Oracle at the heart of computer integrated manufacturing in the Daily Mail newspaper production

Newspaper production is a complex task requiring many different `systems´ and functions to work together efficiently and reliably. It was soon recognised that computers were to play a major role in the business, and the only way to get control of so many different systems was to have them integrated at the `information´ level. Full automated control could come later if required but the initial problem was one of data access by management. Integration of these systems is the basis of the project that uses Oracle as the database manager for the management information systems. The author describes an example of true system integration involving many different processors, operating systems, several local area networks and the Oracle database. The function of such integration has been to provide management with access to `data´ produced by many systems to enable them to schedule and monitor the production accordingly