A NEW MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR SOVIET PUBLISHING: ASU-PECHAT

The 'automated management system' ASU-PECHAT' is the first of its kind to be applied to the publishing industry of an entire country. The first subsystems began operation in 1975. It is designed to supply information for the management of publishing, printing and the book trade throughout the USSR, with the intention of easing the tasks of a highly-centralized administrative apparatus and of facilitating the supervision of the content of publications. Three subsystems are to handle finance, accounting and personnel records for the entire publishing-printing-bookselling sector, and three more will assist the internal planning of each subsector and the monitoring of its operations. They will be complemented by a further sub-system to handle bibliographical data, and another to provide information services to staff working in the sector.