INDEX

TITLE
INTRODUCTION
MANAGEMENT
FUNCTIONS
LEVELS
ACTIVITIES
SYSTEM
SYSTEM BOUNDARIES
SYSTEMS AND SUBSYSTEMS
SUBSYSTEM INTERFACE AND
INTERFACE PROBLEMS
TYPES

BUSINESS- AS A SYSTEM
INFORMAION SYSTEM AS A SYSTEM

FRAME WORK 15
OVERVIEW 18
RESOURCES 18
ACTIVITIIES 20
TYPES 20
HOW INFORMATION SYSTEM HELPS
IN BUSINESS ACTIVITIES

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DATA AND

INFORMATION
SEQUENCE OF DEVELOPMENT OF MIS
AS A CASE STUDY-OPERATIONAL

PAGE NO.

PRODUCTION INFORMATION SYSTEM

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD MIS
ADVANTAGES
DISADVANTAGES
APPLICATION
CONCLUSION
REFERANCE

INTRODUCTION: 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.
The importance of maintaining a consistent approach to the development, use,
And review of MIS systems within the institution must be an ongoing concern of both
Bank management and OCC examiners. MIS should have a clearly defined framework of
guidelines, policies or practices, standards, and procedures for the organization. These
should be followed throughout the institution in the development, maintenance, and use
of all MIS.
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 record keeping 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.
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 is 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 institutions unique business goals and objectives. The
MIS supports the effective deliveries of an institutions products and services. These
systems should be accessible and useable at all appropriate levels of the organization

MANAGEMENT: Management is the process of directing tasks and organizing resources to achieve
organizational goals.

Once these goals are established, the manager must develop tactics to achieve these
goals and create a decision-making process that will monitor the results.

FUNCTIONS: o PLANNING
o ORGANIZING
o LEADING
o CONTROLLING

PLANNING
Planning is the process of deciding what to do. This function entails evaluating the
organizations resource and environment and establishing a set of organizational goals.

ORGANIZING
Organizing is the art of deciding how to achieve goals. This decision requires
developed the best organizational structure, acquiring and training personnel, and
establishing communications network.

LEADING
Leading, the third managerial function, involves directing and motivating
employees to achieve the organizations goals.

CONTROLLING
Controlling enables the manager to determine if the organizations performances

are on target. He or she may develop and use performance standard to assess employee
performance.

LEVELS
o TOP LEVEL
o MIDDLE LEVEL
o FIRST LINE LEVEL

TOP LEVEL
Members of top management are the organizations senior executives. Their most
important role is establishing the goal of organization. They are typically responsible for
in-teracting with representative of the external environment such as financial institutions,
political figures and important suppliers and customers.

MIDDLE LEVEL
Middle level managers are responsible for allocating resources so that the objectives
of top management are accomplished. They do so by implementing plans and by
supervising lower level manager under functional area of responsibility.

FIRST LINE LEVEL

First line supervisors are responsible for supervising day-to-day operation. They
typically supervise function such as order entry, credit checking, inventory control, and
preventive maintenance. If problems such as errors in pricing of frequent breakdowns of
equipment of plant floor occur, first line supervisors work to solve them.

ACTIVITIES
o OPERATIONAL
o TACTIONAL
o STRATEGIC

OPERATIONAL
Operations are the day to day activities of the firm that involve acquiring and

consuming resources.First line supervisors must identify,collect and register all transactions
that result in acquiring or expanding these resources.When sales are made or goods are
shipped,a department manager needs to records these events. These transactions produce
data that are the basis for operational systems.

TACTICAL
The tactical function of an organization is the responsibility of its middle level
managers. They review operational activities to make sure that the organization is meeting
its goals and not wasting its resources.

STRATEGIC
The top management of the organization carries out strategic planning. Though
managers responsible for operational and tactical decision making are primarily involved in
reviewing internal data, the managers responsible for planning are also interested in
external information. They need to set the organizations long range goals.

SYSTEM
A system is an integrated set of components or entities that interact to achieve a
particular function or goal.
It contains characteristics such as boundaries, outputs and inputs, methods of
converting inputs into outputs and system interfaces.
It is a group of interrelated components working together toward a common goal by
accepting input and producing outputs in an organizational transformation process.

