Information Technology Planning and the Y2K Problem in Local Governments

This article examines local responses to the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem in Iowa to analyze how local governments plan for information technology (IT) operations. Many local governments lacked concrete plans and failed to think strategically about the Y2K problem at the beginning of 1999. A logistic analysis shows that the decision to form a concrete Y2K strategy depended on management attitudes and the technological sensitivity of local decision makers rather than on resource constraints or system characteristics. However, insufficient resources, not management attitudes and system characteristics, were the key determinant of the eventual outcomes of planning. This study concludes that local governments should think more strategically in IT planning and that senior management should take a more active role in the planning process. Local governments, especially counties, may need state assistance to improve IT planning for the information revolution in the new millennium.