vyEPA
Vol. I
August, 1978
No. 6
CURT LACKEY
SELECTED AS WCC
PROJECT OFFICER
BILL ALLEN, COMPUTER SPECIALIST
In July, EPA Dajta Talk announced
the appointment of new Project
Officers for the NCC and WCC. Tom
Rogers, the NCC Project Officer,
was featured last month.
Curt Lackey, the new WCC Project
Officer, is a new face in
MIDSD/NCC. Although located at
Washington's Waterside
will report to Don Fulford
Mall, Curt
Chief
of the Data Center
RTP facility.
Branch at the
CIRT LACKEY
him), one year in Vietnam as Chief
of Computer Operations, Data Man-
agement Agency, and one year at
Randolph AFB, Texas, where he was
involved with the procurement of
the Advanced Personnel Data System
for the Air Force. A native South
Carolinian, Curt was born in 19^2,
and in 1964 received a B.S. in
mathematics from Clemson Univer-
sity. He then moved to Atlanta
where he entered Georgia Tech and
graduated with an M.S. in Informa-
tion Science in 1965.
Since
Branch
la n ta ,
region'
1973, Curt has been ADP
Chief for Region 4, At-
where he managed the
s ADP resources and
provided data processing liaison
with EPA Headquarters. He was
instrumental in the successful
and efficient use of
PDP-11/70. Atlanta
the first regional
installation
the regional
was one of
offices
puter.
to acquire this minicom-
Before coming to EPA, Curt served
in the U.S. Air Force for seven
years, four of which in the Penta-
gon (D.C. traffic won't be new to
Curt, who enjoys his work, is also
active outside ADP. He plays
paddleball and golf, and is active
in church choir groups. His wife
Judy and their three children, the
youngest of which is six months
old, are in the process of moving
from Atlanta to Annandale, Virgin-
ia, where they will live until
finding a more permanent resi-
dence .
Welcome to the MIDSD organization,
Curt! We certainly can use your
talents and experience to provide
the IBM users with the high qual-
ity utility they expect and de-
serve .
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DIRECTOR'S
CORNER
Willis Grccnsirco
This month I want to emphasize the
initiation of EPA's National ADP
Institute (NADPI). The first
courses were held in July. The
NADPI will become a major aspect
of EPA's ADP Program as we move
into the 1980's. The following
excerpts from an article which
appeared in the North C_a_ro_.l_i.n;a
Leader describe it well. Vic
Cohen of my RTP staff is to be
commended for the good start of
NADPI.
FOR THE 1980 COMPUTER LEAP
NSCU FACULTY PREPS EPAers
mation about cloud cover, wind
direction and relative humidity
may be fed in to produce long-
range weather reports, of interest
to the EPA since it is involved
with pollutants in the air.
At the second or intermediate
level, a course called "Project
Management" will concentrate on
practical methods of managing a
computer project. It is designed
for mid-level managers, systems
and management analysis [sic] and
computer specialists.
At the top level, a course called
"Executive Seminar," for the upper
echelons of EPA managers, teaches
more extensively how to make deci-
sions based on computer work
others do. It advises about how
to ask for certain information,
what to ask for.
North Carolina State University is
providing the teaching expertise
for the Environmental Protection
Agency's Automated Data Processing
Institute in Raleigh and in [two]
other states. The Institute is
for EPA personnel from across the
country. Sessions also will be
held at Gaithersburg, MD, and Cin-
cinnati, OH.
The NCSU
travel to
James D.
David F.
professors,
all seminars,
Powell
McAllister,
who will
are: Dr.
and Dr.
of NCSU's
Department of Computer Science.
The NCSU professors will teach
three courses. At the first level
is "Basic Concepts," designed for
lower level management people and
others without a great deal of ex-
pertise in the computer field.
The course will deal with appli-
cations of computer information in
an introductory way. For example,
it might explain weather fore-
casting by computer - how infor-
The courses are being
. . by the NCSU
Continuing Education.
coordinated
Division of
They are intended to acquaint
their students with recent ad-
vances in computer technology,
preparing the way for the tremen-
dous leaps ahead expected by the
1980's.
Plans for several more years of
courses are in the works, with the
intention being to expand the
courses in depth. A student who
attended the first course, "Basic
Concepts," might expect the next
year to come back to course 1-a,
he [John Schulze, continuing
education specialist] says,
explaining that this might be an
enlarged version or offshoot of
"Basic Concepts . "
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NADPI
Vic Cohen, Computer Specialist
The trees appearing on the cover
of the brochure pictured at right
announcing the "Executive Seminar
in ADP" serve as the logo for
EPA's newest ADP educational pro-
gram called the National ADP
Institute or NADPI (pronounced
"nappy"). Implied by the logo is
NADPI1s goal of individual growth
through education.
