- 47 — 
- The evaluation programs of the system can be used in- 
dependently of the data base management system. So 
systems like ADABAS, IMS etc. can be employed, or mea- 
sured values not intendend to be stored in any data 
base can be processed. A transformation program T 
transfers records from the file RES into the work 
file. The structures of both files is described in 
tables so that almost any file structure can be pro- 
cessed. 
All together the system is thought to be a rather versa- 
tile one. 
The project is sponsored by the German organization "Ge- 
sellschaft für Information und Dokumentation (GID)" with 
grants from the German federal ministry "Bundesministerium 
für Forschung und Technologie (BMFT)". 
3. Recommendations 
  
From the experience with our system some global recommen- 
‘dations shall be given in the following fields: 
Overall design of the system. 
Data collection and dissemination. 
Implementation. 
- Fund. 
For the overall design of the system it has to be identi- 
fied who the prospective users are and which type of tasks. 
the system is expected to solve. From this. the data needs 
have to be derived. 
Usually the prospective users are not able to define their 
needs sufficiently precise and to survey consequences of 
their decisions. A simulation of system results can be of 
great help. The presentation of the results should be as 
realistic as possible. So lists should be created on a 
computer printer. e.g. by the aid of a common editor pro- 
gram. 
The types of data which shall be stored must precisely be 
defined together with all their influencing parameters. In 
many cases properties with the same name are differently 
defined by different persons, organizations and countries. 
To redifine definitions of values or to change existing 
data structures later on can be very hard and expensive. 
But the system should permit to extend data structures, to 
add new data structures and to add new evaluation programs 
without great difficultis. 
The data sources for data collection have to be identi- 
fied. For many important tasks there exist no data. The- 
refore in an early stage it has to be ensured that the 
data can be made available and are allowed to be used in 
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