tion. A central responsibility appears necessary to accomplish this. A solution with distributed resources and responsibility usually lacks adequate software documentation, standards, protocols, back-up, and security. The user or manager usually is not in a position to carry out these tasks effectively. A centralized system can provide such services efficiently without taking control of resources away from end-user management. Hardware. A number of hardware alternatives were considered, including simply expanding the existing "VAX farm" or buying a supercomputer. The team concluded that neither approach adequately met the needs expressed. They therefore designed an integrated system that provided DEC VAX capability for RS/1, data acquisition and analysis, electronic mail, and report drafting; but also provided an IBM/3081 with an FPS-164 array processor for number crunching, data bases, and archiving. The plan recommends purchase of supercomputer time from a service bureau where appropriate. A network linking all terminals and computers, providing direct file transfer between DEC and IBM components, is a critical element.
Implementation
The implementation strategy has four major components: the network, hardware and software, consultation, and training. The research computing organization must grow by about 70% in 1984. Finding and acquiring appropriately skilled people to fill these positions will be the greatest challenge. Many may have to be recruited from outside Du Pont. Consultation and Training. Consultation and training were major needs expressed repeatedly in the interviews. The need for guidance and advice ranged from needing "hotline" assistance and guidelines for selecting laboratory automation hardware to consultation on algorithms and techniques. Fifty percent of the planned personnel increases in the central computing services organization are in consulting and training positions. Effective training has a high multiplication factor, both by avoiding the many frustrations encountered in the learning process and by quickly bringing scientists and managers to effective use of computer resources. Training materials and user documentation must be prepared. Training programs and schedules must be tailored to achieve end-user management goals. Guidelines and standards for hardware and software must be devel-
oped and promulgated. Relationships must be established with the user community so that the trainers and consultants are recognized and valued. Custom Software. Computer applications that are specific to a certain research organization or research project and that do not have broad utility within the community are "custom applications." The study concluded that custom applications development should be the responsibility of the end-user organization, with consultation or advice from the central organization. Staffing and implementation should not be the responsibility of the central organization. The fraction of user research personnel required to provide applications support appears to be 5-10%. Benefits The study team concluded that the potential benefit from effective computer support for research is a 15-20% increase in productivity. This is a "soft" economic benefit and difficult to measure. As another approach to evaluating the reasonableness of the plan, numerous other large industrial research organizations were contacted. These contacts indicated that they were typically spending 3-5% of their research budget for computing support; the Du Pont plan is in this range.
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