THE WELCH COMPANY

440 Davis Court #1602

San Francisco, CA 94111-2496

415 781 5700






February 1, 1999                                                                     04 00065 61 99020101


Jamal Munshi
Sonoma State University

Subject:  MIS Effectiveness
                Reduced Paper handling


Dear Jamal,


I read

your paper
in connection with developing a study for the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers to test an Internet application for managing daily business
communications, under the general heading of

Communication Metrics.


To gain approval for the study and provide some macro goals, we want to develop
an order of magnitude estimate for the cost of paper handling that can be
avoided, as described in

my record for today.


Your paper sets out study parameters, but does not provide specific cost
factors.


Could you please advise of any sources on the average cost of
copying, handling, storing, mailing, etc. a page of text in a typical
government office environment?  An initial estimate is

$4 per page to reflect the complexity of large
organizations.  Is this close or way off of published studies; that is my
current question?


Additionally, I would welcome inquiry and/or research by your students on the
idea of adding

intelligence
to management as explained on my

web site.


Thanks very much.


Sincerely,


THE WELCH COMPANY






Rod Welch




Copy to:



    
        
  1.  Tom Keesling, U.S. Army Corps of Enginers
    
        San Francisco District
        
    
        
  2.  Jim Lovo, HQ U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
        Washington, D.C.