This monograph introduces educational administrators at a variety of levels to the basic concepts and procedures in the successful implementation of educational computer systems. In the first section, the units and functions of the computer are defined, and the administrative, research, and instructional applications of educational computing are examined. The concepts and processes of management information systems are discussed in the second section, which includes a comparative analysis of data file and data base systems. Also examined are the definition, design, development, and operation phases of systems implementation. The final section examines the nature and role of data control, data confidentiality, and data administration; the responsibilites of the data base administrator are looked at in the light of existing laws which deal with both privacy and access to information. It is suggested that the effectiveness of an information system cannot be determined in isolation from the functional activities that it was designed to serve, and a process-oriented system with a high degree of flexibility will, in the long run, be more cost-efficient and effective than a static, product-oriented system. (JCD)