Technology that once involved a scary, mysterious machine the size of a small house now fits on desktops and commonly appears in offices, schools, and homes. Computers allow for processing, storing and transmitting data between two or more people virtually anywhere in the world. They also allow users to save documents, presentations, photos and…

The personal computer--with its ability to store, sort, and retrieve large amounts of data, generate reports, and graphically present statistical information--is becoming an integral tool in the administration of the modern media center. The need to share and retrieve information beyond the immediate environment of the media center has always been…

Some basic conceptual tools, knowledge, and experience that help evaluate needs for a management support system (MSS) to meet the planning and management challenges in academe are presented. An MSS must integrate the planning, control, forecasting, modeling, reporting, computing, and data administration functions of the system. (MLW)

Offers advice for colleges intending to undergo software conversions, asserting that sufficient resources are key to a smooth process. Describes the conversion process at Palomar College (California) in 1997, when Palomar purchased PeopleSoft enterprise-wide software in response to Y2K compliance issues. Stresses the ongoing need for training and…

Nova Southeastern University, Florida, has implemented a variety of techniques of cost containment for campus credit card transactions. These include restricted card acceptance parameters, careful merchant rate negotiation, increased automation of transaction processing, and sophisticated processing techniques. The university has demonstrated…

Focuses on the three components of legacy in the information industry: data, systems, and human factors. Discusses psychological legacy data; data conversions; characteristics of legacy systems for the information industry; database producers; standards; evaluating legacy from a financial perspective; financial considerations for database…

Discusses the status of training courses conducted by computer manufacturers for their employees, including types of training, trainee classification, course arrangement, fees, examples of courses provided by manufacturers, trends, and future expectations. (MBR)

Data processing was introduced to public libraries in Hawaii in 1973 with a feasibility study which outlined the candidate areas for automation. Since then, the Office of Library Services has automated the order procedures for one of the largest book processing centers for public libraries in the country; created one of the first COM…

The issues, options, and procedures for annually measuring overall payment error in the Pell Grant program are specified in detail. Guidelines for establishing a definition of Pell Grant payment error are provided, and the design issues related to error measurement are examined. A comparison is made of options for selecting a study sample and for…