Description: Presented at May 1996 Spring Meeting. Discusses the new capabilities offered by Windows 95 from the perspectives of the end-user, software developer, and system administrator.

Description: The SOA has developed a new “tool” using Microsoft Access/Excel for international actuaries to conduct mortality and persistency studies in conjunction with the SOA’s international experience study initiative. Professionally programmed, this new tool facilitates the work of international actuaries.

Description: End-User Computing (EUC) applications (such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, and others) provide a great benefit by allowing users to directly manage, control, and manipulate data. Unlike SAP, Oracle, and other Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications that facilitate the automated and integrated flow of transactions and data, EUCs are neither ponderous nor difficult to modify. In fact, EUCs allow businesses and users to quickly deploy solutions in response to shifting market and economic conditions, industry changes, or evolving regulations. They can also help plug functionality gaps for ERP systems. Alas, those same elements that make EUCs so appealing (and vital in providing timely information) can also make them challenging to manage and control effectively.