This paper describes the IBM 1500 Instructional System which is used for computer assisted instruction (CAI), research, and demonstration at the University of Alberta. The system automatically stores a performance record of each student's responses to instructional programs, and a number of CAI support programs are accessible to perform various analyses of daily data sets for each course. A set of interactive programs which provide assistance to CAI authors make data base manipulations easier: they explain the use of specific programs, query the user as to his requirements, check user input for errors, prompt the user as to legitimate answers, generate a file with the batch job, and execute a call to run the job. Use of the programs has reduced time to construct the file to run programs, reduced sessions to achieve a successful run, and reduced time spent in helping CAI authors. Sample terminal sessions and batch jobs are appended. (KP)