SYSTEM BOUNDARIES
Every system has a boundary that defines its scope of activities.
For example, the activities in a class include lectures, discussion, testing, grading,and
preparation of assigned course work. These activities may represent the boundary of the
system for which teacher is responsible. Within the system of the classroom, the teacher is
responsible for organizing class time, assigning homework to students and evaluating

student progress. The boundary then delineates an area of responsibility. when defining a
system it is necessary to establish a boundary.
System boundaries are also established within a business system. A sales manager
may be responsible for motivating and evaluating the performance of a sales organization.
The owner of the business, however, faces different boundaries and may develop a
financial planar marketing strategy and a long range plan.

SYSTEMS AND SUBSYSTEMS

System may consist of numerous subsystems, each of which has elements,
interactions and objectives. Subsystems perform specialized tasks related to the overall
objectives of the total system. For example, an educational system may consist of
individual courses that are subsystems. Each course provides specific knowledge that is a
part of the overall educational system and contributes to its goal.
In a business system, various functions are subsystems.Marketing, finance and
manufacturing, for example, are subsystems. Within the marketing subsystem, the sales
order entry and credit checking functions are subsystems. Each subsystem uses its
resources to meet specific objectives. A successful achievement of these goals requires
good management of internal resources. For instance, in managing the sales order entry
function, the supervisor needs to develop sales order procedures, maintain sales order
records, and train sales order personnel.

SUBSYSTEM INTERFACE AND INTERFACE PROBLEMS

Sometimes the outputs of one subsystem are not sufficient to accommodate the next
of the subsystem. For example the production subsystem may not be able to produce
enough stock to meet sales demands during certain peak periods. One way of handling this
interface problem is through the use of slack resources. In this situation a business can
build excess inventory during slack times to meet the demand for inventory at peak times.
Another situation in which designing a new subsystem can solve a interface
problem occurs at a college when it accepts some students with deficiencies in their
academic backgrounds. To bridge the gap between high school and college, the college can
create a remedial subsystem to help students develop prerequisite skills for college work.
For instance, the college may require student deficient in basic writing skills to take a
remedial writing class to learn spelling, grammer, punctuation and composition skills
before they can enroll in literature classes.

TYPES OF SYSTEMS
o OPEN SYSTEMS
o CLOSED SYSTEMS

OPEN SYSTEMS
They operate in an external environment and exchange information and material
with that environment. The external environment consists of activies external to the system
boundary with which the system can interact. An open system needs to receive feedback to
change and to continue to exit in its environment. For example, a marketing system,
operates in an open system, operates in an environment of competition. If a competitor
introduces new technology by providing customers with on line order entry terminals, the
marketing function must adapt to the change in an environment or remain at a competitive
disadvantage. One way of accommodating the change in the environment is to offer a
similar on line order entry service. The same type of adjustment is necessary when an
airline offers a new service, such as a frequent flier bonus program. Though the new service may
temporarily give the air carries a competitive advantage, the other airlines soon follow suit and
offer similar programs

CLOSED SYSTEMS
A closed system is relatively self contained; it doesnt exchange information with
its environment. Closed systems dont get the feedback they need from the external
environment and tend to deteriorate. For instance, if a training program administrator
doesnt respond to the needs of the business environment for trained graduates, students
may no longer be able to get jobs and may go elsewhere for training.Eventually, the
training program may be discontinued.

System has three basic components or functions:

o INPUT
o PROCESSING
o OUTPUT
INPUT

It involves capturing and assembling elements that enter the system to be processed.
EX: Raw materials, data and human effort must be secured and organized for processing.

PROCESSING
It involves transformation processes that convert into output.
EX: Manufacturing process, the human breathing process or mathematical calculations.

OUTPUT
It involves transferring elements that have been produced by a transferring process
to their ultimate destinations.

EX: Finished products, human services and management information must be transmitted
to their human users.

The system concept becomes even more useful by including two

addition components:
o FEEDBACK
o CONTROL
A system with feedback and control components is sometimes called as CYBERNETIC
SYSTEM.

FEEDBACK
It is data about the performance of a system.
EX: Data about sales performance is feedback to a sales manager.