By researching effective classroom
techniques, continuously surveying
course needs, and developing,
presenting, and evaluating ADP
courses, NADPI will provide a
high-calibre ADP education to all
EPA employees.
This fiscal year, NADPI is
offering a set of three courses
each aimed at a different category
of EPA employee: "Executive Semi-
nar in ADP" for executives, "Pro-
ject Management and the System
Life Cycle" for ADP project mana-
gers, and "Basic Concepts in ADP"
for those without prior ADP ex-
perience .
The NADPI program recognizes a
number of new attitudes toward the
way the government should operate.
Draft reports from the President's
Reorganization Project have re-
peatedly stated that computers are
indispensable to the successful
operation of the government. Of
course, this idea is not new to
EPA. As a young agency, EPA has
easily taken advantage of technol-
ogy, particulary automation. With
the advent of OMB Circular A-109
and the approaching procurement of
computer equipment and services
for the 1980's, the Agency will
produce new computer uses^,/ methods
of managing information, and per-
haps, modes of organizational
behavior. As ADP permeates the
Agency, few staffers remain out-
side its influence. All of us
NADPI
.an opportunity to
have a role in producing and re-
viewing data, distributing re-
ports, consolidating and digesting
information, or managing one or
more of these activities.
The implication of this trend
toward automation is that EPA must
help its staff acquire computer
skills and accept the changes
computers will bring to the work-
place. All NADPI courses will
prepare EPA personnel for the
developing information technology
and will emphasize their role in
the information process.
Compared to courses available from
other sources, those of NADPI have
several advantages. They are free
to EPA employees. They will re-
flect actual EPA experiences
through the use of tailored case
studies. Most will be developed
and presented by university fac-
ulty, and the students will re-
ceive continuing education credits
(CEU's).
Next fiscal year, NADPI will un-
doubtedly repeat portions of the
current schedule. The current
project management course may be
changed to include the use of a
project management game, again
customized to fit the EPA experi-
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ence. But there will be renewed
emphasis on users not formally
trained in ADP, exemplified by a
systems course specifically de-
signed for personnel managers or
environmental protection special-
ists. Other ideas include an ADP
procurement seminar, a series in
data analysis, a course in data
base applications, and reviews of
new books on management infor-
mation systems.
The future looks bright for NADPI
and all EPA employees are encour-
aged to take advantage of the
unique opportunity it offers.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WCC
Maireei Jehnson
v.
V
Curt Lackey, newly-appointed
EPA Project Officer for the WCC,
is rapidly familiarizing himself
with the management of the con-
tract. Having served as the ADP
Branch Chief for Region 4, Curt
brings a valuable user perspective
to the direction of the data
center. Jim Flatten and Neil
McNamara will be working with Curt
at Waterside Mall.
JA new project management and
control system, PC/70, from At-
lantic Software, Inc., will soon
be implemented at the WCC. De-
scriptive information on this sys-
tem will be presented in future
issues of EPA/WCC SIGNQN.
A schedule and plan will soon
be completed for the implemen-
tation of IBM's Multiple Virtual
Storage (MVS) operating system.
Generally, MVS is expected to
increase productivity in appli-
cations development, expand
operations flexibility, and im-
prove system performance. Copies
of a COMNET working paper de-
scribing MVS may be obtained from
WCC Users Support.
'Robert T. Caravella has
joined the WCC staff as Deputy
Project Director. And the posi-
tions of Security and Fire Pro-
tection Officer, Quality Assurance
and Certification Officer, Network
Manager, and two Senior Perfor-
mance Analysts have been filled.
^Morino Associates, Inc., has
been awarded a subcontract to
study WCC performance monitoring
requirements prior to the devel-
opment of a Performance Monitoring
Information System.
'Under development is a new
user" orientation package, pro-
viding new users with pertinent
information about how to use the
WCC and where to obtain assis-
tance .
HEWS FROM REGIOH 3
Ted Stindish, Region 3 ADP Branch Chief
Work is continuing at a steady
pace on the design of the Hazard-
ous Waste Data Management System
for the Hazardous Waste Program.
Several meetings of the Steering
Committee were held and, as a re-
sult, we at Region 3 sent to the
other regions information on a
design proposal for the Notifi-
cations System and the Permit
Issuance System. In addition, we
also requested regional comment on
several data processing issues.
We will keep the regions informed
as work on this system progresses.
Last week, Arthur Young and
Company briefed the Steering Com-
mittee on the status of the Data
Standardization Project. Commit-
tee members agreed that Arthur
Young should define alternative
ways for the Agency to implement a
Data Management and Standardi-
zation Program. This briefing was
videotaped and will be sent with a
briefing document to each region.
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Region 3 arranged for WCC Users
Support to operate the Model State
Information System on a daily
basis. We have documented this
arrangement. At the end of the
fiscal year, together with User
Support, we will issue a report on
the advantages and disadvantages
of this arrangement.
