REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS, SYSTEM CONCEPT DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING, AND PERFORMANCE AND COST MODELING ARE DESCRIBED AND DEMONSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS EXAMPLES. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES AND JOINT POWERS AGREEMENTS FOR MULTICOMMUNITY PROGRAMS ARE DISCUSSED IN DETAIL. A DESCRIPTION OF A TYPICAL MULTICOMMUNITY COMPUTER-AIDED DISPATCH SYSTEM IS APPENDED, AS WELL AS AN ANNOTATED OUTLINE OF BYLAWS TO A JOINT POWERS AGREEMENT. THIS DOCUMENT IS ONE OF A SERIES OF FIVE GUIDELINE MANUALS ON MOBILE DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS, COMPUTER-AIDED DISPATCH, AUTOMATIC VEHICLE LOCATION, PATROL FORCE ALLOCATION, AND MULTICOMMUNITY COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT APPLICATIONS. FOR THE OTHER DOCUMENTS IN THE SERIES, SEE NCJ-34409, 32262-63, AND 28581. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)