Milestone-Proposal talk:URUCIB

Submission and Approval Log

Submitted date: 29 July 2022
History Committee approval date: 30 March 2023
Board of Directors approval date: May 2023

Original Title and Citation -- Administrator4 (talk) 15:32, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

URUCIB Real-time Information for the Presidency of the Republic, 1988

URUguay CIBernético was a pioneering Executive Information System designed and implemented for the Presidency of Uruguay, later exported to other countries. The system created a data network and incorporated advanced cybernetic modeling and statistical techniques to detect incipient instabilities in the country’s situation. It had an intuitive graphical human interface allowing decision making based on the entire information presented daily at the Management Center in the President´s office.

new publication -- Juan Carlos (talk) 20:06, 21 December 2022 (UTC)

Ganón, V. URUCIB: a technological revolution in post-dictatorship Uruguay (1986–88). AI & Society 37, 1231–1254 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01351-5

More references to URUCIB -- Juan Carlos (talk) 19:39, 6 January 2023 (UTC)

Why did cybernetics disappear from Latin America? by David Maulen de los Reyes AI &Society https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01350-6 look specially at paragraph 4.2

Feedback from reviewer Marcel Mordezki Zytny (added by advocate) -- Sergei Prokhorov (talk) 15:29, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

Montevideo, 01/04/2023 Dear Dr. Prokhorov:

It is my great pleasure to answer your request. The following statements represents my thoughts relative to the URUCIB Project. Please, if you or your team have any additional inquiries, I an at your disposal to answer any additional request. These are your main questions: In your critique of the proposal, the Committee would like you to assess three particular aspects of the proposal: 1) Is the suggested wording of the Plaque Citation accurate? 2) Is the evidence presented in the proposal of sufficient substance and accuracy to support the Citation?

3) Does the proposed milestone represent a significant technical achievement? In answering these questions, the History Committee asks that you apply a similar level of rigor to that used to peer-review an article or evaluate a research proposal. Some elaboration is desirable. Of course, the Committee would welcome any additional observations that you may have regarding this proposal.

Q1) Title of the proposed milestone: URUCIB Real-time Information for the Presidency of the Republic, 1988 Plaque citation summarizing the achievement and its significance: URUguay CIBernético was a pioneering Executive Information System designed and implemented for the Presidency of Uruguay, later exported to other countries. The system created a data network and incorporated advanced cybernetic modeling and statistical techniques to detect incipient instabilities in the country’s situation. It had an intuitive graphical human interface allowing decision making based on the entire information presented daily at the Management Center in the President ́s office. Yes, the summary is accurate. In my opinion, the achievement, like many other projects, rely on the innovativeness of the combination of technologies and conceptual frameworks, used, ahead of time.

At that time, there was no other project that combined: • A system dynamics theoretical framework, applied to Executive Information Systems, with focus on detecting disruptive changes in Time Series of microeconomic variables, in order to provide early warnings to the Government. • A practical approach that allowed to extrapolate general macroeconomics variables from easily accessible microeconomic data. • A logistic system to allow the managers to find the needed data, make it relevant for the system, provide a telecom network (before Internet) and validate it into the system, on a regular basis, to provide Executive Information for the President of the country and his more relevant collaborators. • Using state of the art technology • Providing innovative display systems • Providing innovative UX devices (for that time).

Q2) Is the evidence presented in the proposal of sufficient substance and accuracy to support the Citation? Yes, in my opinion. • The enclosed document (a), entitled URUCIB: An Executive Information System in the Presidency of the Republic of Uruguay, Information Technology for Development, Vol 5 N°2, 1990, Oxford University Press, covers at a High Level, the main aspects of the project, from an organizational and a theoretical point of view. • The enclosed document (b), entitled Sistema Informático para el Presidente de la República” is a collage of several media converage of the project. • The enclosed document (c) Strategies and Methodologies for the Planning, Design and Implementation of Information Systems in Public Administration is an abstract of the presentation that the project team performed for the IDRC, the Canadian Agency for International Cooperation • The enclosed document (d), entitled “ Primer Seminario Estado de la Informática en el Uruguay”, held in Montevideo at the beginning of 1990, provides a summary of the project, very much in line with enclosed document (a) and was a milestone in the engineering/computer science local community, where interesting projects started to arise. • The enclosed document (e), entitled “Derechos de Autor”, pictures the original document of Copyright of the Software. Unlike de United States, in several countries of the world, included Uruguay, it is not possible to patent a Software. You can have a Copyright of it, like a song or an artwork. This original document shows that the copyright has been transferred to the Government (this had interesting political consequences, since the Copyright enabled the Uruguayan Government to transfer the software and the knowledge to an Argentinian Province free of charge).

