Essay: Management information system

Management information system

The development and management of information technology tools assists executives and the general workforce in performing any tasks related to the processing of information. MIS and business systems are especially useful in the collation of business data and the production of reports to be used as tools for decision making. Applications of MIS With computers being as ubiquitous as they are today, there’s hardly any large business that does not rely extensively on their IT systems.

However, there are several specific fields in which MIS has become invaluable.

Strategy Support

While computers cannot create business strategies by themselves they can assist management in understanding the effects of their strategies, and help enable effective decision-making.MIS systems can be used to transform data into information useful for decision making. Computers can provide financial statements and performance reports to assist in the planning, monitoring and implementation of strategy.

MIS systems provide a valuable function in that they can collate into coherent reports unmanageable volumes of data that would otherwise be broadly useless to decision makers. By studying these reports decision-makers can identify patterns and trends that would have remained unseen if the raw data were consulted manually.

Data Processing

Not only do MIS systems allow for the collation of vast amounts of business data, but they also provide a valuable time saving benefit to the workforce. Where in the past business information had to be manually processed for filing and analysis it can now be entered quickly and easily onto a computer by a data processor, allowing for faster decision making and quicker reflexes for the enterprise as a whole.

Management by Objectives

While MIS systems are extremely useful in generating statistical reports and data analysis they can also be of use as a Management by Objectives (MBO) tool.

MBO is a management process by which managers and subordinates agree upon a series of objectives for the subordinate to attempt to achieve within a set time frame. Objectives are set using the SMART ratio: that is, objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time-Specific.

The aim of these objectives is to provide a set of key performance indicators by which an enterprise can judge the performance of an employee or project. The success of any MBO objective depends upon the continuous tracking of progress.

Benefits of MIS

The field of MIS can deliver a great many benefits to enterprises in every industry. Expert organisations such as the Institute of MIS along with peer reviewed journals such as MIS Quarterly continue to find and report new ways to use MIS to achieve business objectives.

Core Competencies

Every market leading enterprise will have at least one core competency – that is, a function they perform better than their competition. By building an exceptional management information system into the enterprise it is possible to push out ahead of the competition. MIS systems provide the tools necessary to gain a better understanding of the market as well as a better understanding of the enterprise itself.

A management information system (MIS) is a subset of the overall internal controls of a business covering the application of people, documents, technologies, and procedures by management accountants to solve business problems such as costing a product, service or a business-wide strategy. Management information systems are distinct from regular information systems in that they are used to analyze other information systems applied in operational activities in the organization. Academically, the term is commonly used to refer to the group of information management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making,

e.g. Decision Support Systems, Expert systems, and Executive information system

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM is defined as :-

1) Provides information support for decision making in the organization

2) MIS is an integrated system of man and machine for providing the information to support the operation.

3) MIS is defined as a computer based information system.

Data

Data is a representation of a fact, figure, and idea

Information

information is an ordered sequence of symbols.

information is viewed as a type of input to an organism or designed device. Inputs are of two kinds. Some inputs are important to the function of the organism. In his book Sensory Ecology, Duisenberg called these causal inputs. Other inputs information are important only because they are associated with causal inputs and can be used to predict the occurrence of a causal input at a later time and perhaps another place. Some information is important because of association with other information but eventually there must be a connection to a causal input. In practice, information is usually carried by weak stimuli that must be detected by specialized sensory systems and amplified by energy inputs before they can be functional to the organism or device. For example, light is often a causal input to plants but provides information to animals. The colored light reflected from a flower is too weak to do much photosynthetic work but the visual system of the bee detects it and the bee’s nervous system uses the information to guide the bee to the flower, where the bee often finds nectar or pollen, which are causal inputs, serving a nutritional function.

Information is any type of sensory input. When an organism with a nervous system receives an input, it transforms the input into an electrical signal. This is regarded information by some. The idea of representation is still relevant, but in a slightly different manner. That is, while abstract painting does not represent anything concretely, when the viewer sees the painting, it is nevertheless transformed into electrical signals that create a representation of the painting. Defined this way, information does not have to be related to truth, communication, or representation of an object. Entertainment in general is not intended to be informative. Music, the performing arts, amusement parks, works of fiction and so on are thus forms of information in this sense, but they are not necessarily forms of information according to some definitions given above. Consider another example:

Decision making

Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes cognitive process resulting in an outcome leading to the selection of a course of action among several alternatives. Every decision making process produces a final choice.[1] The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.

