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A2 level Information Communication Technology - Unit 4

Management Information Systems (MIS)

Management information systems are:

• Designed to ‘convert data from internal and external sources into information, communicated in an appropriate form to managers at different levels of an organisation. The information enables effective decisions or appropriate planning to be carried out’ (Mott, Julian and Leeming, Anne Information and Communication Technology (2003) Hodder and Stoughton Educational, London)
• Usually based on one or more databases
• A sales manager will perhaps require a report showing the sales for a geographic area and / or by salesman
• A production manager will require a report showing stock levels currently and anticipated sales.
• To be effective the reports should be in an appropriate form that is up to date and accurate with the correct level of detail for his job.

Sources of information

Information may be internal or external.

Internal information includes data from transaction processing of the data processing system.

External information includes market research, details about the activities of competitors, information about social trends, economic factors, government legislation, and so on.

Traditional information flow in an organisation is through notice boards, newsletters and memos. Technological systems include Email, Intranets, collaboration software e.g. Lotus Notes and computer databases.

Role of Management

The traditional roles of managers are:

• Planning
• Organising
• Coordinating
• Controlling
• Forecasting
• Decision making

Bear in mind that an information system is not just for the use of ‘managers’. Anyone who shares the above roles can make use of an MIS.

Decision Making

Types of decision:

• Structured are day to day decisions, are routine and have a procedure for handling them (i.e. staff discipline)
• Unstructured decisions require a manager to exercise judgment, insight and evaluation. Usually important, they have no procedure laid down (i.e. expanding the business).

Levels of decision making:

• Strategic - where Senior managers need to make long-term planning decisions
• Tactical - where Middle managers often need to make tactical decisions.
• Operational - where decisions about the production of an organisation need to be made.

Aids to Decision Making

• Exception Reports are commonly used. These reports summarize the exceptions to the norm i.e. students obtaining low marks over a period of time.
• Decision Support Systems help decision-making but they do not themselves make decisions. For example, spreadsheets with "what if" capabilities can be used to model and test out different scenarios.
• Expert Systems (also called Knowledge-based systems) are used to emulate human reasoning. They are usually limited to a specific area of expertise.
• EIS (Executive Information Systems) are used by executives who can view graphs and charts. They can click on "hotspots" and get much more detailed information. They can click through several layers to pin-point exactly the information they want. This prevents "information overload". It is crucial that the manager gets only the information he needs. It is important that the system is very easy to use.

Success or Failure of an MIS

Factors influencing success or failure include:

• Inadequate analysis
• Lack of management and user involvement in the design
• Emphasis on the ‘computer’ system
• Concentration on low-level data processing
• Lack of management knowledge of IT and IS
• Inappropriate and/or excessive demands by management
• Lack of team leadership
• Lack of teamwork
• Lack of communication
• Lack of Standards

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