• There is a Sixth Document I would like to point out:

This is a book (in Spanish) that has been printed in order to spread the Project to the general public. Besides the provided documents, it is my understanding, from conversations with people that used the results of the project and the international exposure that URUCIB received, that the importance of the project and its results are a fact and the people involved in this project benefited fruitfully from it. 3) Does the proposed milestone represent a significant technical achievement? As mentioned in Ganon et al (2022)1 ,

When URUCIB was created, we did not know we were making an Executive Information Systems. In those days, the development of information technology was very nascent, and its impact on developing countries was even more limited. This paper tells how a government imagined using these resources and put them at the service of its management to have real-time information to guide decision-making. It shows how an interdisciplinary team of professionals from informatics, cybernetics, economics, statistics, and politics worked to create a state-of-the-art system in its time, using available information and communication technologies. 1 URUCIB: a technological revolution in post‐dictatorship Uruguay (1986–88), https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01351-5. AI & Society 37, 1231- 1254 (2022).

The system, built during 1986–88, created a data network and incorporated advanced cybernetic modeling and statistical techniques to detect incipient instabilities in the country’s situation. It had an intuitive graphical human interface allowing decision making based on the complete information presented daily at the Management Centre in the President’s office. If you take a look to all of the innovative concepts that were involved at the time, most of them highlighted in Q1, it is shockingly surprising how aware these innovators were about the strategical importance of a real time information system. It is also a great step the most important customer of the project was the President of the country.

Besides, one of the greatest barriers to change Is to promote evidence decision making and data- oriented decisions over gut feelings, specially when talking in a political environment.

The problems that were intended to be solved more than 30 years ago are still valid in public and private organizations, despite the great advances in technology we have. The validity of the problems of that time and their relevance in today's organizations is also very surprising. This demonstrates how important is the design of information systems and the underlying theories, much more than the technology used to implement them. The problem of transforming data into information, and organizing the information to facilitate decision-making, continues to be an important problem at this time and that with the technology that existed at that time, this heterodox team of people made it possible, represents an unavoidable milestone in the history of information technology development and its impact on organizational decisions in the southern region of Latin America.

All the best M

Advocate question -- Sergei Prokhorov (talk) 15:34, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

Dear Marcel Thanks for your review of the URULIB project. It is very thorough, informative, and persuasive.

I would only like to clarify two positions. 1) Here is a quote from your letter."The enclosed document (e), entitled "Derechos de Autor", pictures the original document of Copyright of the Software. Unlike de United States, in several countries of the world, included Uruguay, it is not possible to patent a Software. You can have a Copyright of it, like a song or an artwork. This original document shows that the copyright has been transferred to the Government (this had interesting political consequences, since the Copyright enabled the Uruguayan Government to transfer the software and the knowledge to an Argentinian Province free of charge)."

This is a really interesting and impressive fact! Could you provide a link to documents that confirm that the government of Uruguay transferred software and knowledge to the provinces of Argentina?

2) Could you elaborate on how long URULIB has been used by Uruguayan government agencies? Was there any development of the project? Was the accumulated experience used in the creation of other information systems or decision-making systems? It does not matter at what level—in state structures, business structures, or any public structures.

Sincerely, Sergei

Reviewer Marcel Mordezki Zytny answer (added by advocate) -- Sergei Prokhorov (talk) 15:41, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

Dear Dr. Prokhorov, Thank you for your message. Regarding Question N°1, there are some documents already submitted in the enclosed document (b) entitled: URUCIB Press.pdf you will find (in Spanish only): On page 4. Scanned article from "La Mañana" a newspaper of 02/18/1990. My free translation of the title would be: Agreement with Argentina for Technology transfer. Also, on page 5 of the same document, a newspaper 02/17/90: An Information System for the Government of Buenos Aires. Additionally, on page 6 of the same document, the eloquent title: "URUCIB System will be applied in Buenos Aires. All the details of the agreement with the Government of "Provincia de Buenos Aires" is clearly articulated in Chapters 42/43, Pages 273-290 of the book: "URUCIB y la transformación del estado".. There is an additional agreement with Nicaragua. Chapter 48 of the aforementioned book. It explains the details of the sale of the software, consultancy and training to the Government of Nicaragua through the PNUD, an office of the United Nations for development. Some conversations report that the system was still in use in 2005.

