IDAMS_N

Preface


Objectives of IDAMS

The idea behind IDAMS is to provide UNESCO Member States free-of-charge with a reasonably comprehensive data management and statistical analysis software package. IDAMS, used in combination with CDS/ISIS (the UNESCO software for database management and information retrieval), will equip them with integrated software allowing for the processing in a unified way of both textual and numerical data gathered for scientific and administrative purposes by universities, research institutes, national administrations, etc. The ultimate objective is to assist UNESCO Member States to progress in the rationalization of the management of their various sectors of activity, a target which is crucial both to establish sound plans of development and for the monitoring of their execution.


Origin and a Short History of IDAMS

IDAMS was originally derived from the software package OSIRIS III.2 developed in the early seventies at the Institute for Social Research of the University of Michigan, U.S.A. It has been and is continuously enriched, modified and updated by the UNESCO Secretariat with the co-operation of experts from different countries, namely American, Belgian, British, Colombian, French, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Slovak and Ukrainian specialists, hence the name of the software: "Internationally Developed Data Analysis and Management Software Package".

In the beginning there was IDAMS for IBM mainframe computers

The first release (1.2) was issued in 1988; it contained already almost all data management and most of the data analysis facilities. Although basic routines and a number of programs were taken from OSIRIS III.2, they were substantially modified and new programs were added providing tools for partial order scoring, factor analysis, rank-ordering of alternatives and typology with ascending classification. Features for handling code labels and for documenting program execution were incorporated. The software was accompanied by the User Manual, Sample Printouts and Quick Reference Card.

Release 2.0 was issued in 1990; in addition to regrouping of: (1) programs for calculating Pearsonian correlations; and (2) programs for rank-ordering of alternatives, it contained technical improvements in a number of programs.

Release 3.0 was issued in 1992; it contained significant improvements such as: harmonization of parameters, keywords and syntax of control statements, possibility of checking syntax of control statements without execution, possibility of program execution on limited number of cases, harmonization of error messages, possibility of aggregating and listing Recoded variables, alphabetic recoding and six new arithmetic functions in Recode facility. Two new programs were added: (1) for checking data consistency; and (2) for discriminant analysis. The Annex with statistical formulas was added to the User Manual.

Note: In 1993, after preparation of release 3.02 for both OS and VM/CMS operating systems, the development of the mainframe version was terminated.

In parallel, there was IDAMS for micro computers under MS-DOS

Development of micro computer version started in 1988 and was pursued in parallel with the development of the mainframe version until release 3.

The first release (1.0) was issued in 1989, with the same features and programs as the mainframe version.

Release 2.0 was issued in 1990; it was also fully compatible with the mainframe version. Moreover, the User Interface provided facilities for dictionary preparation, data entry, preparation and execution of setup files and printing of results.

Release 3.0 was issued in 1992 together with the mainframe version. However, the User Interface was made much more user friendly, providing new dictionary and data editors, a direct access to prototype setups for all programs as well as a module for interactive graphical exploration of data.

The two intermediate releases 3.02 and 3.04, issued in 1993 and 1994 respectively, included mainly internal technical improvements and debugging of a number of programs. Release 3.02 was the last one fully compatible with the mainframe version.

Micro IDAMS started its independent existence in 1993. The software underwent full and systematic testing, especially in the area of handling user errors, and it was fully debugged.

Release 4 (last release for DOS), issued in 1996, includes improved user-friendly interface, possibility of environment customization, on-line User Manual, simplified control language, new graphic presentation modalities and capability of producing national language versions. Two new programs came to give users cluster analysis and searching for structure techniques. The User Manual has been restructured in order to present topics in an easy-to-follow but concise way. It was available in English first.

Since 1998, the release 4 has been gradually developed in French, Spanish, Arabic and Russian.

2000: first version of IDAMS for Windows and further development

The release 1.0 of IDAMS for 32-bit Windows graphical operating system was given for testing in the year 2000 and its distribution started in 2001. It offers a modern user interface with a host of new features to improve ease-of-use and on-line access to the Reference Manual using standard Windows Help. New interactive components for data analysis provide tools construction of multidimensional tables, graphical exploration of data and time series analysis.

