Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 6, 1994 TAG: 9403070122
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
But the federal government knows where they are.
New River Valley residents in those offices created the computer system now used to process and track applications for disaster assistance loans across the country.
The program, known as the Automated Loan Control System, was being used at 15 sites at once last year, including offices still helping victims of a typhoon in Guam, Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii, Hurricane Andrew in Florida and Louisiana, floods in the Midwest and riots in Los Angeles. More recently, it saw use after the Los Angeles earthquakes.
It was first used in the spring of 1991 during flooding in Oregon.
The computer system, which is used by the government to process its disaster assistance loans nationwide, was generated and is still managed right herein Radford.
Ronald Hall, vice president and senior analyst for Southern Software, explained that the government has several relief programs that are mobilized when disaster strikes. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides immediate grant relief, is the most familiar one.
``And then the program that we have is administered by the Small Business Administration,'' he said. ``They go in and provide low-interest loans for permanent repair of these damaged properties.''
The goal for processing one of these loans used to be 60 days. ``With the help of this program, they've got that down to seven days,'' Hall said.
``They had a lot of specialized PC [personal computer] programs that did just one part of the process, and what they lacked was a program that tied the entire process together,'' he said. ``And that's what our program does.''
Southern Software President Bobby Abercrombie said a surprising number of large, successful enterprises ``are still doing it the way they did 30 or 40 years ago.''
Southern Software found long-existing problems that people simply did not recognize could be solved, Abercrombie said.
It identified complex problems and found solutions in areas where automation had not been used before, he said. It also allows the government to find the best way of buying goods or services for disaster relief.
If three vendors were involved, for example, there would be six possibilities: using one of the three, using any two in combination, or using all three, Abercrombie said.
With 10 vendors, the possible combinations total 1,024. With 20, it jumps to over a million and, with 30, over a billion. And there are hundreds of vendors out there offering their services for each project.
Using computers that do thousands of calculations per second, the program speeds through all the possible combinations for the best method. That does not always mean the lowest bidder, Abercrombie said, because administrative costs or other factors might mean there is a less expensive way to go.
Prime contractor for the software project is DataEquip, which has headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., and a branch office just across the hall from Abercrombie and Hall in the old Tyler building. Southern Software is the subcontractor for project management.
Richard Bartelmehs is DataEquip's regional manager for program development. He, Abercrombie and Hall worked on computer systems at Radford Arsenal. ``We go back 30-some years, working together,'' Hall said.
``You've got over 100 years of knowledge in this room,'' Bartelmehs joked, glancing at the other two men.
Later, they went to another company that had the contract to provide software for government disaster programs. ``When that company lost the contract, we formed our own company and became independent contractors for the project,'' Hall said.
Southern Software has a total of six employees. DataEquip has another five at its Radford office.
They delivered their software program to the government in 1991. It is now permanently installed in disaster assistance offices in Niagara Falls, N.Y.; Atlanta, Ga.; Dallas, Texas; Sacramento, Calif., and Washington, D.C.
Whenever a major disaster happens, the government sets up field offices and applications centers and installs portable versions of the program there.
``They could probably drop this system from an airplane. It's really designed to be able to run in a National Guard tent from a generator, if necessary,'' Hall said.
The program keeps track of where all applications and loans are in the process of getting assistance to disaster victims. At any point, the group in Radford can call up any name on the computer and show the status of that person's application.
Before this system was installed, the government was using a manual system with index cards to keep up with thousands of application files in all states of processing. It would take hours or days to answer a question then.
The Radford system uses bar-coding, the same process grocery shoppers see in their supermarkets when a clerk scans some lines on each item with an instrument and the price automatically pops up on the cash register.
In the same way, the software system reads the location of all case files and tracks them through the processing steps.
The Radford group has demonstrated the program to the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, and the city government of Washington, D.C.
``We've gotten favorable reaction from everyone and we plan very soon to install the system in some of the larger federal agencies,'' Hall said. ``We're very hopeful we'll be installing that for the D.C. government sometime this monthFeb.''
Locally, Radford University may soon be using the program for some of its purchasing.
While they were building the system, Abercrombie, Hall and Bartelmehs went to disaster sites to see how the process was being donewhat process and make sure the program did what it was supposed to. Now, they dial up the disaster office computers and work over telephone lines.
``We put in some long hours to help people, other than being directly on the site,'' Hall said. Disaster relief workers ``don't have time to do anything but that,'' he said, and depend on the Radford offices to answer questions, provide data and upgrade the system as needed.
``But when we turn the TV on in the morning and see that something's happened, we know that we're going to have a busy period,'' Abercrombie said.
by CNB