Regarding Question N°2, my independent opinion is that the different priorities of the new government that took office in Mach 1990, led to a gradual reduction of the use of the system and finally to its cancellation due to a lack of motivated users. What happened inside the 1990 - 1995 government with Urucib is beyond my knowledge. So, URUCIB clearly was a key element for decision making of the president of Uruguay from 1988 to 1990.

Please let me know if these comments answer your questions.

All the best M

Comment from the proposer Juan Carlos Miguez (added by advocate) -- Sergei Prokhorov (talk) 15:46, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

Dear Sergei et al.

let me add to #2 that the change of Presidency implied change of governing Party, and (I)logically, the recent opposition wanted changes.

On the other hand the high and rising costs of SW maintenance -within rapidly evolving hardware, made the living project costly and undesired to the new government.

Those are the real reasons why the working systems was abandoned by the new, freely elected, Uruguayan President.

excuse my intervention, but Marcel Mordetzki was too soft in his answer. As all of you know, the real world of politics is not nice, in uruguay as well as everywhere else.

regards to all, and again,excuse my intromission.

Juan Carlos

Reviewer Marcel Keschner answer (added by advocate) -- Sergei Prokhorov (talk) 14:55, 22 February 2023 (UTC)

1) Is the suggested wording of the Plaque Citation accurate? Yes, it is accurate.

2) Is the evidence presented in the proposal of sufficient substance and accuracy to support the Citation? I can confirm the evidence presented is sufficient in substance and accuracy.

3) Does the proposed milestone represent a significant technical achievement? URUCIB was an extensive system integration project. It was tailor-made, requiring multiple components such as hardware, software, communications, and professional services, including consulting, software development, education, and training.

At URUCIB, we can identify four essential elements namely : The communications network (Urured), The statistical software (Cyberflter), The application of Beer’s theory (VSM Recursions), and the fourth component, The Management Center.

With the technology available at that time, URUCIB foresaw many of the features that the Internet would have a decade later. All of them existed at that time, on a standalone basis. Having said this, If telex communication (the basis of Urured) already existed, if PC´s and programming languages and databases already existed, if Management Centre technology existed and if Staford Beer’s ideas had already been exposed in his books for years, then what was URUCIB’s innovation? The main innovation in this case was not de “novo invention”, but the recombining – bringing old things together in a new combination. This is a general feature of innovation as a process of search and recombination of existing components.

The main focus of URUCIB was to develop competencies for key performance indicators and, in particular, for short-term forecasting statistical model (Cyberflter) through significant developments using the Bayesian forecasting model (Harrison and Stevens 1971) that allowed tracking of performance indices in real time for the president’s office of Uruguay.

Analyzing URUCIB from the modern perspective of data science, we realize that URUCIB systematically and efficiently extracted knowledge from a domain’s data and used methods and techniques from mathematics and statistics, computing, and data visualization. This strongly correlates with the main activities of data science, which include: • Exploration and preparation of data. • Data representation and transformation. • Modeling and computing include the central task of applying algorithms to extract information from data. • Data visualization and presentation.

The book “No hay gato: URUCIB y la transformación del Estado” (Ganón 2019) (in Spanish) offers an excellent account of this project, with former Uruguay President Julio Maria Sanguinetti as the primary user. The communications and conversations with President Sanguinetti and his support to the URUCIB project were vital and perhaps unique for a cybernetic project at the presidential level of a country. The discussions presented at the president´s office on the 7th floor of the Libertador building are a strong testimonial that shows Mr. Ganon influenced decisions at the national level and most likely that this influence went beyond the Presidency to state owned companies.

It is worth mentioning that although URUCIB has been displaced by newer products, it is still being used at some government offices.

