It is recognized that growing management information systems will require increased user involvement in acquiring, maintaining, and manipulating essential institutional data. A technique called Service/Requirements Analysis has been developed for incorporating user input into system design and development. (MSE)

In February 1980, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Lukes Medical Center in Chicago appointed a task force to study word processing/office automation and to make recommendations for acquisition, implementation, and administration. The group's working approach, findings, and conclusions are discussed. (Author/MLW)

The nature and form of useful management information in a variety of situations is discussed. It is suggested that questions posed by managers may determine the effectiveness of the management information system. Questions concerning demographic trends and enrollment declines are used to illustrate this point. (SF)

Some of the economic and technological influences under which computing centers of the 1980s will have to operate are reviewed. Several strategies for hardware, software, and personnel management to cope with and to take advantage of in relation to a trend in changing costs are outlined. (Author/MLW)

The importance of cooperative development among and exchange between university information systems is discussed. Cooperative developments in the California State University and Colleges System and exchange efforts between university systems in other states are described. (Author/BH)

Distributed data bases in statewide and multi-institutional systems are discussed. It is suggested that traditional approaches to data processing and current data base software are inappropriate for a distributed data base system. (BH)