ABSTRACT
Problems of data administration were discussed in Public Administration Review as early as the summer 1944 issue. There are many who might date modern public administration efforts in the era from the establishment of the New York Bureau of Municipal Research. The case method has been associated with Harvard University in several academic fields. In public administration, Harvard experimented with public administration cases at the end of World War II. The growing concern with planning–programming–budgeting system led to the publication of a Public Administration Review symposium in December 1966. The Commission worked in line with classic public administration tradition, although it was largely staffed by private sector executive volunteers. In a thoughtful critique of the Commission’s work, C. T. Goodsell notes that the inquiry was unprecedented in size, scope, and method. The Commission recommended the establishment of a Federal Information Resources Manager who would direct a coordinated government-wide effort to upgrade existing systems and personnel.
