* * * 19991012 Tuesday

Subject Line: [Economy-jobs] "With Time Running Out, Auto Dealers Are Counting on Computer Solutions Providers to Help Them Prepare for the New Millennium"--Too Late ...

Hmmm... How many dealerships are there worldwide today? How many software/hardware vendors do they deal with? Bottlenecks in the works, if they're "lucky!"

Looks like dealerships that started thinking about Y2K only in the spring of 1998(!) are in for some major BITR! FOF's by overextended vendor resources, and every other resource, will be ugly, if viable at all.

Regards, Bob Mangus

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For educational purposes only ... blah, blah, blah ...

< http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/991012/auto_adp_c_1.html >

Tuesday October 12, 5:06 am Eastern Time Company Press Release

SOURCE: ADP Dealer Services, Inc.

With Time Running Out, Auto Dealers Are Counting on Computer Solutions Providers to Help Them Prepare for the New Millennium

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- As the new millennium fast approaches, auto dealers are working closely with their computer solutions providers to ensure their Dealer Management Systems (DMS) are Y2K ready.

If a dealer's DMS or other in-house equipment is misinterpreting dates, it can crash or create critical errors in accounting records, invoicing, parts ordering, payroll and many other vital applications, said John Gray, senior vice president, Development and Marketing for ADP Dealer Services, a leading DMS provider.

``ADP began shipping Y2K-ready upgrades to its DMS customers as early as 1996 and those systems should all now be Y2K ready,'' Gray said. ``But there are other computers in the dealership -- in diagnostic equipment, heating systems, phone and security systems. Those have to be checked, too.''

While ADP dealers should have received and installed all Y2K-ready software upgrades for their DMS by now, ADP said it has put in place a plan to walk dealers through any problems they might encounter when they open their doors for business on Saturday, Jan. 1. Company support and system development offices will be open Saturday and Sunday to handle calls. And should power go out at any one office, phone service will be rolled over to the nearest site that's up and operational, Gray said.

``We're ready for it,'' says Eleanor Ziobert, Plan Administrator for Austintown Chrysler-Plymouth, Youngstown, Ohio. ``My vendor is making sure our computer system is updated, Y2K compliant and working smoothly.''

Doug Tart, VP and General Manager for Robert G. Waters, Lakeland, Fla., began checking into his dealership's Y2K readiness last spring. Along with updating his DMS, Tart sent out letters to suppliers, utility companies and equipment manufacturers, asking them to verify their products as Y2K compliant. He also used NADA's management guide as a reference tool to check equipment vulnerable to the Y2K bug.

Dealing with DMS Y2K issues is a huge task, even with the help of outside experts. Said Brad Gamble, Systems Administrator for Penske Automotive Group, El Monte, Calif., ``Whatever happens, this is one deadline that's absolutely not going to be extended.''

For more information, see ADP Dealer Services' Web site: http://www.adp.com/home/dealer.html .

SOURCE: ADP Dealer Services, Inc.

[END TEXT]

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-- Robert Mangus (rmangus@hotmail.com), October 12, 1999

Answers

I personally know of an Acura dealership in Atlanta that is clueless. Has done nothing - makes a joke out of it and so me thinks there may be quite a few people out of work there by March. Drop in the bucket.

-- April (Alwzapril@home.com), October 12, 1999.