Business Story: A Story of Management Conflict Concerning the Use of Mainframe and Personal Computers Involved in the Monitoring and P

The field of information processing experienced significant developments during the sixties, seventies, and eighties. From punch card unit record equipment to transistorized computers to desktop computers with enormous storage and processing capabilities, the lives of most people around the world have been impacted dramatically. Scarcely anything we do nowadays is not affected in some way by computers. Against this backdrop, Business Story tells the story of Dave Richards who begins a new job as director of information systems for the Department of the Environment, full of anticipation and enthusiasm, and discovers on his first day that he has entered a battle zone fraught with pitfalls and booby traps. Business Story is a story that will appeal to all those interested in the field of information processing, whether it be as a manager, an analyst, a programmer, or a user. In the end, it will be the people who shape the results and decide the day, not the technology, no matter how advanced. At least, let us hope so.

The author knows of what he writes about. He was involved in the computer industry for more than twenty-five years, working for a major computer manufacturer, working for several consulting firms, and working for a couple of organizations managing computer services. He was also involved in the monitoring and protection of environmental resources. During this time, he came to realize how important it was to carry out feasibility studies to justify projects and to conduct tendering procedures in acquiring resources. If feasibility studies and tendering procedures are not carried out diligently, the chances of failure and catastrophe are increased significantly.