AbstractDecision tables have been known for almost 20 years but there are still data processing shops where systems analysts and programmers have not used them at all. That is why it is felt important to re‐open their case once again and publicize experience with their use, as well as more recent developments and expected future trends. It appears, from experience gained with decision tables over the past 10 years, that they can be of great help in programming, program maintenance, as well as in design communication between analysts and programmers. To assist also in training, a brief user's guide is included in this article, which is belived to make the first attempts to easier design of a decision table. Finally, the procedure adopted to implement a machine independent (portable) decision‐table preprocessor for COBOL is outlined. In as much as the availability of such a preprocessor appears essential for the degree of use of decision tables, this single fact may well become a milestone in the overall popularity of decision tables world‐wide.