CONTROL

It involves monitoring and evaluating feedback to determine whether a system is

moving toward the achievement of its goal. The control function then makes necessary
adjustment to a system input and processing components to ensure that it produces proper
output.

BUSINESS-AS A SYSTEM
A business is an organizational system where economic resources of (INPUT) are
transferred by various processes (PROCESSING) into goods and services (OUTPUT).
Information systems provide information (FEEDBACK) on the operations of the system to
management for the direction and maintenance of the system (CONTROL) as it exchanges input
and output with its environments.
Systems are composed of interrelated and interdependent subsystems.
FOR EXAMPLE:
The firms subsystem

MARKET RESEARCH SUBSYSTEM

Input
Process
Output
MANUFACTURING SUBSYSTEM
Input
Process
Output
MARKETING SUBSYSTEM
Input
Process
Output
SERVICE SUBSYSTEM
Input
Process
Output

INFORMATION SYSTEM AS A SYSTEM

Information systems that provide information that provide information that lets
management allocate resources effectively to achieve business objectives are known as
tactical systems.

FRAMEWORK FOR INFORMATION SYSTEM

Each level-operational, tactical, and strategic planning-requires specific information
system.

OPERATION SYSTEMS
At the operational systems level the primary concern is to collect, validate, and
record transactional data describing the acquisition or disbursement of corporate resources.
Operation-level information systems often have the following characteristics.

REPETITIVENESS
The information operational level information systems produce is usually generated
repetitively at periodic intervals, such as daily, weekly or monthly.
PREDICTABILITY
The information usually does not contain any surprises or unexpected results for the
manager or other users of the system. That is, people are paid what they were expected to be
paid, and customers are billed for what they purchased during the month.
EMPHASIS ON THE PAST
The information usually describes past activities of the organization. For example,
the output of a payroll system describes employees past work. The checks to vendors
describes past purchases by the organization. Customer invoices describe past sales to
them. Stock reports describe past changes in inventory.
DETAILED NATURE
The information is very detailed. That is paychecks provide detailed information on
the workweek of each employee and the specifies of each employee and specifics of each
employees gross and net pay. Customer invoices specify details regarding purchases made
during the period, the terms under which the purchases must be reo\paid, and the total amount,
including taxes and other charges, due.

INTERNAL ORIGIN
The data for operational systems usually spring entirely from internal sources. That
is the data for paychecks come from internal documents such as time cards and employee master
records. The data for customer invoices come from sales orders and shipping documents.

STRUCTURED FORM
The form of the data used as input and the form of the information produced by
operational level systems are usually very structured. That is, the data on time cards are
carefully formatted in identical fashion on each, or the data on each customer invoices are
carefully formatted in identical fashion. In short, the form and format of the data and the
information output of the systems are highly structured.

GREAT ACCURACY
The accuracy of the data used as input to such systems and of the output produced
by such systems is usually very high. The data input and information output are carefully
checked.

TACTICAL SYSTEMS
The second level in the framework consists of tactical systems. Tactical systems
provide middle-level managers with the information they need to monitor and control
operations and to allocate their resources effectively. In tactical systems, transactions data
are summarized, aggregated, or analyzed. Tactical systems generate a variety of reports,
Including summary reports, exception reports, and ad hoc reports.

STRATEGIC PLANNING SYSTEMS

The third level in the framework for information systems is strategic planning.
Strategic planning information systems are designed to provide top managers with
information that assists them in making long-range decisions for the organization. The distinct
between strategic planning system and tactical information system is not always clear because
both types of information systems may use some of the same data. For example, when middle
level managers use budgeting information to allocate resources to best meet organizational goals,
budgeting becomes a tactical decision activity. When top management uses budgeting
information to plan the long term activities of an organization, budgeting becomes a strategic

planning activity. In either case, accurate budget information delivered in a timely fashion to
managers is an important function of the financial information system of the organization
.However, the key differences between the systems have to do with who uses the data and what
they are using it for.

OVERVIEW OF INFORMATION SYSTEM

Information system plays three important roles in business success of an enterprise.
1. Support of its business processes and operations.
2. Support of decision making by its managers.
3. Support of its strategies for competitive advantage.
Information system depends on the resources of People (End users and IS
specialists),Hardware (Machine and Media),Software (Program and Procedures),Data
(Data and Knowledge base) and Network (Communication media and Network support) to
perform input,processing,output,storage and control activities that convert data resources into
information products.

