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[[Herman Hollerith]] then at the [[U.S. Census Bureau]] devised a tabulating system that included cards ([[Punched card|Hollerith card, later Punched card]]), a punch for holes in them representing data, a tabulator and a sorter.<ref name="IBM">{{cite web |title=From Herman Hollerith to IBM |url=https://womenshistory.si.edu/spotlight/tabulating-equipment/from-herman-hollerith-to-ibm |website=Because of Her Story |publisher=Smithsonian |access-date=22 August 2021}}</ref> The system was tested in computing mortality statistics for the city of Baltimore.<ref name=IBM/> In the first commercial electronic data processing Hollerith machines were used to compile the data accumulated in the 1890 U.S. Census of population.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/tabulating-equipment/from-herman-hollerith-to-ibm
|title=Tabulating Equipment, From Herman Hollerith to IBM |publisher=Smithsonian, National Museum of American History |access-date=July 6, 2019}}</ref> Hollerith's [[Tabulating machine|Tabulating Machine]] Company merged with two other firms to form the [[Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company]], later renamed [[IBM]]. The punch-card and tabulation machine business remained the core of electronic data processing until the advent of electronic computing in the 1950s (which then still rested on punch cards for storing information).<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=286#h16
|title=Herman Hollerith (1860-1929) |publisher=Immigrant Entrepreneurship |access-date=July 6, 2019}}</ref>
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Early commercial systems were installed exclusively by large organizations. These could afford to invest the time and capital necessary to purchase hardware, hire specialist staff to develop [[bespoke]] [[software]] and work through the consequent (and often unexpected) organizational and cultural changes.
At first, individual organizations developed their own software, including [[data management]] utilities, themselves. Different products might also have 'one-off' bespoke software. This fragmented approach led to duplicated effort and the production of management information needed manual effort.
High hardware costs and relatively slow processing speeds forced developers to use resources 'efficiently'. [[Computer storage|Data storage]] formats were heavily compacted, for example. A common example is the removal of the century from dates, which eventually led to the '[[millennium bug]]'.
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Software is available off the shelf. Apart from products such as [[Microsoft Office]] and [[Lotus Software | IBM Lotus]], there are also specialist packages for payroll and personnel management, account maintenance and customer management, to name a few. These are highly specialized and intricate components of larger environments, but they rely upon common conventions and interfaces.
Data storage has also been standardized. [[Relational database
In parallel, software development has fragmented. There are still specialist technicians, but these increasingly use standardized methodologies where outcomes are predictable and accessible.<ref name=IT/> At the other end of the scale, any office manager can dabble in spreadsheets or databases and obtain acceptable results (but there are risks, because many do not know what [[Software testing]] is). Specialized software is software that is written for a specific task rather for a broad application area. These programs provide facilities specifically for the purpose for which they were designed. At the other end of the scale, any office manager can dabble in spreadsheets or databases and obtain acceptable results.<ref name=IT/>
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