Abstract
Our administrators and others who require access to administrative information now have personal computers on their desks and are connected to the campus network. We are planning to install new integrated administrative applications using one common database. An anticipated benefit from these new applications is the empowerment of our divisional and departmental administrators.In this new environment the end-user's personal computer ceases being a typewriter replacement and becomes their window to the University's administrative applications, electronic mail, analysis tools, information servers and possibly to collaborative work. At the UofC, administrators outside the large central departments tend to be solo workers, isolated in academic and support organizations where they may be the only person dealing with administrative concerns on a regular basis.How do we train and support these isolated administrators who must move from filling in blanks on a form to utilizing networked systems where the underlying administrative applications quite possibly have lost their identity? How do we develop an understanding of the disbursed administrator's needs?This presentation will review recent work at the University of Chicago and current research focused on meeting this critical challenge.