An online general ledger system

Brownrigg, Edwin B.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/1156 Copy

Description

Title

An online general ledger system

Author(s)

Brownrigg, Edwin B.

Issue Date

1982

Keyword(s)

• Library administration --Data processing
• Libraries --Automation
• Library science --Data processing

Abstract

In January 1979, the University of California Division of Library Automation (DLA) found itself with the problem of maintaining a timely, ledger. Also at that time, DLA was building a large-scale IBM operating system to support the University of California Online Union Catalog. This system also had all of the computing resources to support a sophisticated general ledger system. So, an obvious issue emerged as to whether it was more cost-effective to buy, or to write from scratch, a general ledger program. Common sense suggested that it ought to be simple to buy such software. However, exhaustive investigation revealed that flexible general ledger systems came as part of a turnkey hardware/software solution. The fact was that the IBM/370 operating system proprietary software was either mostly batch, or otherwise required costly teleprocessing software which was not a part of DLA's intended software inventory. Timesharing was considered too, but even if the right software could have been identified and located, its cost would have been greater than writing the same programs in-house. The unexpected conclusion was that it was cost-justifiable to devote a programmer's time to develop an online general ledger system that would be tailor made to DLA's needs.

Publisher

Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Series/Report Name or Number

Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing (19th : 1982)

ISSN

0069-4789

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1156

Copyright and License Information

Copyright owned by Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1982.

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