RESOURCES OF INFORMATION SYSTEM

Basic resources of information system:
1. PEOPLE
2. HARDWARE
3. SOFTWARE
4. DATA
5. NETWORK
6. INFORMATION PRODUCTS

1. PEOPLE
It includes end users and IS specialists.
END USERS
Anyone else who uses information system.
SPECIALISTS
System analysis programmer, computer operators
2. HARDWARE

It includes machines and media.

MACHINES
Computers, video monitors, magnetic disk drive, printers, output scanners.
MEDIA
Floppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disks, paper forms, plastic card.
3. SOFTWARE
Include both programs and procedures.
PROGRAMS
Operating system, spread sheet programs, word processing programs, payroll program.
PROCEDURES
Data entry procedures, error correction procedures, pay check distribution procedures.
, error correction procedures, pay check distribution procedures.
4. DATA
It includes data and knowledge base.
Procedure descriptions, customer records, employee files, inventory database.
5. NETWORK
It includes communication media and networks.
Communications media, communications processors, network access, control software.

6. INFORMATION PRODUCTS
Management reports, business documents using text, graphics displays, audio responses and
paper forms.

INFORMATION SYSTEM ACTIVITIES

1. INPUT
Optical scanning of bar code tags on merchandise.

2. PROCESSING
Calculating employee pay, taxes and other payroll deductions.
3. OUTPUT
Producing reports and display about sales performance.
4. STORAGE
Maintaining records on customers, employees and products.
5. CONTROL
6.
Generating audible single to indicate proper entry of sales data.

TYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEM

1. OPERATIONS SUPPORT SYSTEMS
It supports business operations.
It is further divided into three types:
(a)Transaction processing system
It is a process business transaction.
(b)Process control system
It controls industrial processes.
(c)Enterprise collaboration system
It contains team and work group collaboration.
2. MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SYSTEM
It supports in managerial decision making.
It is further divided into three types:
(a) Management information system
It is a prespecified reporting for managers.
(b) Decision support system
It is a interactive decision supporting system.
(c) Executive information system
In this system information tailored for executives.

HOW INFORMATION SYSTEM HELPS IN BUSINESS

ACTIVITIES

Operational information systems primarily produce routine, repeatitive, descriptive,

expected and objective data that describe past activities.Thev information they produce is usually
detailed, highly structured, accurate, derived from internal sources and produced regularly. To
some, these systems may appear to represent pure drudgery for employees who must complete
them.However; the application of information system systems technologies to operational system
has reduced this drudgery to a great extent and provided managers with a number of major
advantages.
Organizations that automate operational information systems usually receive
several benefits for their efforts.
Some of them are as below:
1. REDUCED COST
Information technology reduces the cost of operational information systems, often
substantially.
3. INCREASED SPEED
Information technology also vastly increases the speed with which operational tasks
are completed, thereby increases the services levels that an organization can offer to its
customers and clients.
4. INCREASED ACCURACY
Copying data from one record to another, such as copying data from a sales order to
a sales invoice, often generates errors.
Capturing employee work times electronically as they report for work and leave
work reduces errors when these data are subsequently used to calculate total hours, total pay,
deductions and net pay.
5. INCREASED CUSTOMER SERVICE
The allocation of information technology has also improved an organizations
ability to respond to each customers or clients unique product or service needs. Computer
systems can helps an organization record, process and keep track of the many details needed to
provide customers with what they want, when they want it and in the manner that they want.
6. INCREASED DATA FOR DECISION MAKING
Operational information systems are also important for decision making. The data
from operational information systems not only represent the basic activities of most
organizations but also serve as the raw material for tactical and strategic information
systems.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DATA AND INFORMATION

DATA
They are the individual elements of a transaction, such as item number, item
quantity and price on a sales order transaction.
INFORMATION
It is data with meaning for decision making.
An information system is a set of procedures organized to generate information that enables
managers to review operational, tactical and strategic planning activities.

