products were announced for C/500: an RPGII compiler and INFOS - a data base-oriented file m-=agement system. The RPGII is compatible with IBM's DOS RPGII. INFOS provides simple file m-~agement of complex data bases within a framework of 700 M bytes (m-Timum) of ECLIPSEsupported on-line storage. Several acoess methods are provided: sequential (SAM), random (RAM), indexed sequential (ISAM), and a sophisticated data base access method (DBAM). Further information can be obtained from DataGeneral Corporation / Southboro, MA 01772. aan and does vary from business to business. Also an objective can consist of reasonably separable sub-objectives which may or may not conflict. I am told by some that what I have defined is an enterprise. These people then view a business as an enterprise whose major objective is to generate (and maximize) proflt. I do not want to m~re this distinction in this and subsequent columns. A business must be accountable in order to measure and ult~m-tely judge how well the objective of the business is being met. As a practical matter, there is also an accountability imposed by governmental regulations. For a business to be accountable, information must be gathered, manipulated, and filed. In general, a business generates information as a necessary and integral part of business operations. In theory, all information generated affects accountability, the difference being only in degree and extent. Hence, there is a spectrum of information spread on the basis of accounting-richness. So, for ev-mple, a minicomputer monitoring an experiment in R&D will gene:cate information which is not as accountingrich as job cost information generated from a payroll run. A business application is the use of a computer to gather, manipulate, and file information which is accounting-rich. So, for example, payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, invoicing, inventory managemerit, and sales history are all business applications. The minicomputer monitoring an experiment in R&D is usually not thought of as a business application. Indeed, this application is referred to as real time data acquisition and control in a laboratory environment. Note that most business applications are usually file oriented and I/O bound. However, data acquisition and control in a laboratory could also be file oriented and perhaps even I/0 bound. An interesting point is that two different computer systems might be used in apparently the same environment. Is it the case then, that a business application can be identified by the system characteristics and performance objective of the computer involved with the application? Cooing soon: I would like to subdivide businesses into two parts based on computer sophistication and begin to examine the utilization of minicomputers (and now microprocessors) in each case. SMALL SYSTEMS IN BUSINESS APPLICATIONS Editor's Note: As SIGMINI Newsletter formally begins with vol. 1, no. 1, I begin a column on the use of mini and microcomputers for business applications. As you read these columns, there will be an element of agreement and an element of disagreement. This disagreement will involve either what was included or what was not included. Where we agree is not nearly as interesting as where we disagree. I urge you to take a few minutes to send me your expressed disagreements. Also as you read these coh~mns, there will he questions which arise. Again, I urge you to take a few minutes to send me your ques-. %ions. If I c~nnot (or will not) tackle your question, I will use the full resources of SIGMINI Newsletter to find someone who will. Who knows! You might even write a col1~,n yourself. But then, that is what this col1~,m and the SIGMINI Newsletter are all ab out. Sinoe this col[ram will discuss business applications, the appropriate place to begin is a discussion of what constitutes a business application. WHAT IS A BUSINESS APPLICATION? Ted Cary, ~ i t o r From a general system theoretic standpoint, a business is certainly a system (organization). The inputs to a business are goods, serwlces, and money. The business transforms these inputs into outputs which again consist of goods, services, and money. The objective (goal, purpose) of a business -7-

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