VAX/VMS Software Information Management Handbook

This handbook, part of a three-volume set on VAX/VMS software, provides a comprehensive overview of Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX Information Architecture, focusing on information management solutions. It defines information management, distinguishing it from traditional data processing, and highlights common challenges faced by data processing managers, such as rising costs, development backlogs, and user demands for timely information.

Digital's solution, the VAX Information Architecture, is presented as a modular and integrated family of products designed to improve productivity and efficiently meet diverse information needs. The architecture addresses seven key functional categories: Common Storage, Data Access, Data Management, Distributed Processing, Reports and Graphs, Application Management, and Terminal Management.

The document details nine core products within this architecture:

1. VAX Common Data Dictionary (CDD): Serves as the central repository for data definitions, promoting consistency and reducing redundancy across applications.
2. VAX DATATRIEVE: An easy-to-use fourth-generation language for data retrieval, reporting, and graphics generation.
3. VAX DBMS (Database Management System): A CODASYL-style system for managing large, complex databases with strong data independence, integrity, and concurrent access capabilities.
4. VAX Rdb/VMS (Relational Database Management System): Offers a flexible relational model for databases, suited for frequent structural changes and handling various data types.
5. VAX TDMS (Terminal Data Management System) and VAX FMS (Forms Management System): Tools for developing forms-intensive terminal applications, with TDMS providing a record-level interface and FMS a field-level interface.
6. VAX ACMS (Application Control and Management System): Designed to reduce lifecycle costs for transaction processing and complex online applications through high-level definitions.
7. VAX DECgraph: An interactive, menu-driven tool for creating professional-quality graphs from data.
8. VAX DECslide: A graphic presentation design tool for producing professional slides and reports.
9. VAX VTX (Videotex Presentation Service): A videotex system for distributing internal information quickly and simply across various terminals and networks.

The handbook emphasizes how these products integrate and interact, often leveraging the VAX CDD as a central hub, to provide tailored solutions for diverse business and scientific applications. It includes fictitious case studies to illustrate practical applications and benefits of the VAX Information Architecture.