SEQUENCE OF DEVELOPMENT OF MANAGEMENT

INFORMATION SYSTEMS
The base of operational systems has to be in place before tactical systems can be
built because the data input into operational systems become the source of data for tactical
systems.
A management information system, in particular, is designed to provide information
for effective planning and tactical decision making. Data are often aggregated to provide
the information needed for tactical information systems. Therefore; most management
information systems need a foundation of operational level data systems.

GENERAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

It involves three parts:

1. STRATEGIC PLANNING
It involves following things:
1. MARKET FORECAST
2. NEW PRODUCT
3. DEVELOPMENT

2. TACTICAL PLANNING
It involves following things:

1. AGENT PROFITABILITY
2. PRODUCT PROFITABILITY

3. OPERATIONAL PLANNING
It involves following things:
1. PREMIUM BILLING
2. ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS
3. POLICY ISSUANCE AND MAINTENANCE
Massive amounts of paperwork involved in creating, maintaining and generating
bills for policies make computer systems essential at GENERAL LIFE ENSURANCE
COMPANY. On line systems supporting policy screening, creation and issuance were
designed in the 1970s.Using an on-line system, an operator keys in new application
information at a computer terminal. New information arriving from physicians is used to
update policy information on-line.
On-line access to policy information makes it possible to handle inquiries from
policyholders and from agents seeking information about policy status.
Many of the newer systems at General Life provide the firm with a competitive
advantage in product marketing and customer service.General Life has developed soft ware
available through its network that enables local sales agents to analyze alternative product and
service options on a timely basis. This software provides the information agents need to close
many sales immediately.
One of major projects at General Life today is developing software for producing
new insurance products all the time, it is important to have new services and product
options on the shelf for new marketing efforts. Market studies forecasting customer needs can
provide senior management with valuable information for new product planning. New systems
projects are clearly directed at cutting costs, improving productivity and providing managers
with better information for decision making.Increasingly,sales
managers are designing applications that will help them analyze product profitability and
impact of marketing strategies on sales. Information on customer profitability, for example, helps
the company concentrate its resources on the most profitable customers. This supports the
tactical objective of achieving maximum profitability.

AS A CASE STUDYOPERATIONAL
PRODUCTION INFORMATION SYSTEM
Production systems are designed to produce the goods and services to meet
marketing system projections. Production information systems support decision making forthe
operation, allocation and planning of production resources.
Operational production systems include continuous flow production, mass
production, job order production and project production. In addition operational
productionsystems include the production of services as well as hard goods. The purpose of
theproduction system is to acquire the raw materials and and purchased parts, test thematerials

for quality, acquired the appropriate human resources, work space and equipmentschedule the
materials, human resources, space and equipment, fabricate the products orservices, test the
product or service outputs and monitor and control the use and costs of theresources involved.
Some of the major operational information systems used in production are given below:
1. PURCHASING SYSTEMS
2. RECEIVING SYSTEMS
3. QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEMS
4. SHIPPING SYSTEMS
5. COST ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS
6. INVENTORY CONTROL SYSTEMS
7. AUTOMATED MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEMS
8. COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS
9. IMAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
10. MATERIAL SELECTION SYSTEMS
11. SHOP-FLOOR SCHEDULING SYSTEMS
12. MASS CUSTOMIZATION AND AGILE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

1. PURCHASING SYSTEMS
To produce goods and services we must have the right quantity of raw materials and
production supplies on hand. Furthermore, we will want to produce these materials and
supplies at the lowest cost and have they delivered at the right time. To assist in this
function, the purchasing system has to maintain data on all phase of the acquisition of raw
materials and purchased parts used in production.
For example, the purchasing system must maintain vendor files with price quotation
information on all production materials and supplies so that intelligent choices can be made
among suppliers. The system also maintains records of goods that are already on order.

2. RECEIVING SYSTEMS
When shipments of purchased goods and suppliers are received, they must usually
be opened, inspected and verified against purchase orders and the information about their status
passed to the accounts payable, inventory and production departments. Delivery dates should
also be noted for several reasons, including collecting data on the delivery time reliability of
suppliers. This type of information is supplied by receiving systems.

3. QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEMS

Quality control systems provide information about the status of production goods as
they move from the raw material state, through goods in process, to finished goods. Quality
control systems ensure that raw materials or parts purchased for those materials. The system also
monitor during the production cycle.