Decision Making

• Objectives must first be established
• Objectives must be classified and placed in order of importance
• Alternative actions must be developed
• The alternative must be evaluated against all the objectives
• The alternative that is able to achieve all the objectives is the tentative decision
• The tentative decision is evaluated for more possible consequences
• The decisive actions are taken, and additional actions are taken to prevent any adverse consequences from becoming problems and starting both systems (problem analysis and decision making) all over again

Mis to an organization

Management Information Systems (MIS) is the term given to the discipline focused on the integration of computer systems with the aims and objectives on an organisation.

The development and management of information technology tools assists executives and the general workforce in performing any tasks related to the processing of information. MIS and business systems are especially useful in the collation of business data and the production of reports to be used as tools for decision making. Applications of MIS With computers being as ubiquitous as they are today, there’s hardly any large business that does not rely extensively on their IT systems.

However, there are several specific fields in which MIS has become invaluable and use full to an organisation.

Strategy Support

While computers cannot create business strategies by themselves they can assist management in understanding the effects of their strategies, and help enable effective decision-making.

MIS systems can be used to transform data into information useful for decision making. Computers can provide financial statements and performance reports to assist in the planning, monitoring and implementation of strategy.

MIS systems provide a valuable function in that they can collate into coherent reports unmanageable volumes of data that would otherwise be broadly useless to decision makers. By studying these reports decision-makers can identify patterns and trends that would have remained unseen if the raw data were consulted manually.

MIS systems can also use these raw data to run simulations – hypothetical scenarios that answer a range of ‘what if’ questions regarding alterations in strategy. For instance, MIS systems can provide predictions about the effect on sales that an alteration in price would have on a product. These Decision Support Systems (DSS) enable more informed decision making within an enterprise than would be possible without MIS systems.

Data Processing

Not only do MIS systems allow for the collation of vast amounts of business data, but they also provide a valuable time saving benefit to the workforce. Where in the past business information had to be manually processed for filing and analysis it can now be entered quickly and easily onto a computer by a data processor, allowing for faster decision making and quicker reflexes for the enterprise as a whole.

Management by Objectives

While MIS systems are extremely useful in generating statistical reports and data analysis they can also be of use as a Management by Objectives (MBO) tool.

MBO is a management process by which managers and subordinates agree upon a series of objectives for the subordinate to attempt to achieve within a set time frame. Objectives are set using the SMART ratio: that is, objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time-Specific.

The aim of these objectives is to provide a set of key performance indicators by which an enterprise can judge the performance of an employee or project. The success of any MBO objective depends upon the continuous tracking of progress.

Benefits of MIS

The field of MIS can deliver a great many benefits to enterprises in every industry. Expert organizations such as the Institute of MIS along with peer reviewed journals such as MIS Quarterly continue to find and report new ways to use MIS to achieve business objectives.

Information sharing

Today, information sharing is critical to almost every institution and organization. There is no more pressing need for information sharing than during an international crisis, during which multi-national, military-civilian coordination is needed. Successful information technology implementation for international crises could be increased by analyzing prior relief efforts. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the role of information technology in enabling the sharing of actionable information among various organizations in relief efforts. An analysis is presented of the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami relief effort; specifically, how different organizations such as the military, United Nations, and non-governmental organizations used information technologies to increase information flow across the organizations and thereby enhance the level of success of the operation.

Legal responsibilities in sourcing, sharing and storing information

With the rise in outsourcing and with more and more global organizations outsourcing business processes and IT services to India, there has been a number of legal issues in outsourcing. Companies outsourcing to India have to face some complex legal issues with outsourcing. If your organization is outsourcing to India, make sure that your organization is aware of the intellectual property protection and the data privacy and protection in India. Before outsourcing to India, also make sure that your organization knows about compliance with applicable Indian laws, enforcing contractual/legal rights in India and dispute resolution procedures.

