FRYCKI, GIARRUSSO, ROSKOS, DANCSECZ, LUCANIA, AND O’BRIAN
LITERATURE CITED (1) Adamson, G. W., Cowell, J., Lynch, M. F., McLure, A. H. W., Town, W. G., and Yapp, A. M., “Strategic Considerations in the Design of a Screening System for Substructure Searches of Chemical Structure Files,” J. Chem. Doc. 13, 133 (1973). ( 2 ) Craig, P . N., and Ebert, H. M., “Eleven Years of Structure Searching Using the S K & F Fragment Codes, J Chem. Doc. 9, 141-6 (1969). (3) Adamson, G. W., Bush, J. A., Lynch, M. F., and McLure, A. H. W., unpublished data. (4) Crowe, J. E., Lynch, M. F., and Town, W. G., “Analysis of Structural Characteristics of Chemical Compounds in a Large Computer-Based File. Part I. Non-cyclic Fragments,” J Chem. Soc (C), 1970, p. 990.
(5) Adamson, G. W., Lynch, M. F., and Town, W. G., “Analysis of Structural Characteristics of Chemical Compounds in a Large Computer-Based File. Part 11. Atom-Centered Fragments,”J. Chem. SOC. (Ci, 1971, p. 3702. (6) Adamson, G . W., Cowell, J., Lynch, M. F., McLure, A. H. W., Town, W. G., and Yapp, A. M., “Analysis of Structural Characteristics of Chemical compounds in a Large ComputerBased File. Part IV. Cyclic Fragments,” J. Chem. Soc., Perk i n l , 1973, p. 863. (7) Adamson, G . W., Creasey, S.E., Eakins, J. P., and Lynch, M. F., “Analysis of Structural Characteristics of Chemical Compounds in a Large Computer-Based File. Part V. More Detailed Cyclic Fragments,”J. @em. Soc., Perkin I, in press. ( 8 ) Adamson, G. W., Creasey, S.E., and Lynch, M. F., “Analysis of Structural Characteristics of Chemical Compounds in the Common Data B a s e , ” J . Chem. Doc. 13, 158 (1973).
Computerized Monitoring of the Inventory and Distribution of Research Chemicals* STEPHEN J
FRYCKI.** F R E D E R I C K F GIARRUSSO. PAUL A ROSKOS, DOLORES E DANCSECZ SALVATORE J LUCANIA, and D E N N I S M O’BRIAN*** E R Squibb & Sons, Inc Worldwide Headquarters, Princeton. N J 08540 Received May 29, 1973
A one-time data entry system, coupled with an efficient use of the computer, which provides inventory management, distribution, and audit reporting, the ability to answer special queries, and to produce customized reports is described. Results achieved by the system have been: paperwork has been drastically reduced, streamlined, or both; clerical labor has been significantly reduced; the preparation of reports to management has been automated; and the Research Chemicals Distribution Center can devote more time and resources to its prime function, the distribution of chemicals for biological testing.
Current research efforts by the pharmaceutical industry are creating large numbers of potential drugs and great volumes of data associated with their storage, distribution, and use for biological testing. In the past, when research teams of the pharmaceutical industry were much smaller, the bench scientist would keep track of his own inventory of chemicals and the biological data resulting from their testing. This is still an excellent practice. However, the volume of data generated by current multidisciplinary research teams and the need for information by the professionals who comprise such teams has required a greater expenditure of time and effort than is optimal for any individual whose major effort i s in research. More recently, a central depository of data, manually controlled, was in use. This method, although accurate, was hindered by the inordinate amount of manual labor necessary to search through huge volumes of data for retrieving information requested by the research staff. Additionally, the manual processing of more than 30,000 transactions of chemical compounds per year was approaching unmanageability. The manipulation of data proved to be particularly difficult when a search of the historical records or of complete inventories was needed. The clearest way to alleviate the problem appeared to be the use of a computerized system that would make the * P r e s e n t e d a t t h e 8 t h Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting, Washington, D. C . . J a n 16. 1973.
*’ To whom correspondence should be addressed. * * * P r e s e n taddress: Johnson a n d J o h n s o n , Inc., S e w Brunswick,
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entering of data easy and simple and would be versatile in the retrieval of data. T o this end, the Chemical Audit and Distribution (CHAUD) System was designed.
SUMMARY OF M A N U A L SYSTEM PROBLEMS The difficulties associated with the manual operation of the chemical distribution function were divided into six problem areas: 1. Extraordinary volume of paper and paperwork 2. Multiple entries of the same data 3. Long search times required for any queries other than one variable lookup-e.g., difficulty in finding all chemical compounds that had been tested in a number of biological assays 4. Difficulty in maintaining adequate inventories of important compounds 5 . Much manual time expended in producing regularly scheduled reports 6. No simple way of maintaining “history files”
Associated with the third problem area were the typical types of queries t h a t were handled by the Research Chemicals Distribution Center: 1. Find all compounds sent for examination in test number NNNN
COMPUTERIZED MONITORING OF RESEARCH CHEMICALS 2. Find all compounds sent for examination in test number N N N N during the period MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/
4. Generation of regular summary reports and updating of historical files 5 . Updating and monitoring of inventories 6. File maintenance 7 . Efficiency of computer processing (dollars)
YY 3. Find the numbers of all biological tests for which compound N N N K N N was submitted 4. Find all compounds within a compound number range t h a t have a n inventory quantity greater than a specified amount 5 . Issue a warning when the inventory quantities of specified compounds fall below a specified amount 6. Produce reports showing selected information (in any sequence requested and with any data field(s) printed or suppressed)
SYSTEM DESIGN GOALS Awareness of the six problem areas and the types of queries handled by the Research Chemicals Distribution Center led to a formulation of system design goals to optimize the following functions: 1. Ease and simplicity of one-time data entry 2 . Speed of data retrieval 3 . Versatility of data retrieval
C H A U D
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After system specifications had been accepted by the user, the system was implemented in late 1971. Implementation required about 6 man-weeks of systems personnel time.
AUTOMATED SYSTEM OVERVl EW The CHAUD System maintains a data base of Squibb chemical compounds, their distribution history, inventory quantities, and handling precautions. It provides all the required facilities for information retrieval, report generation, and file maintenance. The system is modular, consists of eight programs written in P L / 1 and COBOL, and uses the INQUIRE software package as a core for retrieval and data-management facilities. It is currently run on an IBM 370/155 computer with 512K of core storage and 3330 magnetic disk storage. A general flowchart of the system is presented in Figure 1.
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