Electronic Bulletin Board System, HR-345, 1998

The primary objectives of the Electronic Bulletin Board System (BBS) project were to: (1) Provide an electronic communication tool which would link city and county engineering offices to each other and to other governmental agencies for messaging and data sharing; (2) Provide a dial-up site for reference information or files accessible on-demand; and (3) Provide a "stepping stone" to the world of electronic data transfer, recognizing that most local government employees face a huge complex of technology with limited knowledge of computers and communications tools. The system was designed to be as simple as possible, and to require minimal equipment and software cost to the users. The original system was an Apex 386/25 computer with MS-DOS 5.0 software and the final configuration was an HP Vectra XM Pentium 90 with MS-NT 3.51 and Mustang - Wildcat 5.0 software. The users of the BBS were county engineers and their staff, offices in the central office of the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) and Resident Construction Engineers at the Iowa DOT. Much of the activity was between the county engineers, and their staffs, and the Iowa DOT offices with which they have ongoing business activities. The BBS contained files for mapping, Internet e-mail service, Accident Location Analysis System (ALAS) data, Iowa DOT bid lettings, and Autocad and Intergraph maps and standards. The 800 line calls were recorded and gave the best indication of the usage and the trends that were being followed. The usage tended to be higher in the winter months when design activities are occurring and lower in the summer months when the construction is in progress. The project was judged a success. The BBS did provide a "stepping stone" to the world of electronic data transfer.