Re: A Safety Case LO2337

Carol Anne Ogdin (Carol_Anne_Ogdin@deepwoods.com)
5 Aug 95 19:02:35 EDT

Replying to LO2328 --

Responding to LO2328, where Andrew Moreno said, in part...

> One comment I'd like to make is that any monitoring of system
> behaviour should be kept extremely, extremely simple, possibly
> in the form of paper checklists. I was told that having the
> write checklist at the right time was 98% of genius. Anything
> computer based other than plain text files is probably not
> simple enough to use and probably won't be used.

Perhaps 20 years ago!

Many companies are using forms-based e-mail, custom-designed
forms for Lotus Notes, and other "computer based" solutions
to collect higher-quality data with higher compliance. There
are several reasons for this:

1. People find e-mail "urgent"...more urgent, say, than yet
another paper form for the bureaucracy.

2. People have confidence that the message-reliant systems
"feed" into some system, instead of a paper form just
lying in someone's in-box.

3. We can offer people lots of "check boxes" and moving
sliders and other user interface tricks that make data
entry easier than paper.

4. When required reports aren't forthcoming, we can take
automatic alternative action to notify someone to look
into it.

5. We can easily and automatically send the blank forms to
the *relevant* party, for them to fill in their bit, and
the form moves on to the next party to add theirs, and
so on (and, people don't have to see other's data if they'd
rather not be bothered).

6. Because much of the *process* is automated, the data gets
'round the system faster, and back into the hands of the
people who can use it make appropriate changes to the system
while it still matters.

>From my experience, I'd say someone who's using paper for data
collection (from more than one person; in that case, I'd make an
exception) instead of using a message-reliant application [MRA;
you'll see the term more in coming years] is depriving themselves
of a rich resource.

"Things should be as simple as possible...and no simpler."
(wasn't that Einstein?)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Carol Anne Ogdin "If we fixed a hangnail the way our
Deep Woods Technology, Inc. government fixed the economy, we'd
CAOgdin @ DeepWoods.com slam a car door on it."
--Cullen Hightower