A 4769 - May 28, 1998
P&S 4332

TO: ALL PARTICIPANTS

ATTENTION:  YEAR 2000 COORDINATORS, MANAGING PARTNER/OFFICER, OPERATIONS PARTNER/ OFFICER, DATA PROCESSING MANAGER, MANAGER MUTUAL FUNDS OPERATIONS, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, YEAR 2000 COORDINATORS

Re: NSCC YEAR 2000 READINESS DISCLOSURE

SUBJECT: YEAR 2000 PARTICIPANT TESTING OF FILE FORMATS

NSCC is announcing that certain Continuous Net Settlement (CNS) and Money Settlement Product input and output file formats will become available on June 19, 1998. NSCC participants have the flexibility to utilize the new eight-digit date format or remain with the current format by specific product, and the selection of format for input can be separate from output. Print Image output will not be modified and only Machine Readable Output (MRO) files should be used by participants.

If a participant chooses to utilize NSCC’s new eight-digit date formats, testing will be required. Participants electing to remain with the six-digit date format will not be required to test formats, but will be required to participate in industry-wide Year 2000 compliance testing in 1999. This Important Notice will furnish information to participants about NSCC’s Year 2000 file format testing requirements and procedures. The current six-digit and compliant eight-digit CNS and Money Settlement file formats have been available on NSCC’s Year 2000 Internet Web site since mid-year 1997. The URL for the Year 2000 Internet site is www.y2000.org/nscc and individuals should contact their firm’s Year 2000 coordinator to obtain the appropriate user ID and password.

The products and their respective eight and six-digit date input and eight-digit output file format identifiers are as follows:

There are two CNS input file formats, 06121 CNS Seg Exemption Input and 06211 CNS Stock Borrow Input, that do not require testing because the file formats are unchanged and the current production version is Year 2000 compliant.

II. Participant Testing Coordination:

NSCC has established a Year 2000 Testing Control Group. The control group provides a centralized communication and coordination contact point for all Year 2000 testing procedures and is the primary contact for member firms requiring testing of input and output file formats. A separate phone number, (212) 412-8505, has been established for contacting the Year 2000 Testing Control Group. Any Year 2000 testing questions should be referred to the group.

Firms who utilize the eight-digit date input file formats must also use the new eight-digit date Datatrak header and trailer. NSCC will utilize the Datatrak header to control and determine both the current six-digit and the new eight-digit date file formats. The Datatrak header will be passed to the product / application for identification purposes. These new application formats are being made available in accordance with NSCC’s product roll-out schedule, which is attached to this notice. To date, eight-digit format testing has been conducted on an open schedule. Due to extensive Year 2000 testing requirements consisting of Point-To-Point, Beta, and Industry-Wide tests, NSCC will be establishing defined time frames, by product, for format testing. Participants are advised that only a limited number of days will be made available after the open testing period ends and participants are strongly encouraged to complete Year 2000 eight-digit format testing during the open testing period.

NSCC is requesting that the participants use the prior day’s production dates when sending input test files to NSCC. Firms will be contacted by the Networking Operations Area (NOA) staff for the technical information required to ensure a proper setup of a firm’s Year 2000 testing effort. NSCC has established a cutoff time of 4:00 P.M. for receiving a test input file. All participant input test files received by 4:00 P.M. will be processed that night and results will be reported back to participants the following morning. All participant input test files received after 4:00 P.M. should contain the following day’s dates since these test files will be included with the following evening’s test files.

Year 2000 output file format testing will consist of delivering a parallel production output file in the new format. NSCC will make production parallel output files available for distribution in expanded format on a daily basis at approximately the same time as current versions. All new Year 2000 file formats will have a separate and unique AutoRoute Product Number which participants may use to identify new output formats. Participants should capture the content of the new output files for their internal testing needs.

For further details of Year 2000 participant file format testing, please see NSCC’s Important Notice A4578, P&S4161 dated June 10, 1997 and A4710, P&S4277 dated January 13, 1998. For further details on participant file format testing availability, please see NSCC’s Important Notice A4750, P&S4315 dated April 23, 1998. Any questions regarding this or any other Year 2000 Important Notice should be directed to the NSCC Year 2000 Testing Control Group (212) 412-8505.

NSCC YEAR 2000 APPLICATION SCHEDULE

The following schedule details which product groups NSCC is opening the window for participant testing. Participants may place the new formats into production, once successfully tested with NSCC. For those products made available in 1997, NSCC has decided to close the open testing period. The products effected and the dates for closing the open testing period is also reflected in the following schedule.