The Senate Should Explore Other Word Processing Alternatives to Improve Cost Effectiveness and Productivity

摘要

Word processing systems are essential to the offices of U.S. Senators who respond annually to over 11 million letters from their constituents. The annual cost for equipment and personnel to develop and process responses is estimated at over $28 million. The word processing systems now used by the Senate may not be the best to meet this workload. In the past 5 years, significant technological developments have produced some very powerful and flexible new systems. These new systems have the potential to help the Senate meet its growing correspondence workload, while at the same time reduce its work processing costs. The Senate should delay its planned purchase of the present computer-based word processing system until it thoroughly analyzes available alternatives.