CONTROL OF MANUAL ENTRY ACCURACY IN MANAGEMENT/ENGINEERING INFORMATION SYSTEMS

A GROWING NATIONAL NEED EXISTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER WORK STATION TECHNOLOGY WHICH IS INTERACTIVE AND ASSISTS THE USER IN CONTROLLING THE ACCURACY OF MANUAL DATA ENTRY TASKS DURING DATA BASE PREPARATION AND DURING COMMUNICATION OVER LOCAL AREA NETWORKS. SUCH A TECHNOLOGY WOULD AFFECT INCREASING NUMBERS OF NASA EMPLOYEES AT ALL LEVELS AS COMPUTER TERMINALS BECOME WIDELY USED IN MANAGEMENT, ENGINEERING, AND ACCOUNTING FOR DECISION-MAKING,PROJECT AND PROGRAM CONTROL, AND INTRA-AGENCY COMMUNICATIONS. DATA FLOW IN NETWORKS PRODUCED BY MANUAL DATA ENTRY AT CONTROLLED LEVELS OF ACCURACY WOULD IMPACT THE MANAGEMENT AND TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE OF PROJECTS AND PROGRAMS AND WOULD HAVE A FAVORABLE IMPACT ON PRODUCTIVITY. THIS RESEARCH PROJECT IS DIRECTED TOWARD DEVELOPING A TECHNOLOGY THAT CAN BE USED FOR A MORE ACCURATE MANUAL DATA INPUT SYSTEM COR COMPUTER DATA BASES. AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE GROWING DATA BASE ERROR PROBLEM INDICATES THAT THE MAN/MACHINE INTERFACE, HENCE ACCURACY, CAN BE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED BY AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH. THE PHASE I EFFORT WILL DEVELOP AN EXPERIMENTAL TEST PROGRAM WHICH WILL EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONNEL INVOLVED WITH DATA ENTRY. GAMMA RESEARCH, INC. HAS ALSO BEEN DEVELOPING METHODS WHICH ALLOW DATA ACCURACY TO BE CONTROLLED IN INNOVATIVE AND ACTIVELY ERROR-RESISTANT WAYS.