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MUSC breathing easy with Y2K held at bay by Dick Peterson Public Relations Like last summer’s hurricane that didn’t, this was the year-2000 bug that couldn’t. Couldn’t, because MUSC disaster preparation teams have been working since 1996, testing mission-critical systems, upgrading equipment, and anticipating disruptions as diverse as mechanical breakdowns and stuck elevators to opportunistic crime during a power failure. But these were the winds of time, not weather. And man-made problems could be man-solved. So as a spinning Earth faced Charleston toward Jan. 1, designated personnel took every precaution they could think of to protect patients, research projects and university operations from disruption. “The mood here was charged,” said Risk Management director Wayne Brannan. “Everybody was happy. We had been preparing for this moment for years and we were all glad to see it arrive.” Brannan said people started arriving about 9 p.m. New Year’s Eve, and others were expected to respond within two hours from being notified should they be needed.  Medical Center personnel, facilities and maintenance employees, administrators, back-up staff, CCIT technicians for the Medical Center and business systems, Physical Plant, Public Safety, Risk Management, Occupational Safety, and Radiation Safety were all in place by 10 p.m. Some took precautions like starting emergency generators should the power supply fail, and others kept an eye on TV screens as happy reports from across Europe gradually allayed the worst of their fears. But the best relief came when the new year reached the East Coast. Emergency generators were running, but apparently not needed. Computer systems that were running were still in operation. Others were turned on and seemed to seize the new day as any other.  “By 3 a.m., all checks were complete, and there were no problems—none,” Brannan said. Later that day, the more important systems were actually put into operation. They ran a payroll, for instance, to see if employees would be paid on schedule. One glitch: the computer that informs the state Human Resources agency in Columbia that MUSC has hired a new employee didn’t connect. The problem: Columbia’s system hadn’t been turned on. “As of 8:30 a.m. Saturday, 1/1/2000, the Y2K millenium bug caused no apparent computer disruptions or downtime around the campus,” said Melissa Forinash, MUSC director of Information Technology, in a Happy New Year message to those who had worked so hard to keep the campus systems up and running. As of Tuesday, the real test came because employees had returned from the holidays and most, if not all systems were in full swing. Only a few minor anomalies surfaced. A date rollover problem that failed to access specified data, or a calendar program printing the wrong date. Some couldn’t even be pinned on Y2K, said CCIT technology writer George Spain. Forinash and Brannan both credit timely planning and pre-emptive action by the university’s departments and colleges for the smooth transition. “The preparation paid off,” Forinash said. “This was another hurricane drill, a rehearsal of our emergency preparedness plan,” Brannan said, expressing pride in being associated with dedicated people who forsake holiday celebrations to protect the university and medical center. “I didn’t hear the first person grumble about spending New Year’s Eve on the job,” Brannan said.