Module 1

DATA

The term data means groups of information that represent the qualitative or
quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data (plural of "datum",
which is seldom used) are typically the results of measurements and can be the
basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed
as the lowest level of abstraction from which information and knowledge are
derived. In discussions of problems in geometry, mathematics, engineering, and so
on, the terms givens and data are used interchangeably. Also, data is a
representation of a fact, figure, and idea. Such usage is the origin of data as a
concept in computer science: data are numbers, words, images, etc., accepted as
they stand. Data is now often treated as a singular mass noun in informal usage,
but usage in scientific publications shows a divide between the United
States and United Kingdom. In the United States the word data is sometimes used
in the singular, though scientists and science writers more often maintain the
traditional plural usage. Some major newspapers such as the New York Times use it
alternately in the singular or plural. In the New York Times the phrases "the survey
data are still being analyzed" and "the first year for which data is available" have
appeared on the same day. In scientific writing data is often treated as a plural, as
in These data do not support the conclusions, but many people now think of data as
a singular mass entity like information and use the singular in general usage.
British usage now widely accepts treating data as singular in standard English,
including everyday newspaper usage at least in non-scientific use. UK scientific
publishing still prefers treating it as a plural. Some UK university style guides
recommend using data for both singular and plural use and some recommend
treating it only as a singular in connection with computers.

Raw data refers to a collection of numbers, characters, images or other outputs

from devices to convert physical quantities into symbols, that are unprocessed.
Such data is typically further processed by a human or input into a computer,
stored and processed there, or transmitted (output) to another human or
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computer (possibly through a data cable). Raw data is a relative term; data
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processing commonly occurs by stages, and the "processed data" from one stage
may be considered the "raw data" of the next.

Information

Information as a concept has many meanings, from everyday usage to technical

settings. The concept of information is closely related to notions of constraint,
communication, control, data, form, instruction, knowledge, meaning, mental
stimulus, pattern, perception, and representation.

The English word was apparently derived from the Latin accusative form
(informationem) of the nominative (informatio): this noun is in its turn derived
from the verb "informare" (to inform) in the sense of "to give form to the mind",
"to discipline", "instruct", "teach": "Men so wise should go and inform their
kings." (1330) Inform itself comes (via French) from the Latin verb informare, to
give form to, to form an idea of. Furthermore, Latin itself already contained the
word informatio meaning concept or idea, but the extent to which this may have
influenced the development of the word information in English is unclear.
Information is the state of a system of interest. Message is the information
materialized.

Information is a quality of a message from a sender to one or more receivers.

Information is always about something (size of a parameter, occurrence of an
event, value, ethics, etc). Viewed in this manner, information does not have to be
accurate; it may be a truth or a lie, or just the sound of a falling tree. Even a
disruptive noise used to inhibit the flow of communication and create
misunderstanding would in this view be a form of information. However, generally
speaking, if the amount of information in the received message increases, the
message is more accurate.

Even though information and data are often used interchangeably, they are actually
very different. Data is a set of unrelated information, and as such is of no use until
it is properly evaluated. Upon evaluation, once there is some significant relation
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between data, and they show some relevance, then they are converted into
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information. Now this same data can be used for different purposes. Thus, till the
data convey some information, they are not useful and therefore not information.

Meaning of data, information and knowledge

The terms information and knowledge are frequently used for overlapping
concepts. The main difference is in the level of abstraction being considered. Data
is the lowest level of abstraction, information is the next level, and finally,
knowledge is the highest level among all three. Data on its own carries no
meaning. In order for data to become information, it must be interpreted and take
on a meaning. For example, the height of Mt. Everest is generally considered as
"data", a book on Mt. Everest geological characteristics may be considered as
"information", and a report containing practical information on the best way to
reach Mt. Everest's peak may be considered as "knowledge".
Information as a concept bears a diversity of meanings, from everyday usage to
technical settings. Generally speaking, the concept of information is closely related
to notions of constraint, communication, control, data, form, instruction,
knowledge, meaning, mental stimulus, pattern, perception, and representation.
It is people and computers who collect data and impose patterns on it. These
patterns are seen as information which can used to enhance knowledge. These
patterns can be interpreted as truth, and are authorized as aesthetic and ethical
criteria. Events that leave behind perceivable physical or virtual remains can be
traced back through data. Marks are no longer considered data once the link
between the mark and observation is broken. In other words, when an occurrence
leaves perceivable marks, those marks attain the status of data.
In many a case, the business organizations started as a one-man show but with the
passage of time, their size has increased manifold. Although the functions
performed are basically the same, the volume and complexity of operations have
increased geometrically. As With all growing companies, new products are
developed, Sales volume grows, the number of employees increased, factors
outside the company become increasingly complex, and the managerial problems
surrounding the operation of the organization generally expand more rapidly than
the company size. Communications channels are more difficult, authority must be
delegated and information needs expand. The increase in company size results in
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the need for additional information collection, processing and distribution. It now
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becomes necessary to handle many customer accounts, many production records,