The meeting of the regional Branch
Chiefs should occur in October, in
conjunction with either the
meeting of the minicomputer re-
gions or the proposed Agency Data
Processing Conference. As soon as
I have a firm date, I will let
each of you know.
Please let me know if you have any
information you wish to include in
this column.
NETWORK ACTIVITIES
Fred Hastier
The General Services Admin-
istration recently granted
approval for seven new data
circuits. This will allow EPA and
COMNET to proceed with a network
reconfiguration to improve acces-
sibility and reliability for San
Francisco, Dallas, New Orleans,
Grosse lie, and other northeastern
cities.
RJE access to NCC is still not
available over the network facil-
ities. COMNET is testing the
capability and cannot at this time
provide an implementation date.
COMNET currently provides WATS
lines and commercial numbers in
Washington to access NCC and WCC
with 1200 bps full-duplex VADIC
modems. But access to either
system with similar Bell 212
modems is limited to local
Washington commercial numbers. To
service Bell 212 modem users
outside the Washington dialing
area, COMNET will install WATS
lines by August 2.
Users are reminded and encouraged
to report all communications prob-
lems. If you are not satisfied
with problem resolution or if you
are still experiencing problems,
please contact me a (919) 541-2932
or (FTS) 629-2932.
EPA/HUB CONTRACT
Robert Yoni, UP letvork Services, lie.
EPA has awarded a contract to ADP
Network Services, Inc., through
First Data Corporation, to provide
a "Mathematical Modeling Time-
Sharing Service" to all EPA loca-
tions throughout the country.
This service centers around the
MLAB software package developed by
NIH and resides on a DEC System-10
in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The net-
work is readily accessible by
phone from most major U.S. cities.
MLAB is an interactive system for
mathematical modeling. The heart
of the system is a curve-fitting
program which will adjust the
parameters of a model function to
minimize the sum of the squared
errors. Mathematical operators
and functions, routines for tele-
type and CRT plotting, and mechan-
isms for saving data between
sessions provide a powerful and
convenient environment for data
manipulation, arithmetic calcu-
lations, and building and testing
models. MLAB was originally de-
signed and programmed by Gary
Knott and Douglas Reece. It was
inspired by earlier work of
Richard Shrager at NIH and uses
the Marquardt-Levenburg method of
curve-fitting.
The user communicates with MLAB by
typing commands. Most commands
are executed at once, but a few,
such as the FIT command, will
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prompt the user for additional
information. Should the user have
questions, typing "HELP" will put
the system documentation at his
disposal.
In addition to its suitability for
quick and convenient curve-
fitting, MLAB provides facilities
for data manipulation and graph-
ics. Models are expressed as
real-valued functions of arbitrary
numbers of independent variables
and parameters. These functions
may be expressed in terms of the
built-in operators and functions,
other functions defined by the
user, and recursively in terms of
themselves. Systems of differen-
tial equations may be specified
and solved or used to implicitly
define functions to be used as
models in curve-fitting.
The graphics routines provide a
means of rapidly examining the
results of a fit, and, using a CRT
display, a graph can be prepared
for publication. Special facili-
ties for drawing perspective views
of 3-dimensional surfaces or
space-curves are included. Vari-
ous means of modifying the views
are available.
The most salient feature of MLAB
is its civilized interface with
the users. Its statements are
simple and direct, and all un-
necessary details relating to pure
programming have been suppressed.
Functions are evaluated inter-
pretively, avoiding the need for
user programming.
A comprehensive set of assumptions
or "defaults" is in force to allow
command components to be neglected
when desired. The PDP-10 monitor
is easy to interact with, and no
elaborate operating system control
specifications such as JCL are
required. The use of files is
relatively simple.
MLAB has been used to solve dif-
ferential equations, fit models to
data, and produce pictures for
publication in a variety of situ-
ations .
The system is available to all EPA
personnel. For more information
on MLAB or to set up an account,
please contact:
David Cline
Environmental Protection Agency
Athens, Georgia 30605
(H04) 546-3123
(FTS) 250-3123
or
Bob Young
First Data Corporation
2011 Eye Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 872-0580
The commercial number
for the National Com-
munciations Network is
(202) 537-2611. Marvin
Rosenstein is the Branch
Chief for Region 1. EPA
Data Talk gave this in-
formation incorrectly in
the June issue .
EPA Data Talk is published monthly by
the National Computer Center, Manage-
ment Information and Data Systems
Division, for EPA personnel and con-
tractors interested in general ADP
topics.
Comments and suggestions are solic-
ited and should be addressed to:
William G. Allen
Editor, EPA Data Talk
National Computer Center
Research Triangle Park,
North Carolina 27711
To ensure that our distribution list
is up-to-date, please indicate any
required changes on the mailing label
attached to this issue and mail it to
the above address.
