Analysis of Standardized Bar Coding and the User/Buyer Electronic Catalog's Potential for Effecting Change Within the Department of Defense

The Department of Defense has been relying on business practices and material management methods that date back to the 1940's and before. Once the premier innovator in the field of logistics, the DoD has fallen woefully behind commercial businesses in the past few decades. Advances in Electronic Commerce/ Electronic Data Interchange (EC/EDI) technology have far out paced the DoD's ability to keep up. Challenged by President Clinton in 1994 to reinvent government and to modernize and streamline business practices, the DoD has since been studying applications of EC/EDI that will allow them to integrate successful logistics ideas into DoD operations. This thesis examines an exciting application of EC/EDI currently under review - the Electronic Catalog - and its potential impact as a catalyst for change within the DoD. Reviewing 3M corporations operational CONNECTSUS User/Buyer Electronic Catalog system against proposed Defense Logistics Agency initiatives, this thesis looks at the benefits to be gained by the DoD. Integral to the thesis is a review of standardized bar coding and how it fits into, and enhances, EC/EDI.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA is the author of 'Analysis of Standardized Bar Coding and the User/Buyer Electronic Catalog's Potential for Effecting Change Within the Department of Defense', published 1996 under ISBN 9781423574071 and ISBN 1423574079.