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The impacts of an automated client-tracking system on the clients, caseworkers, administrators, and operations of the welfare agencies that use it are reported. The major impact of this system was to enhance the administrative attractiveness of the using agencies in the eyes of hinders rather than to increase their internal administrative efficiency. This impact is a joint product of both the technical features of the computer-based system and of the organizational demands placed upon different agencies, administrators, and caseworkers. It illustrates the way "successful" automated information systems fit the political economies of the groups that use them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between processing characteristics of programs and experience characteristics of programmers and program development time. The ultimate objective was to develop a technique for predicting the amount of time necessary to create a computer program. The fifteen program characteristics hypothesized as being associated with an increase in programming time required are objectively measurable from preprogramming specifications. The five programmer characteristics are experience-related and are also measurable before a programming lack is begun. Nine program characteristics emerged as major influences on program development time, each associated with increased program development time. All five programmer characteristics were found to be related to reduced program development time. A multiple regression equation which contained one programmer characteristic and four program characteristics gave evidence of good predictive power for forecasting program development time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship of internal pricing systems for computer services (chargeout systems) and user management attitudes about their computer-based information systems is investigated. Evidence is provided that the relationship conforms to a general pattern that would be expected from the hypothesis of the four stages of EDP growth [15]. The results also indicate that the chargeout systems characteristic of advanced EDP stage environments are associated with relatively high levels of positive user attitudes and marked increases in EDP training for users. Both factors are important to the user/manager involvement necessary for effective control of computer-based systems. Development and maintenance of computer-based systems is asserted to be a category of organizational change. A "felt need" for the change on the part of the user/manager is prerequisite to any change taking place. The research methods of behavioral science are applied to investigate the user/manager environment and the effects of chargeout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method is presented for evaluating computer system performance in terms of a cost utilization factor and a measure of imbalance. These coefficients indicate the extent to which the total system cost is effectively utilized. The method includes a technique for the visual representation of system performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the record and file partitioning model. Derivation of the file systems from the model through selection of its parameters; Application of the model in the optimization of library routine storage at a large scale operating system; Memory storage of the file system.

Traditionally, privacy protection in database systems is understood to be the control over what information a given user can get from a database. This paper is concerned with another, independent, dimension of privacy protection, the control over what a user is allowed to do with a piece of information supplied to him by the data- base. The ability to condition the supply of information on its intended use is called here intentional resolution of privacy protection. The practical importance of intentional resolution is demonstrated by several examples, and its realization is discussed. It is shown that intentional resolution can be achieved, hut that it involves a radical change from the traditional approach to the process of user-database interaction. In particular, it appears to be necessary for the database to impose a certain amount of control over the internal behavior of users' programs which interact with it. A model for user-database interaction which admits such a control is developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the effect of database organization on data retrieval systems. Estimation on the retrieval workload of alternative data retrieval system; Organization of systems into database organization; Analysis on the query complexity of the system.

Focuses on reference coding of information in business. Assignment of a unique reference code for every data stored; Replacement of separate filing by database systems; Principles of methodical coding.

A macro model of a distributed information system in presented. The model describes the major costs of using an information system from the perspective of the end-user. The model is intended to provide guidance to the system designer by making evident the effect of various design and operating parameters on overall cost per transaction. The technique is illustrated by application to the design of an interactive transaction processing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Econometric models of the U.S. computer market have been developed to study the relationships between system price and hardware performance. Single measures of price/performance such as "Crosch's Law" are shown to be so oversimplified as to be meaningless Multiple-regression models predicting system cost as a function of several hardware characteristics do however, reveal a market dichotomy. On one hand there exists a stable, price predictable market for larger, general purpose computer systems. The other market is the developing one for small business computer systems, a market which is relatively unstable with low price predictability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimal decision table conversion has been tackled in the literature using two approaches, dynamic programming and branch-and-bound. The former technique is quite effective, but its time and space requirements are independent of how "easy" the given table is. Furthermore, it cannot be used to produce good, quasioptimal solutions. The branch-and-bound technique uses a good heuristic to direct the search, but is cluttered up by an enormous search space, since the number of solutions increases with the number of test variables according to a double exponential. In this paper we suggest a heuristically guided top-down search algorithm which, like dynamic programming, recognizes identical subproblems but which can be used to find both optimal and quasioptimal solutions. The heuristic search method introduced in this paper combines the positive aspects of the above two techniques. Compressed tables with a large number of variables can be handled without deriving expanded tables first. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

