IN ORDER TO DESIGN COMMUNICATIONS AND COMPUTER FACILITIES THAT WILL SATISFY FUTURE NEEDS, IT IS NECESSARY TO PROJECT THESE FUTURE NEEDS ON THE BASIS OF PRESENT USER DEMANDS. DESCRIPTIONS ARE PROVIDED OF THE METHODS USED TO DETERMINE CURRENT COMMUNICATION MESSAGE VOLUME AND OF THE METHODS USED IN PREDICTING FUTURE MESSAGE VOLUMES; THE BASIC STEPS ARE A DETERMINATION OF REQUIRED DATA, DATA COLLECTION AND ORGANIZATION, AND DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF FORECASTING TECHNIQUES. TO DETERMINE CURRENT VOLUME AND TO FORECAST FUTURE VOLUMES A HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE STATE CRIMINAL JUSTICE TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEM, STATISTICS ON PAST AND CURRENT MESSAGE VOLUMES AND CHARACTERISTICS, OPERATIONAL POLICIES THAT EFFECT TRAFFIC LEVELS, AND INFORMATION ON PLANNED UPGRADES OR CHANGES TO THE SYSTEM THAT MAY EFFECT TRAFFIC LEVELS ARE REQUIRED. DATA COLLECTION IS ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH SURVEYS DIRECTED TO THE AGENCY RESPONSIBLE FOR OPERATING THE SYSTEM. THE BASIC FRAMEWORK FOR FORECASTING FUTURE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS POSTULATES THAT PAST TRAFFIC GROWTH IS CAUSED BY TWO FACTORS -- AN INCREASED DEMAND BY USERS AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM. A HISTORICAL GROWTH CURVE IS ANALYZED TO DETERMINE THE FRACTION OF GROWTH CAUSED BY INCREASED UTILIZATION, AND THE FRACTION CAUSED BY SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS. ONCE TOTAL TRAFFIC IS FORECAST, THE DISTRIBUTION AMONG THE MANY SYSTEM USERS IS TRACED AND THESE DATA ARE USED TO DISTRIBUTE FUTURE TRAFFIC AS A FUNCTION OF FUTURE USER CHARACTERISTICS. TWO CATEGORIES OF FUTURE COMMUNICATION TRAFFIC ARE DEFINED; FUTURE TRAFFIC INTO EXISTING DATA FUTURE TRAFFIC INTO EXISTING DATA BASES AND FUTURE PROCESS USED TO ESTIMATE STATEWIDE TRAFFIC VOLUME INTO NEW DATA BASES IS TO DETERMINE STATE CRIMINAL JUSTICE FUNCTIONS, DEFINE THE DATA NEED OF EACH FUNCTION, ESTIMATE FREQUENCY OF EACH FUNCTION, AND COMPUTE STATEWIDE DATA TRAFFIC VOLUME. THE PRINCIPAL GOALS OF NETWORK ANALYSIS AND DESIGN TASKS ARE THE DEVELOPMENT AND DOCUMENTATION OF TECHNIQUES FOR INTRASTATE NETWORK DESIGN, PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS, MODELING AND SIMULATION, AND THE ILLUSTRATION OF APPLICATIONS OF NETWORK DESIGN AND ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES ON TYPICAL EXISTING NETWORK CONFIGURATIONS AND ON NEW OR IMPROVED CONFIGURATIONS. THE PRINCIPAL TOOL IS THE COMMUNICATIONS NETWROK TOPOLOGY PROGRAM WHICH ENABLES USERS TO DEVELOP LEAST-COST MULTIDROP STATEWIDE NETWORKS AS A FUNCTION OF TRAFFIC LEVEL DEMANDS AND OTHER FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS. THE MAJOR INPUTS AND OUTPUTS OF THE PROGRAM ARE OUTLINED, AND THE RESULTS OF THE PROGRAM'S APPLICATION TO SYSTEMS OPERATING IN TEXAS AND OHIO ARE PRESENTED. GRAPHIC REPRESENTATIONS OF TRAFFIC GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS, GENERAL COMMUNICATION NETWORK STRUCTURE, AND PER-DAY TRANSACTION DATA ARE PROVIDED, AS ARE DATA COMPARING TRAFFIC INCREASES DUE TO SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS. TABLES AND FIGURES ARE INCLUDED. (KBL) TABLES AND FIQURES ARE INCLUDED. (KBL)