PSL/PSA is a computer-aided structured documentation and analysis technique that was developed for, and is being used for, analysis and documentation of requirements and preparation of functional specifications for information processing systems. The present status of requirements definition is outlined as the basis for describing the problem which PSL/PSA is intended to solve. The basic concepts of the Problem Statement Language are introduced and the content and use of a number of standard reports that can be produced by the Problem Statement Analyzer are briefly described.

Research in file organization is a problem in which the unstructured efforts of many individual researchers have not produced results commensurate with the effort expended. The paper briefly examines some of the reasons for this and suggests a structure consisting of a language and terminology for communication, a model of information processing systems and tools for studying and analyzing problems related to such systems. The ISDOS project is outlined as a coordinated approach which may serve as the beginning in the development of a satisfactory structure.