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DEVELOPMENT, MAINTENANCE & OPERATIONS
CONTRACT
Anne Parkis
[Editor's Note: Anne Parkis,
formerly of the WCC Project
Office, accepted the DM&O Project
Manager position within MIDSD.
This position became vacant when
Frank Bullock transferred to the
Department of Defense. Anne wel-
comes any questions or comments
concerning the DM&O contract and
can be reached at 755-2839.]
Elgin Fry of the Office of Pesti-
cide Programs (OPP) must process
huge quantities of site/pest data
to analyze the composition and
effect of various pesticides.
Elgin asked CSC to supply profes-
sionals in entomology, agronomy,
microbiology, plant pathology, and
plant physiology, who will encode
pesticide data into a computer-
compatible format, run the data
through the COMNET computer system
after key-to-disk conversion, and
verify the computer edit output
before sending the data on to EPA
scientists for final analysis.
The key-to-disk conversion is
performed by CSC under the DM&O
contract. With CSC's help, Elgin
and the OPP will soon get the bugs
out of their systems.
Bruce Almich is establishing a
Minicomputer Software Exchange for
the EPA PDP-11 user community.
This exchange should help elimi-
nate duplicate minicomputer soft-
ware development in the Agency and
provide software sharing to PDP-11
users. The exchange will be de-
veloped through two DM&O con-
tracts. The first will produce
minicomputer documentation stan-
dards and policies/procedures for
the exchange. Draft copies of the
results will be distributed for
review and comment at the EPA
minicomputer managers meeting
scheduled this fall. The second
contract will establish and oper-
ate the exchange.
The CSC staff at the Large Lakes
Research Station (LLRS), Grosse
lie, just published their first
newsletter giving their user com-
munity general interest informa-
tion concerning data operations.
Dr. Swain, Station Director,
wrote, "I think reviewing it that
you will discover why we consider
Ralph [Allen] and his group to be
such a valuable asset to the over-
all LLRS program." Anyone inter-
ested may request a copy from Bill
Richardson, the EPA Project
Officer.
AGENCY SAMPLE FILE CONTROL SYSTEM
Brace Alnicb, Gonputer Services and System Division
Computer Services and Systems Di-
vision (CSSD) is currently engaged
in the design and implementation
of data management software for
the EPA analytical service labora-
tories. A prototype "Sample File
Control" (SFC) system for ERC-Cin-
cinnati is in the detailed imple-
mentation design phase and will
run on the EPA-Cincinnati PDP-
11/70 minicomputer under In-
form-11. The prototype is ex-
pected to be operational by the
end of 1978.
During 1979, the CSSD-developed
automatic telecommunications net-
work (available to all PDP-11 IAS
sites using HASP) will be aug-
mented to provide automatic data
exchanges of laboratory sample
backlogs and results through
PDP-11 batch jobstreams between
laboratory minicomputers and the
regional RJE minicomputers. Thus
the laboratory minicomputers will
serve as data concentrators, re-
porting on automated instrument
analytical quality control, sample
status, and project results before
the data is either purged or sent
to the national data bases, either
STORET or SAROAD. The SFC system
is also designed for entry of man-
ual results data into the PDP-11
data base and as a protocol for
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automated entry by other mini-
computers. These machines would
be programmed to transmit the
appropriate PDP-11 Batch Inform
jobs and receive reports via HASP
emulators and 4800 baud synchro-
nous telecommunications with the
PDP-11 SFC systems.
A larger Regional Service Labora-
tory Sample File Control System is
now in the Data Elements Diction-
ary definitions phase of implemen-
tation design.
Delivery of Sample File Control
systems to primary users is sche-
duled for 1979, with all major de-
sign issues to be frozen during
the fall of 1978. Anyone inter-
ested in obtaining further design
or status information is invited
to request a copy of the recent
report from CSSD and/or to be
added to the design documents
mailing list.
STATUS OF HOP STUDIES
Ed Franklin. Project Officer
Of the current nine active and
seven proposed Directives of Work
(DOW) under MIDSD's Feasibility
Study contract with Arthur Young
and Company, four projects are
nearing completion and are in an
EPA review phase. The Hazardous
Waste Data Management Supple-
mentary Study and Underground
Injection Control System Feasi-
bility Study are now being re-
viewed by EPA Headquarters and the
regions. MSED is now reviewing
the alternatives definition evalu-
ation and cost analysis for their
Emissions Data Feasibility Study.
For further information from MIDSD
on these studies call Ed Franklin
(755-0879) or Mike Carpentier
(755-0623).
UNITED STATES
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
National Computer Center
Research Triangle Park
North Carolina 27711
OFFICIAL BUSINESS
PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE S3OO
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYE*
POSTAGE AND FEES PAID
U S ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY
EPA-333
THIRD CUSS
BLK. RT.
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