The Parent Child Center Management Information System, the first operational MIS for a social action program relating to child welfare, consists of three interlocking components: a standard set of recordkeeping forms for the local Parent Child Center; a set of quarterly reporting forms that interface with the recordkeeping forms; and a series of management reports that can be produced from data that are reported on the quarterly reporting forms. The system links data reporting directly to management decisionmaking. It focuses, standardizes, and channels the flow of information needed for making rational decisions about funding, budgeting, program evaluation, contract compliance, and program planning; and the timing of the flow of this data is geared to cycles of important management decisions. The system is seen as a potentially valuable means of maximizing the benefits from limited resources by timely reduction of managerial uncertainties. Additionally, it links costs to services, permits management to see how human resources are being used in a labor-intensive program, and acts as an early warning system and makes hard facts available for appropriate corrective action so that management-by-purpose can replace management-by-exception. (Author/WM)