NAME OF SYSTEM: Video Tape Information Storage and Retrieval ORIGINATOR: Management and Operations Assistance Division Federal Housing Administration Department of Housing and Urban Development Washington, D.C 20411

O B J E C T I V E . To develop an effective automated system for storage and retrieval of case documents essential to the program and administrative functions of the Federal Housing Administration. BACKGROUND. Since 1934, mortgages on millions of housing structures have been insured by the Federal Housing Administration. The responsibility for the documentation associated with insurance case handling rests mainly with F H A ' s Management and Operations Assistance Division. Weekly, the Division files about 9,000 new case binders (folders) ; adds 35,000 pieces of correspondence to in-file case binders; and refiles 3,000 case binders returned by users. The Division also services requests for about 600 case binders daily and retires approximately 250,000 terminated binders annually. The current file consists of about 4,500,000 cases containing approximately 120,000,000 documents, and it fills 6,500 five-drawer file cabinets occupying 55,000 square feet of floor space. This continuously expanding file gives rise to a mounting number of problems in attempting to provide up-to-date information in an effective manner. After reviewing numerous proposals for graphic storage, retrieval, and presentation systems, the F H A authorities selected the video tape system. T H E N E W M E T H O D . The F H A Video Tape Information Storage and Retrieval System combines video tape processing with computer technology. Document images are recorded onto video magnetic tape by a television camera mounted in a 75 documents-a-

minute automatic filing station. Retrieval of information is accomplished through 21 remote display stations (cathode ray tubes) located in selected F H A offices throughout the H U D Building in Washington. All filing, retrieval, and purge routines are computer controlled and are activated on-line through a teletype keyboard. For routine requests, users order documents by entering the case number in a punched card. Since the master video tape file is in sequential order by case number, the punched cards are arranged in the same sequence and batched. The cards are processed across the master video tape file at night and the requested document images are transferred to work tapes that are mounted on tape drives for retrieval the next day. The punched cards are returned to the requester, who inserts them into the punched card readers at his remote display station to call up documents to be viewed. When a card is inserted into the reader, the work tape is automatically searched and the document images for that case are electronically transmitted and temporarily copied (stored) on a magnetic disc located in a buffer section connected to the remote station. This makes it possible for the user to leisurely browse back and forth through the document images without tying up the master file. Should hard copy be required, the user may request printouts of selected documents or the entire case file. REMARKS. The manual files operation, presently located four miles from the H U D Building, will be eliminated when the new system is installed in the departmental building to provide more effective service. The case binder records occupying 55,000 square feet are being converted to an operating system requiring a total of 3,600 square feet. The actual video magnetic tape files will require only about 90 square feet of this space. The mortgage documentation records will always remain in the file, since document images are copied rather than removed from the master file when needed for viewing. Additionally, the problem of out-of-file documents and the time and expense for manual file maintenance are eliminated under the video tape file system.
91

VIDEO TAPE INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
INPUT PROCESSING 1 Original Paper Documents Priority Search Routine Search

STORAGE

SEARCH AND RETRIEVAL

Identification Codes

Request Keyboard Master File

Identification! Codes

Keypunch

Keypunch

Punched Cards

Filing Station

Punched Cards Punched Cards

Filing Station

Work Tape Computer File Buffer Remote Display

Buffer

Card Reader

Temp Video Tape^ File

Sorting Buffer

H a r d Copy

1. D o c u m e n t d e s c r i p t i v e data c o n v e r t e d to d i g i t a l a d d r e s s on punched c a r d s . 2. D o c u m e n t and p e r t i n e n t punched c a r d d e s c r i p t i v e data l o a d e d into a u t o m a t i c filing s t a t i o n . The g r a p h i c i m a g e s and a s s o c i a t e d index d a t a is s i m u l t a e o u s l y r e c o r d e d on v i d e o t a p e at r a t e of 75 d o c u m e n t s p e r m i n u t e . 3. R e c o r d e d d a t a in e l e c t r o n i c i m a g e f o r m i s t e m p o r a r i l y held in i n t e r m e d i a t e s t o r a g e pending e n t r y into m a s t e r file. 4 . Daily a c c u m u l a t i o n of d a t a is s o r t e d into d o c u m e n t c a s e s e q u e n c e for m e r g i n g with m a s t e r file.

M a s t e r v i d e o t a p e file c o n s i s t s of o v e r 4. 5 m i l l i o n m o r t g a g e c a s e files o r g a n i z e d in c a s e number sequence. Each tape r e e l holds 127, 000 d o c u m e n t i m a g e s when full.

1. Routine s e a r c h e s a r e i n i t i a t e d t h r o u g h u s e of punched c a r d s showing c a s e n u m b e r d e s i r e d . 2. Daily s e a r c h e s a r e b a t c h e d and p r o c e s s e d a g a i n s t m a s t e r file with p e r t i n e n t d o c u m e n t i m a g e s t r a n s f e r r e d to a w o r k i n g v i d e o t a p e file. 3. R e t r i e v a l of data at r e m o t e s e a r c h s t a t i o n s is a c t u a t e d by p l a c e m e n t of punched c a r d in c a r d r e a d e r . P r o p e r c a s e i m a g e is d i s p l a y e d on C R T r e m o t e m o n i t o r . S e a r c h e r m a y obtain h a r d copy f a c s i m i l e of i m a g e if d e s i r e d . 4. P r i o r i t y s e a r c h e s a r e i n i t i a t e d at remote t e r m i n a l s through r e q u e s t k e y b o a r d d i r e c t l y to m a s t e r file. R e t r i e v a l options a r e a s noted in i t e m 3 a b o v e .

92