ABSTRACT
Administrative issues arising in the application of distributed computing in university environments are conveniently grouped under four headings: planning, organizational changes, funding, and implementation of plans. This chapter describes some specific applications of minicomputers in administrative offices in order to illustrate the issues and related principles. The discussion of planning is limited to only two of the many aspects of planning that deserve attention. The unevenness that characterizes plans arising in an institution which encourages the user units to take the planning initiative is ameliorated by a good review process. The computer center director in whose hands all computer planning is centralized may produce plans that are exemplary in their technical aspects but are insufficiently responsive to user need. Administrators must be prepared to deal with a variety of personnel problems resulting from the impact on their staffs of computer acquisition.
