Evaluation can serve a variety of educational management questions, but an administrator's ability to use evaluation as a management tool depends not only upon his or her own perception of evaluation but also on the perceptions of other potential evaluation users in the system. Research has uncovered a variety of factors influencing an evaluation's use potential. These factors reflect human considerations, such as people's attitudes toward and expectations for the evaluation; context considerations, such as an evaluation's requirements within a particular setting; and evaluation considerations, such as procedures used and means of communicating information. The research demonstrates that an evaluation's use potential, and therefore its application as a management tool, can be greatly enhanced if someone takes responsibility for organizing the evaluation to meet specified needs, for particular users, in light of the factors operating in the given setting. The research also suggests that a program-level administrator is in the most strategic position to assume this responsibility. When a program evaluation is being considered, therefore, the administrator needs to decide on its various audiences, determine their questions and information needs, and anticipate the uses they are likely to make of the information. (BW)