Breaking New Ground—Stories from Defence Construction Breaking_new_ground | Page 65

Members of the General Accounts
Department (now known as Finance),
circa 1976.
Rita:
It was 6 feet long and 4 feet high, and used 8- by
11-inch cards. The operators would sort them using
these ‘knitting needles’—it was just an art to watch
them… I remember when the first computer came
around (in the late 1970s) and they actually hired a
data entry operator to use it. The screen was maybe
four inches by four inches—when you think about what
we have today and what we had back then…
The statistical folks, once the cards were organized,
had two weeks to complete the month-end reports. If
something happened at the end of the month, the rest
of the world wouldn’t know about it for three weeks—
that’s the way things worked back then. People were
more patient: today, people send you an e-mail and
they want the report right now.
In fact, in the 1960s, all of DCL’s tasks and reports
had been completed manually—the Burroughs
Machine was actually a step forward. In 1975, however,
computerization and data processing arrived at DCL,
with the acquisition of a Monroe Mac 1 microcomputer
that—it was hoped—would help with the production
of Monthly Construction Reports. Unfortunately, the
technology encountered difficulties, and by 1978, DCL
opted to have an IBM System 32 installed instead. At
BREAKING NEW GROUND
DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA
first, it handled the Monthly Construction Report
and the Master Data File for construction contract
administration, but its tasks quickly expanded. Within
six months, Accounts Payable, General Ledger and
Payroll were being handled by the computer, and the
following year, a system to record Deposits—Plans
and Specifications was developed and installed, along
with applications for Labour Analysis—Performance
Measurement and Change Order Analysis.
The late 1970s also saw new human resources concerns
arising, as it became apparent that between 1977 and
1987, the company expected to lose 13 of 17 key senior
positions. DCL now had to plan for the upcoming turn-
over of employees, especially at the more senior levels.
Finally, in the 1979–80 fiscal year, the Federal Identity
Program officially assigned DCL a new name: Defence
Construction Canada—Construction de Défense Canada.
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