Students, policymakers and institutions all need to have high quality data about how today's students access and pay for higher education--and what contributes to their success. But the data that are available now are woefully inadequate. We need to improve the national postsecondary data infrastructure The report thoroughly explores seven options…

The article lists and discusses elements in the development and implementation of an employee information system, such as planning and design, types of data required, selecting software, and documentation. (MF)

Three principles of classification are stressed in the development of electronic dental patient records and clinical databases: (1) the classification must have a suitable organizing principle; (2) use must be made of standard terminology; and (3) there must be standard operational criteria. (DB)

Problems of the college or university that center around the people who use the institution's computers are examined. It is suggested that effective use of computers in higher education depends on how well the users and providers understand the constraints and problems of each information system. (Author/SF)

This document describes the computerized procedures developed and utilized by Montgomery College (Maryland) to maintain records related to student academic progress. The new system was fully operable by fall 1972. Systems development included: (1) the conversion of past student records to a permanent grade history file; (2) the development of a…

Key issues in planning and designing a human resources management or personnel data system are system planning, system design and development, system implementation, and system evaluation. The author discusses necessary steps in designing a successful system. (MF)

Administrative computing in higher education and its implications for the management of colleges and universities are explored. The evolution of administrative computing is traced from the use of minicomputers to the implementation of a management information system. (Author/SF)

Oregon State University (OSU) has held discussions over the past several years between Enrollment Services, Central Computing and the Finance Support Offices, and departments on campus that offer non-credit coursework, about the possibility of incorporating non-credit related records into the same information system that houses regular credit.…

Computer routines to summarize data and generate reports from weekly log records submitted by teachers participating in the Southwest Regional Laboratory's communications skills monitoring program are described. Written in Univac FORTRAN V, Communications Skills 1, Weekly Log Summary, Revision 1 (CS-1-WLSR1) displays information by student group,…

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 preliminary system design of the computer-based Southwest Regional Laboratory's (SWRL) Financial System is outlined. The system is designed to produce various management and accounting reports needed to maintain control of SWRL operational and financial activities. Included in the document are descriptions of the various types of system…

Computer routines to edit input data for the Southwest Regional Laboratory's (SWRL) Financial System are described. The program is responsible for validating input records, generating records for further system processing, and updating the Vendor Master File--a file containing the information necessary to support the accounts payable and…

The automated identification of students as they progress through an instructional program is described as an essential capability of the Southwest Regional Laboratory's (SWRL) Instructional Management System (IMS). Performance characteristics of procedures for linking data to individual students (whose records are maintained by IMS) are…

The academic transcript system at the University of Calgary, a successful application that combines online and batch processing to generate student transcripts, is described. In addition to improved service to students and alumni, the registrar's operating budget has been reduced and productivity has increased. (Author/MLW)

Some of the schools participating in the Southwest Regional Laboratory's Instructional Management System (IMS) pilot test submitted input data forms to and received processed information from regional processing and data collection centers. To determine the feasibility of alternative methods of data collection and output return, evaluative data…