MIS focus on designing computer systems to help people to do their work better It involves bridging gap between technology

and the people who use it by converting user requirements in to cost effective computer and information systems It finds ways to make users and systems more productive

It is a system consisting of network of component parts develop to provide a flow of information to support decision making process It considers an organization to be a system,with the framework of which information flow is required It is an integrated arrangement to furnish required information at the right time and in the right form to the management Its required at all management levels,for the top level its in a summarized form,whereas middle and lower level information is required in detail

The frequency of information furnished at the lower level and middle level is higher than at the top level Its concerned with providing and packaging information in to useful knowledge in the form of reports It may involve the use of manual or electronic data processing devices It makes use of information communicating devices.

Information systems are closely related to basic system objectives,policies and strategies establishedby the management Information is the common denominator underlying the management functions of planning,organizing,directing and controlling Information systems have a major impact on the utilization of physical,human and financial resources of a productive system

An understanding of the capabilities and limitations of information technology will enable management to direct and measure its contribution to system objectives Managers obtain valuable insight in to the system operations and the significant parameters related to the planning and control of operations while formulating their information requirements

The lower level of the pyramid structure consists information for transaction processing A transaction processing system is a data processing system which receives input from internal and external sources of an organization Externally generated transactions orginate from customers,vendors and others Any internal event recorded by the information system is considered to be a transaction

The next level consists of information resources in support of day to day operations and control Lower level managers are responsible for planning and controlling the activities of workers to meet higher targets The information needs of lower level tends to be very short term and very easily structured in to formal systems The planning activity of lower level managers is frequently called operational planning

The middle level consists of information system resources to aid in tactical planning and decision making for management planning Information requirements for the middle level management is different from other levels,they deal more with tactical planning The focus here is to determine the best way to get the job done and concrete actions taken to translate goals in to results

The top level consists of information resources to support strategic planning policy making by higher levels of management The most important task of the top level management is strategic planning,determining the goals,objectives and plans to chart the organisations long term course To establish such plans top level managers need broad based information about trends for companies as well as external environment

An MIS is a collection of interacting information systems that provide information for both operational and managerial needs A data processing system processes transactions and produces reports MIS have always been needed to process data generated by and used in business operations The data processing system do not emphasise producing specific information products to be used by managers

MIS is more comprehensive encompassing processing in support of a wider range of organizational functions MIS emphasises the management orientation of information technology in business A major role of CBIS should be to support decision making not just process data MIS emphasises systems framework,ie interaction and integration of CBIS for management operations

Management information systems can be described in terms of four separate but related classifications.They are Operating elements Decision support Management activity Organizational function

Physical components Hardware refers to the equipment in CBIS

Its important for the managers to have hardware knowledge as they have to take sensible decisions about the hardware used. The main types of hardware in the CBIS are the CPU and its support devices including input devices, secondary storage and output devices

In large system computing approach,multiple users interact with powerful centralized computers through terminals called centralised transaction processing systems In the 80s personal computers became popular helping individuals to perform jobs called personal computing In network computing,multiple PCs are connected in a manner that allows them to share the computing devices

Software refers to the complete set of instructions that enables people working in the information system to perform their work Application software consists of programs that perform direct processing for a particular use of computers eg:word processing programs System software enables application programs to run smoothly on a set of hardware devices like operating system programs eg:the operating system ,windows ,Unix etc are o/s for microcomputers

A DBMS is a collection of software products designed to provide a systematic,integrated and flexible approach to organizing and accessing organizational data DBMS is a software system that is designed to provide a single consistent way of representing,accessing and managing a large collection of data DBMS has numerous advantages including fast response time to requests,multiple access,lower training costs,mass storage and good data management

Procedures-It specifies how the computer system will function from data entry stage to the output stage It indicates the logic of data processing and the flow of system control from one step to another It involves the data entry of the data,check whether the input data is valid,validate transactions of its type and consistency,edit and update records,data processing and output process

Operating personnel refers to the people who are required for the operation of all information systems Any one who uses an information system or information it produces is an end user Specialists are people who develop and operate information systems

Processing functions include processing transactions,maintaining master files,producing reports, processing enquiries and processing interactive support applications Process transaction deals with the different kinds of transaction that take place in an organisation When a new system is implemented or used for the first time, a master file must be initially created The data is recorded in a disk which becomes a new master file

Documents and reports are significant outputs of an information system Information documents verify and confirm that the transactions have occurred When invoices and statements contain a perforated tear-off counterfoil for the sender this document is named as turn around document Action documents initiate action or transactions on the part of receipeints eg: An employees pay check authorised a bank to process his payment

An information system supports the online interrogation of online files and databases by authorised users Enquiry processing capabilities enables end users to get answers to their questions It allows the people to make enquires and receive responses regarding the result of recent transaction activity

Outputs should be able to communicate effectively the needs of the organisation It can be periodic reports,action reports and exception reports A graphic form of display information include pai,curve and bar charts Business graphs are superior to the tabular reports form indicating trends in making comparisions

Decision making consists of inelligence,design and choice Decision making process involves gathering information about the problem,developing alternatives and selecting an alternative Decision making is a complex phenomenon at the top level Management The complexity is as a result of many factors such as interrelationship among experts,job responsibility,feb asibility and codes of values

