THE FIRST STEP IN THIS EVALUATION PROCESS IS THE IDENTIFICATION OF ALTERNATIVE SYSTEMS WHICH MEET THE AGENCY'S BASIC REQUIREMENTS. THIS IS DONE BY CONTACTING THE NCJRS CLEARINGHOUSE AUTOMATED INDEX OF MORE THAN 600 CRIMINAL JUSTICE INFORMATION SYSTEMS, WHERE 12 DESCRIPTORS ARE USED TO NARROW THE SEARCH FOR SPECIFIC SYSTEMS WHICH SATISFY THE BASIC CRITERIA. REPORTS ON THE CANDIDATE DONORS ARE THEN SENT TO THE REQUESTING AGENCY. THE MANUAL LISTS SIX EVALUATION CRITERIA RANKED IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE FOR MATCHING POSSIBLE DONOR SYSTEMS WITH THE AGENCY'S SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS. THE CRITERIA ARE DOCUMENTATION, HARDWARE, OPERATING SOFTWARE, COMPUTER LANGUAGE, SYSTEM STATUS, AND DEMOGRAPHICS. IN ORDER TO ALLEVIATE FURTHER DECISIONMAKING PROBLEMS CAUSED BY COMPLEX FACTUAL INFORMATION, A DECISION MODEL THAT OVERCOMES HUMAN MEMORY LIMITATIONS BY ALLOWING THE USER TO SELECTIVELY EVALUATE SMALL AMOUNTS OF THE NECESSARY INFORMATION AT ANY ONE TIME IS RECOMMENDED. THEN, WHEN IT BECOMES NECESSARY FOR A SIMULTANEOUS EVALUATION OF ALL OF THE PERTINENT DATA, THE COMPUTER PERFORMS THIS TASK WITH AN ALGORITHM BASED ON 'FUZZY' SETS. DATA PREPARATION FOR THIS PROCESS INVOLVES FILLING OUT AN EVALUATION FORM FOR EACH HONOR SYSTEM BEING CONSIDERED AND TRANSFERRING IT TO THE COMPUTER PROGRAM WRITTEN IN A FUNDAMENTAL DIALECT OF BASIC. ULTIMATELY, THE ALGORITHM PROCESS PRODUCES A NUMERICAL DECISION VALUE WHICH RATES THE DONOR SYSTEMS ACCORDING TO A REASONABLE PROBABILITY OF SYSTEM TRANSFER SUCCESS. TABULAR DATA ARE GIVEN. (MRK)