MIS Fundamentals

What’s in a name ?

Name Percent

Management information systems

33%

Information services 17%

Information systems 14%

Data processing 12%

Information resources management

3%

Others 21%

100%

Names Used Interchangeably

• MIS– Management information systems

• CBIS– Computer-based information systems

• IS– Information systems

• IM– Information management

Definition of a Management Information System

• 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

MIS For strategic and policyplanning and decision making

Management informationFor tactical planning and decision making

Management information foroperational planning decision makingAnd control

Transaction processingInquiry response

StrategicPlanning

ManagementControl

OperationalControl

Information requirements by Decision Category

CharacteristicsOf Information

OperationalControl

ManagementControl

StrategicPlanning

Source

Scope

Level of Aggregation

Time Horizon

Currency

Required Accuracy

Frequency of use

Largely internal

Well defined, narrow

Detailed

Historical

Highly current

High

Very frequent

External

Very wide

Aggregate

Future

Quite old

Low

Infrequent

Data, Information, Knowledge

• DataData – facts, images, or sounds that may or may not be pertinent or useful for a particular task

• Information Information – data whose form or content are appropriate for a particular use

• KnowledgeKnowledge – instincts, ideas, rules, and procedure that guide actions and decisions

--Alter 2002

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

TYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMSTYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

DATA WORKERSDATA WORKERS

KIND OF SYSTEM GROUPS SERVEDKIND OF SYSTEM GROUPS SERVED

STRATEGIC LEVEL SENIOR MASTRATEGIC LEVEL SENIOR MANAGERSNAGERS

MANAGEMENT LEVEL MIDDLE MANAGEMENT LEVEL MIDDLE MANAGERSMANAGERS

OPERATIONAL OPERATIONAL OPERATIONAOPERATIONAL LEVEL MANAGERS L LEVEL MANAGERS

KNOWLEDGE LEVEL KNOWLEDGE &KNOWLEDGE LEVEL KNOWLEDGE &

SALES & MANUFACTURING FINANCE ACCOUNTING HUMANSALES & MANUFACTURING FINANCE ACCOUNTING HUMAN RESOURCESRESOURCESMARKETINGMARKETING

--Laudon & Laudon 2002

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

FUNCTIONS OF AN INFORMATION FUNCTIONS OF AN INFORMATION SYSTEMSYSTEM

INPUT OUTPUTPROCESS

FEEDBACK

INFORMATION SYSTEMINFORMATION SYSTEM

ENVIRONMENTENVIRONMENT

Customers SuppliersCustomers Suppliers

Regulatory Stockholders CompetitorsRegulatory Stockholders CompetitorsAgenciesAgencies

ORGANIZATIONORGANIZATION

COMPUTER-BASED INFORMATION SYSTEMS (CBIS)

• Formal systems

• Fixed definitions of data, procedures

• Collecting, storing, processing, disseminating, using data

INFORMATION SYSTEMSINFORMATION SYSTEMS

ORGANIZATIONSORGANIZATIONS TECHNOLOGYTECHNOLOGY

MANAGEMENTMANAGEMENT

INFORMATIOINFORMATIONN

SYSTEMSSYSTEMS

SOCIOLOGYSOCIOLOGY

POLITICAL POLITICAL SCIENCESCIENCE

PSYCHOLOGYPSYCHOLOGY

COMPUTER COMPUTER

SCIENCESCIENCEOPERATIONS OPERATIONS

RESEARCHRESEARCH

MANAGEMENTMANAGEMENT

SCIENCESCIENCE

TECHNICAL APPROACHESTECHNICAL APPROACHES

APPROACHES TO INFO SYSTEMS

MISMIS

BEHAVIORAL APPROACHESBEHAVIORAL APPROACHES

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)

An IS Framework for Business Professionals

System Concepts

• What is a system?• Feedback and control• Other system characteristics

– Environment– Subsystem– Interface– Open system– Adaptive system

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

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

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

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

What is an Information System?

Input ofData

Resources

Input ofData

Resources

Processing Data

Processing Data

Output ofInformation

Products

Output ofInformation

Products

Control of System PerformanceControl of System Performance

Storage of Data ResourcesStorage of Data Resources

What is a System?

ManufacturingProcess

Input ofRaw Materials

Output ofFinished Products

Environment

Other Systems

Control byManagement

ControlSignals

ControlSignals

FeedbackSignals

FeedbackSignals

System Boundary

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

• 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

• Information System = a work system that processes information, thereby supporting other work systems

– Capture– Transmit– Store– Retrieve– Manipulate– Display

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

Psychological Type

• Thinking-Sensation

• Thinking-Intuition

• Feeling-Sensation

• Feeling-Intuition

Class of Problems

• Structured– Decisions under certainty– Decision under risk– Decisions under uncertainty

• Unstructural– “Wicked” Decision problems

Method of Evidence Generation

• Data based

• Model based

• Multiple models

• Conflicting models

• Learning systems

Organizational Context

• Strategic planning

• Management control

• Operational control

Mode of Presentation

• Personalistic– Drama

• role play

– Art• Graphics

– One-to-one contact group interaction

• Impersonalistic– Company reports– Abstract models

• Computerized information systems