XN000022-1977-11-12 — Page 7

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1977

COMPUTER ISED SYSTEM FOR RETRIEVING RECORDS IN IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT

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THE IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT HAS SET UP A NEW INDEXING SYSTEM WITH THE INSTALLATION OF A COMPUTER, WHICH WILL CONSIDERABLY REDUCE THE TIME SPENT IN THE RETRIEVING OF RECORDS WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT.

THE NEW SYSTEM WILL BE LINKED UP WITH THE NEWLY DEVELOPED MICROFILM SYSTEM AND IT WILL COME INTO OPERATION LATER THIS YEAR TO HELP LESSEN THE TIME NEEDED TO SHUFFLE THROUGH A MOUNTAIN OF FILES AND DOCUMENTS IN ORDER TO RECOVER DATA ON A PARTICULAR PERSON.

+WHEN THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS FULLY OPERATIONAL, INFORMATION ABOUT A PARTICULAR PERSON WILL BE AVAILABLE WITHIN SECONDS BY CHECKING WITH THE COMPUTER AND MICROFILMS,+ A SPOKESMAN FOR THE IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT SAID.

+AT PRESENT, TRACING A FILE FOR REFERENCE CAN, AT TIMES, BE QUITE TIME CONSUMING AND, IN SOME CASES, SEVERAL SECTIONS ARE INVOLVED DUE TO THE DECENTRALISATION OF FILES FOR EASY MANAGEMENT. THE MICROFILM SYSTEM WILL HELP TO BRING ALL RECORDS UNDER ONE ROOF, AND THE COMPUTERISED INDEX SYSTEM GIVES RISE TO A MUCH MORE ACCURATE AND QUICKER WAY OF PROVIDING THE NECESSARY CLUE TO LOCATE THE RECORD OF A PARTICULAR PERSON+.

THE MICROFILMING UNIT, WHICH WAS SET UP LAST YEAR AS PART OF THE $1.6 MILLION COMPUTER-BASED MICROFILM PROJECT FOR THE DEPARTMENT, HAS SUCCESSFULLY MICROFILMED SOME HALF A MILLION FILES AND DOCUMENTS IN ITS FIRST YEAR'S OPERATION.

IT WAS ESTABLISHED TO TACKLE THE STORAGE PROBLEM OF THE EVER INCREASING NUMBER OF PAPER FILES AND THE IR SAFE CUSTODY.

THE UNIT STARTED MICROFILMING THE STOCK OF 2.3 MILLION FILES AND DOCUMENTS IN THE DEPARTMENT LAST OCTOBER. IN ADDITION, ABOUT 45,000 NEW FILES ARE OPENED EACH MONTH, WHICH ARE ALSO TO BE FILMED. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT IT WILL TAKE ANOTHER FOUR YEARS TO FINISH THE WHOLE PROCESS OF FILMING,

THE SPOKESMAN SAID: +WHEN MICROFILMING OF ALL THE PAPER RECORDS IN THE DEPARTMENT IS COMPLETED IN FOUR YEARS' TIME, IT IS EXPECTED THAT THE STORAGE AREA FOR MICROFILMED RECORDS WILL OCCUPY ONLY ONE-EIGHTH OF THE EXISTING AREA REQUIRED FOR PAPER RECORDS.+

+ IN ADDITION, THE UNIT WILL EVENTUALLY HAVE ALL THE DEPARTMENT'S RECORDS PUT UNDER ONE CENTRAL ISED CONTROL THUS MINIMISING THE RISK OF RECORDS BEING LOST OR DAMAGED, + THE SPOKESMAN ADDED.

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