Basic design and implementation issues encountered in providing academic support systems are examined. "Academic support systems" describes the growing class of university computing that is being developed to integrate administrative computing environments. These systems may be typically characterized by the activities that center around a dean's office: office automation/information systems, institutional research, and electronic communication. The components (and their interfaces) of academic support systems are discussed, distinguishing the activities that are more properly considered in strictly academic or administrative arenas. After examining the basic design issues that a system planner faces, the generic academic support architectures are analyzed with respect to political, financial, and technical factors. These issues include speed of links and compatibility requirements (technical), licensing of software and billing of network services (financial), and user education and data ownership (political). To illustrate the issues, the implementation of an academic support system at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs is described. (SW)