A programme is a plan for automatic execution of solution of a problem If a decision can be based on a rule or method or guidelines it is called as programmed decision This is the non programming decision situation that can identify the problem,giving relevant information to facilitate decisionmaking

The broad categories of decision making are strategic planning,management planning and operations planning and control In strategic planning top executives develop overall organizational goals, strategies policies and objectives through long range strategic planning Top management requires forecasts to help assess the future

For strategic management the managers need adhoc,uscheduled summarized external reports and a wide range of information The source of information can be customers, vendors, competitors, labour suppliers, labour unions and govt.agencies The top level the information handled will be future oriented while lower level information consists of orientation to the past

In tactical planning and control middle level managers develop short and medium range plans and budgets and specify the policies,procedures and objectives Its generally predictive in nature,focussing on short term plans Operational planning is directly responsible for planning and controlling the activities of workers that are repetitive in nature

The back bone of any organisation is the functional information system Each function has an information system composed of multiple subsystems The purpose of a functional info system is to provide detailed information for a group of related operations as well as a summarized information for management control of those activities

Mis is essentially a federation of info systems that are designed to support the functional subsystems of organisations The finance function is responsible for overall financial planning and raising capital The accounting information systems aggregates cost and revenue on a hierarchical basis Management accounting focuses on the planning and control of business operations

Marketing is the functional area that determines which specific goods and services will be offered to consumers Marketing plan information system assists managers in product planning,pricing and sales promotion Marketing control info systems play an important role in the marketing effort to the efficiency and effectiveness of selling by helping customers more closely to the firm Eg:sales management system,marketing research

Manufacturing is the functional area responsible for producing goods from raw materials The major areas are product design,production facility design,scheduling and operation of production and quality control Computer based manufacturing information systems use subsystems to achieve computer aided manufacturing CAD helps engineers to design products

The product planning information system receives information internally or externally The marketing information system of the organisation supplies them the information that sets direction and focus The system provides information about product cost,customer demand and competitors prices to aid managers in pricing

The material requirement planning(MRP), manufacturing resources planning(MRPII) systems help in planning the types of material needed in production process The master production schedule establishes the qualities and production timing for end users MRP permits companies to effectively use computers to establish a requirement and priority plan for materials

R&D systems are responsible for the creation and development of new products or services Most of the R&D systems are considered to be strategic information systems R&D are open systems that have important information and communication exchanges with the external environment and other sub units R&D collect information from sources like technical environment and market environment

Human resource information systems support Human resource management(HRM) in an organisation This deals with flow of information about people working in the organization Human resource information systems (HRIS)involves human resource planning, staffing, recruiting, placement, training, compenasation, maintenance, performance appraisal and termination

They are responsible for developing a salary structure and benefit package for the organisation It can help the personnel department in becoming more effective in maintaining employee records and producing reports It also helps the organisation to have staffing estimates and human resource plans

The major functions of a logistics system are purchasing, receiving, distribution of production, inventory process and control The transaction includes purchase orders,receiving reports, manufacturing orders, purchase requisitions, shipping details and so on It uses details of billing,cash receipts, cash disbursements, due purchases,due shipments, additional stock products Etc

The operational control function uses information contained in reports such as past due purchases,past due shipments , overstocked items,inventory turnover etc Managerial control information for logistics consists of overall comparisions between planned and actual inventory levels, inventory turnover and so on Strategic planning involves the analysis of new distribution strategies, new policies,making or buying strategies and so on

The conceptual frame work of MIS is defined as an integration of functional subsystems which can be classified in to four components They are transaction process,operational management, tactical management and strategic management Transaction processing supports day to day operations by maintaining detailed records TPS keeps an organisation running smoothly by automating processes, managing a high volume of manual work handled in day to day activities

and decision making Management information for tactical planning and decision making Management information for operational planning,decision makin g and control Transaction processing inquiry response Common data base and unique files

TPS includes the accurate recording of transactions and control procedures TPS helps the organisation conduct its operations and keep track of its activities Operating management provides planning and control of day to day operations by supervisory management Tactical management will do planning and control of organisational sub units

The strategic management will manage planning and control of entire organisation In logical structure ,each functional subsystem will be usingunique data files which is only used by that subsystems For eg:Finance and accounting subsystems will handle accounts payable files,account receivable file etc

Traditionally in an information system the information is obtained by developing systems and integrating them In this approach each system has its master files and transaction files The common database is managed by a DBMS The major steps use datastructuring,definition of data,updating and creation

The subsystem has unique programs and files for its basic activities It shares the DBMS,database and application software A MIS database contains data and information extracted from the organisation as well as external sources It includes models developed to support specific decisions as well as general purpose models

Malicious threats-One type of security threat that must be dealt with is malicious attacks on the organisations computer systems The source of crime can be internal or external to the organisation The actual computer crime can take variety of forms like computer viruses which damages systems or data by making unauthorized modification of data and systems

Natural threats-Fire,natural calamities etc by create disorders in computing facilities or parts of sensitive equipment To counter this disaster management should be a key part of systems management. MIS Issues in multinational organisations: Language-English is the unofficial language of business and technology.The problem with this is that it creates yet another barrier between MIS and users

Culture-The slow paced vs fast paced culture,blunt vs diplomatic,different hours workdays and time zones Political climate-Laws,customs and nationalism, equipment export/import restrictions,taxes and tariffs Standards-There are not very many international standard for technology

Technological infrastructure Legal Infrastructure Educational infrastructure