Until 1978, academic and administrative departments at College of DuPage, an Illinois community college, bought computer related equipment and software without an overall plan or coordination. The development of a coordination plan focused on finding an internal mechanism to solve two problems: individual departments buying computer-related products, and inability to predict accurately each computer-related time needed in the course of an eight-year period. A formal long-range plan was developed that described the mission, philosophy, goals, and history of the college and the computer services section, and discussed computing industry trends. It concluded that the college's best course of action was to invest in commercially developed and maintained software rather than a larger staff. Both maxicomputer and minicomputer systems of varied types and brands comprise the current college system. Other features of the plan include computer awareness training for staff, a monthly newsletter, and a microcomputer laboratory to allow faculty to experiment with hardware and software. Areas of benefit to the college found in the planning process included awareness throughout the institution of the need for planning, campus-wide compatibility for interconnection to maxicomputers and microcomputers on campus and within the national educational computer network (EDUNET), ease in problem determination, ease in coordinating maintenance, and institutional awareness of what's happening at the department levels. (MSE)