PROFS was an IBM office automation product that supported email, document creation and management, scheduling, spreadsheets, and could interface with databases. It used a menu-driven interface designed for IBM 3270 terminals and personal computers. PROFS provided a way for IBM employees to communicate virtually, making IBM's world smaller and more manageable. It improved employee productivity by nearly 12% and had a return on investment of 42% over five years. While effective for over a decade, PROFS became outdated in the early 1990s as users expected modern graphical interfaces. It was replaced in 1995 by CLEO, a system based on Microsoft software and client-server architecture.

1. MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

2. PROFS (PRofessional OFfice System)
• PROFS was an IBM office automation product for
mainframes running under VM/CMS.
• It supported e-mail, the creation, distribution, filing and
retrieval of documents, diary and other scheduling functions,
spreadsheets and it could be linked to other applications
such as databases as the need arose.
• It had menu-driven user interfaces, designed primarily to
work with the IBM 3270 terminal, or with the then emerging
IBM Personal Computers if they had 3270-emulation.
• It used the standard CMS file store.

3. Model

4. WhatPROFSdoneforIBM?
• Ithadprovidedwithawaytocommunicatewithanyone
virtuallyinIBM
• MadeIBMworldsmallerandmoremanageable
• Itimprovedtheproductivityofthepeoplenearly12%
• ReturnonInvestmentoverfiveyearshasbeeninrangeof
42%

5. PROFS and OV/VM
• PROFS and OV/VM provided a robust and effective service to
its users for a decade and made a major contribution to the
spread of IT into administrative and management areas.
However by the early 1990s the product was looking
increasingly dated: in particular it lacked the modern type of
graphical user interface that users and applications were
coming to expect.
• Its eventual demise came with the move away from IBM
mainframes for scientific computing and by 1994 a
replacement system, to become known as CLEO, based on
Microsoft software and a client server architecture was being
developed. CLEO came into service during 1995.

6. Some facts
• By 1986 RAL had become an IBM reference site to which
organisations considering the use of PROFS were frequently
directed.
• The success of PROFS can be implied from the growth in the
number of registered users: over 400 in 1985; 800 in 1988;
and over 1000 in 1989 including roughly half the staff at the
Swindon Office.
• In the early 1990s the service was further extended to include
some Daresbury Laboratory staff, and by 1994 the user
population had grown to 1400.

7. Thank You