A THEORETICAL CONCEPT DEVELOPED OVER 3 YEARS AGO IS SYNTHESIZED IN THIS SYSTEM WITH EXPERIENCE GAINED IN USING THE OBSCIS MODEL IN A LARGE NUMBER OF STATES. MOST OF THE OBSCIS DATA ELEMENTS, INCLUDING THE CORE ELEMENTS, 70 PERCENT OF THE RECOMMENDED ELEMENTS, AND A FEW OF THE OPTIONAL DATA ELEMENTS, ARE FOUND IN THE PACKAGE. THE DOCUMENTATION IS CONTAINED IN A 2-VOLUME LOOSELEAF BINDER AND CONSISTS OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS: (1) SYSTEM GUIDELINES; (2) INSTALLATION GUIDES; (3) AN OPERATIONS MANUAL; (4) A USER MANUAL; AND (5) SYSTEM DESIGN DOCUMENTATION. THE SYSTEM GUIDELINES PROVIDE A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PACKAGE, DEFINE MINIMUM HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS, PRESENT IDEAS FOR SYSTEM ENHANCEMENT EXPANSION, AND OUTLINE THE MAIN TASKS INVOLVED IN THE APPLICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PACKAGE WITHIN A STATE ENVIRONMENT. THE DEPENDENT PROGRAM CHANGES, STARTUP PROCEDURES, AND AREAS OF MAINTENANCE ARE DISCUSSED IN THE INSTALLATION GUIDE. THE OPERATION OF THE SYSTEM IS DESCRIBED IN THE USERS' MANUAL, ALONG WITH INFORMATION ON THE EQUIPMENT INVOLVED, THE DATA BASE, AND THE INPUTS, PROCESSING, AND OUTPUTS. THE BASIC OVERVIEW OF THE SYSTEM IS ILLUSTRATED WITH FLOW CHARTS. THE SYSTEM DESIGN DOCUMENTATION MAKES UP THE SECOND VOLUME. SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS, INCLUDING INPUT AND EDIT FUNCTIONS, FILE MAINTENANCE, AND REPORT FUNCTIONS, ARE CONSIDERED. THE APPENDIXES PROVIDE MATERIAL ON THE BASIC OBSCIS DATA FIELDS, CODE TRANSLATION, FILE LAYOUTS, AND THE DATA ELEMENT PACKAGE. FLOW CHARTS, PRINT CHARTS, TABLES, AND FORMS ARE PROVIDED THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE TEXT. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONCERNING THE OBSCIS PROJECT, SEE NCJ 28033, 30446-30449, AND 38268. (DAG)