4. SHIPPING SYSTEMS
At the other end of the production process, finished goods are placed in inventory
and\or shipped to customers. Many records and documents are used to assist and monitor inthe
inventorying and shipping processes.
For example, shipping reports and packing slips. The information from the shipping
system affects the inventory and account receivable systems.

5. COST ACCOUNTING SYSTEM

Many operational-level financial systems collect and report information about the
resources that are used in the production processes so that managers can obtain accurate costs of
productions on products and services. Cost accounting systems monitor the three major resources
used in production:
HUMAN RESOURCES
MATERIALS
EQUIPMENTS AND FACILITIES
Workers, supervisors and managers are one of the most important resources
available to managers. Payroll systems collect and report information about the costs of
these resources and how much of their time has been allocated to different products and services.

6. INVENTORY CONTROL SYSTEMS

The management and control of raw materials, goods-in-process and finished goods
inventories is an important part of the production system. Careful management and control of
these inventories will usually provide considerable savings to the organization.
Inventory control systems use information from operational systems, such as the shipping and
receiving systems, purchasing systems and order-entry systems.
Maintaining inventories at their proper levels eliminates production shutdowns from
lack of raw materials and lost sales from lack of finished goods. However, maintaining
inventories also represents a number of costs to the organization, including the costs of
producing and carrying the inventory and stakeout costs, or those costs that result when the
right amount of the right item is not on hand at the right time.

7. AUTOMATED MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEMS

Keeping counts of and ordering inventory are important tasks for an

organization.However,monitoring inventorying from the time it is received to the time it is
shipped is also important.AMH systems track, control and otherwise support the movement of
raw materials, work-in-process and finished goods from the receiving docks to the shipping
docks.AMH software combines with various materials handling equipment, including conveyors,
pick-and-place robots and automated guided vehicles, to get this job done.

8. COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING

SYSTEMS
A great deal of software has been developed to aid product engineers design new
products and improve old products. One type of software that helps product engineers to
CAD/CAM.CAD software normally falls into two categories.
One category helps mechanical engineers and architects construct and modify
complex drawings, blueprints, diagrams or illustrations quickly and easily.
Another category includes programs that help electrical engineers produce
schematics quickly and easily, alter the schematics and then produce a final draft of the
electrical circuits.CAM software converts CAD drawings into finished products with little
human intervention.
For example, a bolt may be designed using CAD software. A compatible CAM
software package reads the design and instructs lathe machinery to turn out bolts with the
parameters specified in the CAD drawing. CAD/CAM software has been enhanced by software
providing COMPUTER AIDED ENGINEERING (CAE), COMPUTER AIDED
TESTING (CAT), COMPUTER AIDED PROCESS PLANNING (CAPP) AND
COMMPUTER AIDED INSPECTION (CAI).

8. IMAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Engineering and architectural drawings are difficult to store and retrieve in hardcopy
form. Parts of the one design may be useful in another if we can find the design that
contained the useful element.IMS are design to manage the storage and retrieval of
engineering and architectural drawings using optical disk storage media. The software also
maintains control over changes made to drawings and distributes the drawings to users.

9. MATERIAL SELECTION SYSTEMS

Many programs are available that aid the engineer in choosing materials for the
product under design. These programs are called Material Selection Program. Selecting the best
materials to account for stress, heat humidity and other conditions can be
labouries.Sawyer and pecht note that in the metals category alone, an engineer might
choose from more than 100000 materials with more than 80 properties.

10.

SHOP-FLOORING SCHEDULING SYSTEMS

A common operational task for factory supervisors is to schedule production jobs.

This task includes scheduling the time, building and rooms, tools and equipments,
inventory and personnel to complete factory orders. Scheduling must take into account the
constraints of setup time or the time it takes to get ready for the production run, take down time
or the time it takes to return the area to its original state, tool requirements, equipment
requirements and operator requirements. Because it involves many subtasks and relies on many
parts of the organization, shop-floor scheduling can be very complex. Computer systems can
help the supervisor reduce complexity by completing some subtasks automatically.

