User Departments Research Articles

Information resource management—The information centre for local government: Position paper

THIS topic requires careful definition in order to provide a basis for orderly discussion. The information centre as one of the functions of an organization’s information resource management effort may be difficult to describe in a manner that would be acceptable to all. The information centre is a relatively new concept and, probably, means different things to different information resource managers. It might be well to discuss first the term information resource management. This term of itself is comparatively new. People involved with computers since the history of that word began were originally just that-computers themselves or operator/users of computing machinery when compute implied a mathematical operation. It was eventually discovered that computing equipment, in addition to performing mathematical tasks, could sort, merge, store, retrieve and manipulate data as well as numbers. The terminology swung then to “data processing”. A few of us even went through an even earlier phase-“electronic accountancy”. The data processing organization received data in raw form from users, processed it, and returned it to the user in processed form-more commonly as printouts of various types. More recently we arrived at the “management information” state of the evolution. Many user departments of an organization enter data that originates or changes in their area. This data is merged with data from other areas of the organization and, by means of some form of database management capability, becomes a viable data bank about the total organization and is readily available as needed by management and others. Many data processing departments changed their names to “management information departments” or just “information systems departments”. The “management information system” was widely and highly touted as something that would rapidly approach that ultimate management tool--the total management information system. A chief executive officer would only need to ask the computer in simple, plain language any conceivable question about the organization and the big box would promptly spit out the answer. This great dream, of course, was not be be; at least not for quite some time yet. Following this disenchantment, we lumbered on trying to just provide more and better information a bit faster. Most recently additional forms of information were being incorporated into systems and access was being provided to vast outside data banks where large amounts of useful outside information could be obtained, such as texts of laws, national demographic data from Census reports, stocks and bond info~ation, airline and train scehdules, etc. Images and drawings and the like could be stored and retrieved in volume with ease. We had to change our name again. The current fad is “information resource management”. In our struggle to keep up with the demands of users for ever increasing amounts of automation, more, larger and better information systems, we found that the tools of our trade, as supplied by the various vendors of hardware and software, were very dynamic tools requiring constant learning and relearning of existing and newer system development technologies. These tools, the best that were available to us, we began to find, were not adequate to meet the more rapidly rising demands of our users. These tools (languages as well as system and application design techniques) are cumbersome, difficult and woefully inefficient. The result was that many organizations found they had a backlog of user-wanted and user-needed applications. Vendors and hardware and software designs were quick to point this out (it didn’t need pointing

Evaluating four years of ID experience

precise day-to-day agreement of responsibilities must be negotiated since a variety of new demands are made on each department concerned. The third step requires conscious training of managers within the training department to think of themselves as business professionals. Since most training professionals have not received extensive business courses in their formal education, they need to be exposed to the full gamut of business planning techniques, including sales forecasting, relevant financial analysis, advertising, and promotional planning. In addition to these three steps, two overall planning issues must be weighed. First, the transition to this system will probably evolve over a number of years. Relationships based on trust must be developed among the training, sponsor, and user departments. The development of these relationships and new skills and roles that will be required of training department personnel will take time to put into place. Usually several successful program development cycles will be required in order to establish the trust and working relationship to the satisfaction of all. The second consideration is that this approach requires an entrepreneurial orientation and hence a higher risk posture for the training department. New relationships, skills, and expectations will often times be vastly different from current operations. Training department staff members must be encouraged to take reasonable business risks associated with this method of operation. This involves time, patience, and perserverance on the part of management. Professional competence? An absolutely essential foundation. However, this competency alone was only part of our long-range strategy. The other essential elements revolved around developing organizational sponsors thus ensuring alignment with the rest of the business, and aggressively selling our products and services. Evaluating Four Years of ID Experience

Expert users will change the DPM role

Distributed hardware, widespread use of microcomputers and user programming will have a direct effect upon the structure of the DP department. In companies where analysts and programmers are transferred to user departments, the DP department will function as an operations department and the DP manager as operations manager. However, another role for the DP manager is emerging, that of office automation consultant to top management. In either case DP managers can play an important role in inflencing the direction of change in their company.

Laryngectomee nose-blowing.

