What is MIS? Define the characteristics of MIS? What are the basic Functions of MIS?

Give some Disadvantage of MIS?

Organized approach to the study of information needs of a management at every level in making operational, tactical, and strategic decisions. Its objective is to design and implement man-machine procedures, processes, and routines that provide suitably detailed reports in an accurate, consistent, and timely manner. Modern, computerized systems continuously gather relevant data, both from inside and outside the organization. This data is then processed, integrated, and stored in a centralized database (or data warehouse) where it is constantly updated and made available to all who have the authority to access it, in a form that suits their purpose. Characteristics of MIS: MIS is mainly designed to take care of the needs of the managers in the organization. MIS aids in integrating the information generated by various departments of the organization. MIS helps in identifying a proper mechanism of storage of data. MIS also helps in establishing mechanism to eliminate redundancies in data. MIS as a system can be broken down into sub systems. The role and significance of MIS in business and its classification is explained. It is possible to understand the various phases of development in MIS based on the type of system required in any organization. Functions of MIS 1. Data processing It includes the collection, transmission, storage, processing and output of data. It simplifies the statistics and reduces to the lowest cost by supplying an unified format. 2. Function of prediction It predicts the future situation by applying modern mathematics, statistics or simulation. 3. Function of plan It arranges reasonably the plans of each functional department in accordance with the restrictions afforded by enterprises and provides the appropriate planning reports according to different management. 4. Function of control It monitors and inspects the operation of plans and comprises with the differences between operation and plan in accordance with the data afforded by every functional department, and be assistant to managers to control timely each method by analyzing the reasons why the differences comes into being. 5. Function of assistance It derives instantly the best answers of related problems by applying to various of mathematics mode and analyzing a plentiful data stored in computers in the hope of using rationally human resource, financial resource, material resource and information resource for relative abundant economic benefits. Disadvantages of MIS 1.highly senstive requires constant monitoring. 2.buddgeting of MIS extremely difficult.

3.Quality of outputs governed by quality of inputs. 4.lack of flexiblity to update itself. 5.effectiveness decreases due to frequent changes in top management 6.takes into account only qualitative factors and ignores non-qualitative factors like morale of worker, attitude of worker etc.. by divyapizzacom

2. Explain Knowledge based system? Explain DSS and OLAP with example?

MB0047Management Information System Q1. What is MIS? Define the characteristics of MIS? What are

the basic Functionsof MIS? Give some Disadvantage of MIS?Answer:MIS systems are extensively used in generating

statistical report of any organizationwhic h can be used to study management by behavior. They set objectives to

their employees using ratio analysis. Management also uses MIS for decision making from thelow level

management to top level management. In order to perform task usingInformation systems use of technical support

is required. So it is the combination of 3components i.e. organization, technology and management.

MIS characteristics

It supports transaction handling and record keeping.

It is also called as integrated

database Management System which supports inmajor functional areas.

It provides operational, tactical, and

strategic level managers with east access totimely but, for the most, structured information.

It supports decision making function which is a vital role of MIS.

It is flexible which is needed to adapt to the

changing needs of the organization.

It promotes security system by providing only access to authorized users.

MIS not only provides statistical and data analysis but also works on the basis onMBO (management by objectives). MIS

is successfully used for measuring perfo rmance and making necessary change in the organizational

plans and procedures. It helps to build relevant and measurable objectives, monitor results, andsend alerts.

Basic Function of MIS The main functions of MIS are:

Data Processing: Gathering, storage,

transmission, processing and getting outputof the data. Making the data into information is a major task.

Prediction: Prediction is based on the historical data by applying the prior knowledge methodology by using modern

mathematics, statistics or simulation. Prior knowledge varies on the application and with different departments.

Planning: Planning reports are produced based on the enterprise restriction on thecompanies and helps in planning

each functional department to work reasonably.

Control: MIS helps in monitoring the operations and inspects the plans.

