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Successful management of today’s education systems requires effective policymaking and system monitoring through data and information. To this end, countries around the world have invested significant resources into collecting, processing, and managing more and better data through education management information systems (EMIS). However, all too often EMIS design and development has been limited to information technology enhancements, and/or data storage and maintenance, with insufficient attention paid to the management environment in which EMIS operates and data utilization for policy decisions. This paper will examine the technical, organizational, and institutional conditions that must be met in order to enable information-based decision-making for effective system management. It will highlight the fact that technical capacity building must be accompanied by the creation of the demand for information and the nurturing of a culture of open communication, information sharing, and information use.