MIS Fundamentals

1. MIS Fundamentals

2. What’s in a name ?

3. Names Used Interchangeably • MIS • Management information systems • CBIS • Computer-based information systems • IS • Information systems • IM • Information management

4. A management information system is An integrated user-machine system For providing information To support the operations, management, analysis and decision-making functions In an organization The system utilizes Computer hardware and software Manual procedures Models for analysis, planning, control, and decision making, and A database Definition of a Management Information System

5. MIS For strategic and policy planning and decision making Management information For tactical planning and decision making Management information for operational planning decision making And control Transaction processing Inquiry response

6. Strategic Planning Management Control Operational Control

7. Information requirements by Decision Category Operational Control Characteristics Of Information Management Control Strategic Planning Largely internal Well defined, narrow Detailed Historical Highly current High Very frequent Source Scope Level of Aggregation Time Horizon Currency Required Accuracy Frequency of use External Very wide Aggregate Future Quite old Low Infrequent

8. Data, Information, Knowledge • Data– facts, images, or sounds that may or may not be pertinent or useful for a particular task • Information – data whose form or content are appropriate for a particular use • Knowledge– instincts, ideas, rules, and procedure that guide actions and decisions --Alter 2002

9. Programmed vs. Nonprogrammed • Decisions are programmed to the extent that they are repetitive and routine, to the extent that a definite procedure has been worked out for handling them so that they don’t have to be treated de novo each time they occur • Decision are nonprogrammed to the extent that they are novel, unstructured, and consequential • There is no cut-and dried method of handling the problem because it hasn’t arisen before or because its precise nature and structure are elusive or complex or because it so important that it deserves a custom-tailored treatment

10. KIND OF SYSTEM GROUPS SERVED STRATEGIC LEVEL SENIOR MANAGERS MANAGEMENT LEVEL MIDDLE MANAGERS KNOWLEDGE LEVEL KNOWLEDGE & DATA WORKERS OPERATIONAL OPERATIONAL LEVEL MANAGERS SALES & MANUFACTURING FINANCE ACCOUNTING HUMAN MARKETING RESOURCES TYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS --Laudon & Laudon 2002

11. Information Systems Defined • An information system can be defined technically as a set of interrelated components that collect, process , store, and distribute information to support decision making, coordination, and control in an organization • An information system is an organizational and management solution, based on information technology, to a challenge posed by the environment --Laudon & Laudon 2002

12. ENVIRONMENT Customers Suppliers ORGANIZATION INFORMATION SYSTEM INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT FEEDBACK Regulatory Stockholders Competitors Agencies FUNCTIONS OF AN INFORMATION SYSTEM

13. COMPUTER-BASED INFORMATION SYSTEMS (CBIS) • Formal systems • Fixed definitions of data, procedures • Collecting, storing, processing, disseminating, using data

14. INFORMATION SYSTEMS INFORMATION SYSTEMS ORGANIZATIONS TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT

15. TECHNICAL APPROACHES COMPUTER SCIENCE OPERATIONS RESEARCH MANAGEMENT SCIENCE MIS SOCIOLOGY POLITICAL SCIENCE PSYCHOLOGY APPROACHES TO INFO SYSTEMS BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES

16. What Is an Information System? • An information system can be any organized combination of people, hardware, software, communication networks, and data resources that collects, transforms, and disseminates information in an organization • People have relied on information systems to communicate with each other using a variety of physical devices (hardware), information processing instructions and procedures (software), communication channels (networks), and stored data (data resources) since the dawn of civilization • Computer-based information systems (CBIS)

17. An IS Framework for Business Professionals

18. System Concepts • What is a system? • Feedback and control • Other system characteristics • Environment • Subsystem • Interface • Open system • Adaptive system

19. What Is a Systems • A system can be most simply defined as a group of interrelated or interacting elements forming a unified whole • A system is a group of interrelated components working together toward a common goal by accepting input and producing output in an organized transformation process

20. Feedback and Control • A system with feedback and control components is sometimes called a cybernetic system, that is, a self-monitoring, self-regulating system • Feedback • Is data about the performance of a system • Control • Involve monitoring and evaluating feedback to determine whether a system is moving toward the achievement of its goal

21. Other Characteristics • A system does not exist in a vacuum, rather, it exists and function in an environment containing other systems • If a system is one of the components of a larger system, it is a subsystem and the larger system is its environment • Some of these systems may be connected to one another by means of a shared boundary, or interface

22. Other Characteristics (Cont.) • Open system is a system that interacts with other systems in its environment • The system exchanges inputs and outputs with its environment • It is connected to its environment by input and output interface • A system that has the ability to change itself or its environment in order to survive is an adaptive system

23. Control of System Performance Input of Data Resources Processing Data Output of Information Products Storage of Data Resources What is an Information System?

24. Environment Control by Management Feedback Signals Feedback Signals Control Signals Control Signals Input of Raw Materials Output of Finished Products Manufacturing Process System Boundary Other Systems What is a System?

25. Work Systems, Information Systems, and E-Business • E-business = the practice of performing & coordinating business processes through the extensive use of information technology (IT) • IT = computer and communication technologies • E-business does NOT equal the Internet, though the growth of the Internet acted as a very powerful catalyst

26. Work System = a system in which people and/or machines perform a business process using resources (e.g., information, technology) to create products/services for internal or external customers

27. Information System = a work system that processes information, thereby supporting other work systems • Capture • Transmit • Store • Retrieve • Manipulate • Display

28. Mason & Mitroff’s Definition of MIS • An information system consists of at least one person of a certain psychological type who faces a problem within the organizational context for which he needs evidence to arrive at a solution and that the evidence is made available to him through some mode of presentation

29. Psychological Type • Thinking-Sensation • Thinking-Intuition • Feeling-Sensation • Feeling-Intuition

30. Class of Problems • Structured • Decisions under certainty • Decision under risk • Decisions under uncertainty • Unstructural • “Wicked” Decision problems

31. Method of Evidence Generation • Data based • Model based • Multiple models • Conflicting models • Learning systems

32. Organizational Context • Strategic planning • Management control • Operational control

33. Mode of Presentation • Personalistic • Drama • role play • Art • Graphics • One-to-one contact group interaction • Impersonalistic • Company reports • Abstract models • Computerized information systems