It consistsof differences between operation and plan with respect to data belonging to differentfunctiona l department. It

controls the timely action of the plans and analyzes thereasons for the differences between the operations and

plan. Thereby helps managersto accomplish their decision making task successfully.1 MB0047Management

Information System

Assistance: It stores the related problems and frequently used information toapply them for

relative economic benefits. Through this it can derive instant answersof the related problem. Disadvantages of MIS

The following are some of the disadvantages of MIS:

MIS is highly sensitive: MIS is very helpful in maintaining

logging information of an authorized user. This needs to monitor constantly.

Quality of outputs is governed by quality of inputs.

MIS budgeting: There is difficulty in maintaining indirect cost and

overheads.Captur ing the actual cost needs to have an accrual system having true costs of outputswhich is extremely difficult. It has

been difficult to establish definite findings.

MIS is not flexible to update itself for the changes.

The changes in the decision of top level management decrease its effectiveness.

Information accountability is

based on the qualitative factors and the factors likemorality, confidence or attitude will not have any base. -2-

2. Explain Knowledge based system? Explain DSS and OLAP with example?Answer: Knowledge Based System (KBS)

KBS are the systems based on knowledge base. Knowledge base is the databasemaintain ed for knowledge

management which provides the means of data collections,organ ization and retrieval of knowledge. The knowledge

management manages thedomain where it creates and enables organization for adoption of insights

andexperiences.T here are two types of knowledge bases.a. Machine readable knowledge bases: The knowledge base

helps the computer to process through. It makes the data in the computer readable code which makes

theoperator to perform easier. Such information sare used by semantic web. Semantic web isa web that will make a

description of the system that a system can understand. b. Human readable knowledge bases: They are designed to help

people to retrieveknowledg e. The information need to be processed by the reader. The reader can accessthe

information and synthesize their own.KBS refers to a system of data and information used for decision making. The

system isautomated to work on the knowledge based data and information required in a particular domain

of management activity. The processing is done based on the past decisions takenunder suitable conditions.

Decision making is based on the fact that the condition issimilar to the past situation hence the decision is also is

similar.Examples of KBS are intelligent systems, robotics, neural networks etc.

Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) OLAP refers to a system in which there are predefined multiple

instances of variousmodules used in business applications. Any input to such a system results in verificationof the facts with respect

to the available instances.A nearest match is found analytically and the results displayed form the database.

Theoutput is sent only after thorough verification of the input facts fed to the system. Thesystem goes through a series

of multiple checks of the various parameters used in business decision making. OLAP is also referred to as a

multi dimensional analyticalmodel. Many big companies use OLAP to get good returns in business.- 3 -

The querying process of the OLAP is very strong. It helps the management take decisionslike which month would be

appropriate to launch a product in the market, what should bethe production quantity to maximize the returns, what

should be the stocking policy inorder to minimize the wastage etc.A model of OLAP may be well represented in the

form of a 3D box. There are six facesof the box. Each adjoining faces with common vertex may be considered to

represent thevarious parameter of the business situation under consideration.E.g. : Region, Sales &

demand, Product etc. Model of OLAP

Decision Support Systems (DSS) DSS is an interactive

computer based system designed to help the decision makers to useall l the resources available and make use in the

decision making. In management many atime problems arise out of situations for which simple solution may not be possible.

Tosolve such problems you may have to use complex theories. The models that would berequired to solve such

problems may have to be identified. DSS requires a lot of managerial abilities and managers judgment.You

may gather and present the following information by using decision supportapplicatio n: Accessing all of your current

information assets, including legacy and relational datasources, cubes, data warehouses, and data marts

Comparative sales figures between one week and the next Projected revenue figures based on new product sales assumptions- 4 -

MB0047Management Information System The consequences of different decision

alternatives, given past experience in a contextthat is described.Manag er may sometimes find it difficult to solve such problems.

