Management Information Systems (MIS)

Management Information Systems
(MIS)
Two Days Workshop
May 20-21, 2014
Secretariat Training Institute(Establishment Division)
Islamabad, Pakistan
Brief Introduction
 Syed Ali Zahir Bukhari
 Researcher / Lecturer / Grid Administrator (CERN-ALICE)
 Department of Computer Science
 COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Park Road,
Chak-Shehzad, Islamabad, Pakistan.
 Phone(Off): +92-51-9049-5358, Cell: +92-333-5338173
 Email: alizahir@comsats.edu.pk, alizahir@cern.ch
Overview of Workshop
 Classification of IS
 What is MIS?
 Historical Perspective (evolution)
 Scope of MIS
 MIS Organization
 Sources of MIS
 Characteristics of MIS
 MIS and Web Technology
 Types of MIS
 MIS Output Reports
 Components of MIS
 Relationship b/w MIS & Other IS.
 Functional Uses of MIS
 Discussion
Classification of IS
Information Technology for Information
System
What is MIS?
 An MIS provides managers with information and
support for effective decision making, and provides
feedback on daily operations
 Output, or reports, are usually generated through
accumulation of transaction processing data
 Each MIS is an integrated collection of subsystems,
which are typically organized along functional lines
within an organization
Historical Perspective (Evolution)
 MIS evolution corresponds to the five phases in the
development of computing technology:
 Mainframe and minicomputer computing,
 Personal computers,
 Client/server networks,
 Enterprise computing,
 Cloud computing.
Cont
 Mainframe and minicomputer computing
 The first era was ruled by IBM and their mainframe computers
 These computers would often take up whole rooms and require
teams to run them
 As technology advanced, these computers were able to handle
greater capacities and therefore reduce their cost.
 Smaller, more affordable minicomputers allowed larger
businesses to run their own computing centers in-house.
Cont
 Personal computers
 The second era began in 1965 as microprocessors started to
compete with mainframes and minicomputers and accelerated
the process of decentralizing computing power from large data
centers to smaller offices.
 It provide access to computing power that ten years before
would have cost tens of thousands of dollars.
 This proliferation of computers created a ready market for
interconnecting networks and the popularization of the
Internet.
Cont
 Client Server
 As technological complexity increased and costs decreased, the
need to share information within an enterprise also grew.
 Computers on a common network access shared information on
a server.
 This lets thousands and even millions of people access data
simultaneously.
Cont
 Enterprise
 The fourth era enabled high speed networks
 Tied all aspects of the business enterprise together offering rich
information access encompassing the complete management
structure.
 Every computer is utilized
Cont
 Cloud computing
 The fifth era is the latest and employs networking technology to
deliver applications as well as data storage independent of the
configuration, location or nature of the hardware.
 This, along with high speed cell phone and wifi networks, led to
new levels of mobility in which managers access the MIS
remotely with laptop and tablet computers, plus smart phones.
Nature and Scope of MIS
MIS Organization
Functions of MIS
 The prime objective to set up MIS in an organization is to use
the management information by its managers for decisionmaking.
 MIS needs to perform the following functions to meet its
objective :
 Capturing Data
 Processing Data
 Information Storage
 Information Retrieval
 Disseminating management information
Cont (Functions)
 Capturing data :
 MIS performs usage of data whether manual or through computer
terminals by using several internal and external springs of an
association .
 The data related to transactions that take place in the organization is
stored in some physical medium such as a paper form or entering it
directly into a computer system by the end users.
 Processing data :
 Processing data includes converting the captured data into the
required management information .
 To process the data, you need to perform various activities such as
calculating, comparing, sorting, classifying and summarizing the data.
 These data processing activities organize, mathematical, operations
research and other business models.
Cont (Functions)
 Information storage :
 MIS saves the less frequently used information as an organizational record
and thus stores the processed or unprocessed data for future use.
 Data and information are reserved and organized in the form of fields,
records , files and databases for future use.
 Information retrieval :
 Information retrieval includes retrieving the stored information as per the
requirements of the management users.
 The retrieved information is used or is processed again to meet the exact
management information demands.
 Disseminating management information :
 MIS end product is divided and distributed to the users in an organization.
 This information could be periodic, through reports or online through
computer terminals.
Source of MIS
Business
transactions
Transaction
processing
systems
Operational
databases
Employees
Corporate
databases
of
internal
data
Databases
of
valid
transactions
Databases
of
external
data
Management
information
systems
Corporate
intranet
Decision
support
systems
Application
databases
Drill-down reports
Exception reports
Demand reports
Key-indicator reports
Input and
error list
Scheduled
reports
Executive
support
systems
Expert
systems
Characteristics of a Management
Information System
 To help executives of an organization make decisions that
advance the organization's goals.
 MIS assembles data available from company operations,
external inputs and past activities into information that shows
what the company has achieved in key areas of interest, and
what is required for further progress.
 The most important characteristics of an MIS are those that
give decision-makers confidence that their actions will have
the desired consequences.
8-Key Characteristics
 Understandable
 Relevant
 Complete
 Available
 Reliable
 Concise
 Timely
 Cost-effective
Cont…
 Understandable:
 Since information is already in a summarized form, it must be
understood by the receiver (Executive) so that he will
interpret it correctly.
 He must be able to decode any abbreviations, shorthand
notations or any other acronyms contained in the information.
Cont..
 Relevance
 Information is good only if it is relevant.
 This means that it should be significant and meaningful to the decision
maker and should be in his area of responsibility.
 Complete
 It should contain all the facts that are necessary for the decision maker to
satisfactorily solve the problem at hand using such information.
 Nothing important should be left out.
 Although information cannot always be complete, every reasonable effort
should be made to obtain it.
Cont….
 Available
 Information may be useless if it is not readily accessible ‘ in the desired
form, when it is needed.
 Advances in technology have made information more accessible today than
ever before.
 Reliable
 The information should be counted on to be trustworthy.
 It should be accurate, consistent with facts and verifiable.
 Inadequate or incorrect information generally leads to decisions of poor
quality.
Cont…
 Concise
 Too much information is a big burden on management and cannot be processed
in time and accurately due to “bounded rationality”.
 Information should be to the point and just enough – no more, no less.
 Timely
 Information must be delivered at the right time and the right place to the right
person.
 Premature information can become obsolete or be forgotten by the time it is
actually needed.
 Similarly, some crucial decisions can be delayed because proper and necessary
information is not available in time, resulting in missed opportunities.
 Accordingly the time gap between collection of data and the presentation of the
proper information to the decision maker must be reduced as much as possible.
Cont…
 Cost-effective
 The information is not desirable if the solution is more costly
than the problem.
 The cost of gathering data and processing it into information
must be weighed against the benefits derived from using such
information.