The story of the development of an `Activity Reporting Information System' (`ARIS') in the `SQC Engineering' department illustrates three conclusions regarding the design and implementation of management information systems: (1) An MIS originates and develops within an evolutionary context, a constantly changing milieu of organizational and technological possibilities. (2) The realization of an MIS is the product of sustained individual and group commitment in an otherwise indifferent (or hostile) social environment. (3) An MIS is a basis for question-raising as well as for question-answering. Implicit in every MIS design is a concept of what questions ought to be asked.