Management Information System

Introduction A system that provides information to manage an organization in an efficient way is known as a Management Information System or MIS. It is the system that provides people with information relating to organizational operation and to support their Decision Making activities. MIS is based on three basic resources People, Technology and Information .Advantages of MIS MIS provides many benefits to organizations:• Provides efficient co-ordination between departments.
• Labor cost is reduced.
• Relevant documents and data ca be accessed easily and efficiently.
• Decision making is easy and efficient.
• Day-to-day activities are analyzed and managed.
• Time is saved.
• Business can highlight its weaknesses and strengths due to revenue reports and employee performance record. Types of a Management Information System Four types of Information systems are there to manage the organization effectively and efficiently.1. Transaction Processing Systems These are the systems developed to manage the transactions of recurring nature. Transaction Processing Systems are widely used today in Banks to track the records of customers accounts and Super Markets to know about sales and inventory stock. These systems are also helping managers to manage important tasks like Payroll, Billing and Supplier’s Payment etc..2. Decision Support SystemsAs name suggests, these are the systems which help in making Intelligent Decisions . These provide basic information to managers to take necessary decisions. The best thing about these systems is that these can be used without the help of specialists. Decision Support Systems has three fundamental components:• First component is used to store large amount of necessary data in a systematic manner and is known as Data Base Management System (D.B.M.S). D.B.M.S is the system used to store data in the form of rows and columns to be accessed easily by user.•Second component transforms this stored data into Information which is then used to make necessary decisions. This transformation of data is done by Model Based Management System (M.B.M.S) .• As the users of DSS are managers who are generally not computer trained. Thus they need some friendly interface to build their insight. For this purpose third component of DSS, Dialogue Generation and management System (D.G.M.S) , is developed. This system provides a friendly interface between manager and the system. The basic purpose of D.G.M.S is to enhance the ability of user to take benefit from D.S.S.3. Operation Information Systems These systems were developed after the introduction of Transaction Processing Systems. These systems collect data from Transaction Processing Systems and help managers by organizing it into a useful manner. Managers can keep track of Inventory, Sales, Performance and other such Operations using these systems.4. Expert Systems and Artificial Intelligence These systems use human expertise to make decisions based on the captured information. Expert systems copy the ability of making decisions of experts. These systems use flexible thinking processes and solve the complex problems. These systems also can serve as teacher by explaining the logic of their advice. Drawbacks of MIS: Along with benefits there are also some shortcomings which affect the popularity of MIS:• Electronic processing is reducing the size of manpower in organizations.
• Complex information is not summarized effectively, sometimes, using MIS.
• Performance results of employees shown by MIS may not be 100 percent correct.
• Very rich data is needed to run an enterprise; MIS may not be able to handle all of this data efficiently.
• Due to MIS crash or power failure important data may be lost thus data needs to be back up on regular basis which may increase the cost of organization.