EEGADS! Department of Energy (DOE) provides free laboratory equipment to universities

Abstract

The PMD system became the vehicle for capturing data on approximately 5,000 used equipment items per year (previously, an average of only 200 items per year were tracked by this process). The information base was then available, but the information dissemination problem persisted. In 1984, the U&I Program Division initiated a study to explore the potential for employing automated office system support technologies to solve the final problem. Department officials pondered whether or not to allow telecommunications access by the academic community to the PMD mainframe data base. They concluded that the risks for possible violation of other sensitive mainframe systems was too great, and the idea was abandoned. In 1984, the decision to develop EEGADS on an IBM PC broke the final barrier. Using data extracted from the mainframe system, EEGADS could run on a PC with a modem. This decision satisfied the desire to provide specific access to used equipment grant data by the academic communicy without allowing general access to DOE mainframe computers. With assistance from DOE's Office of Computer Services and Telecommunications Management, an implementation plan was produced recommending the development of the EEGADS direct dial data base application. The resulting system, developed and maintained by CALCULON Corporation contractor personnel, went on-line in August of 1985. The dBASE III application may be accessed from its MultiLink bulletin board by interested parties via commercial telephone lines 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The first-time user is prompted to provide information about terminal type or emulation mode, user name, institution and department, telephone number, city, state, and zip code. This information is used to update an internally maintained user log accessible by CALCULON support staff to contact individuals who experience problems with hardware or software. Once the user identification data is provided, a four-digit access code is assigned for use in future log-ons. Due to the fact that the current system can accommodate only one user at a time, the system allows a maximum of 30 minutes for each user to utilize the data base.