The Evaluation and Assessment Laboratory at the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) has contracted with the Georgia Department of Education (GDOE) to develop a microcomputer-based data management system for use in applying evaluation standards to schools and school systems. The Comprehensive Evaluation System (CES) was implemented statewide and has been revised and updated over a 5-year period. The initial development and subsequent changes in hardware and software are traced, illustrating accommodations to changes in statewide evaluation procedures. A legislative mandate in 1984 directed the GDOE to develop a computerized database management system for evaluation use. A preliminary version of the CES was developed in 1986, field tested in 1988, revised, converted to dBase IV, and tested again in 1989. Hardware and software were installed in fall 1990, after ironing out compatibility problems. A local area network allows the CES to include approximately 2,300 public schools and 200 school systems. The development of systems similar to the CES requires expertise in educational evaluation and computer software design. As more practitioners acquire these skills, the number of large-scale evaluation systems running on microcomputers will increase. One figure illustrates an overview of changes in statewide evaluation procedures between 1986 and 1990. (SLD)