26 October 1998

Year 2000 Testing

The following information is from Mr. Paul Miller, Manager, Electronic Commerce Unit in the Client Services Division.

The testing environment is now available to test in the 8 digit date format (YYYYMMDD).

As outlined in the memorandum of 30 April 1998, all software packages must be tested in the Revenue Canada test environment prior to being approved for production. If you have a software package provided by a software vendor, you may wish to contact them to ensure they will have the software package tested and verified by the Department. If your software vendor is testing these changes and providing your company with the updates, please ensure Revenue Canada is advised in writing as to when these changes will be implemented.

A copy of the test plan is attached. When members are ready to start testing, please advise Revenue Canada in writing so we may convert your CADEX profile to accept data in the 8 digit date format. The fax number at the Electronic Commerce Unit is 613-952-9979. The address is:

15 floor, Sir Richard Scott Building
191 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0L5

Members with questions are asked to contact Ms. Roberta Goulet, at 613-957-7223.

Year 2000 Format Test Plan

All clients are required to notify Customs when the software changes have been made and they wish to test. Software providers must notify Customs which of their clients have been provided updated software.

To ensure that your software is compatible with Year 2000 format, the following tests must be completed.

1. Transmit five entries that you would typically use in production. This will test both the acceptance of your entries and the generation of the K84.

2. Provide Customs with five unused transaction numbers, so that we may create release records for you. This will test the Release Notification and Overdue Release Notification Reports.

3. Query the class file and the exchange rate file. This will test that the correct information is being sent.

4. Optional — provide Customs with either one or a range of classification numbers to test the classification file download.