Technological advances in nonproprietary software are discussed. Developments in general support of software and in computer hardware are examined. It is suggested that nonproprietary software is a resource that can save colleges and universities system development time and costs. (Author/SF)

The most time consuming and expensive step in developing expert systems is knowledge acquisition (KA), and it is important to determine how the limited resources for acquiring knowledge should be allocated across different sources. This paper develops a model that determines how KA resources should be spent and how such a model may be used. (23…

METRO II, a regional metropolitan computer consortium, was developed to provide for joint computer services in five school districts with a combined population of 150,000 students. To effect this consortium approach, each of the districts, already with sophisticated EDP, must analyze current systems and project its anticipated needs to fit the…

Several ways for a comptuer services director to effectively manage the resources available for such services are discussed. Case histories from Miami-Dade Community College and other South Florida schools are included. (SF)

Proprietary software available to the institutional researcher is discussed. It is suggested that as more institutions use proprietary software, the institutional researcher may find that varying levels of involvement in the process of evaluating and acquiring such software can result in the availability of more useful facilities. (Author/SF)

The methods and considerations in determining computer needs of both academic and administrative computer users in higher education institutions are discussed. It is suggested that computer power in the future may require local distributed interactive computing networks and/or remote job entry to a large off-campus computer. (SF)