n this paper an algorithm to detect logical errors in a limited-entry decision table and in loop-free programs with embedded decision tables is developed. All the conditions in the decision tables are assumed to be inequalities or equalities relating linear expressions. It is also assumed that actions in a decision table are linear in variables which occur in the condition stub of the decision table (or tables) to which control is transferred from the table. The algorithm is based on determining whether a set of linear inequalities has or does not have a solution. The algorithm described in the paper is implemented in Fortran IV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The findings of a study designed to address the pressing problems associated with the strategic planning of the computing effort in higher education are presented here. A planning methodology was developed and tested through implementation at a university. Two years after the methodology was implemented, the effectiveness of the planning methodology was assessed in terms of the improvement of the delivery of computing services to the major institutional roles of instruction, research, and administration. Two control institutions were employed to contrast the improvements at the test institution. The results of the research indicate the planning methodology significantly enhanced the delivery of computing services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintenance and enhancement of application software consume a major portion of the total life cycle cost of a system. Rough estimates of the total systems and programming resources consumed range as high as 75-80 percent in each category. However, the area has been given little attention in the literature. To analyze the problems in this area a questionnaire was developed and pretested. It was then submitted to 120 organizations. Respondents totaled 69. Responses were analyzed with the SPSS statistical package. The results of the analysis indicate that: (1) maintenance and enhancement do consume much of the total resources of systems and programming groups; (2) maintenance and enhancement tend to be viewed by management as at least somewhat more important than new application software development; (3) in maintenance and enhancement, problems of a management orientation tend to be more significant than those of a technical orientation; and (4) user demands for enhancements and extension constitute the most important management problem area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the result of a study testing the s-shaped budget curve of Nolan's stage model of computer development in an organization in California counties. Discussion on the stages of the model; Concept of a stage model; Effect of inflation on the computer budget.

Analyzes the class of index structures for use in a virtual memory environment. Describes the design alternatives within the class of index structures; Information regarding the formulas used for retrieval costs; Impact of virtual memory on the design of indexes.

Explains the applicability of record addressing algorithms to large commercial databases. Consideration of the guidelines in selecting identifier transformations & overflow techniques; Effect of design parameters on overall system costs; Application of a mathematical model considering storage device characteristics.

It is proposed that the data base management function be placed on a dedicated back-end computer which accepts commands (in a relatively high level language such as the CODASYL Data Base Task Group, April 1971 Report) from a host computer, accesses the data base on secondary storage, and returns results. The advantages of such a configuration are discussed An experimental implementation, called the experimental Data Management System, XDMS, is described and certain conclusions about the back-end approach are drawn from this implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programming systems which permit arbitrary linked list structures enable the user to create complicated structures without sufficient protection. Deletions can result in unreachable data elements, and there is no guarantee that additions will be performed properly. To remedy this situation, this paper proposes a Data Structure Description and Manipulation Language which provides for the creation of a restricted class of data structures but ensures the correctness of the program. This is accomplished by an explicit structure declaration facility, a restriction on the permissible operations, and execution-time checks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A data definition language is a declarative computer language for specifying data structures. Most data definition languages concentrate on the declaration of logical data structures with little concern for how these structures are physically realized on a computer system. However, the need for data definition languages which describe both the logical and physical aspects of data is increasingly apparent. Such languages will be a key element in the translation of data between computer systems, as well as in advanced data management systems and distributed data bases. This paper reviews past work in the data definition language for describing both logical and physical aspects of data. Applications of these "generalized" data definition languages are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new approach to the analysis of performance of the various key-to-address transformation methods. In this approach the keys in a file arc assumed to have been selected from the key space according to a certain probabilistic selection algorithm. All files with the same number of keys selected from this key space will be suitably weighted in accordance with the algorithm, and the average performance of the transformation methods on these files will be used as the potential of these methods. Using this analysis, methods with the same overall performance can be classified and key distributions partial to certain transformations can be identified. All this can be done analytically. The approach is applied to a group of transformation methods using files whose keys are selected randomly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines a counterintuitive example of computer paging in database systems management. Determination of records partitioning into page yielding minimal least recently used (LRU) miss ratio; Assessment on the minimization of LRU miss ratio; Concerns on the optimal way of grouping records into pages.