The release 1.1 was issued in September 2002 with the following improvements: (1) externalization of text that gives the possibility to have IDAMS software in other languages than English; (2) harmonization of text in the results. It was the first release of the Windows version which appeared in English, French and Spanish.

The release 1.2 was issued in July 2004 in English, French and Spanish with new functions in three programs, in the User Interface and in the interactive modules for graphical exploration of data and for time series analysis. It was issued in April 2006 in Portuguese.

The release 1.3 is also issued in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish, and contains new program for multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), calculation of coefficient of variation in four programs, improved handling of Recoded variables with decimals in SCAT and TABLES, and full harmonization of data record length.


Acknowledgements

First of all, thanks should go to Prof. Frank-M. Andrews ( 1994) from the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, USA, as well as to the Institute who authorized UNESCO to take the OSIRIS III.2 source code and use it as a starting point in developing the IDAMS software package. Major improvements and additions have taken place since then. In this respect, particular gratitude should go to: Dr Jean-Paul Aimetti, Administrator of the D.H.E. Conseil, Paris and Professor at Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM), Paris (France); Prof. J.-P. Benzécri and E.-R. Iagolnitzer, U.E.R. de Mathématiques, Université de Paris V (France); Eng. Tibor Diamant and Dr Zoltán Vas, József Attila University, Szeged (Hungary); Prof. Anne-Marie Dussaix, Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (ESSEC), Cergy-Pontoise (France); Dr Igor S. Enyukov and Eng. Nicolaï D. Vylegjanin, StatPoint, Moscow (Russian Federation); Dr Péter Hunya, who has been the Director of the Kalmár Laboratory of Cybernetics, József Attila University, Szeged (Hungary), and IDAMS Programme Manager at UNESCO between July 1993 and February 2001; Jean Massol, EOLE, Paris (France); Prof. Anne Morin, Institut de Recherche en Informatique et Systèmes Aléatoires (IRISA), Rennes (France); Judith Rattenbury, ex-Director, Data Processing Division, World Fertility Survey, London, and presently founder and head of SJ MUSIC publishing house, Cambridge (United Kingdom); J.M. Romeder and Association pour le Développement et la Diffusion de l'Analyse des Données (ADDAD), Paris (France); Prof. Peter J. Rousseeuw, Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen, (Belgium); Dr A.V. Skofenko, Academy of Sciences, Kiev (Ukraine); Eng. Neal Van Eck, Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove (USA); Nicole Visart who has launched the IDAMS Programme at UNESCO and who, in addition to her technical contributions at all stages, assured the coordination and monitoring of the whole project until her retirement in 1992.

It is impossible to give due credit to all the many people, besides those already mentioned above, who have contributed ideas and effort to IDAMS and to OSIRIS III.2 from which it was derived. Up to now IDAMS has been developed mainly at UNESCO. Follows a list of names of the main programs, components and facilities included in WinIDAMS, with the names of authors and programmers, and the names of institutions where the work was done.


User Interface and Basic Facilities

Recode facility Ellen Grun ISR
Peter Solenberger ISR
User Interface Jean-Claude Dauphin UNESCO
On-line access to Pawel Hoser Polish Academy of Sciences
the Reference Manual Jean-Claude Dauphin UNESCO

Data Management Facilities

AGGREG Tina Bixby ISR
Jean-Claude Dauphin UNESCO
BUILD Carl Bixby ISR
Sylvia Barge ISR
Tibor Diamant UNESCO
CHECK Tina Bixby ISR
Jean-Claude Dauphin UNESCO
CONCHECK Neal Van Eck Van Eck Computing Consulting
CORRECT Tibor Diamant UNESCO
IMPEX Péter Hunya UNESCO
LIST Marianne Stover ISR
Sylvia Barge ISR
Jean-Claude Dauphin UNESCO
MERCHECK Karen Jensen ISR
Sylvia Barge ISR
Zoltán Vas JATE
MERGE Tina Bixby ISR
Nancy Barkman ISR
Jean-Claude Dauphin UNESCO
SORMER Carol Cassidy ISR
Jean-Claude Dauphin UNESCO
SUBSET Judy Mattson ISR
Judith Rattenbury ISR
Jean-Claude Dauphin UNESCO
TRANS Jean-Claude Dauphin UNESCO

