Data management challenges at the Pennsylvania State University are discussed, including providing user access to data, developing a classification system for data elements, eliminating the manual process for creating tailored user views, and developing data dictionary user enhancements. Solutions are provided to give insight into problem solving.…

An award-winning administrator of a college computer system discusses the role of networking and teamwork in successful information management, drawing on experiences during recent political upheavals in eastern Europe for illustration. Other success factors stressed include having and sharing a dream and developing future leaders. (MSE)

A campus information center is one way to formalize the total user services approach to computing, as a strategy for the distribution and use of new technology with an emphasis on end-user sufficiency. (MSE)

Pennsylvania State University's award-winning electronic approval system allows administrative documents to be electronically generated, approved, and updated in the university's central database. Campus business can thus be conducted faster, less expensively, more accurately, and with greater security than with traditional paper approval…

To provide effective leadership and assure project success, policy makers should understand two major pitfalls in pursuing purchased administrative systems solutions. First is the failure to organize for successful project implementation and monitoring, including organizing for contract negotiation; second is the failure to develop an effective…

The University of Rochester's experience with online analytical processing (OLAP), part of its executive information system, is reported. The server, a multiuser, local area network (LAN)-based database loaded from legacy systems or a data warehouse, can rapidly manipulate and display data, and allows quick creation and changing of analytical…

The University of Miami (Florida) information resources department developed and instituted a program of "jump level leadership" in 1989 to open communication between all hierarchical levels. Results include free flow of ideas within the department, organizational changes, and happier, more effective employees. Successes, problems, and…

In July 1993, DePaul University integrated its information technology and service functions under a new division of University Planning and Information Technology, consolidating formerly fragmented services to achieve a unified direction for information technology closely aligned with university goals. This case study discusses the framework,…

Faced with the challenge of providing security across a complex, multiprotocol institutional information network, computing services at Indiana University implemented a responsive, collaborative security architecture designed for the future. Information systems design, security principles and strategy, and implementation are described. (Author/MSE)

In planning for institutionwide access to information, Cornell University's information services focused on providing access to usable, sharable data from the university's legacy systems, keeping the interface as transparent as possible. A development strategy and user modules were designed that could be transferred to a variety of institutional…

At the University of Delaware, World Wide Web tools are used to produce multiplatform administrative applications, including hyperreporting, mixed media, electronic forms, and kiosk services. Web applications are quickly and easily crafted to interact with administrative databases. They are particularly suited to customer outreach efforts,…

In moving Syracuse University (New York) administrative computing applications from mainframe to a client/server environment, challenges have come not from technological transition but from changes in the ways both information systems are organized and clients work. Cultural initiatives were necessary, including organizational restructuring,…

The Harvard University (Massachusetts) central computing and development offices collaborated to develop a prototype client/server fund-raising system that allows personnel to easily and quickly access and share prospect information. Its successful development is attributed to use of some traditional project management principles and practices.…

The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School introduced a "distributed" organization for managing computing support services. The hybrid structure combined elements of centralized computing and departmental computing by placing computing personnel in the departments, under central management. The program covers a wide range of support…

The process that Kenyon College (Ohio) used in researching development of a campus-wide information system (CWIS) is outlined, and the most important issues to be considered in launching a successful CWIS are identified, including resources, needs, ownership, access, personnel, content, policy, design, staffing, marketing, and ongoing development.…