Eight papers from the FID/II Pre-Conference Seminar (Espoo, Finland, August 24-25, 1988) discuss issues related to the use of information as a tool in the context of business information services, strategic information management, business intelligence systems, information resources management, and the role of information and documentation in…

Discusses key issues related to availability of valid information to be entered into information systems and to be used in planning such systems. Topics covered include accuracy of information in systems, the importance of geolinguistic ecology (where and how a system's information is made available to people) to system design, and the lack of…

The author (1) identifies groups involved in retirement planning, (2) describes recent accomplishments within the field, (3) recommends ways to address unmet needs, and (4) identifies emerging trends. Trends in retirement planning include early retirement, differentiation between married and single prospective retirees, and competition for…

About six years ago, a rural Delaware school district formed a community/staff long-range planning committee to craft a strategic plan that would identify school system values and reallocate resources. As vision and mission statements emerged, technology evolved as a major value, with three goals related to funding and accessibility. Collaborative…

Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis is the first public institution to implement Responsibility Center Management (RCM), a comprehensive decentralized, incentive-base financial management system. RCM has strengthened academic planning, budget management, general accountability, and multiyear fiscal planning. Organizational…

A college governing board can become more directive without resorting to micromanagement. This requires a strategic plan providing focus and direction, a disciplined monitoring of the plan, a close working relationship between trustee committee chairs and administrative counterparts, and an atmosphere encouraging trustees to ask the right…

It is proposed that schools of social work typically respond reactively and defensively when workload demands increase relative to available resources. Strategic planning is offered as a tool for increasing faculty's and administrators' sense of vitality and empowerment. Conditions, tasks, outcomes, and pitfalls of successful strategic planning…

The college development office must treat major gift prospects as they would regular major donors, involving the president, providing broader and deeper cultivation, and consistently personalizing the process. The process is a long-term one and requires planning. The principal gifts manager optimally handles no more than 50 prospects. (MSE)

The experiences of Wellesley College (Massachusetts) with developing a long-range plan for institutional survival in the 1990s illustrate the value of two strategies: devising a planning process that reflects the institutional culture, and spending time early in the process to gain broad agreement on basic financial principles and planning…

Interviews with 32 caregivers of a son or daughter with a developmental disability found that families were more likely to have done financial planning than planning for decision making or community living. Barriers to future planning included lack of information in the service community and lack of understanding among professionals on what should…

Describes information technology-oriented activities in the Senate, House of Representatives, and six support agencies, and recommends improvements in Congressional information-related operations. Highlights include assessing Congressional information needs and long-term and short-term goals and objectives. (LRW)

The links between research and development (R&D) and business planning were investigated through interviews with R&D and business executives in nine industrial corporations. Results show planning is generally program or project oriented, with little evidence strategic planning is the norm. Suggestions for improving R&D planning are…

The annotated list of 30 recommended books for information managers on college campuses covers leadership, technology, management, information technology trends, quality of services, societal trends, and planning. Publication dates range from 1950 to 1990 with most published in the 1980s. (Author/DB)

In a study of 57 older parent caregivers of adult children with mental retardation, more than half had not planned for the child's future care. Factors related to future care-planning activity were income, race, child's gender, child's level of adaptive behavior, and degree of parental interaction with relatives and friends. (Author/JDD)

Illustrates the uses of operations research (OR) in higher education administration by reviewing the higher education system's most significant operational problems: resource allocation, financial planning, budgeting, formation of student project groups, scheduling and classroom allocation, student registration, tuition and fee structure…