There were only a few personal computers at the company when I got there. Now there are more than ten thousand.

In the early days, orders would get routed to me for technical review. My job was to translate the general requirements into a detailed purchase order. There was a list of parts in a mainframe SuperCalc spreadsheet for my convenience.

It didn't take long before I was struggling with the increasing volume of the orders.

I came up with a list of standard hardware and software configurations, and wrote a Clipper program to work the math and store each order. When printed, the new worksheet consolidated four forms on to one piece of paper and was a real timesaver.

After a few years of this, the order handling role was shifted to the help desk staff, and I continued to review the technology and set the standards for hardware and software.

The configuration program was used for about eight years by my successors until replaced by a Notes-based workflow system developed by my staff.