Definition: 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.

* 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.

In tracking this performance it can be extremely useful to make use of an MIS system.
Since all SMART objectives are by definition measurable they can be tracked through the
generation of management reports to be analysed by decision-makers.

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.

Enhance Supply Chain Management

Improved reporting of business processes leads inevitably to a more streamlined

production process. With better information on the production process comes the ability
to improve the management of the supply chain, including everything from the sourcing
of materials to the manufacturing and distribution of the finished product.

Quick Reflexes

As a corollary to improved supply chain management comes an improved ability to react

to changes in the market. Better MIS systems enable an enterprise to react more quickly
to their environment, enabling them to push out ahead of the competition and produce a
better service and a larger piece of the pie.

Further information about MIS can be found at the Bentley College Journal of MIS and the
US Treasury’s MIS handbook, and an example of an organisational MIS division can be
found at the Department of Social Services for the state of Connecticut.

A computer system designed to help managers plan and direct business and
organizational operations.

Before one can explain management information systems, the terms systems, information,
and management must briefly be defined. A system is a combination or arrangement of
parts to form an integrated whole. A system includes an orderly arrangement according to
some common principles or rules. A system is a plan or method of doing something.
The study of systems is not new. The Egyptian architects who built the pyramids relied
on a system of measurements for construction of the pyramids. Phoenician astronomers
studied the system of the stars and predicted future star positions. The development of a
set of standards and procedures, or even a theory of the universe, is as old as history
itself. People have always sought to find relationships for what is seen or heard or
thought about.

A system is a scientific method of inquiry, that is, observation, the formulation of an idea,
the testing of that idea, and the application of the results. The scientific method of
problem solving is systems analysis in its broadest sense. Data are facts and figures.
However, data have no value until they are compiled into a system and can provide
information for decision making.

Information is what is used in the act of informing or the state of being informed.
Information includes knowledge acquired by some means. In the 1960s and 70s, it
became necessary to formalize an educational approach to systems for business so that
individuals and work groups and businesses who crossed boundaries in the various
operations of business could have appropriate information. Technical developments in
computers and data processing and new theories of systems analysis made it possible to
computerize systems. Much of this computerization of systems was an out growth of
basic research by the federal government.

Management is usually defined as planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the

business operation. This definition, which evolved from the work of Henri Fayol in the
early 1900s, defines what a manager does, but it is probably more appropriate to define
what management is rather than what management does. Management is the process of
allocating an organization's inputs, including human and economic resources, by
planning, organizing, directing, and controlling for the purpose of producing goods or
services desired by customers so that organizational objectives are accomplished. If
management has knowledge of the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of the
business, its decisions can be made on the basis of facts, and decisions are more accurate
and timely as a result.

Management information systems are those systems that allow managers to make
decisions for the successful operation of businesses. Management information systems
consist of computer resources, people, and procedures used in the modern business
enterprise. The term MIS stands for management information systems. MIS also refers to
the organization that develops and maintains most or all of the computer systems in the
enterprise so that managers can make decisions. The goal of the MIS organization is to
deliver information systems to the various levels of corporate managers. MIS
professionals create and support the computer system throughout the company. Trained
and educated to work with corporate computer systems, these professionals are
responsible in some way for nearly all of the computers, from the largest mainframe to
the desktop and portable PCs.

Background
Management information systems do not have to be computerized, but with today's large,
multinational corporations, computerization is a must for a business to be successful.
However, management information systems began with simple manual systems such as
customer databases on index cards. As early as 1642, the French mathematician and
philosopher Blaise Pascal invented the first mechanical adding machine so that figures
could be added to provide information. Almost two hundred years later, Charles
Babbage, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University in England, wanted to
make a machine that would compute mathematical tables. He attempted to build a
computing machine during the 1880s. He failed because his ideas were beyond his
technical capabilities, not because the idea was flawed. Babbage is often called the father
of the computer. With the advent of the computer, management information systems
became automated.

In the late 1890s, because of the efforts of Herman Hollerith, who created a punch-card
system to tabulate the data for the 1890 census, it was possible to begin to provide data-
processing equipment. The punch card developed by Hollerith was later used to form a
company to provide data-processing equipment. This company evolved into International
Business Machines (IBM). Mainframe computers were used for management information
systems from the 1940s, 50s, 60s, and up until the 1970s. In the 1970s, personal
computers were first built by hobbyists. Then Apple computer developed one of the first
practical personal computers. In the early 1980s, IBM developed its PC, and since then,
the personal computer industry has mush roomed. Almost every management information
system revolves around some kind of computer hardware and software.

Management information systems are be coming more important, and MIS personnel are
more visible than in the 1960s and 1970s, when they were hidden away from the rest of
the company and performed tasks behind closed doors. So remote were some MIS
personnel from the operations of the business that they did not even know what products
their companies made. This has changed because the need for an effective management
information system is of primary concern to the business organization. Managers use
MIS operations for all phases of management, including planning, organizing, directing,
and controlling.

