The personal computer furnishes engineers and managers with an appropriate tool for analysis of statistical problems particularly in areas such as quality control. Following a review of the literature, no simple, low cost software packages were found that allow the personal computer user to design, execute, and statistically analyze physical processes while providing graphical display of the results.

The primary objective of this research is to develop a software system which runs on a personal computer and provides management with an affordable vehicle for statistical analysis of problems, particularly those faced by the decision maker. This software system includes the design of inferential procedures as well as their execution. Many of the inferential procedures are based on the assumptions of independent and normally distributed observations, and in the case of confidence intervals and hypothesis tests for means, offers a technique which assists the user in overcoming problems associated with correlated sample data. The software system attempts to detect when these assumptions appear to be violated. In the case of independence, a methodology is applied which attempts to offset the deleterious effects of the correlation on parameter estimates. Although statistical methods are used to interpret sampled data, extensive knowledge of statistics is not necessary to use this software. The software is intended for managers and quality engineers who possess knowledge of basic statistics, the ability to interpret control chart information, and a basic working knowledge of personal computers. Execution requires an IBM PC (or a true compatible) which contains a color graphics card and at least 512K of memory. Both color and monochrome monitors are supported. The software is written in Turbo Basic 1.0, a product of Borland International. The software operates under the MS-DOS 2.0 (or later version) operating system. DOS, Disk Operating System, provides for communication between the keyboard, the disk drives, and the system unit.