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MAPPER
MAPPER Systems, now known as Business Information Server, BIS, is a fourth-generation programming language originally from Sperry Univac. Now owned by Unisys Corporation. Mapper originated in the 1970s based on some work in the 1960s, It has been functionally enhanced and kept current. It was also given an extension named ICE - Internet Commerce Enabler.
Originally available on Sperry's Univac 1108, implementations now also exist for Windows NT, Sun Solaris and Linux. The GUI on Windows is the most advanced of these.
MAPPER (MAintain, Prepare, and Produce Executive Reports) (alternatively nicknamed "Most Amazing Programming Product Ever Released" by enthusiasts)—officially renamed BIS (Business Information Server) but still called MAPPER by many users—began as an internal product. It was developed in Sperry Univac's computer factory in Roseville, Minnesota to help the company manage their factory producing computer hardware. It was initially called CRT RPS (Report Processing System), to differentiate it from RPG. Its first external customer was Santa Fe Railway. Besides the Santa Fe, the Kansas City government was an early customer. MAPPER became a popular solution in the Government sector. User group communities formed like the New England MAPPER Users Group. The concept of MAPPER was conceived by Louis Schlueter in 1967 and presented in a whitepaper in February 1968 entitled 418 Report Processing System to management and accepted for development immediately. Three developers (Bill Grey, Louis Schlueter and Chuck Hanson) began coding under another budget that was initially approved for a different project. They had a lot of resistance, such as the lead programmer (Jack Olgren) under the initial testing department (the original programming was for stress testing the hardware), stating "You can't use computers that way!" but after seeing more of what was happening, he joined the team and eventually became the lead programmer due to his genius mind. Unfortunately, he died a year later, never to see the full realization implemented. There was so much continued obstruction, fighting the cognitive dissonance around traditional thinking at that time.
CRT RPS was renamed MAPPER in 1975. Because of its unofficial status, it was a low-budget development, and was built for minimum use of resources. Today the entire system, minus user data, is only 25 megabytes. It was written in Assembler language. Initially it had only limited string manipulation; that has since been corrected. A Macro capability was also subsequently added. The development of the UNIVAC 1100, as well as pressure from customers, led to a release for more general use in 1979.
In the mid-1980s, Sperry actively marketed MAPPER, including advertising featuring "MAPPER Man", the self-empowered executive end-user. In the Scandinavian countries, Sperry had a MAPPER song—"Do it the MAPPER way!" (1983)—written and performed by an ABBA-style group.
Under Sperry Corp, a MAPPER System Controlled eight Factories, proving Major Application Design by USERS. The MAPPER system supported over 1,300 applications, 99 percent of which were designed by non DP (Data Processing Department e.g. the old programming methods) users. It had about 20 million lines in the online database. There were 3,700+ registered users on this system, 540 of which were registered as RUN (Application) Designers. A typical day would see over 500,000 manual function starts with an additional 405,000+ function starts under control of 90,000+ RUN application executions. Over 355 million lines of Report data were processed in such a day of service.
Average MAPPER system response times for the manual functions and RUN executions was ~ 0.4 seconds. Over 7,000 terminals were registered for use on this system. Any prime time, instantaneous sample will show over 1,000 users signed on using the system. This is a mixed computing environment system. Besides the MAPPER service, background batch COBOL applications and transaction processing were also done on the mainframe system.
The first Customer was Santa Fe Railroad. MAPPER Systems were translated in 15 languages, including Chinese and Japanese (which was expanded to 23 in total) and installed worldwide in a customer base worth over $3 Billion. Sperry MAPPER System profits caused the $7 Billion Unisys Merger with Burroughs. This forceful takeover has been seen as the downfall of MAPPER. It was essentially shelved at that time, as no further promotion was done whatsoever. And the name was changed to BIS (Business Information Server). This blocked access to the example of the $3 Billion Installed, International, MAPPER System Customer Base. (As an example, Japan had a boom in all its industry manufacturing because of 500 Mainframes with MAPPER on it.)
