Perry has written an excellent practitioner’s guide to the administration and control of computing service centers, whether the service center is a business unto itselves or a unit within a larger organization. Each topic is introduced in a logical, easily understood, fashion. Organization, control, administration, and evaluation of each topic function is given along with fairly detailed methods, data collection, and consolidation instruments (e.g., skill score sheets to evaluate the skill of some personnel).

The book is punctuated with 47 EDP administration guidelines, each of which succinctly states a principle, e.g., “Good supervisors cause good systems to happen.” There is a great deal of detail provided in the book to aid an administrator in controlling the day-to-day operation of a computing service center. The author focuses on improving credibility of the unit, quality of the products, selection of the projects, and improvement of cost effectiveness of the entire operation.

A young manager may find some sections and instruments not as fully developed as would be preferred, but the book will be extremely helpful nonetheless. A guide is provided as to which sections are aimed at which levels of management. All in all, this is an excellent book.