E.g. In a sales problem if there is multiple decision variables modeled as a simple linear problem

buthaving multiple optima, it becomes difficult to take a decision. Since any of the multipleoptima would give

optimum results. But the strategy to select the one most suitable under conditions prevailing in the market, requires skills beyond the

model.It would take some trials to select a best strategy. Under such circumstances it would beeasy to take decision if a

ready system of databases of various market conditions andcorresponding appropriate decision is available. A

system which consists of database pertainin g to decision making based on certain rules is known as decision support

system.It is a flexible system which can be customized to suit the organization needs. It can work in the interactive mode

in order to enable managers to take quick decisions. You canconsider decision support systems as the best when it includes high-

level summaryreports or charts and allow the user to drill down for more detailed information.A DSS has the

capability to update its decision database. Whenever manager feels that a particular decision is unique and not

available in the system, the manager can chose toupdate the database with such decisions. This will strengthen the

DSS to take decisions infuture.There is no scope for errors in decision making when such systems are used as aid

todecision making. DSS is a consistent decision making system. It can be used to generatereports of various lever

management activities. It is capable of performing mathematicalcalc ulations and logical calculation

depending upon the model adopted to solve the problem. You can summarize the benefits of DSS into following:

Improves personal efficiency Expedites problem solving Facilitates interpersonal communication

Promotes learning or training Increases organizational control Generates new evidence in support of a

decision Creates a competitive advantage over competition Encourages exploration and discovery on the part of the

decision maker Reveals new approaches to thinking about the problem space- 5 3. What are Value Chain Analysis &

describe its significance in MIS? Explain whatis meant by BPR? What is its significance? How Data warehousing & Data Miningis

useful in terms of MIS? Answer:Value Chain Analysis: The activities performed by a particular

enterprise can be analyzed into primaryactivities , which directly adds value to the enterprises factors of production,

which aretogether referred to as the value chain, and supporting activities. Figure: Product Differentiation and Value Chain

representationPort ers Enterprise Value-Chain Value-addition activities like production, marketing delivery, and

servicing of the product. These activities are connected in a chain. Support activities include those providing purchased

inputs, technology, human resources, or overall infrastructurefun ctions to support the primary

activities.It is possible to reduce the transaction cost by proper coordination of all the activities. Itshould be possible to gather

better information for various controls and also replace thesame by less costlier activities. It will also be possible to reduce

the overall time requiredto complete an activity.Therefore coordination is very important to achieve competitive

advantage. For this it isnecessary to manage the value chain as a system rather than as separate parts. Anenterprises

value chain for competing in a particular industry is embedded in a larger - 6 -

MB0047Management Information Systemstream of activities. What Porter termed as value system, may be referred

to as theindustry value-chain. This chain consists of mainly the suppliers and distributionchann els. Any activity

of an organization is subjected to one or more of the following New technologies Newer technologies

changes the direction of the value chain. Shifting buyer needs

The buyers have been increasing their demands to satisfy their needs in the form convenience and better price and features. This

demand influences achange in the related market segments; Variation in industry segmentation

 The value system undergoes a changedepending upon the existence of old and new systems and its

components in the valuechain. Organizations, which fail to adjust will have to close down their business.

Changes in the costs It is possible to gain competitive advantage by optimizing theactivities based on present

conditions. Enterprises which continue to work on the older approaches in outdated modes of operation suffer.

 Changes in government regulations If there is a change in the standards of the product of the enterprise, with

respect to the environmental controls, restrictions on entryto the market, and trade barriers then it affect the

performance of the enterprise. BPR The existing system in the organization is totally reexamined and

radically modified for incorporating the latest technology. This process of change for the betterment of theorganization is

called as Business process reengineering. This process is mainly used tomodernize and make the organizations efficient. BPR

directly affects the performance. Itis used to gain an understanding the process of business and to understand the process tomake it

better and redesigning and thereby improving the system.BPR is mainly used for change in the work process.

Latest software is used andaccordingly the business procedures are modified, so that documents are worked

uponmore easily and efficiently. This is known as workflow management. Signification of BPR

Business process are a group of activities performed by various departments, variousorganizati ons or between

individuals that is mainly used for transactions in business.There may be people who do this transaction or tools. We all do

them at one point or another either as a supplier or customer. You will really appreciate the need of processimprove

ment or change in the organizations conduct with business if you have ever waited in the queue for a longer time to

purchase 1 kilo of rice from a Public DistributionShop (PDS-ration shop). The process is called the check-out process. It is

called process because uniform standard system has been maintained to undertake such a task. Thesystem starts with

forming a queue, receiving the needed item form the shop, getting it- 7 -