Consequence management through an innovative use of collaboration tools

At the end of the twentieth century, the year 2000 (Y2K) date change problem threatened computers and digital systems around the world. Y2K refers to computer and automated control system malfunctions that could have occurred when the year changed from 1999 to 2000. Many computers and automated systems were engineered to handle only two-digit year formats, and would have made mistakes or stopped working when they encountered "00" in the date field. In light of the Y2K situation, the Department of Defense (DOD) was challenged to provide flexible and responsive consequence management capability that would swiftly resolve possible crisis situations. This article focuses on the U.S Army Research Laboratory's (ARL) participation in the creation of the DOD Y2K Consequence Management (CM) capability. Specifically, ARL incorporated group decision support system (GDSS) tools into the CM process of the Executive Support Center (ESC) of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD).