The Visi On Operating System

In this short paper we first try to discuss and clarify some of the issues in office automation, such as: What is office automation; why do we need it; will it increase productivity; its potential drawbacks, etc. We end with a short overview of the IBM OBE language as an example of a system that unifies many office functions in one single style. I. OFFICE AUTOMATION ISSUES USERS OF OFFICE SYSTEMS Before we can talk about office automation, we must first clarify who are the off ice occupants. People usually have various mental images of office occupants. To some, offices are occupied by high-level executives with an army of secretaries and assistants; to others, offices are occupied by clerks who do such mundane tasks as filling out invoice forms; to others,. offices are occupied by secretaries whose major task is to create, file and retrieve documents. In this paper we will take a wider view and consider the entire spectrum of white collar workers as occupants of offices. As a result, it becomes clear that “office automation” started a long time ago, when establishments bought their first computer and started automating (programming) such tasks (applications) as payroll, order entry, accounting, etc. By doing so, the clerks were freed from the slow and repetitive work they were performing manually. The speed and the lower margin in error increased the productivity of the establishment as a whole. In most cases, the clerks were retrained for higher-level jobs that required more depth and responsibility. As computers became more powerful and as the data processing department in such establishments became more sophisticated, systems and applications analysts continued to identify office tasks (applications) that could be computerized, moving them from the individual offices or departments to the centralized data processing department. WHY DO WE NEED OFFICE AUTOMATION What will remain in the offices, therefore, are: 1. Tasks that are ad hoc and not repetitive. 2. Tasks that even in today’s technology are not very well understood, for example, how can one formally write an algorithm by which an executive arrives at a decision to enter a new business venture? 3. Word processing tasks such as composing, editing, and distributing documents, etc. It is clear such tasks cannot be computerized by the central data processing unit, but the productivity of the people who perform these jobs can be enhanced, and this is what is popularly referred to as “office automation.” Since the type of ‘automation’ is individual to every office and since it is a relatively new area for computers, there is much controversy in the area.