Howes-IT-Going - COBOL Y2K Problem Resolution

Here is the basic problem: In the 1960s and 1970s COBOL programmers normally stored dates with only year, month, and day. Data storage was very expensive, and saving money by not storing a century seemed like a bargain. Unfortunately, many programmers still continued this practice well into the 1980s and even early 1990s.

So, what was the big deal? Well, January 1, 1999 would be stored in YYMMDD format as 990101. January 1, 2000 would be stored in YYMMDD format as 000101. Any greater than or less than comparison results between the two dates would show that 000101 is LESS than 990101.

Working-Storage for the Examples

000340 01  OLD-DATE    PIC X(6).
000350 01  NEW-DATE    PIC X(8). 
000360 01  YEAR-CHECK  PIC 99.

Reference Modification Conversion

004310
004320     MOVE OLD-DATE      TO NEW-DATE(3:6).
004340     MOVE NEW-DATE(3:2) TO YEAR-CHECK.
004360     IF YEAR-CHECK > 50
004380         MOVE '19'      TO NEW-DATE(1:2)
004400     ELSE
004420         MOVE '20'      TO NEW-DATE(1:2)
004440     END-IF.
004440

If OLD-DATE was '990101' NEW-DATE will be '19990101'. If OLD-DATE was '000101' NEW-DATE will be '20000101'. Note: When you check YEAR-CHECK to see what values should have a century of '19' be careful. If you have some data (such as birthdays) from the 1920s then year you check against will have to be lower than 20.

Reference Modification/Evaluate Conversion

004310
004320     MOVE OLD-DATE      TO NEW-DATE(3:6).
004340     EVALUATE NEW-DATE(3:2)
004360       WHEN '97'    MOVE '19' TO NEW-DATE(1:2)
004370       WHEN '98'    MOVE '19' TO NEW-DATE(1:2)
004380       WHEN '99'    MOVE '19' TO NEW-DATE(1:2)
004400       WHEN OTHER   MOVE '20' TO NEW-DATE(1:2)
004440     END-EVALUATE.
004440

If OLD-DATE was '990101' NEW-DATE will be '19990101'. If OLD-DATE was '000101' NEW-DATE will be '20000101'. Note: In this example only the years 97, 98, and 99 are considered to have a century of '19'. All other dates will have a century of '20'. It is very important to understand your data to know what years should have a century of '19' and what years should have a century of '20'.