Students returning to Saint Louis University more than likely found that, as a result of the New Year, nothing had changed. And that is just what Steven Reeder wanted.

“If I do [my job] right, then no one will notice,” Reeder said.

Reeder served as head of the Y2K Project here at SLU. Since January of 1999, Reeder, the students, faculty and staff involved with the project worked to ensure that the much-hyped “Y2K Bug” would cause few, if any, headaches on Jan. 1, 2000.

“We had almost no glitches, because we had done a lot of preparation,” said Thomas Moberg, Vice President and Chief Information Officer. “Steve [Reeder] did a lot of the work, and [Executive Vice President James] Kimmey had oversight. There were a lot of people who worked very, very hard at making sure that things went smoothly.

“Nobody knew [what might happen],” Moberg added. “We were very confident in what we had done here at the University. But we didn’t know about St. Louis and the rest of the country.”

Reeder expressed his evaluation of the situation.

“I wasn’t worried about the University,” Reeder said. Like Moberg, Reeder was concerned about other preparations outside the campus and how those might affect SLU.

Thanks to the media hype, the Y2K date change came in with a roar and went out with a whimper. Some people may be asking if all the thousands of hours, and billions of dollars that went into fixing systems was even worth the time and effort. Certainly the new year came in without any major glitches here at SLU.

“If we hadn’t done anything, it could have been disastrous,” Reeder said. “[Businesses and organizations] looked at what could have happened and decided it wasn’t worth the risk [of doing nothing].”

“You can never really know if it was bogus or if the billions spent around the world were worth it,” Moberg said. “It’s one of those one-time events.”

Software and computer manufacturers have known about the date problem for 20 years, Reeder said. Some companies chose to fix their systems years ago; others have been preparing for some time.

Preparation was the key to preventing any serious repercussions. SLU founded the Y2K Project in Jan. 1999 and appointed Reeder to lead it.

Before January, committees met to discuss what to do about the “Millennium Bug.”

“There was a committee that met for about a year, then kicked into high-gear in January,” Moberg said.

The Y2K Project was one of the largest organized efforts in SLU’s history, Reeder said. It included both campuses and nearly every department, particularly Information and Technology Services and Facilities Management. ITS oversaw the computer systems, and Facilities tried to ensure the lights would stay on.

Approximately 70 people, including staff, faculty and students scoured the campus in search of systems that could possibly be effected by the date change. Everything, from the mainframe systems the University depends upon, to the gates at the entrances and exits of the lots and garages, was inventoried and tested.

Heating and cooling equipment, alarm systems, computers-everything was checked.

“The main function was to preserve the critical systems,” said Reeder. Once the critical parts were ready, they took care of the thousands of PCs around campus.

Reeder noted that they were not able to get to every computer on campus before New Year’s Eve, and that they were still attending to those they left out.

The benefits from the efforts did not end with preventing the computers from being turned into expensive doorstops. One of the chief side benefits was an inventory of the number of computers the University owns-approximately 5,500 PCs.

“It allowed us to do a whole system survey,” Reeder said, “which hadn’t been done before.”

ITS was also able to complete a significant number of upgrades.

The Y2K Project was able to head off serious problems and complete a full evaluation of all the systems on campus. Reeder said he was still in the process of adding up the cost of the operation.