ABSTRACT
A parallel can be drawn between the process of decision-making and manufacturing. The techniques employed in arriving at the decisions are analogous to the manufacturing processes. The raw material from which the end product is fashioned is the information which is available to the decisionmaker. Forms of recording data and information, and equipment to help in distilling meaning, soon came on the scene. A messenger system requires to be organized to bring information from store to processor and return it to store after use. As in operating a tape-recorder, the information placed in a pigeon-hole remains intact until either erased or overwritten by other information. The number of storage locations available and the amount of information that can be stored in each is important in considering the jobs to be put on the computer and the way they should be carried out.
