Digitized by Dag Hammarskjöld LibraryTechnological Im:lovations Boar<L whichistoprOl'!'il:llgate 'procedures relat.ing totheacquisition anduseofotfice hee:zpanded tod,ealalsowithtbebroader areaof il:ld1.()~v.ii5tio"o.$. Thatincludes allaspects ofoffice al:1tomation, as tilof·tW"a.re· a:ndlundware related tomicrocomputers andminicomputers,. rr.ainframe co~puter applications andoperations, andlocaland I'fnileth.eprimary responsibility for:initiating and ,and.procednre$ dealing •...iththosematters at,Headguarters has theeElectronic Services Division oftheOffice ofGeneral Services, A.dtrtini~t.X'ation and ,thatDivi5ion alsoplaysanadvisory tM'!~ch.nological Innovations Boardandotheroffices.D~part.ment of rolfi40.43 Themandat~ of poI!Cif!!S ,~ta.ndard$ anii autofl'lation becnt.lologi.cal by 40.44 'I'hl:ilinitiativets t.akenli!\arlier w111bereviewed, modified inthelightof andconfir;~d. Theco~ordination eIl'tongdutystations willtakeadded ir""yortaY1Ce inth.elightoftheincreasdng needforrapidexchange ofinformation <,ut~{mg infCll;''Eti.ation Theintegrated management information systemproject willal!:o de'f~Land a.nintegrated approach intheareaofcommunications. Techniques for mainframe ,minicomputers andmicrocomputers intoone fullyfunctioning netw()rx thattakestheuserfromdesktop application toother comput€ijl'!ll f~trategici1\;lly located throughout theUnited Nations system. Astrategic plEl.nw111Di'jl(!)tttahlished, whichwillleadtothedevelopment, co-ordination and rflonito:d.r:g ofpolicie!>, l1!ltrategi@13 andstandards onanOrganization-wide basis. 40.45 Durinq theplanperiod, thefirstphaseoftheproject willbecompleted, thatil!!,th@de~ign ofprogrMiffit'HI for t.~enewsystem. andphased conversion fromthe old corttput~rized I'fjy~tem tothl1lnewElyl>tem. Thissyst.emwillrequire thatimproved COll'\ili'lutilcationtili b~inplace. Attheflemetime,newsystems willhavebeen introduced atH~adquarterftl andatallmajordutystations, facilitating theflowof inf·cll'; ..ttlation bll'ltween dutyftltationfl andensuring thatmanagers perform their t'unctionm: onthebEIti'lil!!ofup-to-date andaccurate information. Basedonthe ~xp(jri(!nc~ gained during thatfirstphase, proposals willbemadetoenterintothe w~cond pha~e,thatis,thecomputerization, underthemodern data-base system forthEiintegrated management information system, ofthoseimportant adminlilitI'lritive pracet!tses whichcouldnotbeincluded attheinitial stage. 40.45 Another relevant development inthecontext oftechnological innovations in theStl'l:::retEiriat irilthel:IJt!ttablishment ofanoptical discsystem forstorage and retrieval afdocumentation, approved bytheGeneral Assembly initsresolution 44/201 of21December 1989. Thatsystem should permit thestorage, retrieval and electronic transmission oftextfordisplay onamonitor orforprinting atall Unittld Hations locations. Itsimplementation, beguninthecurrent bienniurn, will continue during theplanperiod anditisanticipated thatonthebasisofthe tlutplilrience 9&ined intheintroduction ofthetechnology intheareaofconference andlibrary services, applications maybeextended inaphased manner toother areaaofcommon s~rvices suchashumanresources management, general services and public information atalldutystations. ~lO- Digitized by Dag Hammarskjöld Library