THE WIDE WORLD OF DATA ENTRY

this is data anything but it's only part of the story there's more to data entry than the key punch row [Music] you may not have realized how much of data entry happens upstream before it reaches this room or how much it may be possible we didn't until we made a study of a number of customers here's what we found out of every dollar spent for data entry 72 cents are spent outside the data processing department here's the way it breaks down of each dollar data processing labor accounts for 12% equipment used for data entry key punches and mark readers a portion of the CPU peripheral units card readers add about 11 percent while cards mailing costs and so on account for another 5% total about 28 percent in the data processing department that means that for every dollar you spend here you spend almost $3.00 on non data entry labor costs there's the cost of moving things there's source recording editing and coding rewriting for worksheets and again the labor to transport piles of data and boxes of cards from here to there and back again with growing information needs more data is being generated and most data is handled several times and of course moved several times and what are the results a high error rate for one thing plus lost time with multiple handling and separate steps and 72 cents out of every dollar spent in preparation before it ever gets to the key point of course you need a central data entry location like this but suppose you could also have the possibility of entering data at this one entry and then directly into the computer by the people who have the correct information and the original documents distribution people prefer keeping track of product shipments deliveries of parts and warehouse inventories people in accounts payable or in purchasing or accounts receivable who may prefer to keep original documents for controls and to avoid loss in transit and and therefore have to encode worksheets from the originals to send to the key punch room that means extra work here and because the data goes through several hands more chance for error or a branch office where a busy secretary or typist in addition to all her regular work may have to encode documents orders or invoices or other information for the central office she knows the original documents well but encoding is a tedious extra job now it's possible to improve data entry in a central location and a decentralized and remote data entry but it requires a systems approach and a system to make it work this is the new IBM 37:40 data entry system a family of products integrated to work together the basic equipment is the 3742 dual data entry station a high production to operator station that can replace key punch equipment it brings clean quiet key entry into central locations and it does away with cards forever with a familiar keyboard and a helpful visual display operators find it easy to make the transition to this new equipment and they appreciate the quiet there is also a single station version the 3741 used as a control station or as a decentralized or remote terminal like the dual station it doesn't use cards both record on a brand new compact magnetic medium the IBM diskette it looks like a 45 rpm record but it can hold as much information as 3,000 80-column cards flexible reusable mailable this magnetic diskette is the complete medium for data entry it provides unlimited storage of data and programs and diskettes are interchangeable from one machine to another and this is the third member of the systems family that 37:47 the unit that converts data from both stations onto computer readable half-inch tape and any job can be run with one pass through the 3747 things here are not only quieter and cleaner but productivity is on the way up together this system can supply all your batch data entry requirements on 3742 stations two operators share a single control unit and each one has a data display each display unit has three 40 character lines one for machine status and two for data display she can get hash totals do some editing and formatting the same keyboard is used for entering data and for verifying also if one machine should be down only two operators would not be producing the other stations would keep on operating but most of your data entry costs occur before the data even reaches this room and we can attack that 72% of costs by eliminating redundant steps in data entry with the versatile 3741 in the accounting department for example the accounts payable function is made simplest because invoices can be kept in the department and simply marked up for entry directly from here the workload is less the chance of error is reduced and the same people can do the job anyone can be easily trained to make fast accurate entrance or in the distribution area where information vital to the company originates the 3741 can provide efficient data entry promptly the people here know the information and the operator guidance features directs each entry in plain language right on the face of the tooth the diskette can be carried to the computer center or communicated directly through telepathy and the optional printer printing out at forty characters per second can produce hard copy of any data best of all you can adapt the 3740 system to your business not the other way around for example you can place this terminal even in a remote branch office it makes everyone's job easier she can enter all the local data customer orders or daily sales figures without writing worksheets and when she's finished she can transmit in batch with the telepresence feature the terminal can even print out computer generated invoices but there are other advantages for the branch manager he has a local database on diskette to supply up-to-date information to help him run the office a list of orders new customers accounts payable dollar volume salesman's performance this and more is available to him the equipment allows him to interchange data and massage it to get essential business information as we have said the 3740 is a system it can do a lot to improve data entry here just consider the ease of handling the medium a box of cards weighs 11 pounds one diskette weighs an ounce and a half this system can improve the efficiency of data entry not just in a central location but wherever data originates as your DP manager will agree correct data is essential for data processing with data entry stations in de central and remote locations you can ensure greater accuracy with fewer steps less waste time and less cost the application user can have more than the new responsibilities of data entry he can have a telepresence tape with a data converter or directly to the central computer and all communication can move both ways in batch you can move in this direction a step at a time with an integrated system but it requires top-level decisions only you and your colleagues can improve data entry at the source think about it [Music]