A synthesis of theories from the management information systems (MIS) field provided the conceptual framework to describe how to design and develop effective computer-based information systems. An analysis of activities and interviews with nurse managers in a tertiary care medical center provided the basis for describing five major nursing department functions and the information requirements arising from those functions. The MIS framework was applied to the nursing department information requirements in order to derive MNIS, a normative model of a nursing information system, which was then used to "bench mark" the current status of commercially available nursing information systems. The researchers compared the MNIS with 28 nursing information systems that vendors are currently developing or marketing. The comparison revealed large gaps between nursing department needs and vendor-provided solutions.