The Gazette 1981

GAZETTE

APRIL 1981

IN WHAT AREAS CAN A COMPUTER HELP - Now? Accounts: Time Recording: Provide a superior accounting system (main- taining ledger cards, if required). Process your time records and assist you in calculating charges (processing time records manually can be a herculean task).

Bit:

One character of information.

Byte:

A collection, usually of eight, bits - a "word".

K: A thousand bytes. Floppy Discs:Very similar to forty-five R.P.M. records,

used for the storage of information which is picked up from any part of the disc by a moving arm. The equivalent of long-playing records, on which information is similarly stored and from which it is similarly extracted. The actual equipment. In the context of word processing or computerised accounting in a Solicitors office, hardware will comprise a V.D.U./Keyboard, a Central Processing Unit and a highspeed printer. Two or more of these peripherals may be included in a composite piece of equipment.

Provide information, not only on the com- parative profitability of various areas and individual cases, but also on cases which are unbilled or have been overlooked. Ensure that the various steps in the process are taken at the correct time and keep track of all the monies involved.

Management Information:

Hard Discs: (Winchester Discs)

Debt Collecting:

Hardware:

In the Near Future? In house

Keep track of the nature of the information contained in your files, both current and non- current. Keep you from missing that date of the hearing, or the last day for issuing

retrieval:

Diary and Reminder Systems:

Proceedings.

Software:

The programmes which control the operations of the computer; they may be "built-in" or "wired-in" to the equipment in some cases.

What Cant a Computer Do For You? 1. Turn an unsystematic office into a systematic one; intelligent use of a computer requires a disciplined office. 2. Sort out the problems of an overworked or under- manned Accounts Department; a manual accounting system has to be in apple-pie order before it can be transferred to the computer. Remember the maxim "garbage in — garbage out." 3. Work without an appropriate programme; programmes are usually not interchangeable, many being designed for one make of computer only. 4. Work beyond its capacity; a bottom-of-the-market computer will have limited storage capacity and won't handle the accounts of the average office. A Glossary of Computer Terms Computer: A processor of information stored electronically, either in an in-built or attached memory store. Word Processor: Usually a machine which will store, retrieve and process text. The processing usually in volves editing and amending the stored material.

Memory:

As in the human being, where the information is stored. Not necessarily in the computer itself — can be on tape or on disc.

Modem:

A device attached to a computer or V.D.U. in the nature of a socket for a telephone hand- set, which converts the computer's signals into telephone-compatible signals.

Stand alone Only designed for one process, e.g. word Systems: processing, with the software built in. Incapable of linking with other systems.

Shared

Involves a common memory, and common set of system programmes with terminals dedicated (i.e. only capable of one function) one to word processing one to data process- ing (e.g. accounts) one to information re- trieval.

Resource System:

Shared Logic Usually a larger operation, with shared System: memory store and shared processor, each terminal being capable of being used simul- taneously or different tasks.

Word Processing:

Has no special technical meaning. Includes, at its broadest, dictating equipment, and type writers but is now used primarily where words are stored by an electronic process on tape, card or disc, from which they can be auto- matically retrieved.

Programme: A linked series of commands that causes the computer to take certain action — carry out calculations or re-order stored material.

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