COMPUTER WIZARDS

By. Bob Marshall

Another writer on this Blog wrote about some folks who are, what I call, excellent computer users.

They know how to forage around the net, know all about available programs and how to use them. The names listed on that part of the Blog read like a Who's Who's of users.

Randall, Ken, John and Ed are all extremely knowledgeable. David is a technical wizard able to work miracles of usage and access.

All of these folks are capable of using their computers and solving their usage problems.

I work a bit differently. When I find myself in trouble I call on Mollie!! She is usually able to get me out of whatever mess I've been able to create.

I've seemed to have a knack for understanding what a computer should be able to accomplish for me. I'd have a difficult time getting the computer to do what I want but I'm generally able to express my user desires to someone with operational knowledge and allow them to do their thing.

The dual use of a database comes to mind. As the Clubhouse rebuilding was in the planning stage it was suggested that UCO and WPRF should use the same database. Data loading could be done only once and the resulting data shared. The ID process, transponder sales and gate pass sales all use the same information but are now loaded separately for WPRF and UCO. It is a waste of manpower or “whoops”, in this case womanpower! It seems to me that wasting time is not a good thing even if the time wasted is volunteer labor.

At Digital I was responsible for distributing Engineering information worldwide to all Manufacturing, Engineering and Purchasing locations. Aperture cards were the industry wide delivery vehicle. My thought was that since we used a computer to design the part and to then store a data base for each Engineering Change Order (ECO) why not massage a copy of the data base into a print ready file, store it on-line in one of the large computer disks and make it available to internal customers worldwide.

It took a lot of time and effort but when I retired there were several hundred thousand drawings available worldwide. Australian offices, for example, could access the file and pull a drawing that they needed in a few minutes. The aperture card distribution method took several weeks.

Let's get the best bang for our bucks and enhance our usage of our computer systems.

Bob Marshall