies, and
• Preparing and implementing city-wide initiatives.

Our Year 2000 readiness program is on track and on target. The Year 2000 challenge may cause some minor inconveniences, but it's very unlikely that there will be any major service disruptions as a result of the date change. On New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, the city and its key agencies will have staff and resources available to assist residents in any way necessary, and to answer any questions.

The Year 2000 challenge is among the top priorities at the City of Toronto. We believe that all governments have a responsibility to communicate with and educate the public on this important issue. During the coming months, we will expand the information base on this site and issue regular updates about the city's progress with respect to the 84 "priority one" business functions. The city also has a dedicated information line to handle public inquires.

Due diligence

The City of Toronto must demonstrate due diligence in addressing the Year 2000 issues. The City Auditor has provided guidelines which address areas such as the establishment and role of the Steering Committee, the Project Office, the departmental program, the problem identification process, appropriate resourcing and funding, the creation of project plans and schedules, project execution, testing and contingency planning.

The City Solicitor submitted a report to the Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee on the potential liability of the city as it relates to year 2000 issues. The report was referred back requesting the Year 2000 Project Office, in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer (Risk Management), City Solicitor and City Auditor to report on the steps necessary to achieve due diligence. The Year 2000 Program Office has implemented the following actions, which address the City Auditor's guidelines, to demonstrate due diligence in the resolution of year 2000 issues and to mitigate these liabilities:

• Councillor O'Brien has been appointed to represent Council on the Steering Committee with the Commissioner of Corporate Services and the Executive Director of Information and Technology. The Steering Committee reports to the Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee on a regular basis:
• Project management structures with defined roles and responsibilities have been put in place.
• Year 2000 methodologies have been adopted and customized to meet the City of Toronto's requirements; these were developed by LGS for operational systems, and by IBM for information technology and business systems.
• Priority 1 business function identification and analysis processes have been established.
• Departmental project control framework is in place.
• External expertise and knowledge has been assigned to each project: a Quality Assurance Project Manager, from IBM and LGS, as appropriate, has been assigned to work with each operating department.
• A governance structure is in place that includes reporting to a Steering Committee, the Senior Management Team, Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee and Council.
• The City of Toronto's external auditor is included in the workplan.
• Benchmarking on key indicators such as project budget, structure of project, lessons learned, etc. has been conducted with similar public sector organizations, in some cases, was included: meetings with the City of Calgary, discussion with Ottawa/Carlton and meetings are planned with New York City.
• External review process by subject matter experts has taken place.
• Contingency planning processes have been established.
• External partnership management processes form part of the workplan.