The tools and techniques utilized in the technical communications profession are constantly improving and changing. Information Technology (IT) organizations devote the necessary resources to equip and train engineering, marketing, and sales teams, but often fail to do so for technical documentation teams. Many IT organizations tend to view…

Supply Chain Management, the coordination of upstream and downstream flows of product, services, finances, and information from a source to a customer, has risen in prominence over the past fifteen years. The delivery of a product to the consumer is a complex process requiring action from several independent entities. An individual firm consists…

As school districts increasingly acquire administrative application software, a concern will be to maintain compatability levels among programs. How to determine compatability levels and software integration needs are discussed, as well as ways to integrate specific application and general application software. (MBR)

This discussion of the legal aspects of acquiring a computer system emphasizes the buyer's rights. Guidelines are provided for drafting a contract specific to the individual buyer's needs and modifying the vendor's standard form contract. (EM)

This paper considers selected aspects of the systems analysis of administrative decisionmaking regarding resource allocations in an educational system. A model of the instructional materials purchase system is presented. The major components of this model are: environment, input, decision process, conversion structure, conversion process, output,…

The last institute of the 1971-1972 LARC Institute Series was devoted to automated library acquisitions systems. The focus is upon a system in operation at Florida Atlantic, Florida International and Arizona State universities. The papers which discuss this automated acquisitions system are: "Computer Systems Hardware,""The Systems Approach," and…

Several online vendors address the issue of RFPs (requests for proposals) for library systems, discussing the documents' style, technical standards, library expectations, liabilities associated with using this procedure, factors in the decision to bid, and the need for a standardized document and national clearinghouse. (CLB)

Describes use of RFPs (requests for proposals) to specify requirements for automated library systems and presents advice on when to use RFPs, how to construct the statements, and how to present library needs and priorities so that maximum success in choosing a vendor and system are achieved. (Author/CLB)