Information Technology in the U.S. Forest Service

An Assessment of Late-Stage Implementation

Cathleen Stasz, Tora K. Bikson, John D. Eveland, Brian Mittman

ResearchPublished 1990

A distributed information system implemented by the U.S. Forest Service in 1983 has improved the agency's ability to perform its missions. The system has fundamentally reshaped and conditioned almost all aspects of its work in an atmosphere generally characterized by a high degree of efficiency and goodwill. The agency remains at the leading edge of government and communication and information processing technologies. Both skeptics and enthusiasts now share the same vision of the technology. The Forest Service has internalized computing, not just computers. Late-stage implementation issues have replaced earlier ones. Although the communications system allows a much closer degree of interaction between central management and the field, the essential decentralized nature of the Forest Service has been preserved.

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Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web Only
  • Year: 1990
  • Pages: 115
  • Document Number: R-3908-USDAFS

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Chicago Manual of Style

Stasz, Cathleen, Tora K. Bikson, John D. Eveland, and Brian Mittman, Information Technology in the U.S. Forest Service: An Assessment of Late-Stage Implementation. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1990. https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R3908.html.
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