There are several legal issues in offshore outsourcing and dealing with them effectively can help the organization who wishes to outsource and the outsourcing service provider, to face the legal issues of outsourcing. The following are some tips on efficiently dealing with the legal issues of offshore outsourcing.

1. Taxation

Offshore outsourcing is often influenced by several international and local issues. The taxation policy of India also has a big effect on the offshore outsourcing decision. Before outsourcing, find out about the tax implications that you have to deal with. This is an important legal aspect to deal with, because different countries have different tax laws You can meet your outsourcing provider in India and decide about which tax provision would be appropriate in the legal contract.

2. Legal Systems that are Heterogeneous

When you outsource to India or any other country, you will discover that the rules of governance are different in different countries. In outsourcing, you and your outsourcing provider have to make sure to include two different legal systems. This heterogeneity in the legal system is an important legal issue with outsourcing that companies have to deal with. This problem exists, because there is no legal system which can be used globally. Different countries even have different intellectual property laws. Since there are no standard legal rules and regulations to follow, it is best to meet your outsourcing provider and make sure that you adhere to both the legal systems. This will help you to sort out any legal issues of outsourcing.

3. The Influence of Local Laws

Some countries have strict data protection and privacy laws, which might be a hindrance in outsourcing. In such cases, the outsourcing provider and the customer would be legally bound and share equal legal responsibilities. This might increase the liability of the customer and in some cases can become a legal issue in outsourcing. Outsourcing service providers also have to protect their business from civil penalties. Conduct some research on the country that you want to outsource to and if the local laws of that country are a hindrance, find another outsourcing service provider. The influence of local laws is another major legal issue in outsourcing.

4. Dispute Settlement

Legal Issues in Outsourcing to India

1. Effective Changes in Indian Laws

India is the most idea place to outsource to. When you outsource to India, you need not face many legal issues in offshore outsourcing. There are many global organizations which have been outsourcing to India and these organizations have not faced any hindrance with the legal issues of outsourcing to India. Indian laws are always going through amendments and they are often changed to effectively meet the requirements of today and to be in unison with the latest international laws.. The Indian government has brought about many effective changes in patents, copyrights, designs, trademarks to meet the requirements of today. Such effective changes have transformed India’s intellectual property laws.

2. The Proper Law of Contract in India

When a legal contract has to be made between two countries, the legal regime of any single country becomes insufficient to deal with the situation. Outsourcing brings about two legal systems into the picture and this is where the private international law comes into place. Before you sign a legal contract with your outsourcing provider, make sure that you decide about which law would govern the legal contract. In India, the outsourcing service providers ensure that the “Proper Law of contract is applied, before a legal contract is signed.

3. Choice of Law is endorsed by Indian courts

The courts in India have always endorsed the choice of proper law. If you have expressed the choice of law in the legal contract, you can be sure that it will be supported in the Indian courts.

sharing

There Moral and Legal Responsibilities to Share Genetic Information Within Families, in Genetic Secrets: Protecting Privacy and Confidentiality

Information trend

Consider these three contradictions in the daily life of the professional searcher:

1. Many search pros find themselves teaching searching skills to end users, but the real gap in teaching is actually where to search.

2. Finding is what users want and what drives their search satisfaction; searching and rigorous, high-quality process is what librarians excel at. These are two very different value systems.

Ambiguity rules. How do we market professional searching skills if, by their very nature, there is an inherent contradiction between these skills and what the market needs and values? Selling ourselves as “search pros” when the buyers value “finding” is a disconnect.. And marketing our narrow searching skills instead of our high-level search environment competencies is also a disconnect

1. Choosing searching tools that mitigate the mistakes of novice end users (Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.)

2. Never implying that our high-level searching skills are more than casually related to the armies of Googlers pounding their eager fingers on keyboards.

3. Developing a new language to discuss and market the key differences between free Web searches and finely tuned subscription search styles and skills. Advanced searching definitely doesn’t just mean more search boxes in the search form or enabling a few plug-in search buddy applications

Strategic decision making

most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child. You might think the same way, I guess. Exactly, to save most of the children at the expense of only one child was rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally.But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one.

“Remember that what’s right isn’t always popular… and what’s popular isn’t always right.”