The development of information systems is described with regard to the roles of the system user and the data processing specialist. Institutional needs are best served by coordination efforts, usually handled by a management systems office, which is also responsible for the maintenance and production of an institutional data element dictionary and a uniform code manual. Consideration must be given to production processes dealing with data and files, and their management must report at a high enough level in the organization to accomplish coordinated development at the institutional level between various administrative information systems. A model for a user's group is presented. (LBH)