Managing Computers in Large Organizations

Managing Microcomputers in Large Organizations
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/167.html
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MANAGING UNCONTROLLABLE GROWTH 48
concern at the highest levels of corporate management. With more managers
and executives using terminals and personal computers, the problems of data
access and corresponding data security can no longer be avoided. UTC is only
one of many companies considering new guidelines for computer security.
Cost is another management problem. In more and more corporate
negotiations over system support, service wins out over compatibility. Terminalbased
systems are more expensive than their batch report counterparts, whether
they are mini, micro, or main computer based. At UTC, for example, the cost of
hardware is growing both in absolute dollars and as a percentage of the data
processing budget, despite the advancing technology.
United Technologies Corporation has used a number of approaches to
manage the latest stage of the computer revolution. The most obvious is the use
of report writers and other high-level languages. These allow data processing
professionals to respond to requests for service that require occasional reports
drawn from existing data bases or the calculation of specific results on an
infrequent basis. Some of these tools are simple enough to be taught to end
users as well.
Along with the personal computer, these new tools are the major focus of
the information centers that are currently springing up throughout United
Technologies. The information center at the Essex Group Headquarters, for
example, has achieved national acclaim. It uses terminals, microcomputers, and
user friendly software to help its customers perform a variety of tasks that might
otherwise have to be done by data processing.
Another response to service problems is to tackle the backlog directly by
increasing programmer productivity. There is increased interest today in the use
of automated programming aids such as program generators. In the area of
program or system generators UTC has been somewhat conservative. The
Raytheon product, Readi-Code, is used at one company; the Burroughs product,
LINK, is used at another; a third unit using a home-grown applications
generator is probably the best of the three. I cannot overemphasize the power of
a well-designed application generator. One of UTC's smaller divisions installed
a broad range of financial and administrative systems over a two-and-one-halfyear
period. During that time the systems development group never included
more than two-and-one-half employees. All applications were fully customized,
not packages. The latest was a
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