University of London , Organisation and Methods Unit

The establishment of an Organisation and Methods Unit was proposed to the Senate on 24 February 1965 by the Finance and General Purposes Committee, following its consideration of a note by the Principal. It was initially intended to serve the work of the University's central administration in Senate House and was directly responsible to the Principal. The staff of the computer and systems analysis section of the School Examinations Department formed the nucleus of the new unit.

The Senate extended the scope of the Unit, in 1967 to cover investigations requested by individual Schools of the University. On 1 April 1967 the Unit became a separate Department reporting through the Clerk of the Senate with terms of reference emphasising its role in the introduction and maintenance of administrative computing. On 1 August 1969 the staff and equipment of the Senate House computer installation were transferred from the School Examinations Department to the Organisation and Methods Department and it took the title 'Organisation and Methods Department. On 24 February 1971 its title was changed to Management Systems Department.

By 1977 the organisation and methods work of the Management Systems Department was dwarfed by its other responsibilities and when the Department was incorporated in the new Department of Accounting and Administrative Computing the OMU was separated and placed under the direct control of the Principal. It was transferred to the Establishments Division of the Department of Administration and Services on 1 February 1979 and following a general reorganisation of the central administration to the Personnel and Administration Division of the Senate Department on 1 August 1982. After this time staff who left the Unit were not replaced and following the retirement of the last remaining member of staff, it was closed in 1989.