Cable Abstracting and INdexing S_ystem (CANIS) Prototype

ing captures information about the cable itself: its document number, source, date, etc. Indexing captures information about the entities described in the cable: their names, dates of birth, locations, etc. The result of the abstracting and indexing process is a set of index records about the entities that were described in a cable. When a cable has been abstracted and indexed, its index record(s) are placed in a queue so that they will be stored. When file maintenance is performed (periodically overnight), the index records are stored in the Corporate Database. The abstracting and indexing process is a time consuming and laborious task. Analysts must read every cable and extract the infcmnation that should be placed in the new index records or update existing records. Although the abstracting portion of the task has been automated, it is only a small part of the abstracting and indexing process. The majority of the effort is the indexing part of the process. At present, there is little or no automation support for the indexing part of the process. The CANIS prototype is intended to assist the CANIS customer with the cable indexing task. CANIS automatically extracts entity information, builds and updates index records from cables, and presents it for review. CANIS' analysts can 1) approve the system generated index records, 2) add more information to the system generated index records, or 3) ignore the system generated index records and create their own. CANIS also extracts and stores relationship information (such as family relations, employment, and affiliations). This information is not currently identified or stored during the manual indexing task. CANIS is compatible with both the input and output systems currently being used by the CANIS customer. CANIS runs on the customer-specified hardware and software plaffozms. However, the prototype CANIS system is a stand-alone system. 2. B A C K G R O U N D 2.1. Concept Demonstration CANIS Phase I Contract was completed February 1995. Lockheed Martin Management and Data Systems demonstrated the automatic extraction of the abstracted and indexed information from actual cables. Following the demonstration, M&DS developed requirements and design specifications for a prototype system that would meet the CANIS customers cable indexing and abstracting needs.