and many more interrelation- ships among functions. In addition, it becomes
necessary to assign people to supervise other people.

Before we come to our purpose to speak about MIS, we should give a general
outline what a company's or how we can describe a company. Other- wise we
would have problems to understand MIS, which is part of company.

Hence, large business organization, whether it has developed from a one man show
or otherwise, has to perform a lot of functions to achieve the objectives/ goals set
and in the process deploys lot of resources viz., men, material, machine money etc.

The systems concept is of immense use in understanding business organization and

their functions. We define a system as a group of elements either physical or
nonphysical in nature that exhibits a set of interrelationship among them. The
elements of a system may interact with each other towards a common goal i.e., the
system is a goal (objective) seeking one. However, not all systems are goal
seeking. A business organization system consists of a group of people who process
material and informational resources towards a set of multiple common goals
including an economic profit for the business by performing financing, design,
production and marketing functions to achieve finished goods and their sale at a
specified minimum per year.
Business organizations are usually systems operating within larger systems
(industry or economy) and interact with their environment, hence they act as open
systems i.e., the individual business organizations are influenced by the changes in
the environment or industry. The company can be identified as an open system by
its individually small influence on its environment or vice versa. It reacts with its
environment in such a way as to improve its functioning, achievement or
probability of survival.

Management Information Systems

Management information systems encompass a broad and complex topic. To make

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this topic more manageable, boundaries will be defined. First, because of the vast
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number of activities relating to management information systems, a total review is

not possible. Those discussed here is only a partial sampling of activities, reflecting
the author's viewpoint of the more common and interesting developments.
Likewise where there were multiple effects in a similar area of development, only
selected ones will be used to illustrate concepts. This is not to imply one effort is
more important than another. Also, the main focus of this paper will be on
information systems for use at the farm level and to some lesser extent systems
used to support researchers addressing farm level problems (e.g., simulation or
optimization models, geographic information systems, etc.) and those used to
support agribusiness firms that supply goods and services to agricultural producers
and the supply chain beyond the production phase.
Secondly, there are several frameworks that can be used to define and describe
management information systems. More than one will be used to discuss important
concepts. Because more than one is used, it indicates the difficult of capturing the
key concepts of what is a management information system. Indeed, what is viewed
as an effective and useful management information system is one environment may
not be of use or value in another.

Lastly, the historical perspective of management information systems cannot be

ignored. This perspective gives a sense of how these systems have evolved, been
refined and adapted as new technologies have emerged, and how changing
economic conditions and other factors have influenced the use of information
systems.

Before discussing management information systems, some time-tested concepts

should be reviewed. Davis offers a commonly used concept in his distinction
between data and information. Davis defines data as raw facts, figures, objects, etc.
Information is used to make decisions. To transform data into information,
processing is needed and it must be done while considering the context of a
decision. We are often awash in data but lacking good information. However, the
success achieved in supplying information to decision makers is highly variable.
Barabba, expands this concept by also adding inference, knowledge and wisdom in
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his modification of Haechel's hierarchy which places wisdom at the highest
level and data at the lowest. As one move up the hierarchy, the value is
increased and volume decreased. Thus, as one acquires knowledge and
wisdom the decision making process is refined. Management information
systems attempt to address all levels of Haechel's hierarchy as well as
convertingdata into information for the decision maker. As both Barabba and
Haechel argue, however, just supplying more data and information may
actually be making the decision making process more difficult. Emphasis
should be placed on increasing the value of information by moving up
Haechel's hierarchy.

