Playing games with a computer — and losing — is a pretty unnerving experience, especially when the computer wishes you better luck next time!
Such games, however, are helping to overcome the quite natural apprehension of terminal office staff about using sophisticated machinery to carry out time-consuming calculations previously involving a great deal of clerical effort.
At Grangemouth terminal in Scotland, it didn't take too long for the 14 office staff to turn the tables on their newly-installed Datapoint 5500 mini-computer and beat it at its own games.
By computer standards, the Datapoint is easy to use — once you know how — and the games are specially designed to be instructive as well as entertaining. Simpler games like 'hangman', where the player loses a 'life' if he fails to guess the right combination of letters for a six letter word and 'mugwump', which involves finding a pre-determined spot on a Criss-cross of squares, introduce trainees gently to the computer's basic function.
Not that the installation of computers at terminals is a question of winning or losing. A typical task the operations assistant in the terminal office can do faster and more efficiently using the Datapoint computer is to check, file away and print on a ticket all the information relevant to a customer's order which will then be cross-checked on the computer following delivery for accounting and stock control purposes.
More efficiency
These systems were all designed by a project team from systems branch at the computer and accounting centre, Hemel Hempstead, headed by Brian Smith.
Grangemouth's is the first non-experimental computer to be installed and was operational within a month of the first of the commissioning's team's visits, led by Jim Hitchin from Hemel Hempstead.
Since Grangemouth, mini-computers have been installed at Ipswich and Teesside and links have been effected between Sheffield and Torksey and between Hamble and Thame. Work is continuing on the mini-computer installations at Bridgwater and Purfleet which will become operational in January and a further five terminals will receive Datapoint equipment making a total of 13 in all. All other main product terminals will be linked to one of the mini-computer terminals by the end of 1979.
The whole exercise has been master-minded by a team in Distribution Division managed by Bruce Ballantine.
The Datapoint is a friendly computer and through its video display screens establishes a two-way contact with the operator —so that, for example, most inadvertent keying-in errors on the operator's part are immediately picked up and returned.
Greater flexibility
Ease of use also gives a greater degree of flexibility and job satisfaction among the staff. Members of the terminal office staff no longer have their own preserve and can take over confidently other jobs in hand.
The three-week training programme at Grangemouth had a welcome familiar touch about it. Local man Jimmy Reid, who once worked at the terminal and is now a shift manager at Inverness, attended a course at Hemel Hempstead, organised by Tony Lee of information development branch, before embarking on a tour in Scotland and Northern Ireland region to pass on his skills.
The training in other regions will be undertaken by Steve Wheeler (Midland and Western), Martin Heathcote (Northern) and Tommy Robinson (South Eastern).
Only time, however, and not training will rid terminal office staff of the involuntary “oops sorry” followed by a rather sheepish grin which slips out when the screen shows up an error.
Everyone feels a bit foolish apologising to a machine!
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