Assign 275 million people to 120 million addresses on a fixed, single date, April 1, 2000. It is because the task is huge and complex that the Census Bureau is very careful in how it proceeds. To the extent possible, and especially for procedures not used in prior censuses, we test everything, and weigh what works and what does not. Hours of deliberation, even argument, precede a decision to build any given procedure into the census. Census staff take turns challenging each other to prove the merits of a given operation.
Nothing is haphazard, nothing is casual.
Every step is carefully, deliberately considered. Selection among alternative procedures is based not on what is more or less difficult, but what is more or less productive. For now we must determine how well the integrated system will work, not just the individual pieces. As the Chairman knows, because he visited our Beta testing site in Suitland, this too is a painstaking task. For example, twenty-five major software systems have had to be designed, and linked together.