Integrated Information Systems Benefits from

The efficiency of the existing systems is unlikely to be measured. Head counts of staff dedicated to PSM and ESH, and costs of PSM and ESH investments will be available. However, these provide no measure of efficiency and are probably inaccurate anyway. Other staff contribute part-time to PSM and ESH, and most projects will have benefits beyond PSM and ESH improvement. You should attempt to gather information on matters such as the time it takes to respond to new requirements and the annual costs of accidents, incidents, and noncompliances. These data will provide a baseline from which you can measure improvement as the integration project moves forward. 

In the past, process control systems have been based on proprietary computer platforms, acting as "islands of information" from which production reports were printed out and stored as part of the critical production information. This situation is rapidly changing as most process control systems now operate on open standard platforms that are much easier to integrate. Recent development in control communication protocol standards has made such system integration even easier. Nevertheless, many process control systems currently used have been in operation for many years, leaving companies with the challenge of interfacing these proprietary systems in order to release the benefits of paperless operation. 

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