AUTOMATED LEGISLATIVE RECORD KEEPING SYSTEM FOR THE UNITED STATES SENATE FEASIBILITY STUDY BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMPUTER SERVICES OF THE COMMITTEE ON RULES AND FEBRUARY 29, 1972 Printed for the use of the United States Senate U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE COMMITTEE ON RULES AND ADMINISTRATION B. EVERETT JORDAN, North Carolina, Chairman HOWARD W. CANNON, Nevada MARLOW W. COOK, Kentucky GORDON F. HARRISON, Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMPUTER SERVICES B. EVERETT JORDAN, North Carolina, Chairman HOWARD W. CANNON, Nevada FOREWORD This Committee Print contains the results of a study conducted for the Committee on Rules and Administration, Subcommittee on Computer Services, on behalf of the Secretary of the Senate to determine the feasibility of applying automated techniques to the legislative record keeping functions in the Senate. The focus of the study was directed upon the legislative information requirements in the Office of the Secretary, Senators' offices, and Committee offices. The study was conducted in four phases over a three and one-half month period by the staff of the Subcommittee on Computer Services assisted by a team of information specialists from the System Development Corporation. User information requirements within the Senate were collected and analyzed during Phase I. The functions which the system must perform in order to fulfill these legislative information requirements were defined during Phase II. The basic concept for an automated system which could perform these functions was developed during Phase III, and the operational requirements, which include a timephased plan for the implementation of the system, were produced during Phase IV. The study establishes the feasibility of applying information and computer technology to the legislative record keeping activities of the Senate. This conclusion is based upon the results of the surveys undertaken, analysis of the requirements for the system, the stateof-the-art in information technology, experience with similar types of systems, and favorable experiences of many state legislatures who are utilizing automated systems for similar activites. In addition, the study indicates the feasibility of developing a basic Legislative Record Keeping System by the beginning of the 93rd Congress. A target date of the beginning of the 93rd Congress has been proposed, based upon the desirability of having an operational system at the beginning of a Congress. This would allow for the entry of all information into the system as it is created, thus avoiding a backlog or catch-up operation. Such catch-up operations are expensive, and produce inaccuracies through after-the-fact information transfer. The basic system would include a central information office in the Office of the Secretary, manned by approximately six personnel to accept telephone calls, retrieve status information from the computer files via terminals, and relay it back to the caller. A few terminals could be located in Senators' offices and Committees, on a pilot basis, in order to determine the effectiveness of direct retrieval from the system. Based on favorable experience, the system could be expanded by the 94th Congress to include terminals in each Senator's office, Committees, the Library of Congress, and the Government Printing Office. |