This is an interesting introduction to the managerial issues associated with business information processing. It is not a textbook, but a survey of management information systems issues that is readable by the nontechnician. In fact, I would say that the author’s writing style reminds me of some of the better Datamation articles: it’s readable, it’s relevant, and it’s packed with caveats based on the author’s consulting experiences.

The chapters are grouped into three sections. Section I, Managerial Issues in Information Processing, covers the MIS Organization; Planning; Resource Utilization; and General Topics. The second section, on Information Processing Technologies, includes Systems; Software; Applications; and Advanced Technology. The third section is on Telecommunications, covering Managerial Perspectives; Telecommunications Technology; Networking Options; and Telecommunications Applications.

Each of these short chapters gives a flavor of the issues a manager needs to address within the subject area. Some chapters delve into the technology more than others, which should not be interpreted as an indication of their relative importance. The author occasionally gives examples of technologies that are relatively uncommon in business today, such as including FORTRAN and TEL-A-GRAF as end-user computing facilities (p. 2) and the Apple IIc as typical PC hardware (p. 137). He also expounds at great length on the usefulness of UNIX, which may have merit but is not utilized in most companies.

I see the audience for a book like this to be non-MIS managers who need a good review of MIS issues, perhaps because of membership on an MIS steering committee, or as a user of distributed processing technology. One shortcoming of the book is that there is a frustrating lack of references throughout, so the reader cannot easily obtain further information on the topics. Aside from these few criticisms, I do recommend the book to managers as a good source of MIS rules of thumb.