Intended to assist school administrators in developing both student information systems and total information systems, this guide contains suggestions which, when considered in terms of local characteristics and concerns, can be used to create such systems to support administrative decision making, state and federal reporting, guidance, research, and strategic planning. Fifteen activities in the development of basic information systems are detailed: (1) obtaining the necessary local education agency (LEA) commitment, (2) establishing a relationship with the LEA, (3) appointing the LEA coordinator, (4) advisory committee selection, (5) forms needs assessment, (6) identification of data needs, (7) refinement of data needs, (8) input-output forms preparation, (9) input-output dictionary preparation, (10) developing procedural materials for data collection, (11) field testing, (12) materials revision, (13) creating file systems, (14) writing operating procedures for data retrieval, and (15) formatting final orientation sessions. Appendices contain worksheets for each activity. (FM)