Databases are plagued by reign of error

Article Abstract:

A survey done in 1991 by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) indicates that about half of information officers believe their corporate information is less than 95 percent accurate, and almost all of them believe that databases maintained by their companies' departments are not dependable. Robert Goldberg, a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management, puts this into a perspective: Goldberg points out that we are moving into an information world and our economy in the 1990s will depend on information, and we do not know how dependable the information in our databases is. Kamran Parsaye, president of IntelligenceWare Inc, a company that makes software that analyzes databases, says that defense systems need to be developed to prevent or correct database anomalies and errors. Examples are provided to illustrate damage bad data can cause: an airline installed software that corrupted a database containing information about passenger reservations, and for several months thereafter, planes were partly empty because of phantom bookings; and a software system that ordered records by customer number was used in a way that was not intended because salespeople got commissions for opening new accounts. The result was that one repeat customer received more than 7,000 different customer numbers.

Analysis, Software, Economic aspects, Product defects and recalls, Product quality, Database management systems, DBMS software, Databases, Information resources management, Information theory, Reliability (Trustworthiness), DBMS, Bugs (Software), Database, Reliability, Accuracy, Survey, Failure, Software Quality, Program Errors, Defects

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PCs start sweeping away business forms

Article Abstract:

Organizations are beginning to use electronic mail systems to replace paper with electronic forms. New software allows electronic forms to be sent between departments and stored on computer disks without ever having to be printed out. Jetform Corp, Delrina Technology Inc, Lotus Development Corp and Microsoft Corp all make electronic forms software. The savings over paper forms could be tremendous: organizations spend $6 billion annually on pre-printed forms, but one-third are thrown away unused, most often when they become obsolete. Sales of multipart forms are falling by about 9 percent per year. Some firms, such as Northstar Computer Forms Inc, are exiting the traditional business-forms market.

Usage, Electronic mail systems, E-mail, Email, Technology application, Outlook, Applications, Forms management

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