United States General Accounting Office
Status of Open Recommendations
Electronic Version 4.0
(GAO/OP-95-1E, Jan. 1995)
Introduction:
This electronic edition contains the details for GAO's open
recommendations.
This PC-based software lets you use several text search and retrieval
options to find either summaries of key open recommendations or the
details
of open recommendations.
How To Install:
To load the software on your hard drive (7.5MB required):
1.
Place program disk 1 in your disk drive.
2.
Type the drive designation of your drive and the word "INSTALL".
For example, type "B:INSTALL".
3.
Press <Enter>.
Follow the instructions on the screen.
4. If you are updating a previous version, the install program will
replace
the old files with new ones.
Notes:
1. The default subdirectory is \OPENREC.
2. Disk 2 of 2 is the "LAST" disk.
How To Start:
To run the program:
1. Change to the drive and subdirectory where the software has been
loaded.
Type "C:".
Type "OR".
2.
Press <Enter>.
Press <Enter>.
Type "CD\OPENREC".
Press <Enter>.
When the Introductory Menu is displayed, highlight an option to learn
more about this program. Press <Enter>.
How To Search:
You may search for open recommendations by using report number, title,
date, name of a federal entity, congressional committee, name of GAO's
point of contact, or any other word or phrase that may appear in the
report.
To perform this search, use the numerous options provided on several
search
menus. Most menus have similar options and require the following general
steps:
1.
Start at the Introductory Menu, highlight "MAIN".
Press <Enter>.
2. At the Main Search Menu, highlight the option to locate the
information
you want. (See Search Options.) Press <Enter>.
3. At the next menu, indicate how much information you want to extract
and
where you want the output to go. (Figure 1 shows the menu screen.)
Press <Enter>.
4.
To perform the search, type a word or phrase.
Press <Enter>.
The most recent report is listed first.
5.
To review the open recommendations for a specific report shown on the
list of titles, highlight the "REPORT NUMBER". Press <Enter>.
6. Use the <PgDn> and arrow keys to scroll through the open
recommendations
and related information.
7.
When using special lists to narrow a search (see Search Options), you
perform the search (in step 4 above) by displaying the special list.
Type a word or phrase to get a subset of relevant terms or type "ALL"
to get the entire list of terms. Press <Enter>.
Figure 1.
Output Menu Options
Output Destination
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1. Report title
³ :A
³
:E
³
:I
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2. Report title and hit count
³ :B
³
:F
³
:J
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3. Report title and abstract
³ :C
³
:G
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:K
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4. Full information, including recommendations ³ :D
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:H
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:L
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!HELP
ÿNote: Menu provides information in ascending order, with
least
MAINÿ
ÿdetail provided first, most detail in fourth menu option.
!OPTIONS
ÿHowever, full information on a selected report, including
ÿrecommendations, is available from all menu options.
Second, highlight your desired term on the list.
8.
Press <Enter>.
To rerun your last search after selecting another output option,
press <Enter> without entering new search words.
Notes On Figure 1
1.
Menu option 2 takes longer but will give you a count of the reports
meeting your search criteria.
2.
Menu option 4 directly provides the open recommendations and related
information for the most recent report that meets your search
criteria.
Additional reports will follow in the order they were issued.
3.
If chosen, output can be sent to the printer at LPT1.
4.
If chosen, output can be sent as ASCII text to the disk file that you
designate.
Search Options:
The Main Search Menu includes six options to help you narrow or expedite
your search.
Report Summary--Open Search:
Allows you to locate open recommendations using a report number, title,
date, job code, or any other word or phrase that may appear in the
report.
This includes "!OPTIONS" that provides a way to obtain custom askSam
queries and reports (for those who know the askSam programming language).
Issue Area Summary Search:
Allows you to identify the impact of GAO's work and key open
recommendations
that deserve priority. You may search using key words or a table of
contents.
GAO Thesaurus Terms Search:
Allows you to locate open recommendations using terms indexed to major
subjects in GAO reports.
Congressional Committees Search:
Allows you to locate open recommendations by the congressional committee
or
subcommittee having primary interest in or jurisdiction over subjects
discussed in GAO reports.
Recommendation Addressees Search:
Allows you to locate open recommendations that were addressed to a
specific
executive department, agency, or congressional committee.
GAO Issue Areas Search:
Allows you to locate open recommendations by GAO's programming issue
areas
within its operating didvisions.
How To Refine Searches:
To refine a search, you can use the following:
1.
To look for a phrase in the exact order, enclose your search words
in "[]".
2.
You can use wildcards characters to substitute for a single character
or a group of characters.
"*" can represent a group of characters. For example, use
"ACCOUNT*" to get ACCOUNTING, ACCOUNTANT, and ACCOUNTS.
"?" can represent a single character.
get F-15, F-16, and F-18.
3.
For example, use "F-1?" to
Combine search words or phrases with connectors--"{and}"; "{or}";
"{not}"--to narrow or broaden a search.
How To Quit:
1.
The Escape key (i.e., "Esc") may be used at any time to cancel a
search or backup to a previous menu.
2. To quit this program and return to the DOS prompt (at any menu
option),
highlight "QUIT". Press <Enter>.
Local Area Networks (LAN)
This electronic version is LAN-compatible and can be used by muliple
users simultaneously. To use this software on a LAN system, the
Run Time EXE (RT.EXE) must be replaced with the Run Time Network EXE
(RTN.EXE) file. The RTN.EXE is on Disk 2 of 2. The start-up batch
file will need to be changed from "RT START" to "RTN START".
the DOS SHARE program must be loaded.
Also,
How To Get Help:
1.
At the Introductory Menu, highlight "How to use this software".
Press <Enter>.
2.
On any menu screen, highlight "!HELP".
3.
Technical support is available from:
Lawson "Rick" Gist, Jr.
Assistant Director
GAO, Office of Policy
Voice (202) 512-4478
Fax
(202) 512-4844
Press <Enter>.