Information Systems in Management Science

Harry Stern in his final column in this series (INTERFACES, Vol. 3, No. 1 (November 1972), pp. 18–22) concisely summarized what he has been saying in these columns for six years. Naturally, his final column was incomplete because he did not (and could not) say what a splendid job he had been doing. I read INTERFACES more regularly than any other publication, and I always found Harry's column illuminating. So before I take up the cause of Information Systems let me say: Thank you, Harry Stern.

In reality this is not my first column as in “Why Should the Management Scientist Grapple with Information Systems” (INTERFACES, Vol. 3, No. 2 (February 1973)), I tried to establish my position with regard to Information Systems and Management Science and the objectives of the column as I saw them. Now I would like to provide a little more background and specifics.