The information each person involved in the operation of the railroad knows through direct observation or production of the data
The information required by each person involved in the operation of the railroad.
The route of information from the people that have it to the people that need it
The means of communication: computer terminals, telephone, fax, paper, personal contact, etc.
When analyzing and planning operation, missing or inaccurate information can result in a plan that cannot work.
In actual practice, it is unlikely that everything will work perfectly. Things Happen. The operating plan should allow for some Things, but many situations must be handled individually with a new planning process. In day to day operation, missing, inaccurate or conflicting information about conditions or instructions can result in failure of the base plan, failure to recognize problems in time to effectively handle them or failure of the plan devised for the situation at hand.
Not only is missing, inaccurate or conflicting information detrimental to efficient operation, too much information will also cause problems. An efficient railroad operates with relatively few people who must handle large amounts of information. When these people must look through duplicate or extraneous paper or electronic mail or handle too many conversations on telephones and radios in order to get the information they need, valuable information is missed.
Ease of access to information is also important. The most sophisticated of computer information systems or electronic communication systems is of little use if it is difficult to use. The task of each person involved in operating the railroad should be a transportation function that is facilitated by electronics, not the operation of communication or data equipment.
The presence of a PC on the desktop doesn’t in itself make an office worker more productive. Inventive employees familiar with PC operation and software may create systems that work for themselves. Others may invent completely different systems or not use the computer at all because they do not know what to do with it. Customized commercial software packages or custom program development can increase productivity through ease of use and uniformity of process.
Training should relate to the transportation function of the employee, not to the equipment or software. A description of what the equipment or software will do for the employee in the performance of their transportation function is important. Each employee should be proficient in the use of the equipment and in minor troubleshooting and maintenance functions associated with day-to-day operation of the equipment, but should not be burdened with programs or equipment features that are unnecessary or are unnecessarily complex.
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