MIS Concepts

• An organization is a sum of interrelated parts/sub-systems, and management ensures these sub-systems form a cohesive whole.

Purpose of MIS

• Management Information Systems (MIS) are crucial for organizations.
• It provides a systematized communication pattern.
• Organizations are unable to achieve set goals without an MIS.
• MIS helps analyze and explore operations/interactions within systems.

System Attributes

• Organization: Arrangement of components facilitating objective achievement.
• Central Objective: Focus on goals shared among interacting components.
• Interaction: How components function with each other is critical.
• Interdependence: Parts relying on one another for optimal function
• Integration: How a system is interconnected.

Elements of a System

• Input: Resources required for the system to operate, like raw materials, energy or labor.
• Output: Product of the system, could either be goods or services.
• Processing: Transformation of inputs into outputs via a conversion procedure.
• Control: Decision-making element.
• Feedback: Measures output against standards for the system.
• Environment: External factors influencing the system, like customers, competition, or laws.
• Boundary: Limits defining system components and processes, and how processes interface with other systems.

Meaning of MIS

• The three key components of a Management Information System (MIS) are Management, Information, and System.
• MIS provides data to help in planning, controlling, and managerial decision-making.
• MIS serves as a structured communication system, integrating personnel and resources for relevant, timely data access for executives.

Development of MIS

• MIS can be developed for large enterprises using computers.
• Computerization enhances speed, accuracy, and data handling capabilities in MIS.
• MIS predates computers, suggesting that it is not a new concept.

Definitions of MIS

Kennevnas

• Organized providing past, present, and potential future information about external and internal operations

Gordon B. Davis

• Integrated man/machine system that aids organizational management and decision-making.

Robert G. Mardick, Goel E. Ross, & Gomes R. Claggett

• System for informing decisions, organizing the firm, also controlling subsystem operations, to provide synergistic organization.

MIS Defined

• Telecommunications equipment or systems facilitate data acquisition, storage, management, and transmission, which includes software and hardware elements.
• An IS that furnishes info to management for planning, coordinating, controlling, monitoring, and decision-making through summaries and reports.
• MIS processes facts and figures into information used for decision-making, changing decision behavior in order to separate data from information.
• Effective MIS design requires collaboration between IT and management.
• MIS is used to convert internal and external data into information.
• This information should enable managers to make informed decisions on directing or controlling the activities for which they are responsible.
• To ensure MIS success, organization and behavioral principles, in addition to technical factors, must be regarded.

Necessary elements of an effective MIS:

• System Approach: Step-by-step performance study in light of set objectives.
• Management-Oriented: Provides managers with the information they need at the right time and format for accurate management decision making
• Future-Oriented: Designed with possible future business conditions in mind, providing projections for effective planning.
• Integrated: Considers interlocking sub-systems within a company for a inclusive view of operations.
• Common-Data Followed: Uses shared business data to provide a realistic picture for managerial decisions.
• Long Term Planning: Suited for businesses with an elongated planning cycle by using data that reflects both current conditions and future trends
• Centralized Database: Centralizes data and information to provide decision-makers with relevant insights.

Functions of MIS

• Collect required data from internal and external sources.
• Process data into management information.
• Store necessary data and information.
• Retrieve information to meet demands.
• Disseminate data and information to users periodically via reports or computer terminals.

Components of MIS

• People: System users recording daily business transactions
• Business Procedures: Agreed-upon practices ensuring efficient component operation.
• Data: Recorded daily business transactions such as bank deposits or withdrawals.
• Hardware: Computers, printers, etc., for data processing, networking, and printing.
• Software: Computer programs, which can be either system software (OS) or application software.

Application Software

• Payroll
• Banking system
• Point of sales system

Role of Information in Organizations

• Reduces uncertainty by improving knowledge for planning/decision-making.
• Helps in monitoring/controlling performance by showing deviations from goals.
• Enables communication of important developments, plans, and forecasts among managers.
• Supplements personal memory with historical data on past actions and transactions.
• Simplifies complex problems by reducing ambiguous information.

Characteristics of Effective MIS

• Relevance: Pertain information to manager decisions.
• Accuracy: Ensures information is correct, accurate, and reliable.
• Usefulness: Must be relevant to the decisions that managers have to make.
• Timeliness: Should always consider how recently data was acquired from evaluation trends.
• Completeness: Must contain all the most relevant info for decision making purposes

System Classification Approaches

• Focus on either daily transaction processing or analysis for planning/control with computer assistance.
• A key difference is how pre-specified systems offer well-define outputs with less flexibility compared to end-user computing
• Can be classified based on organizational level supported, functional area supported, or support provided.

Based on organisational Level supported

• Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)
• Management Information Systems (MIS)
• Executive Information Systems (EIS).

Social-Technical Systems Approach

• According to systems theory, an organization needs both a social and technical system.
• Trist and the Tavistock Institute, developed the first social-technical view of an organization.
• An organizations require a technological organization and a work organization which refers the the social system.
• An orginization is based around technology
• Every organization has a social subsystem with interactions, expectations, aspirations and values.
• Technical and social subsystems must be considered as connected
• An organization is structured around four primary things (people, tasks, technology, structure)
• MIS combines computer science, management, operations research, and behavioral aspects.
• Sociotechnical systems optimize performance by integrating social and technical systems in production.
• Avoids a technological-only approach.
• Organizational and individual must be altered to fit technology
• Machines alone are not adequate.
• Human, machine, and automation is needed.

System approach or System Theory

• Helpful for studying the operations and interactions of systems that surround us.
• Considers environment, components, interactions, and abstracted features.

Key Aspects of Organization Structure

• Hierarchy of Authority: Refers to the structure, such as a pyramid, that outlines authority and control within the company/organization.
• Specialization: Division of labor in different sectors of an organization.
• Formulation: Extent of organizational activities rules or procedures.
• Centralization: Occurs when decision making occurs at the top level.
• Organization culture can be perceived as high/low technology use, price leadership, high-quality goods, innovation, selective marketing, or risk aversion.