Data Processing: Status of Agriculture's Electronic Dissemination of Information System

摘要

The primary objective of the Department of Agriculture's Electronic Dissemination of Information System is to make available all the data in the system to users as soon as these data are received or at specified release times established by the Department's agencies. Each agency determines the extent to which it will use the system and what perishable data to put into the system. Therefore, the range of data available is determined by the total amount of data put into the system by all participating agencies. The system became operational in July 1985. A year later, 6 agencies were loading (entering) data into the system, and 10 agencies were accessing data in the system. These agencies are charged for loading and storing the data they enter into the system and for any data they retrieve from the system. The system's development cost was $250,000 and the Department's fiscal year 1986 operating costs for loading, storing, and retrieving data were about $7,900 per month, which was distributed among the agencies using the system.