Reader Question 5. Efficiency and Automated Systems
Question: “I noticed that you do not mention computer systems as a means for increasing efficiency. The first thing I think about in increasing efficiency is installing a computer system… Why have you avoided this obvious method for increasing efficiency?”
Answer: Automated systems are sometimes installed for other reasons besides efficiency and touted as being efficient in order to justify the expense. That is why we don’t understand why saving supposed to be coming from an computer system turns out to be a budget buster and continues to bust the budget with high maintenance expenses year after year. Most of the reasons for installing an automated system are for data collection and storage in databases, which makes information instantly available by computer to police officers, hospitals and others. Where time is not as important savings from reduced man-hours becomes a greater factor in justifying the system. I would be very weary of this because it usually ends in a budgeting disaster.
Here are some guidelines for installing automated systems.
1. Be upfront with the real reason that the automated system is needed.
2. Develop the manual system first and get all the efficiency you can get from it before automating. You my not be able to justify automation.
3. Most automation disasters occur when an organization sets out to develop their own unique automated system. For example the FBI has been trying unsuccessfully for years to develop its own automated crime database yet they won’t adopt the CIA’s system which works. The point is that even if the FBI were successful their system would not talk to the CIA’s system.
4. Don’t allow automated systems to be developed that can not be integrated with other systems. There should be two parts to an automated system an application program with coded instructions for performing a task and a separate database for storing data, which can also be accessed by other application programs. How do you know that you are getting this? The application program can be coded in almost any language but the database language must be Structured Query Language (SQL) the same language used by all databases on the Internet. SQL coded databases allow any system to query the database for any information stored in it. Other obsolete databases require a programmer to code instructions for accessing a specific numbered storage location within the database to get the data item. You can only imagine the inefficiency involved especially when no one knows what the numbered storage location is.
5. Try to buy an off the shelf system to do a certain application there are a lot of these around but don’t buy it if it uses it’s own database that is not SQL coded. Also look at simple low cost high tech solutions such as PDAs.
