Skip to main content

Lapse in Appropriations

Please note that a lapse in appropriations has caused GAO to shut down its operations. Therefore, GAO will not be able to publish reports or otherwise update this website until GAO resumes operations. In addition, the vast majority of GAO personnel are not permitted to work. Consequently, calls or emails to agency personnel may not be returned until GAO resumes operations. For details on how the bid protest process will be handled during the shutdown, please see the legal decisions page. For information related to the GAO Personnel Appeals Board (PAB), please see the PAB webpage.

Improving COBOL Application Can Recover Significant Computer Resources

AFMD-82-4 Published: Apr 01, 1982. Publicly Released: Apr 01, 1982.
Jump To:

Highlights

GAO examined: (1) the management implications and economics of reducing the machine resources consumed by Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL) applications in the federal government; and (2) the applicability of these findings to different brands of computers.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Commerce The Secretary of Commerce should direct the National Bureau of Standards (NSB) to publish guidance on the effective and efficient use of COBOL for applications; guidance should include examples taken from real-life applications. A possible starting point would be to use a table of contents similar to that of the already published "Using ANSI FORTRAN" and the GAO provisional checklist. The General Services Administration Office of Software Development and Federal Computer Performance Evaluation and Simulation Center could work with NBS in constructing such guidance.
Closed – Implemented
NBS has issued guidance on the use of COBOL for applications.
Heads of Federal Agencies Heads of federal agencies should require periodic review of the machine resource consumption of COBOL applications at their installations and, where feasible, require action to reduce the consumption of expensive applications.
Closed – Implemented
The Department Housing and Urban Development, the Defense Mapping Agency, and the Social Security Administration have installed continuous software improvement programs. Savings cannot be quantified.

Full Report

Full Report (82 pages)

Media Inquiries

Sarah Kaczmarek
Managing Director
Office of Public Affairs
media@gao.gov

Public Inquiries

Contact Us

Topics

Government Operations
Capacity managementComputer languagesComputer-aided software engineeringCost controlProgramming languagesSystems evaluationComputer resourcesCentral processing unitVeterans benefitsComputers