Another important concept from Davis and Olsen is the value if information.
They note that in general, the value of information is the value of the
change in decision behavior caused by the information, less the cost of the
information. This statement implies that information is normally not a free
good. Furthermore, if it does not change decisions to the better, it may have
no value. Many assume that investing in a better management information
system is a sound economic decision. Since it is possible that the better
system may not change decisions or the cost of implementing the better
system is high to the actual realized benefits, it could be a bad investment.
Also, since before the investment is made, it is hard to predict the benefits
and costs of the better system, the investment should be viewed as one with
risk associated with it.

Another approach for describing information systems is that proposed by

Harsh and colleagues. They define information as one of four types and all
these types are important component of a management information system.
Furthermore, the various types build upon and interact with each other. A
common starting level is Descriptive information. This information portrays
the what is condition of a business, and it describes the state of the
business at a specified point in time. Descriptive information is very
important to the business manager, because without it, many problems would
not be identified. Descriptive information includes a variety of types of
information including financial results, production records, test results,
product marketing, and maintenance records.

Descriptive information can also be used as inputs to secure other needed

types of information. For example, what is information is needed for
supplying restraints in analyzing farm adjustment alternatives. It can also be
used to identify problems other than the what is condition. Descriptive
information is necessary but not completely sufficient in identifying and
addressing farm management problems. The second type of information is
diagnostic information, this information portrays this what is wrong
condition, where what is wrong is measured as the disparity between
what is and what ought to be. This assessment of how things are versus
how they should be (a fact-value conflict) is probably our most common
management problem. Diagnostic information has two major uses. It can first
be used to define problems that develop in the business. Are production
levels too low? Is the rate earned on investment too low? These types of
question cannot be answered with descriptive information alone (such as with
financial and production records). A manager may often be well supplied
with facts about his business, yet be unable to recognize this type of problem.
The manager must provide norms or standards which, when compared with
the facts for a particular business, will reveal an area of concern. Once a
problem has been identified, a manager may choose an appropriate course of
action for dealing with the problem (including doing nothing). Corrective
measures may be taken so as to better achieve the managers goals. Several
pitfalls are involved for managers in obtaining diagnostic information.
Adequate, reliable, descriptive information must be available along with
appropriate norms or standards for particular business situations. Information
is inadequate for problem solving if it does not fully describe both what is
and
what ought to be.

As description is concerned with what is and diagnostics with what is

wrong, prediction is concerned with what if...? Predictive information is
generated from an analysis of possible future events and is exceedingly
valuable with desirable outcomes. With predictive information, one either
defines problems or avoids problems in advance. Prediction also assists in
analysis. When a problem is recognized, a manager will analyze the situation
and specify at least one alternative (including doing nothing) to deal with it.
Predictive information is needed by managers to reduce the risk and
uncertainty concerning technology, prices, climate, institutions, and human
relationships affecting the business. Such information is vital in formulating
production plans and examining related financial impacts. Predictive
information takes many forms. What are the expected prices next year? What
yields are anticipated? How much capital will be required to upgrade
production technologies? What would be the difference in expected returns in
switching from a livestock farm to a cropping farm? Management has long
used various budgeting techniques, simulation models, and other tools to
evaluate expected changes in the business.
Without detracting from the importance of problem identification and
analysis in management, the crux of management tasks is decision making.
For every problem a manager faces, there is a right course of action.
However, the rightness of a decision can seldom, if ever, be measured in
absolute terms. The choice is conditionally right, depending upon a farm
managers knowledge, assumptions, and conditions he wishes to impose on
the decision. Prescriptive information is directed toward answering the
what should be done question. Provision of this information requires the
utilization of the predictive information. Predictive information by itself is
not adequate for decision making. An evaluation of the predicted outcomes
together with the goals and values of the manger provides that basis for
making a decision. For example, suppose that a manager is considering a new
changing marketing alternative. The new alternative being considered has
higher predicted returns but also has higher risks and requires more
management monitoring. The decision as to whether to change plans depends
upon the managers evaluation of the worth of additional income versus the
commitment of additional time and higher risk. Thus, the goals and values of
a farm manager will ultimately enter into any decision.

A management information system (MIS) is a system or process that provides

the information necessary to manage an organization effectively. MIS and the
information it generates are generally considered essential components of
prudent and reasonable business decisions.

MIS is viewed and used at many levels by management. It should be

supportive of the institution's longer term strategic goals and objectives. To
the other extreme it is also those everyday financial accounting systems that
are used to ensure basic control is maintained over financial recordkeeping
activities.

