Review of Tax Processing System Planning for the Internal Revenue Service (1980) / Chapter Skim
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3 Transition
3 Transition
Pages 23-40
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From page 23... ...
Perspective Technology, particularly new technology, imposes no limitations on what the IRS intends for the future; therefore, it is not a pivotal issue in the present plan. On the other hand, the computer field has advanced rapidly; the new equipment and its associated operating system software will be dramatically different from that now installed in the Service Centers and the National Computer Center.
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From page 24... ...
However, there must at least be an awareness that the effort is in every way completely different from the customary daily operational environment of the IRS in scale of effort, in nimbleness of management and responsiveness of decisionmaking, in scope of documentation, in completeness and tightness of control, and in reaction to unanticipated problems. The Committee recommendations below can lessen the risks, but the Equipment Replacement Program must be seen by the fRS as the large engineering development project that it is.
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From page 25... ...
STRATEGY OF TRANSITION Overall Strategy The transition is to be carried out under an overall strategy of equipment replacement. This is not to say, however, that each item of new equipment merely replaces an old one; the situation is much more intricate.
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From page 26... ...
Tax returns arrive by mail at Service Centers and are transcribed to magnetic tape by a system that will not be replaced or altered (System T) .2 Transcribed returns are processed for arithmetic accuracy; when errors are resolved, updated information is sent on magnetic tape to the National Computer Center (System P)
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From page 27... ...
~ \ H Hold in Pending Data Base Control Q Query and Report Facilities , 1 '7 Link Network Terminal Control /// / // Terminals in Service Centers and District Offices FIGURE 1 / NATIONAL COMPUTER CENTER PROCESSING a; / / M Master Files Maintenance Issue Selected Copies to Service Centers D Duplicate Selected Copies on Microfilm O Other Processes Outputs to Other Systems
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From page 28... ...
The files at the National Computer Center are processed weekly to make full copies of selected records available to Service Centers on microfilm (System D)
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From page 29... ...
Making the change to a high-level language during transition is also a sound decision, allowing learning costs to be absorbed in the transition effort. ORGANIZATION, MANAGEMENT, AND RESOURCES As explained earlier, the Service Center Replacement System portion of the Equipment Replacement Program will take about five years, will occupy a stab of 500 people during its peak year, and will involve not only some aspects of the National Computer Center, but also all Service Centers and most of the ]
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From page 30... ...
The discussions and review actions satisfied many of the Committee's concerns, but others, highlighted under the next few headings, deserve continued review by the IRS staff. The Task The Service Center Replacement System consists basically of replacing the obsolescent computers in the 10 Service Centers with modern processors, plus converting all the existing programs from assembly language to COBOL.
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From page 31... ...
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From page 32... ...
Otherwise these contacts may need resolution at the Assistant Commissioner level (Figure 3~. Conflicts during the installation phase in the field are mor likely to be the result of conflict between the schedule and priorities set by the Systems Development Office, on the one hand, and the day-to-day requirements of field operations on the other.
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From page 33... ...
33 Ct ~ ~ A: C V ~ ·E Cal ;^ o C)
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From page 34... ...
Systems Development Office Planning and scheduling, coordination, and fiscal control of the Service Center Replacement System program will require constant attention to detail. A Systems Development Office, reporting directly to the Assistant Commissioner (Data Services)
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From page 35... ...
We therefore recommend that the staff of the Systems Development Office be approximately doubled from the planned 15; that the Systems Development Office obtain expert advice on the adequacy of its project management system at the earliest date; and that representatives of the Systems Development Office routinely attend planning and design review meetings where program issues are discussed and decided, to develop their own sense of the information being provided by various task teams and also to maintain the automated project control system. Project Funds Management i!
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From page 36... ...
We believe the area of overall TRS project management needs further attention. We understand, for example, that TRS funding for the project will be commingled with other IRS funds; and that the normal {RS work assignment and funds management controls will be applied to work performed for the project.3 The Committee strongly recommends that the {RS hold separate all project funds.
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From page 37... ...
The master schedule would show relationships among project activities, allow concurrent actions as appropriate, and identify the project's critical path. The Committee recommends that the Systems Development Office maintain and periodically review its master plan and the necessary project reporting procedures to ensure a steady flow of management information.
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From page 38... ...
Adequate project documentation is costly in money and in technical effort, but failure to provide it can prove even more costly in the long run, create substantial schedule delays, and introduce unnecessary added risks. The Committee recommends that a project documentation tree be specified by the Systems Development Office.
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From page 39... ...
Success in the use of translators could result in worthwhile savings in manpower during the conversion. THE NATIONAL COMPUTER CENTER Although the Committee addressed only the Service Center Replacement System, many of the same cautions and recommendations are clearly pertinent to equipment replacement and software conversion actions that will occur at the National Computer Center.
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