SYSTEMS WILL BE ACCEPTED LATER ON BY THE USERS AND THAT ECONOMIC EXPECTATION WILL ALSO BE MET . EUROPEAN INDUSTRY IS PARTICULARLY WELL SUITED FOR THIS DEVELOPMENT BECAUSE OF ITS HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL TRADITION .
RESEARCH AREAS OF THE SUBPROGRAMME OFFICE SYSTEMS
TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE ABOVEMENTIONED INTEGRATED APPROACH , THE SUBPROGRAMME HAS BEEN DIVIDED INTO FIVE RESEARCH AREAS ( SEE FIGURE 4-1 ) :
- OFFICE SYSTEMS SCIENCE AND HUMAN FACTORS
A JOINT STUDY IS IMPERATIVE IN ORDER TO ADDRESS EQUALLY BOTH THE HUMAN FACTORS AND THE RATIONALIZATION ASPECTS . THE BEST SYSTEMS FROM A PURELY TECHNICAL POINT OF VIEW ARE OF NO USE WHEN THEY ARE NOT ACCEPTED BY THE USERS .
- ADVANCED WORKSTATIONS
THE KERNEL OF THE FUTURE OFFICE WILL CONSIST OF WORKSTATIONS WITH NEW MAN-MACHINE INTERFACES ( DATA , TEXT , IMAGES , SPEECH ) . THUS , HIGH PRIORITY SHOULD BE GIVEN TO THIS DEVELOPMENT .
- COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
NETWORKS AND INTEGRATED INFORMATION SYSTEMS REQUIRE A NEW SYSTEM DESIGN USING VERY WIDE BAND NETWORKS THAT USE ALTERNATIVE BASIC TECHNOLOGIES IN ORDER TO PROCESS AND TO TRANSMIT VAST QUANTITIES OF MULTI-MODE DATA ALL OVER THE WORLD .
- ADVANCED FILING AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS
IN ORDER TO PROGRESS TOWARDS A PAPERLESS OFFICE , IT IS NECESSARY TO OVERCOME THE PRESENT OBSTACLES TO PROCESSING OF VAST QUANTITIES OF INFORMATION AND TO FAST RETRIEVAL OF THE STORED INFORMATION BY NEW SOLUTIONS .
- INTEGRATED OFFICE SYSTEM DESIGN AND EVALUATION
THE RESEARCH FOR OPTIMAL AND ADVANCED DESIGNS FOR ELEMENTS OF THE INTEGRATED OFFICE SYSTEMS SHOULD LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROTOTYPES FOR SUCH SYSTEMS ; ADEQUATE METHODS AND FACILITIES HAVE TO BE FOUND THAT CAN SERVE AS TEST ENVIRONMENTS .
USER REQUIREMENTS * TECHNOLOGICAL , SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGES
PROTOTYPES * INTEGRATED SYSTEMS APPLICATION
OFFICE - SYSTEM - SCIENCE * HUMAN FACTORS
WORK-STATION * COMMUNICATIONS * FILING AND RETRIEVAL
SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY * ADVANCED INFORMATION PROCESSING
VLSI
FIGURE 4-1
RELATIONS OF OFFICE SYSTEMS TO OTHER ESPRIT SUBPROGRAMMES AND OFFICE ENVIRONMENTS
RESEARCH AIMS OF THE OFFICE SYSTEMS SUBPROGRAMME
1 . ( A ) TO ANALYZE CURRENT AND PREDICTED OFFICE ACTIVITIES AND TO DETERMINE HOW NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MIGHT BE APPLIED TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OFFICE WORK AND ORGANIZATION . BESIDES AUTOMATION OF VARIOUS FUNCTIONS , THIS MEANS BETTER TECHNICAL SUPPORT PARTICULARLY FOR CLERKS , PROFESSIONAL AND MANAGERIAL STAFF IN EXECUTING THEIR NON-DETERMINISTIC TASKS .
( B ) TO IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN FACTORS IN THE OFFICE AND TO ENSURE HIGH PERFORMANCE OF USERS WHEN INTERACTING WITH THE SYSTEMS , WHILST AT THE SAME TIME OFFERING OPTIMAL WORKING CONDITIONS AND ENSURING ADEQUATE ORGANIZATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL ACCEPTANCE .
2 . TO ESTABLISH MAJOR NEW MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE TECHNOLOGIES , PERIPHERAL TECHNOLOGIES AND DOCUMENT REPRESENTATION TECHNOLOGIES RELEVANT TO THE SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-LEVEL OFFICE WORKSTATIONS FOR USE IN ADVANCED OFFICE SYSTEMS .
3 . TO CREATE THE BASIC TECHNOLOGIES REQUIRED FOR ADVANCED OFFICE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS INCLUDING TECHNICAL FUNDAMENTALS IN COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE , OPTICAL TECHNOLOGIES AS A PARTICULARLY SIGNIFICANT TECHNOLOGY AND SYSTEM ASPECTS OF