Financial accounting systems and subsystems are just one type of

institutional MIS. Financial accounting systems are an important functional
element or part of the total MIS structure. However, they are more narrowly
focused on the internal balancing of an institution's books to the general
ledger and other financial accounting subsystems. For example, accrual
adjustments, reconciling and correcting entries used to reconcile the financial
systems to the general ledger are not always immediately entered into other
MIS systems.

Accordingly, although MIS and accounting reconcilement totals for related

listings and activities should be similar, they may not necessarily balance.

MIS in an INSTITUTION
An institution's MIS should be designed to achieve the following goals:
Enhance communication among employees.
Deliver complex material throughout the institution.
Provide an objective system for recording and aggregating information.
Reduce expenses related to labor-intensive manual activities.
Support the organization's strategic goals and direction.

Because MIS supplies decision makers with facts, it supports and enhances
the overall decision making process. MIS also enhances job performance
throughout an institution. At the most senior levels, it provides the data and
information to help the board and management make strategic decisions. At
other levels, MIS provides the means through which the institution's activities
are monitored and information is distributed to management, employees, and
customers.

Effective MIS should ensure the appropriate presentation formats and time
frames required by operations and senior management are met. MIS can be
maintained and developed by either manual or automated systems or a
combination of both. It should always be sufficient to meet an institution's
unique business goals and objectives. The effective deliveries of an
institution's products and services are supported by the MIS. These systems
should be accessible and useable at all appropriate levels of the organization.

MIS is a critical component of the institution's overall risk management

strategy. MIS supports management's ability to perform such reviews. MIS
should be used to recognize, monitor, measure, limit, and manage risks. Risk
management involves four main elements:
Policies or practices.
Operational processes.
Staff and management.
Feedback devices.

Frequently, operational processes and feedback devices are intertwined and

cannot easily be viewed separately. The most efficient and useable MIS
should be both operational and informational. As such, management can use
MIS to measure performance, manage resources, and help an institution
comply with regulatory requirements. One example of this would be the
managing and reporting of loans to insiders. MIS can also be used by
management to provide feedback on the effectiveness of risk controls.

Controls are developed to support the proper management of risk through the
institution's policies or practices, operational processes, and the assignment
of duties and responsibilities to staff and managers.

Technology advances have increased both the availability and volume of

information management and the directors have available for both planning
and decision making. Correspondingly, technology also increases the
potential for inaccurate reporting and flawed decision making. Because data
can be extracted from many financial and transaction systems, appropriate
control procedures must be set up to ensure that information is correct and
relevant. In addition, since MIS often originates from multiple equipment
platforms including mainframes, minicomputers, and microcomputers,
controls must ensure that systems on smaller computers have processing
controls that are as well defined and as effective as those commonly found on
the traditionally larger mainframe systems.

MIS for Farm Management

The importance of management information systems to improve decision
making has long been understood by farm management economists. Financial
and production records have long been used by these economists as an
instrument to measure and evaluate the success of a farm business. However,
when computer technology became more widely available in the late 1950s
and early 1960s, there was an increased enthusiasm for information systems
to enhance management decision processes. At an IBM hosted conference,
Ackerman, a respected farm management economist, stated that:

The advances that have taken place in calculating equipment and methods
make it possible to determine the relationship between ultimate yields, time
of harvest and climatic conditions during the growing season. Relationship
between the perspective and actual yields and changing prices can be
established. With such information at hand the farmer should be in a position
to make a decision on his prediction with a high degree of certainty at mid-
season regarding his yield and income at harvest time.

This statement, made in 1963, reflects the optimism that prevailed with
respect to information systems. Even though there was much enthusiasm
related to these early systems they basically concentrated on accounting
activities and production records. Examples include the TelFarm electronic
accounting system at Michigan State University and DHIA for dairy
operations. These early systems relieved on large mainframe computers with
the data being sent to a central processing center and the reports send back to
the cooperating businesses. To put these early efforts into a management
information system framework, the one proposed by Alder is useful. (See
Figure ). They would be defined as data oriented systems with limited data
analysis capabilities beyond calculating typical ratios (e.g., return on assets,
milk per cow, etc.).

