The need to focus upon the organizational factors and consequences of a technological innovation is discussed and the outcome of the pilot implementation of the Academic Unit Planning Manual (AUPM) are reported. The primary intent of the AUPM, a tool developed at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), is to assist academic unit administrators through an approach that addresses an academic unit's planning and management needs. The experiences of 37 academic unit administrators from six higher education institutions who attempted to improve their planning and management functions by utilizing the AUPM are described. Administrative variables (capacity, task understanding, effort-to-perform, and participation influence) and organizational system variables (openness, resource slack, job rewards, and administrative flexibility) were studied to determine their influence upon the applicability of the tool to attain various outcomes and to identify anticipated institutional consequences. The more popular uses of the tool, participant's insights about obstacles to implementation, and suggested methodologies for future implementations are also discussed and, from experiences gained through the field situation, some clues for research and management, such as the role of policies to regulate change attempts into the daily operations of the institutions, are included. (Author/JMD)