Lisa owners tell how time is saved

Press, 10 January 1984, Page 19

Lisa owners tell how time is saved

Lisa, the revolutionary desk-top microcomputer from Apple, is gradually finding its way into New Zealand offices.

Three case studies, recently made available by the New Zealand Apple distributors, show how Lisa is being applied in the New Zealand environment.

An Auckland designer and constructor of geodesic domes for commercial and residential use, Mr John Rich, uses a Lisa for specifications and contracts, invoicing, stock, wages, wages analysis, debtors and creditors, letters and filing, and is beginning to use it for drawing.

“When Lisa comes out with a plotter and a drawing package, we’ll start to make big savings,” says Mr Rich. If he wants to alter a dome specification or vary one from client to client, he can feed the variables into the microcomputer’s specification master.

He has used other computers, most recently an Apple 11, and is able to write programs for the Lisa: “I have written a program which will let me take a geodesic dome, rotate it to any node I want it at the top, and then squash it, stretch it or turn it into a super-ellipsoid, any size I want, and the Lisa will print out the Cartesian coordinates of a particular dome.

“That’s very useful stuff. The important thing is if I get a client who changes his mind on the size or shape of his dome, it hasn’t cost me a S4OO or $5OO geometry analysis. “I’m now free to vary the dome. Before, I had to make the decision and do the development. “They tell me Lisa is going to get a few more tricks. A useful one for me would be the ability to draw something and rotate it so I could see the other side of it.

“The beauty of the Lisa is that you don’t need any training. With Lisacalc, if you have basic algebra as one of your skills you can do it.

“Structural analysis is the next thing I’ll set up,” Mr Rich says. “I could do that on a Lisa. Lisa has the capacity. I’ve tried using smaller computers to rotate and change the shape of geodesics and they have failed dismally.” Dominion Breweries, Ltd, chose a Lisa as a management tool to help its newly formed hotels division run 26 large hotels. In the four months since it was installed, it has saved the division seven working days a month.

“We investigated all the micros available and probably the major plus sign for the Lisa was that it was easily used by anybody,” says the division’s finance and administration manager, Mr Bernard Montgomerie.

Staffs use the Lisa to pre-

pare operating statements as part of the division’s management information service to the various hotels under its umbrella. “It consolidates all the reports and presents all the precentages which we work on fairly thoroughly against standards of performance in our actual budgeting.” Half a dozen users call on Lisa for help in forecasting and feasibility studies and in preparation of other statistical reports on such matters as room rates and occupancy rates. In the past, such tasks were carried out manually. Mr Montgomerie believes more company time will be saved as the staff becomes more proficient with the Lisa and as other applications are discovered. “It has other packages which we haven’t even investigated yet,” he says. “We think the machine’s great — it’s the sort of machine which we could use in virtually any hotel. The operating system with the software is probably the easiest and the best I’ve seen.”

Dominion Breweries has a centralised accounting system on a mainframe computer at present, but is considering decentralising its bigger hotels. “Rather than put in terminal landlines or telephone links, it would be far cheaper to use micros. And Lisa has the advantage that a receptionist with a few hours or half a day’s training would be able to use it.” He sees the development of the communication skills with other coinmputers as Lisa’s biggest future. He would also like to see more of the thousands of compatible basic software packages sold in the United States available in New Zealand “so that we can do any job whatsoever.” A Lisa was purchased by the Te Aroha Thames Valley Dairy Co-op. Company in August, partly because of its simplicity to operate, but it has been instrumental in demonstrating some interesting trends in milk-payment procedures.

The Co-op. receives a million litres of milk a day and operates a payment system based on the fat and protein content. Mr Graeme Honeyfield, general manager, has used Lisa’s abilty to calculate complex figures and to present the results in graphic form to assist in explaining to farmers the ways in which milk composition may be controlled and how to increase the proteinfat levels.

“Such a study requires graphs with over 250 points, which would be almost impossible to undertake manually and often 15 different options or variables need to be represented,” says Mr Honeyfield.

“It takes me about 15 minutes to calculate the figures and for Lisa to print out the results graphically. Non graphic presentation of

the results make it a timeconsuming process to uncover trends but with Lisa it is easier to acquire a better understanding of the results,” he adds. Prior to purchasing the Lisa, Mr Honeyfield had no computer experience but insists that after half an hour “playing” on the machine he was able to begin applications.

“Lisa is wonderful — she tells you when you’ve done something wrong, which makes operation very easy. The mouse graphic technology removes all the complex computer commands and the ability to ‘jump’ between files without rebooting makes it an indespensable management tool.

“Lisa’s first task was to assist with the preparation of the annual accounts and we had a deadline of four weeks. With over 470 suppliers it would not have been an easy task without Lisa.”

The Lisa is also used for evaluating machinery proposals. All plant machinery and plant plans are held in the Lisa and the ease with which the operator can evaluate alterations has made decision making a lot easier.

“All our board reports are now carried out on Lisa and again this allows easy assessment of trends through having graphic illustrations rather than columns of figures. “Lisa can handle ‘what if’ situations very easily and this is particularly important in our production-mass flow charts.”

The production-mass flow charts indicate where all the ingredients go during the process and Lisa is able to calculate whether the capacity of the plant will handle the end product desired.

“Everything that goes into the plant must come out — that includes water, fats, protein, salts, etc. and Lisa is able to illustrate where all the individual ingredients are channelled,” says Mr Honeyfield. All the word processing from the office is generated on Lisa plus costing information, budgeting and scheduling. “Computer technology has often been associated with accounting procedures only — Lisa is a personal assistant in my office and she has allowed us to look beyond the barriers of time,” says Mr Honeyfield.