By the mid 1960s it became clear that the accounting systems were fairly
effective in supplying descriptive and diagnostic information but they lacked
the capacity to provide predictive and prescriptive information. Thus, a new
approach was needed a method of doing forward planning or a management
information system that was more models oriented. Simulation models for
improving management skills and testing system interaction were developed.
As an example, Kuhlmann, Giessen University, developed a very robust and
comprehensive whole farm simulation model (SIMPLAN) that executed on a
mainframe computer. This model was based on systems modeling methods
that could be used to analyze different production strategies of the farm
business. To be used by managers, however, they often demanded that the
model developer work closely with them in using the model.

Types of Information Systems

Another important activity during this period was the Top-Farmer

Workshops developed by Purdue University. They used a workshop setting
to run large linearprogramming models on mainframe computers
(optimization models) to help crop producers find more efficient and
effective ways to operate their business. As mainframe timeshare computers
emerged in the mid-1960's, I became possible to remotely access the
computer with a terminal and execute software. Systems such TelPlan
developed by Michigan State University made it possible for agricultural
producers to run a farm related computer decision aids. Since this machine
was shared by many users, the cost for executing an agriculturally related
decision aid was relatively inexpensive and cost effective. These decision
aids included optimization models (e.g., least cost animal rations) budgeting
and simulation models, and other types of decision aids. These decision aids
could be accessed by agricultural advisor with remote computer terminals
(e.g., Teletype machine or a touch-tone telephone). These advisors used
these computer models at the farm or at their own office to provide advice to
farm producers.
These were exciting times with many people becoming involved in the
development, testing, refining, and implementation of information systems
for agriculture. Computer technology continued to advance at a rapid pace,
new communication systems were evolving and the application of this
technology to agriculture was very encouraging. Because of the rapid
changes occurring, there were international conferences held where much of
the knowledge learned in developing these systems was shared. One of the
first of these was held in Germany in the mid-1980s.

It was also clear from these early efforts that the data oriented systems where
not closely linked to the model oriented systems. Information for the data
oriented systems often did not match the data needed for the model oriented
systems. For example, a cash-flow projection model was not able to directly
use financial data contained in the accounting system. In most cases, the data
had to be manually extracted from the accounting system and re-entered into
the planning model. This was both a time consuming and error prone process.

Because of the lack of integration capabilities of various systems, they were

devoid of many of the desirable characteristics of an evolving concept
describes as decision support systems (DSS). These systems are also known
as Executive Support Systems, and Management Support System, and
Process Oriented
Information Systems. The decision support system proposed by Sprague and
Watson (House, ed.) has as its major components a database, a modelbase, a
database/modelbase management system and a user interface (see Figure).
The database has information related to financial transactions, production
information, marketing records, the resource base, research data, weather
data and so forth. It includes data internally generated by the business (e.g.,
financial transactions and production data) and external data (e.g., market
prices). These data are stored in a common structure such that it is easily
accessible by other database packages as well as the modelbase.
The modelbase component of the system has decision models that relate to
operational, tactical and strategic decisions. In addition, the modelbase is able
to link models together in order to solve larger and more complex problems,
particularly semi-structured problems. The database/modelbase management
system is the bridge between database and modelbase components. It has the
ability to extract data from the database and pass it to the modelbase and vice
versa. The user interface, one of the more critical features of the system, is
used to assist the decision maker in making more efficient and effective use
of the system. Lastly, for these systems to be effective in supporting
management decision, the decision maker must have the skills and
knowledge on how to correctly use these systems to address the unique
problem situation at hand.

Several follow-up international conferences were held to reflect these new

advances in management information systems. The first of these conferences
focused on decision support systems was held in Germany. This conference
discussed the virtues of these systems and the approach used to support
decisions. Several prototype systems being developed for agriculture were
presented. From these presentations, it was clear that the decision support
systems approach had many advantages but the implementation in agriculture
was going to be somewhat involved and complex because of the diversity of
agricultural production systems. Nevertheless, there was much optimism for
the development of such systems.

Decision Support System

A couple of years later, another conference were held in Germany that
focused on knowledge-based systems with a major emphasis on expert
systems and to a lesser extent optimum control methods and simulation
models. Using Alters scheme to describe information systems, for the most
part these would be described as suggestion models. It was interesting to note
that the prototype knowledge-based systems for the most part did not utilize
the concepts of decisions support systems which were the focus of the earlier
conference. Perhaps this was related to the fact that many of the applications
were prototypes.

The international conference that followed in France focused on the low

adaption rate of management information systems. This was a topic of much
discussion but there were few conclusions reached except the systems with
the highest adaption rate were mainly data-oriented ones (e.g., accounting
systems, field record systems, anaimal production and health records, etc.)
which provide mainly descriptive and diagnostic information.

