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To explore the meaning, methods and techniques associated with the subject of computer forensics and consider the implications of computer forensics for records managers and recordkeeping.

Critically analyses the principles of computer forensics in the context of records characteristics – authenticity, reliability, integrity and usability – and the UK Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) principles and procedures for the collection of digital evidence.

The disciplines of records management and computer forensics are potentially mutually compatible. Computer forensics allows for identification of incidents, gathering of evidence, analysis of evidence and potentially recovery of records. Records managers can utilise computer forensics principles to positively enhance records management and have valuable knowledge and expertise to share with their computer forensics colleagues; e.g. metadata expertise, functional requirements for electronic records management, recordkeeping systems design and implementation methodologies, digital preservation and retention management.

Discusses how computer forensics can be used to highlight inadequate recordkeeping and provide a different perspective on records management based on an analysis of principles and concepts rather than empirical data.

Highlights the need for records managers to understand computer forensics and computer forensic scientists to understand recordkeeping to support better records management in the electronic environment; raises the implications for educators, trainers and professional societies.

Very little has been published on the discussion of the potential implications of computer forensics for records managers or how computer forensics can enhance the records management discipline; this paper addresses the gap.

This monograph examines research needs in computer aided production management (CAPM). Recommendations for future research and its organisation are made. The monograph is based on an in‐depth study of current CAPM practice in a varied sample of 33 companies. The study conclusions confirm many existing beliefs. Many companies are paying inadequate attention to the necessary prerequisites for successful CAPM implementation. The prerequisites change as the extent of CAPM system integration increases. Organisational rather than implementation issues dominate as integration increases. The proposed research would bring together existing knowledge of best CAPM practice to form methodologies for the audit, design and implementation of CAPM systems. The aim is to reduce the time‐span of the learning curve required for successful CAPM integration. The methodologies need to be specific to particular industrial sectors.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the current usage of computers in Singapore’s property management companies. The findings confirm a paradox that in Singapore’s property management companies, computer applications are lagging behind the advancement of computer hardware and software. Three reasons may explain the paradox. First, property management companies are dealing with a small portion of properties in Singapore where public housing estates dominate the property stock. Second, property management involves many personal touches in which computers are not helpful. Third, software packages developed in other parts of the world may not suit the need of property management tasks in Singapore.

The process of management, and the management of information as an essential element of general managerial practice, is addressed from the perspective of the manager. Information has always been a key element in the performance of a business and the effectiveness of management, and information technology can now transform the use of this information to give managers substantial benefits in business planning and decision making. It is considered that information must be integrated into an organisation′s overall management and planning system rather than being controlled by specialist IT professionals and that the manager has to be responsible for: people, their motivation and training; business systems, culture and environment; and the organisation′s data resource. The ways in which business information processes can be analysed and modelled are reviewed and it is explained that information models can enable a better understanding of the organisation by showing it in a new and sometimes enlightening way. Some of the many complex issues associated with managing the change process and achieving successful implementation of the technologies are considered.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

The main objective of a 1986 survey of production and operations managers throughout New Zealand industry was to determine the extent of computer use. The survey explored the use of microcomputers, mini computers and mainframes by production managers. Job title and responsibilities of the manager responsible for the majority of production management functions were investigated. It appeared that information and decision making in production management was fragmented in most organisations. The survey examined the main uses of computer information and control systems in production planning and inventory control, the perceived benefits and problems. The main computer brands in use and types of software were also analysed. Comparisons were made with surveys of British companies and some work in the USA.

Primary data based on a sample of 274 executives was analyzed to assess the impact of computer disasters on information management. Company type‐wise impact of computer disasters on information management practices was examined by applying one‐way ANOVA. It was found that information management practices in all types of companies were adversely affected by the occurrence of computer disasters. Virus and hardware faults were the disasters that ocurred the most. It was further found that disasters incidence level was more in both types of Indian companies than multinational companies (MNCs). So, adverse impact of computer disasters on information management practices was found comparatively greater in Indian companies than MNCs. Specifically, Indian companies were more adversely affected in collecting, organizing, processing, and maintaining of information.

Along with organisations in other fields, retailers have been using computers in management systems since the mid‐1960s and, in some cases, much earlier. Over this period, there have been dramatic changes in the computer technology available for use by management, together with considerable accumulated experience in using them, particularly in retailing. However, this has, in many industries, been offset by an increase in the problems facing managers; in retailing, for instance, companies now have to face economies in which disposable incomes have been squeezed, whilst buying patterns are changing rapidly and becoming difficult to predict. A consequence of this is that to survive today retailers must be far better at product range planning, cash planning and control of capital than they needed to be in the 1960s. They may be helped in this by an increasing understanding of how to manage product range, cash flow or funds allocation problems, and also by the availability of more advanced computing facilities which allow managers to apply this understanding more effectively. These facilities vary from the range of computers on offer (mainframe to micros) to data flow networks, automated data input, visual display terminals and specialist soft‐ware for retail planning and control (e.g. distribution packages).

In the past few years significant changes in computer technology have taken place. The development of the mini and micro computer for business applications has occurred in the past five years. New mass storage devices, faster central processing units and more sophisticated input/output devices have also been developed recently. These technological developments have fostered further use of the computer in the management of physical distribution operations. This paper describes the nature of the changes in distribution operations and in the distributions manager's use of the computer to control distribution activities. The survey reported in this paper explores the changes in the use of the computer to control all distribution management activities. Comparisons are drawn with a similar survey conducted in 1972. The paper also presents more detailed information about the use of the computer as a diagnostic and planning tool than has been presented before.

The monograph analyses (a) the potential impact of information technology (IT) on organisational issues that directly concern the personnel function; (b) the nature of personnel’s involvement in the decision making and activities surrounding the choice and implementation of advanced technologies, and (c) their own use of IT in developing and carrying out their own range of specialist activities. The monograph attempts to explain why personnel’s involvement is often late, peripheral and reactive. Finally, an analysis is made of whether personnel specialists – or the Human Resource Management function more generally – will play a more proactive role in relation to such technologies in the future.