The LaryngoscopeVolume 93, Issue 7 p. 953-953 Article Laryngectomee nose-blowing Donald J. Wittich JR M.D., Captain, Mc, Usar, Corresponding Author Donald J. Wittich JR M.D., Captain, Mc, Usar Bethesda, MD4318 Kentbury Dr., Bethesda, MD 20814Search for more papers by this authorR. Kim Davis M.D., Major, Mc, USER, R. Kim Davis M.D., Major, Mc, USER Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Department of Surgery, USUHS, Bethesda, MDSearch for more papers by this author Donald J. Wittich JR M.D., Captain, Mc, Usar, Corresponding Author Donald J. Wittich JR M.D., Captain, Mc, Usar Bethesda, MD4318 Kentbury Dr., Bethesda, MD 20814Search for more papers by this authorR. Kim Davis M.D., Major, Mc, USER, R. Kim Davis M.D., Major, Mc, USER Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Department of Surgery, USUHS, Bethesda, MDSearch for more papers by this author First published: July 1983 https://doi.org/10.1288/00005537-198307000-00024Citations: 1AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume93, Issue7July 1983Pages 953-953 RelatedInformation

User department technology and information design

New research findings are reported on the problem of tailoring information systems to user needs. User information requirements are found to be systematically related to the underlying technology of user departments. A typology of user department technologies and guidelines for information system design are provided.

Review of "Aptitude testing for employment in computer jobs by Penney, G." in Computers in education, O. Lecarme and R. Lewis (Eds.), IFIP, North-Holland/American Elsevier Publ. Co., New York, 1975, 425-428

Not all major systems have been successful when installed. This paper reviews twelve major installations ranging from less successful to highly successful. Twelve key factors for success are tabulated and reviewed for effect on installation success. The importance of user involvement is highlighted. The use of an implementation task force drawn from all user and systems departments is described, showing method of operation. System definition by user policy guidelines is advocated. Application experience is drawn from production planning, order-entry, marketing and financial planning systems using batch, time-sharing and real-time systems on a variety of databases.

The Miami Heart Institute information system.

The Miami Heart Institute automation project, conceived as a comprehensive unified hospital information system, has been in continuous development since 1969. As of February 1978, the system supports medical services and laboratories as well as teaching, financial, administrative, and research applications through approximately 100 remote terminals. It is controlled by a single operating system serving interrelated data bases and is available to its users practically 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The information system transfers data to and from dedicated mini- and microcomputer systems and incorporates digital and analog instrumentation interfaces that include physiologic signal-processing capabilities. Acceptance by user departments ranges from good to excellent, whereas acceptance by the private attending staff at large has been only fair. This report represents a general overview of several major subsystems and discusses advantages and shortcomings of the project.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN USER GROUPS AND DATA PROCESSING CENTERS.

The article presents the findings of a study which analyzed the quality of the relationship between a data processing center and the user departments. The three departments are the University Book ...

The Effectiveness of the Relationship Between User Groups and Data Processing Centers

The article presents the findings of a study which analyzed the quality of the relationship between a data processing center and the user departments. The three departments are the University Book ...

IN-HOUSE STAFF VERSUS OUTSIDE CONSULTANTS.

This article discusses two alternative approaches for using outside consultants. The first approach considers the possibility of using a consultant as a devil's advocate to the current systems staff. The second involves the possibility of the consultant leading the project, training user department personnel in systems analysis, and developing the new system through the use of these user department personnel. Various arguments for having an in-house systems staff versus the arguments for using outside consultants are presented.

The telecommunications audit Objective: better service with less expense

Businesses commonly spend one-half of 1 percent of total revenue on telecommunications; some spend 5 or even 10 percent. Such a function may represent a major cost reduction opportunity for a company. The periodic audit is a major factor in achieving reduced costs while maintaining effective service. As a minimum target, at least 2 to 4 percent usually can be saved by taking a fresh look at any installation. The basic thrust of a telecommunications audit should be directed toward improving the effectiveness and efficiency of user departments. The author describes eight major steps that are required to execute a successful audit, which will produce results if followed by prompt and effective implementation.