The international conferences that followed had varying themes. One of the
major themes was precision agriculture with several conferences held. These
conferences extolled the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in
conjunction with geographic positioning systems (GPS) to record and display
data regarding cropping operations (e.g., yields obtained) and to control
production inputs (e.g., fertilizer levels). Other conference addressed the use
of information systems to more tightly control agriculture production such as
those developed for greenhouse businesses.

To briefly summarize the historical developments, there have been significant

efforts devoted to improving the management information systems from the
early computerized activities forty years earlier. The decision aids available
have grown in number and they are more sophisticated. There has been some
movement toward integration of the data oriented systems and the model
oriented systems. An examination of our current usage of management
information systems, however, suggests that we have not nearly harnessed
the potential of the design concepts contained modern management
information systems.

Traditional MIS have evolved to serve structured, functional, permanent

organizations. Project information systems more recently have emerged to
serve temporary, relatively short-lived, multi-functional projects. Project
MIS, compared to the various organizational MIS, must handle more diverse
information and be more predictive and integrative in nature over a longer
time span. The result is that project MIS are generally more difficult to
implement, and their implementation often reveals existing incompatibilities
with and between the various organizational MIS which provide information
to project systems.

Specific product and project planning and control functions and tools are
identified in this paper, and the types and sources of incompatibilities are
discussed.
Suggested methods of minimizing the problems are briefly presented.
The underlying thesis of this discussion is that a better understanding of
the differences and interfaces between project and organizational MIS
will help to resolve current problems and avoid future difficulties in the
implementation of information systems to serve operating project
managers.

MIS IN GENERAL
In this discussion, I refer to management information systems (MIS) as
identifiable sets of policies, models, procedures and files of information
which operate to record, manipulate, store, retrieve, process and display
information useful in managing some aspect of an organized enterprise. Such
systems may depend only on rather simple mechanical devices operated
directly by human hands, such as pencils, pens, ledgers, charts, and so on; or
they may also depend on more complex devices and machines, such as slide
rules, calculators and electronic data processing systems. They all seem to
depend on paper to a great extent!

Perhaps Moses had the first MIS when he came down the mountain with the
Ten Commandments chiseled into stone tablets. At least today's reports carry
more information per pound, but they are certainly no lighter to carry than the
stone tablets of Moses' day.

The basic classes of primary management information

systems may be identified as follows:
General management
Financial
Logistics
Business acquisition
Resources
General management information systems are concerned with the overall,
integrative planning and direction of the total enterprise. They include
methods of generating, recording and processing information related to:
Strategic objectives and goals
Financial objectives
Business, market and product plans to achieve the objectives
Overall performance measurement and evaluation compared to objectives.

These general management information systems depend heavily on the

financial MIS, and to a lesser extent on all other types of MIS.

Financial management information systems are familiar to us all, and deal

with the basic element of resource that we all understand (at least to some
extent): Money. With these systems we are able to:
Translate the strategic, market and product plans of the enterprise into the
common denominator of money.
Plan, control and account for the production, distribution and inventory of
money, resulting from the basic operations of the enterprise.
Analyze the basic operations in monetary terms.

This class includes systems for financial planning, budgeting, cash handling,
accounts and financial analysis.

Logistics management information systems enable us to plan, control and

account for the acquisition, inventory, processing, conversion, assembly and
distribution of goods and services -- the tangible repetitious transactions or
work -- which generate the outflow and inflow of money. Systems within this
class include purchasing, work authorization and control, production and
inventory planning and control, and product distribution.

Business acquisition management information systems include procedures

for handling information related to markets, products, capabilities,
competitors, customers, proposals and selling, and orders (contracts or sales).
In this class are found marketing and sales systems and procedures, such as
order booking, processing and billing, collections and contract
administration.

Resources management information systems deal with the basic resources

of a company other than financial), including people, know-how, plant
facilities, and equipment. Included here are personnel information systems, as
well as those dealing with the acquisition and utilization of capital facilities,
installed equipment and other types of equipment and resources required to
produce the goods and services which are delivered or sold by the
organization.

