nology available through online system management, it is possible to forego many of the traditional steps to perform specific searches, retrieve the needed information, and present the conclusions in a matter of hours instead of days (Buckland 1989).
Similarly, the problems with implementation of new designs and products could be limited by accessing information on ready made solutions already explored by other companies. Furthermore, it is impossible for any one individual to keep up with the number and variety of materials that daily become available nationally as well as internationally (Lucier and Butler, 1988 in Boon and Pienaar, 1989). Access to online database systems provides a way to limit the amount of time necessary to search for information by providing database access to search terms that further specify the request (Boon and Pienaar, 1989). Boolean logic, for example, is only one tool available to search through abstracts and other data. Searches may be limited by AND, OR, NOT, BUT, YEAR, PUBLICATION, as well as narrow SUBJECT headings.
Considerations for setting up an online retrieval system include cost, training, maintenance, and modernization. Cost of systems may initially look high, $30.00 to $250.00 per hour of contact time, but in relation to wage and benefit controls, are actually quite minimal. For example, it would conceivably take a team of four researchers a week to manually search, retrieve, organize, and present a report on the most current information for a series of products. The cost for this might run from $1200.00 to $2500.00, whereas with the use of online search, the cost would be at least cut in half, not to mention the increased accuracy of the search (Audino and Borbely, 1989; Merrills, 1989; Schack, 1989).
Training would be heavy at first, but would level out as users became more familiar with the system. As well, it is often the case that trained personnel discover new and more cr...