Agenda Packets - 1986/12/15 - Laserfiche WebLink

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December 11, 1986 Page 2 located in the computer room for data entry and processing for Accounts Payable, Fixed Assets, Financial Statements and Payroll. After the system was installed we found that the equipment produces a noise level that is quite annoying and is not a good work environment. Staff had an individual from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency measure the noise level with a decibel meter. We were advised that although the noise in the computer room was not harmful to the health of anyone working there it was at a level that would be annoying to most people. Placing a personal computer at the Accountant's desk which could be used as a terminal would remove staff from the computer room and it's noise and allow them to work in a quieter area. The present personal computer in the Finance Department originally was to be placed in the Finance Director's office after all present Finance Department computer applications were converted to the new computer system. Staff proposes that that personal computer be placed on a mobile workstation and be made available to other departments. At the present time Public Works staff has found it difficult to schedule time on it to do storm drainage calculations. In addition Public Works and other departments could use this personal computer for budget preparation, graphics and other applications. The second nqw personal computer would be assiened to the Finance Director in lieu of using the older r one. The newer units have an enhanced keyboard that has a �• numeric keypad similar to a calculator's keypad which is more efficient for "number crunching". In addition a better quality printer which produces high quality graphics is proposed for the new personal computer. Staff has obtained several written proposals on personal computers. These proposals are summarized on the attached worksheet. Two of the vendors, Unisys 5 Ameridata, have contracts with the State of Minnesota that the City is eligible to participate in; Unisys has a contract with the State College System and Ameridata has a contract with all State agencies for IBM products. A proposal was obtained from the vendor we purchased our large system from, Computoservics, on Texas Instruments products. Entre Computer does a lot of business with Ramsey County and I checked with them on IBM and Compaq products. I did not include Compaq on the spreadsheet as their price, approximately $6,000 for one system, was too high priced, on advice of our computer consultant I did not look at IBM co;apatibles or "clones". The reasoning was that under our budget constraints whatever system is purchased we will have to live with for a long time. If we went to a lesser known compatible or clone we run the risk of parts and/or service not being available in several years due to the highly competitive nature of the personal computer market. Therefore, my proposals were for well know name brand products.