Way back in days of yore, I've heard tales of how there used to be dozens of
data entry clerks keying in source data from customers to make punch cards,
which punch cards were then read into the computer system forming the basis
of many computer systems.

Then, key-to-disk was introduced which eliminated the card punch and reader
but still required dozens of data entry clerks (well, maybe a few were
eliminated since the card punch/reader didn't "eat" cards anymore), and
still required the source documents from the customers.

Then, EDI was introduced which allowed the source data to go directly into
the computer system (untouched by human hands, as it were), which brought us
closer to the paperless office.  Plus, we could send outgoing data from our
computer system directly into the customer's.

Now, with B2B on the Web making a strong run for primacy, we are starting to
get the Internet version of EDI, which requires a human presence to go to
the customer's web site and download the purchase orders.  Not only that,
but we have customers who are expecting us to key in ASN data on a part by
part basis.  It looks like we are going to go back to having data entry
clerks retrieving data from customers' web sites and entering it into our
computer systems, then taking shipment data and keying that back into the
web site.

Has anyone else run into this requirement?  What is the idea behind this?
Is this really the future?  Am I a Luddite?

I fail to see how this can be called an advance in the state-of-the-art.
Perhaps it's a political plot for full employment (think of all the data
entry clerks we will need if all of our customers go to this type of system,
not to mention all the web-heads that will be employed creating these
ghastly web sites).


Jim Phillips                            Manager of Information Systems
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]     Therm-O-Link, Inc.
Phone: (330) 527-2124                   P. O. Box 285
  Fax: (330) 527-2123                   10513 Freedom Street
  Web: http://www.tolwire.com  Garrettsville, Ohio  44231