Managing Computers in Large Organizations

Managing Microcomputers in Large Organizations
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/167.html
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MANAGED INNOVATION CONTROLLING END-USER COMPUTING IN THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
spending, to increase productivity dramatically, and to perform the functions of
government at a lower cost with fewer people.
At the same time there is the need to maintain control. And in the federal
bureaucracy controls are imposed somewhat differently than in the private
sector. The government is not, as one often reads, just another large corporation.
There is a General Accounting Office (GAO), congressional legislation, a board
of directors (Congress) not always in agreement with the chief executive officer
(the President). All of these players must be considered when developing
effective controls for microcomputers in the federal government.
Compounding the problem, the GAO has issued an audit report stating that
a runaway condition exists in the use of personal computers in the federal
bureaucracy. This situation has arisen even sooner than originally predicted.
Federal employees aren't waiting for guidance. They are bringing in their own
equipment and putting it to work. In my trips around the country I have seen the
growing number of computers, and although the numbers vary in different
departments no one can deny that there is a lot of activity. In the budget for
fiscal year 1985, for example, new automation requirements are in the hundreds
of millions of dollars. These requirements serve to indicate what employees
want to do with personal computers as well as with some of the larger systems.
Some degree of control in this process is imperative.
With these two considerations in mind—the need to make change and the
need to control it—GSA's microcomputer assessment group performed its work
and in June 1983 released a report, Managing End-User Computing in the
Federal Government. The assessment group identified three components of enduser
computing: mode, users, and technologies (Table 1).
From a management perspective the report concludes that the integrated
mode requires the most attention. In reviewing users and technologies the
assessment group observed that in the past heavy emphasis was placed on
clerical applications. Now the technology has useful applications throughout the
work force. Therefore, although the group focused on personal computers, other
technologies were considered, along with the broad range of potential users.
The group considered two possible courses of action to deal with the
growth of personal computers in the federal government.
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