AUTOMATED USER FEEDBACK AND INFORMATION REQUEST DATABASE DEVELOPED FOR A PC

HISTORICALLY, DATABASE MANAGEMENT HAS BEEN A TASK FOR EXPERTS, AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (DBMS) HAVE RESIDEDLARGELY ON MAINFRAME COMPUTERS. TODAY, HOWEVER, WITH THE TREMENDOUS VARIETY OF USER-FRIENDLY SOFTWARE, THE POWER OF MICROCOMPUTER HARDWARE, AND THE STORAGE CAPACITY OF PERIPHERALS, MANY DATABASES INITIALLY ESTABLISHED ON MAINFRAME MAY NOW PRACTICALLY BE INSTALLED ON PERSONAL COMPUTERS. DVP PROPOSES TO IMPLEMENT A TURNKEY MICROCOMPUTER SYSTEM CAPABLE OF INTERFACING TO NODC'S CURRENT INVENTORY CONTROL SYSTEM, AS WELL AS PROVIDE A DIRECT ACCESS MECHANISM FOR USERS TO PLACE ORDERS, CHECK ON REQUEST STATUS, AND LEAVE COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK ON CURRENT SYSTEM OPERATION. IN ADDITION, IT IS FORESEEN THAT THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF SUCH A SYSTEM WOULD PROVIDE NODC STAFF, ADVISORY PERSONNEL, AND SYSTEM INTEGRATORS WITH UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION IN THE FORM OF STATISTICAL SUMMARIES AND COMPILATIONS REFLECTING ON SYSTEM EFFICIENCY, USE, AND REQUEST DEMANDS. DVP INTENDS ON CAPITALIZING ON THE AFOREMENTIONED OPPORTUNITY BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF RECENT ADVANCES IN DATABASE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE AND STATE-OF-THE-ART MICROCOMPUTER HARDWARE THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT AND INSTITUTION OF AN AUTOMATED DATABASE CAPABLEOF INTERFACING TO THE EXISTING MAINFRAME COMPUTER SYSTEM (BOTH HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE FORMATS), WHERE USERS MAY DIRECTLY CALL (THROUGH A MODEM LINK), OR ACCESS INDIRECTLY THROUGH NODC STAFF.