Hub AI
MAPPER AI simulator
(@MAPPER_simulator)
MAPPER
MAPPER Systems, now known as Business Information Server, BIS, is a fourth-generation programming language originally from Sperry Univac. Now owned by Unisys Corporation. Mapper originated in the 1970s based on some work in the 1960s, It has been functionally enhanced and kept current. It was also given an extension named ICE - Internet Commerce Enabler.
Originally available on Sperry's Univac 1108, implementations now also exist for Windows NT, Sun Solaris and Linux. The GUI on Windows is the most advanced of these.
MAPPER (MAintain, Prepare, and Produce Executive Reports) (alternatively nicknamed "Most Amazing Programming Product Ever Released" by enthusiasts)—officially renamed BIS (Business Information Server) but still called MAPPER by many users—began as an internal product. It was developed in Sperry Univac's computer factory in Roseville, Minnesota to help the company manage their factory producing computer hardware. It was initially called CRT RPS (Report Processing System), to differentiate it from RPG. Its first external customer was Santa Fe Railway. Besides the Santa Fe, the Kansas City government was an early customer. MAPPER became a popular solution in the Government sector. User group communities formed like the New England MAPPER Users Group. The concept of MAPPER was conceived by Louis Schlueter in 1967 and presented in a whitepaper in February 1968 entitled 418 Report Processing System to management and accepted for development immediately. Three developers (Bill Grey, Louis Schlueter and Chuck Hanson) began coding under another budget that was initially approved for a different project. They had a lot of resistance, such as the lead programmer (Jack Olgren) under the initial testing department (the original programming was for stress testing the hardware), stating "You can't use computers that way!" but after seeing more of what was happening, he joined the team and eventually became the lead programmer due to his genius mind. Unfortunately, he died a year later, never to see the full realization implemented. There was so much continued obstruction, fighting the cognitive dissonance around traditional thinking at that time.
CRT RPS was renamed MAPPER in 1975. Because of its unofficial status, it was a low-budget development, and was built for minimum use of resources. Today the entire system, minus user data, is only 25 megabytes. It was written in Assembler language. Initially it had only limited string manipulation; that has since been corrected. A Macro capability was also subsequently added. The development of the UNIVAC 1100, as well as pressure from customers, led to a release for more general use in 1979.
In the mid-1980s, Sperry actively marketed MAPPER, including advertising featuring "MAPPER Man", the self-empowered executive end-user. In the Scandinavian countries, Sperry had a MAPPER song—"Do it the MAPPER way!" (1983)—written and performed by an ABBA-style group.
Under Sperry Corp, a MAPPER System Controlled eight Factories, proving Major Application Design by USERS. The MAPPER system supported over 1,300 applications, 99 percent of which were designed by non DP (Data Processing Department e.g. the old programming methods) users. It had about 20 million lines in the online database. There were 3,700+ registered users on this system, 540 of which were registered as RUN (Application) Designers. A typical day would see over 500,000 manual function starts with an additional 405,000+ function starts under control of 90,000+ RUN application executions. Over 355 million lines of Report data were processed in such a day of service.
Average MAPPER system response times for the manual functions and RUN executions was ~ 0.4 seconds. Over 7,000 terminals were registered for use on this system. Any prime time, instantaneous sample will show over 1,000 users signed on using the system. This is a mixed computing environment system. Besides the MAPPER service, background batch COBOL applications and transaction processing were also done on the mainframe system.
The first Customer was Santa Fe Railroad. MAPPER Systems were translated in 15 languages, including Chinese and Japanese (which was expanded to 23 in total) and installed worldwide in a customer base worth over $3 Billion. Sperry MAPPER System profits caused the $7 Billion Unisys Merger with Burroughs. This forceful takeover has been seen as the downfall of MAPPER. It was essentially shelved at that time, as no further promotion was done whatsoever. And the name was changed to BIS (Business Information Server). This blocked access to the example of the $3 Billion Installed, International, MAPPER System Customer Base. (As an example, Japan had a boom in all its industry manufacturing because of 500 Mainframes with MAPPER on it.)