Unisys Corporation today announced that its $10 million contract with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (MDOR) to provide Year 2000 Services has moved into the third phase. Unisys began work in November 1996 and has completed the assessment and planning phases. The third phase, renovating software code, is now underway. The entire project is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 1999. Unisys is providing consulting, project management, and implementation services to assist MDOR in making systems ready for the Year 2000 date change. Over 6.2 million lines of code will be renovated on software programs that run on hardware from Unisys and Digital Equipment Corporation. Currently, Unisys is helping more than 220 clients manage Year 2000 date change projects. The Year 2000 project continues a long-term relationship between Unisys and MDOR to improve services to Massachusetts taxpayers. In 1994, MDOR chose Unisys to develop a tax processing solution for the Department. The system, based on imaging technology, scans and captures electronic images of tax returns and sends the information to computers for processing and electronic filing. The solution is helping to revolutionize tax processing in Massachusetts by increasing MDOR productivity and reducing processing costs per return, while greatly improving customer service. This successful implementation set the stage for Unisys to be selected for MDOR`s Year 2000 project. "Solving the Year 2000 dilemma is perhaps the most daunting task we will ever undertake at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue," said Commissioner of Revenue Mitchell Adams. "We are confident that with some significant help we will meet the challenge and move our systems seamlessly into the twenty-first century." The Year 2000 project at MDOR is highly complex, requiring date changes to be made on tightly integrated systems in a multi-vendor environment. Unisys was selected because of its ability to make systems ready for Year 2000 without interrupting normal business operations. During the conversion, tax processing, customer service, and other activities remain at high-performance levels. "It is critical that state and local governments address the Year 2000 problem immediately," said Mary Kurkjian, vice president and Year 2000 practice director, Unisys Public Sector. "Unisys approach is to educate and work with government agencies to help them solve the date glitch now - before they run out of time, and service to the citizen suffers." Unisys has chosen Tata Infotech Limited (TIL), an international software and services firm, to renovate software code for Year 2000, and Revenue Solutions Incorporated (RSI) of Boston, to assist with ongoing code testing.
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