Kind regards, Marcel

Advocate approval -- Sergei Prokhorov (talk) 20:27, 20 March 2023 (UTC)

Report on Milestone-Proposal #2019-09: URUCIB Presidential Information System, 1988

The proposal contains a very detailed and well-reasoned justification for why project URULIB is worthy of being included in the IEEE Milestones. In 1985–1988, the Republic of Uruguay built and put into operation an executive information system for the Office of the President. It was a very significant and impressive event for that time. In 1985 there was no internet or mobile phones—that was before the computer and information revolutions. In Uruguay, essential life-sustaining services (electricity, water, oil, and telecommunications) were provided by state-owned companies. Management needed daily (near real-time) information on key variables to assess the situation in the country, provide early detection of possible problems, and make well-informed and correct decisions. The system, which was made between 1986 and 1988, used advanced cybernetic modeling and statistical methods to find signs of possible instability in the country. It had an easy-to-use graphical interface that let people make decisions based on the full information that was shown every day in the Control Center in the President's office. In URUCIB, there are four main parts:

 • the communication network (Urured), 
 • the statistical software (Cyberflter), 
 • the way Beer's theory is used (VSM recursions)
 • the control center. 

With the technology that was available at the time, URUCIB could see that the Internet would have many of the features it has now a decade from now. All of them existed at that time on a separate basis. The main innovation in this case was not a "new invention", but recombination—the combination of old things into a new combination. This is a common feature of innovation as a process of finding and recombining existing components. At that time, there was no other project that would combine:

 • Theoretical foundations of system dynamics for timely detection of changes in microeconomic variables to provide early warning to the government.
 • A practical approach that allowed for the extrapolation of general macroeconomic variables from microeconomic data.
 • A logistics system that allows managers to find the data they need, make it relevant to the system, and validate it before providing the information to the country's president and his traveling staff.
 • Use of the most modern technologies
 • Providing innovative display systems

When we look at URUCIB through the lens of modern data science, we can see that it used methods and techniques from mathematics, statistics, computation, and data visualization to extract knowledge from domain data in a systematic and efficient way. Problems that should have been solved more than 30 years ago are still relevant in public and private organizations, despite the great advances in technology that we have. The proposal is backed up by references to documents that describe URULIB in fairly great detail. Among them, I would especially note the publication Victor Ganón, Jorge Faral, Elena Ganón and Uriel Leiferman (1990) URUCIB: An executive information system in the presidency of the republic of Uruguay, Information Technology for Development, 5:3, 361-379, DOI: 10.1080/02681102.1990.9627202

Also, there is another interesting article that wasn't mentioned in the proposal. This might be because it just came out. Ganón, V. URUCIB: a technological revolution in post-dictatorship Uruguay (1986–88). AI & Society 37, 1231–1254 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01351-5

The URULIB proposal page also contains a link to other important documents, in particular ANALES_IEEE_1o_Seminario_Estado_de_la_Informatica_en_el_Uruguay_(2).pdf which also contains a detailed description of the system.

A very good collection of documents showing the practical significance of the project is available at https://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/w/images/6/63/URUCIB_press.pdf

Among the publications of authors not related to the implementation of the project, I would highlight the article by Raul Espejo, Director-General of the World Organization of Systems and Cybernetics. Espejo, R. Cybersyn, big data, variety engineering, and governance. AI & Society 37, 1163–1177 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01348-0

This article focuses mainly on the Cybersyn project, which was implemented in Chile. Comparing the URULIB and Cybersyn projects, Raul Espejo admitted that this project was very important for Uruguay.

Marcel Mordezki Zytny and Marcel Keschner were invited to evaluate the Milestones Proposal as independent experts. Both reviewers responded positively to two key questions.

  Is the evidence presented in the proposal of sufficient substance and accuracy to support the Citation?
  Does the proposed milestone represent a significant technical achievement?

Marcel Mordezki (Managing Director Mordezki y Asociados, Catedrático de Gestión Tecnológica e Innovación en Universidad ORT Uruguay) notes the following important facts in his review. URUGUAY CIBernético was an innovative executive information system designed and implemented for the President of Uruguay. It proved to be so successful that it was later exported to other countries. The problem of transforming data into information and organizing information to facilitate decision making continues to be an important issue today. That the unorthodox URUCIB team made this possible in pre-Internet times is a milestone in the history of information technology and its impact on organizational decisions in the Latin American South.