The Mis Job Today

MIS personnel must be technically qualified to work with computer hardware, software,
and computer information systems. Currently, colleges and universities cannot produce
enough MIS personnel for business needs, and job opportunities are great. MIS
managers, once they have risen through their technical ranks of their organization to
become managers, must remember that they are no longer doing the technical work. They
must cross over from being technicians to become managers. Their job changes from
being technicians to being systems managers who manage other people's technical work.
They must see themselves as needing to solve the business problems of the user, and not
just of the data-processing department.
MIS managers are in charge of the systems development operations for their firm.
Systems development requires four stages when developing a system for any phase of the
organization:

Phase I is systems planning. The systems team must investigate the initial problem by
determining what the problem is and developing a feasibility study for management to
review.

Phase II identifies the requirements for the systems. It includes the systems analysis, the
user requirements, necessary hardware and software, and a conceptional design for the
system. Top management then reviews the systems analysis and design.

Phase III involves the development of the systems. This involves developing technical
support and technical specifications, reviewing users' procedures control, designing the
system, testing the system, and providing user training for the system. At this time,
management again reviews and decides on whether to implement the system.

Phase IV is the implementation of the system. The new system is converted from the old
system, and the new system is implemented and then refined. There must then be ongoing
maintenance and reevaluation of the system to see if it continues to meet the needs of the
business.

Types of Systems

Management information systems can be used as a support to managers to provide a

competitive advantage. The system must support the goals of the organization. Most
organizations are structured along functional lines, and the typical systems are identified
as follows:

Accounting management information systems: All accounting reports are shared by all
levels of accounting managers.

Financial management information systems: The financial management information

system provides financial information to all financial managers within an organization
including the chief financial officer. The chief financial officer analyzes historical and
current financial activity, projects future financial needs, and monitors and controls the
use of funds over time using the information developed by the MIS department.

Manufacturing management information systems: More than any functional area,

operations have been impacted by great advances in technology. As a result,
manufacturing operations have changed. For instance, inventories are provided just in
time so that great amounts of money are not spent for warehousing huge inventories. In
some instances, raw materials are even processed on railroad cars waiting to be sent
directly to the factory. Thus there is no need for warehousing.
Marketing management information systems: A marketing management information
system supports managerial activity in the area of product development, distribution,
pricing decisions, promotional effectiveness, and sales forecasting. More than any other
functional area, marketing systems rely on external sources of data. These sources
include competition and customers, for example.

Human resources management information systems: Human resources management

information systems are concerned with activities related to workers, managers, and other
individuals employed by the organization. Because the personnel function relates to all
other areas in business, the human resources management information system plays a
valuable role in ensuring organizational success. Activities performed by the human
resources management information systems include, work-force analysis and planning,
hiring, training, and job assignments.

The above are examples of the major management information systems. There may be
other management information systems if the company is identified by different
functional areas.

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.[1] 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 systems.[1]

It has been described as, "MIS 'lives' in the space that intersects technology and business.
MIS combines tech with business to get people the information they need to do their jobs
better/faster/smarter. Information is the lifeblood of all organizations - now more than
ever. MIS professionals work as systems analysts, project managers, systems
administrators, etc., communicating directly with staff and management across the
organization." [2]

Contents [hide]

• 1 Overview
• 2 See also
• 3 References

• 4 External links

Overview
At the start, in businesses and other organizations, internal reporting was made manually
and only periodically, as a by-product of the accounting system and with some additional
statistic(s), and gave limited and delayed the information on management performance.
Previously, data had to be separated individually by the people as per the requirement and
necessity of the organization. Later, data and information was distinguished and instead
of the collection of mass of data, important and to the point on that data that is needed by
the organization and was stored.

In their infancy, business computers were used for the practical business of computing
the payroll and keeping track of accounts payable and accounts receivable. As
applications were developed that provided managers with information about sales,
inventories, and other data that would help in managing the enterprise, the term "MIS"
arose to describe these kinds of applications. Today, the term is used broadly in a number
of contexts and includes (but is not limited to): decision support systems, resource and
people management applications, ERP, SCM, CRM, project management and database
retrieval application.

{{cite journal |quotes= |last= ==Definition== An 'MIS' is a planned system of the

collecting, processing, storing and disseminating data in the form of information needed
to carry out the functions of management. In a way it is a documented report of the
activities those were planned and executed. According to Philip Kotler "A marketing
information system consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort,
analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing
decision makers." [3]

The terms MIS and information system are often confused. Information systems include
systems that are not intended for decision making. The area of study called MIS is
sometimes referred to, in a restrictive sense, as information technology management.
That area of study should not be confused with computer science. IT service management
is a practitioner-focused discipline. MIS has also some differences with Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) as ERP incorporates elements that are not necessarily focused
on decision support.

Professor Allen S. Lee states that "...research in the information systems field examines
more than the technological system, or just the social system, or even the two side by
side; in addition, it investigates the phenomena that emerge when the two interact." [4].