Project management information systems (PMIS) enable us to plan,

schedule, execute and control projects -- those complex, unique efforts which
cut across organizational and functional lines, and which must achieve the
specified results at a particular point in time and within a given cost of
budget. Projects may be viewed as temporary profit centers which
subcontract most if not all of the actual work required to complete them. The
verb "to project" or to forecast or predict, conveys the fundamental purpose
of various related PMIS: to predict how the project will come out, based on
progress to date and current plans for the future.
MIS FOR ORGANIZATIONS

An organizational chart is a diagram that shows the structure of

an organization and the relationships and relative ranks of its
parts and positions/jobs. The term is also used for similar
diagrams, for example ones showing the different elements of a
field of knowledge or a group of languages.
Organizations of all types -- business, industrial, institutional, governmental -
are structured and shaped to meet the needs of the primary purpose of each
individual organization. This structure invariably results in some form of
hierarchy or bureaucracy, segregating and dividing the various functions such
as marketing, manufacturing, engineering, and so on. The financial, logistics,
business acquisition and resources management information systems which
we have today are designed to serve the structural, hierarchical organization
which has a certain permanency associated with it. Financial budgets and
reports are provided for organizational sections, departments and divisions,
for example. Production control systems serve the manufacturing division
and have nothing to do directly with engineering. Information is provided to
each functional manager concerning his limited segment of the total
operation as orders are obtained and fed into production, and as the raw
materials are purchased, processed and shipped to the customers.

The organization structure, portrayed by the familiar pyramidal chart of

boxes and lines, forms a fairly stable skeleton on which most, perhaps all, of
these management information systems are based.

A Company can have different subsystems (departments). For a given

company it depends on its purpose, size and sometimes on his history which
departments it has. Each of these departments have different responsibilities
and tasks.

The organization structure of an organization manufacturing paperboard

cartons for a wide variety of users and also paperboard used in the cartons is
shown in Fig.
The responsibilities of such of the functions should be clearly defined so as
the objectives/goals of the organization are achieved. Unless and until the
objectives of each of the function are identified properly, we shall not be in a
position to evaluate the achievements of each of the functions, their weak-
nesses or strengths.

As an example, we can identify the responsibilities of marketing function as

followings:

i) Formulation of sales budget. ii) The

inventory of finished goods. iii). Cash receipts
from sales and debtors. iv). Personnel expenses
and communication expenses.
v). Sales promotion expenses, advertising expenses, outward
freight expenses, warehousing expenses etc. vi). Loss of sales
due to poor advertising, improper distribution etc.
vii). Achieving the sales target.
Similarly, we can fix the responsibility for procurement function as given
below:

i). Formulation of procurement budget.

ii). Manpower planning for departmental
requirement. iii). Requirement and utilization of
equipment.
iv). Selection of suppliers.
v). Planning of safety stocks.
vi). Disposal of unwanted stocks. vii). Controlling of
budget expenses. viii). Controlling of excess
procurement expenses. ix). Controlling of loss of
sales due to lack of raw material. x). Controlling of
receiving expenses.

In a similar manner, we can identify the responsibility of all functions, in a

manner so as to achieve the corporate objectives.

FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION CHART

Information Technology Management

Information Technology Training
Systems Analysis and Systems Development
Vendor Analysis/Software Package
Procurement and Assistance
Information Technology Resource Contracts Assistance
GIS Data Administration
GIS User Support
GIS Systems Development
STAFFING ORGANIZATION CHART
MANAGEMENT
Management can be defined as the planning, organizing and control of
personnel and material resources of the company in order to achieve the
established objectives. Getting things done through people and selecting,
training and motivating of people, is assumed part of the control function
hence the importance of management activities.

Tasks of Management

Management tasks can be described as decision making, planning and

controlling to achieve the objectives.

Decision Making
Decision making is basic to all management activities and can be defined as
the process of selecting a best alternative from among several alternatives,
which may be either quantitative or qualitative) for achieving the objectives.
Increase in number of alternatives makes decisions more and more complex
and this decision complexity decides the time of decision making. The
decision complexity may be because of:
i) Variety ii)
Uncertainty iii)
Time Horizon,
and iv)
Implications.

In an organization, decisions are made for planning, organizing, directing,

motivating and controlling of various resources. An orderly process of
deriving a decision contains following elements: i). Knowledge of
situation.
ii). Factors affecting the
decision. iii). Constraints
imposed. iv). Developing
alternatives. v). Criteria of
evaluation.
vi) Method of evaluation. vii)
Implications of the alternatives.
viii) Selection of best
alternatives.