Marcel Keschner (IEEE Senior and Life Member; 2019 Richard M. Emberson Award recipient) notes the following advantages of the project in his review. URUCIB was an extensive system integration project. It was tailor-made, requiring multiple components such as hardware, software, communications, and professional services, including consulting, software development, education, and training. Using the different data processing technologies that were available at the time, URUCIB made a new system that had features that wouldn't show up on the Internet until ten years later.

It is important to note that different parts of how the URUCIB project was put into action were used to make information systems outside of Uruguay. In the proposal application, there is a document entitled Sistema Informático para el Presidente de la República", which is a collage of several media convergences of the project. On page 4. Scanned article from "La Mañana" a newspaper of February 18, 1990. The free translation of the title would be: Agreement with Argentina for Technology transfer. Also on page 5 of the same document is a newspaper from February 17, 1990: An Information System for the Government of Buenos Aires. Additionally, on page 6 of the same document, the eloquent title "URUCIB System will be applied in Buenos Aires. The agreement with the Government of "Provincia de Buenos Aires" is clearly articulated in Chapters 42/43, Pages 273-290 of the book "URUCIB y la transformación del estado". There is an additional agreement with Nicaragua. Chapter 48 of the aforementioned book. It explains the details of the sale of the software, consultancy, and training to the Government of Nicaragua through the PNUD, an office of the United Nations for development.

Both reviewers responded positively to the question:

    Is the suggested wording of the Plaque Citation accurate?

Conclusion. I support the inclusion of the URUCIB project in the IEEE Milestones list because it was a big step in Uruguay's history of developing IT and had an effect also on the development of IT in southern Latin America.

Sergei Prokhorov Proposal advocate IEEE senior member IEEE History Committee member Chair of IEEE Computer Society Russian chapter

citation rephrasing and questions -- Amy Bix (talk) 02:26, 28 March 2023 (UTC)

Some questions and suggestions on the 2nd and 3rd sentences of the citation, as follows:

> "The system created a data network and incorporated advanced cybernetic modeling and statistical techniques to detect incipient instabilities in the country’s situation. It had an intuitive graphical human interface allowing decision making based on the entire information presented daily at the Management Center in the President´s office."

This seems to me to underplay what this system offered. And I am not sure that the specification of "the Management Center in the President´s office" is essential. I would recommend:

"The system created a data network and incorporated advanced cybernetic modeling and statistical techniques to monitor key indicators of national well-being. Its user-friendly graphical human interface offered government leaders daily updates to inform decision-making and anticipate potential problems."

Re: citation rephrasing and questions -- Bberg (talk) 22:25, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

Good comments, but "human" should be "user".

Re: Re: citation rephrasing and questions -- Amy Bix (talk) 02:23, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

Makes sense. But we probably don't want "user-friendly graphical user interface" - so back to "intuitive graphical user interface" ?

Re: Re: Re: citation rephrasing and questions -- Juan Carlos (talk) 12:01, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

As Nominator, I accept Amy’s suggestion. As “Presidency” appears in the Title, It does not need to be repeated in the Citation.

juan Carlos Miguez

Re: Re: Re: Re: citation rephrasing and questions -- Dmichelson (talk) 15:04, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

Replace this text with your reply

The wording requires very minor revision. Also, its use by other countries (Argentina, Nicaragua) should probably be mentioned.

"The system used a data network and advanced cybernetic modeling and statistical techniques to monitor key indicators of national well-being. Its user-friendly graphical human interface offered government leaders daily updates to inform decision-making and anticipate potential problems. It was later adopted by other countries in the region."

=Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: citation rephrasing and questions -- Sergei Prokhorov (talk) 04:45, 3 April 2023 (UTC)=

Does it look like a consensus has been reached? The full quotation should look like this?

URUguay CIBernético was a pioneering Executive Information System designed and implemented for the Presidency of Uruguay. The system used a data network and advanced cybernetic modeling and statistical techniques to monitor key indicators of national well-being. Its user-friendly graphical human interface offered government leaders daily updates to inform decision-making and anticipate potential problems. It was later adopted by other countries in the region.