Project Note No 12: Notes of meeting on Accounting held on 21 March 1975

F R A Hopgood

24 March 1975

1. FR80 Accounting System

A meeting was held on 21 March to clarify the requirements of the FR80 accounting system (see FR30 Discussion Paper 1). Accounting procedures discussed ranged from hand-written forms to analysis of an FR80 log using 1906A programs.

2. SD4020 Accounting System

Currently a manual accounting and job control system is in use on the SD4020. A form entry for each job is maintained by the operators using information produced by the host graphics programs and counters on the SD4020 itself. The standard control form includes data about magnetic tape and film processing times and the amount of stores consumed by each job. The state of any job can be determined at any time. Accounting information is keypunched by the operators and delivered to Operations for processing on a weekly basis.

3. Manual Accounting and Job Control on the FR80

A similar forms system to that in use for the SD4020 has been designed by RB for the FR80. Separate forms are used for black and white film, colour film and hardcopy output. The manual system will be used at least initially when FR80 service begins.

4. Requirements of FR80 Accounts Program - Meeting on 5 March

It is felt that forms entry and keypunching take up an inordinate amount of operator time and that most accounting details could be generated by the FR80 itself. At a meeting on 5 March (FRAH, JEH, DGH, JB, WJ and RB) it was agreed that the following job data was needed to compute a realistic charge:

1. User name (jobname)
2. Date and time job started
3. FR80 time used
4. Number of subframes exposed
5. Number of frames exposed
6. Camera number used
7. Number of tape mounts required
8. Whether processing was internal or external
9. Whether or not a change was to be made.

It was decided that items 1-7 were to be collected by the FR80 accounts program while items 8 and 9 were to be entered manually by the operators. Data is to be delivered to Operations in a format to be specified by WJ.

5. Requirements of FR80 Accounts Program - meeting on 21 March

At this meeting it was decided that item (7), above , would not be collected by the accounts program initially. Furthermore, different types of B & W or colour film stocks would not be distinguished for charging purposes. General requirements of the FR80 accounting programs are:

1. The system should be simple in operation and use. As few of the programs as possible should reside on the FR80.
2. Provision should be made to correct erroneous accounts entries.
3. The system must work for LOAD and GO and stand-alone jobs. All accounting commands must be executable from magnetic tape or console teletype.
4. Enough information to back up the system on manual control forms must be provided initially.
5. The accounts information should be protected from inadvertent erasure, if possible.

The above considerations imply that two sets of programs will exist, one set on the FR80 and one set on the 1906A. There was some disagreement about whether or not the FR80 should output the raw data directly to magnetic tape in view of points (1) and (5), above. Largely because excessive tape mounts would be required, it was decided to output the raw data to disc and then dump it periodically to a labelled 1906A tape. The tape format is yet to be specified. Programs on the 1906A will be written to read the tapes and output weekly accounting information in a format to be specified by WJ.

The following accounting functions, at least, will be required on the FR80:

1. Delete old accounts file, if any, and create a new accounts file on disc.
2. Append disc accounts file to magnetic tape.
3. Start accounting for a job.
4. Stop accounting for a job.
5. Make an accounts entry on disc.

The functions must be executable as operatorr commands or by special jobs inserted by the host software on LOAD and GO tapes. It may be possible to include all 5 functions in a single FR80 program.

6. FR80 Accounts Program by RET

While in Los Angeles, RET was able to write a basic FR80 accounts program covering functions 3 and 4 for LOAD and GO jobs. The program has been assembled but not debugged. Examination of the listing produced the following points:

1. If the account file is not named, it will not be dumped by Disc Dumper. Furthemore, it may be deleted by Disc Audit.
2. The meaning of variable CUMPIC, a frame count, is unclear for microfiche and MANYUP (where subframes are involved).
3. Because accounting requirements were not clear at the time, no space in the accounting record for each job has been allocated for the subframe count. It now appears that the FR80 program number will not be required. The camera number will be sufficient.
4. There is some concern about when clock words 6 and 7 get reset. The operators may stop the clock manually for various reasons.
5. The date which appears in the accounts record is generated by the 1906A rather than the FR80. The date of FR80 execution could conceivably be different.

Except for (1), the above problems are not serious. It seems like]y that: RET's program can be modified to meet the general and specific requirements of Section 5.0.

7. Modification of RET's Accounts Program

The following suggestions arose concerning modification of RET's Accounts Program:

1. Each accounts record should identify itself, giving a type number and length. This modification would facilitate later changes in the accounts program.
2. It may be possible for the accounts program to retrieve its data by monitor commands on LOAD and GO tapes rather than by reading data records itself. Presumably this would reduce the magnetic tape handling necessary by the accounting code itself. It might also allow the operators' version of the accounts program and the LOAD and GO version to be identical.
3. It now seems likely that LOAD and GO outputs little useful operator information about job execution. It appears that the Control Interrupt command (20₈) of the Standard Data Format can print most of the needed accounting information on the teletype. The instruction could output the following data:
   1. Time
   2. Frame number
   3. Any text string (could include username, camera number, etc)

The command also appears to output an accounting frame to the camera in use (FRAH is investigating this). The instruction includes a pause level which will cause the FR80 displayer to pause if its value is greater than an operator-supplied parameter. Control Interrupt commands (if they work) could be output as the first and last data word of each job by the host software, followed by any text to be displayed on the teletype.

8. Future Additions to the FR80 Accounting Facility

The accounting requirements of Section 5 are required at the start of FR80 user service. Extension of the FR80 accounting system to include complete job control information, now kept manually, was discussed. It seems unlikely that these extensions will be made in the near future because of lack of time and disc space. The following suggestions were made:

1. SPOOL could provide job information at the start and end of spool tapes. This information would identify the tape and perhaps form a tape directory for locating particular jobs.
2. The accounting file on disc could be expanded to form an FR80 system log. By specifying different record types and lengths, film processing information could be added to job execution data.
3. System log and accounting functions are essentially distinct. Accounting is best carried out by post-processing log information on the 1906A.

9. Conclusion

JMR and RWW will design and implement programs to fulfill the accounts requirements of Section 5. JMR will test the Control Interrupt command to ascertain its usefulness. Consultation with WJ of Operations Branch will be required to specify 1906A program output format. Two documents are required:

1. Description of LOAD and GO tape format with accounting jobs for the host software programmers and JRG. This paper is needed urgently.
2. Description of the accounting commands described in Section 5, including disc, magnetic tape, and card formats. This paper is not needed until the accounts programs are complete.

Upon completion of the accounts programs by JHR and RWW, responsibility for accounts software and data generation will be assumed by the FR80 operators.