This article concerns some economic concepts which shed light upon the effective and efficient use of information processing facilities" and suggests that centralized computing facilities can produce higher quality outputs than smaller organizations. (Author/AA)

The recommended procedures for the consolidation of the data processing centers for three school districts, a community college district, and a county office of education are described. The report contains a description of the procedures used to select the recommended consolidation plan. In addition, a suggested plan for allocation of costs and a…

A tongue-in-cheek, point/counterpoint discussion between a user and a computer professional is presented. Personal computing, it is suggested, can help strike a balance between what users can do for themselves to gain control and responsibility and what computer professionals can do to support that. (Author/MLW)

The development and implementation of centralized information systems in the public sector are addressed. Focus is on such systems where a central government agency is collecting information from a number of similar institutions, such as hospitals and colleges. The approach of the Ontario College Information System is described. (Author/LBH)

University administrative data processing is moving toward a more distributed environment. An architecture must be established that incorporates central sites, campus centers, and end users in a networked pool of computer systems, with applications located at appropriate nodes in the network. (Author/MLW)

Academic decisionmakers must be helped to use the right kind of information so that the implications of the difficult alternative choice decisions are fully spelled out. The great overriding benefit of an integrated management information approach is that it can further the institutional view and can show a broad overall picture. (Author)

The revised organizational structure for computing at The Medical University of South Carolina, the planned computer and telecommunications architecture, and the current state of implementation of these projects are discussed. Recommendations concerning resource management, software, and hardware are presented. The college had several different…

Operations tasking for data center management is discussed. The original and revised organizational structures of the data center at the University of Miami are also described. The organizational strategy addresses the functions that should be performed by the data center, anticipates the specialized skills required, and addresses personnel…

Initial efforts to collect data on the impact of Elementary Secondary Education Act Title I programs began in Pennsylvania in 1972. Due to the frequent turnover of local education agency (LEA) staff responsible for Title I impact reports and the fact that a study of the accuracy of reported scores revealed that some sort of errors appeared in…

Administrators, faculty, and staff should have electronic access to records needed to perform their jobs, and students should have access to their own records--course registration and addresses. User-directed analysis and reporting are discussed and the security and audit issues are examined. (Author/MLW)

The process and experiences associated with strategic planning in a recently decentralized administrative information systems environment are described. Background information on why Virginia Commonwealth University decentralized the authority, responsibility, and accountability for the delivery of administrative information services to major…

The computing and information systems at the University of Missouri are described. All computing activity was centralized beginning in 1973 with the formation of the university computer network. Administrative data processing, financial systems, student systems, and office automation are discussed. (MLW)

Arguments for and against decentralization of data management, analysis, and planning systems are presented. It is suggested that technological advances have encouraged decentralization. Caution in this direction is urged and the development of an articulated decentralization program is proposed. (SF)

A feasibility study was conducted on the consolidation of the data processing centers for three school districts, a community college district, and a county office of education in response to legislation passed by the California State Senate in 1973. The consultants reviewed existing operations of each district, determined data processing needs,…

Beginning in December, 1967, the New England Library Information Network (NELINET) was demonstrated in actual operation using Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC I) bibliographic data. Section 1 of this report is an introduction and summary of the project. Section 2 described the library processing function demonstrated which included catalog card…