Is Your Automated Information System Obsolete?

Abstract

Several years ago, information systems that contained data for firm‐wide profitability, accounting, and project control were neither interactive nor linked. The systems required trained specialists to enter and access data and to maintain the core software. No one without sophisticated computer skills could get reports or data from the system. That was fine because no information manager or firm principal wanted core data corrupted, private data made public, and systems damaged by the computer illiterate. But today, with personal computers on most managers' desks, the power of the data that is being collected must be unleashed. New technology—local area networks, graphical user interfaces, relational databases, client‐server processing, and multi‐level security—makes it worth the effort to evaluate and move to totally new systems of information management. This article describes how three engineering firms have modified their automated information systems to suit the needs of key staff, project managers and clients. Case studies illustrate the benefits of improved information systems, and improved productivity per technical employee is documented by one firm.