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processed by the larger trust departments such as at State Street
Bank and Bank of New York.
We agree with respondent that the Trust TU activities do not
constitute qualified research. None of the activities engaged in
by NTS in this project involved anything more than "cookbook"
approaches to software development and the basic "skilled practice"
of computer programmers. Indeed, Dr. McDermott admitted as much
when he stated that the changes to Trust TU "required the
application of basic principles of software engineering and
testing" and that "This is not cutting-edge science, but it falls
exactly within the bounds of computer science as it is taught in
textbooks."
Routine software development is characterized by the use of
cookbook approaches, as described by Dr. McDermott, in which at the
outset the ability to accomplish a task is known because of the
presence of skilled practice and known methodologies,63 even though
63 We accept petitioner's assertion that standard
methodologies (such as Norwest's SDM) are employed because
researchers find that they are the best way to discover new
information. These are not the types of methodologies we are
concerned with in qualified research; the key is whether the
practices and methodologies provide the researchers with the
known capabilities (e.g., formulas) for accomplishing the task--
and in routine software development, that is often the case.
We think Dr. Davis' testimony on this subject is
instructive:
A One of the things that I think is worth
distinguishing is the notion of research
activity from what I'll call the skilled
practice.
(continued...)
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