Data Analysis Facilities

CLUSFIND Leonard Kaufman Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Peter J. Rousseeuw Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Neal Van Eck Van Eck Computing Consulting
Tibor Diamant UNESCO
CONFIG Herbert Weisberg ISR
DISCRAN J.-M. Romeder ADDAD
and ADDAD
Péter Hunya UNESCO
Tibor Diamand UNESCO
FACTOR J.P. Benzécri, Université de Paris V
E.R. Iagolnitzer Université de Paris V
Péter Hunya JATE
MANOVA Charles E. Hall George Washington University
Elliot M. Cramer George Washington University
Neal Van Eck ISR
Tibor Diamand UNESCO
MCA Edwin Dean ISR
John Sonquist ISR
Tibor Diamant UNESCO
MDSCAL Joseph Kruskal Bell Telephone
Frank Carmone Bell Telephone
Lutz Erbring ISR
ONEWAY Spyros Magliveras ISR
Tibor Diamant UNESCO
PEARSON John Sonquist ISR
Spyros Magliveras ISR
Neal Van Eck ISR
Ronald Nuttal Boston College
Tibor Diamant UNESCO
POSCOR Péter Hunya JATE
QUANTILE Robert Messenger ISR
Tibor Diamant UNESCO
RANK Anne-Marie Dussaix ESSEC
Albert David ESSEC
Péter Hunya JATE
A.V. Skofenko Ukrainian Academy of Sciences
REGRESSN M.A. Efroymson ESSO Corporation
Bob Hsieh ESSO Corporation
Neal Van Eck ISR
Peter Solenberger ISR
SCAT Judith Goldberg ISR
SEARCH John Sonquist ISR
Elizabeth Lauch Baker ISR
James N. Morgan ISR
Neal Van Eck Van Eck Computing Consulting
Tibor Diamant UNESCO
TABLES Neal Van Eck ISR and Van Eck Computing Consulting
Tibor Diamant UNESCO
TYPOL Jean-Paul Aimetti CFRO
Jean Massol CFRO
Péter Hunya JATE
Jean-Claude Dauphin UNESCO
Multidimensional Tables Jean-Claude Dauphin UNESCO
GraphID Igor S. Enyukov StatPoint
Nicolaï D. Vylegjanin StatPoint
TimeSID Igor S. Enyukov StatPoint

As for the documentation, recognition should be expressed to all the people who contributed to its preparation, in particular to: Judith Rattenbury who drafted the first original English version of the Manual (1988) and who kept revising further editions till 1998; Jean-Paule Griset (UNESCO, Paris) who designed together with Nicole Visart the typography of the Manual used until 1998; Teresa Krukowska (IDAMS Group, UNESCO, Paris) who compiled the part with statistical formulas, changed the Manual's typography in 1998, continues updating the original English version since 1999, who is responsible for production of the Manual in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish, and takes care of harmonization, as much as possible, of texts in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

Acknowledgement to the authors of OSIRIS documents from which material was taken for WinIDAMS Reference Manual must be made as follows: the OSIRIS III.2 User Manual Vol.1 (edited by Sylvia Barge and Gregory A. Marks) and Vol.5 (compiled by Laura Klem), Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, USA.

Thanks should also go to translators of the software and documentation into French, Portuguese and Spanish for their co-operation:

The following institutions have undertaken translation of the software and the Manual into Arabic and Russian: ALECSO - Department of Documentation and Information, Tunis, Tunisia, and Russian State Hydrometeorological University, Department of Telecommunications, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation.


Requests for WinIDAMS and Further Information

For further information on WinIDAMS regarding content, updating, training and distribution, please write to:

UNESCO
Communication and Information Sector
Information Society Division
CI/INF - IDAMS
1, rue Miollis
75732 PARIS CEDEX 15
France
e-mail: idams@unesco.org
http://www.unesco.org/idams