Systems design consists of a tremendously complex series of choices in which no decision point is completely independent of other decisions which have already been made or have yet to be made. A systems approach to the design of document-handling information systems would require a detailed examination of the choices to be made in the design process and the ramifications of possible choices in terms of the capabilities, performance, cost, and other characteristics of the system. The authors advocate a systematic procedure involving six steps: 1) identification of fixed parameters, 2) identification of variable parameters, 3) identification of available options for each variable parameter, 4) identification of factors affecting a choice among available options, 5) identification of factors affected by a choice among available options, and 6) logical analysis of the picture thus presented to determine the optimum sequence in which decisions should be made during the design process and the nature of the decision process itself.