12. MASS CUSTOMIZATION AND AGILE MANUFACTURING

SYSTEMS
Production departments are using computer systems to very products-right on the
production line-to fit the demands of individual customers. This ability to use mass
production techniques to tailor products to each customer is called mass customization or agile
manufacturing.Coomputer systems applied in this way are no longer making the
organization just more efficient. They are also making these organizations more effective and
even transforming some forms.

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD MIS

MIS should possess the following main characteristics:
1. Completeness: Information should include all the elements needed for making a decision and
also it must offer alternatives to assist in decision-making.
2. Clarity and conciseness: Information presented, must be clear and concise.
3. Consistency: Information must be identical if it is gathered by different persons.
4. Predictive ability: IS must be capable to predict or highlight the problem areas before their
actual occurrence.
5. Relevant: Information must be relevant and unnecessary information should be deleted.
6. Timeliness: Most current information with latest data must be made available to
management.
7. Simple: Management information system must be simple and easy to understand and
handle.
8. Effectiveness: It must assist in the process of decision-making and taking corrective
action effectively and timely. The MIS system developed must be suitable to fulfill the
needs of the organization.
9. Information or data collected at the lowest levels should be such that it can be condensed
and summarized successively for presentation to high levels of management.

ADVANTAGES
1.
New development in information system, such as telecommunications, computeraideddesign and office automation have unprecedented opportunities.
2. Managers in most organizations are looking ways to use new information technology
tosupport business strategy.
3. Information system can change the nature of industry in which the firm competes. The
introduction of information system can affect products and services, markets and
production economics.
4. Information system can change the nature of products and services by altering the
product development cycle or by increasing the speed of distribution.
For example: An example of speeding up the product development cycle comes from the
publishing business. If a textbook publisher uses word processing and computer based type
setting to generate publications, it may be able to reduce the product development cycle by 30 to
40 percent and to cut the cost of document preparation, revision and distribution by half. A
publisher using word processing and typesetting could bring out a revision of a text in 12 months
instead of traditional 24-month product development life cycle, giving it an automatic
competitive advantage in the textbook market place. Texts produced in this way are more timely
and more responsive to market needs.
5. New information system is also fostering new business opportunities. Video
conferencing, a technology that makes it possible to hold electronic meetings, could hurt
the airline and hotel businesses in the next 5 to 10 years. Holiday inns have decided to
counter this threat by offering videoconferencing facilities for business meetings and in this way
have created an entirely new market.
6. Efficiency increases.
For example:
An efficient office worker, for example, can update hundreds of documents per
hour. An efficient information system can update thousands of employee or student records per
minute.Historically, computer-based information processing systems have supported efficiency
by automatic routine paper work processing tasks.
7. Effectiveness increases.
For example: An effective sales manager, for example, focuces on tasks that pay off in increased
sales volumes. Information systems can help managers be more effective. For example, a
prospect database housed on a PC may enable a sales manager to identify sales prospects with
high potential and direct his staffs attention to contacting those prospects.

8. A prospective customer, for example, may be weighting the advantages and

disadvantages of alternative investment options-say, in stocks, bonds and mutual funds.
Sitting in the customers living room with a PC in hand, the salespersons can compare the
anticipated yields on different investment alternatives and give the customer a much better idea
of the potential returns on different programs. This capability is an example of transformation; it
changes the way the salesperson sells investments.
9. The last group of applications of information system has an impact on the organization as a
whole. Linking customers to the order-entry system of a supplier can improve efficiency.
For example:
Furniture retailers can use terminals linked to the order-entry system of a furniture
manufacturer to a place orders, check on prices and delivery dates and manage their own
inventories. This system improves the efficiency of placing orders by cutting down on paperwork
and enabling retailers to check on available stock before placing orders. The system also gives
the furniture manufacturer a competitive advantage because it links customers electronically to
the order-entry system, making it easier to place orders with this manufacturer than with other
suppliers.

DISADVANTAGES
1. Inflexibility: Management working by MIS may follow too rigid a pattern in
thinking and action. There is always need for flexibility in management thinking
due to change in factors external to organization.However,the provision of written
objectives may not allow flexibility in thinking and action.
2. Lack of top management involvement and support: For a MIS programmed to
succeed, it must have the complete support of top management.
3. Different angle of vision: Each discipline of management (production, finance,
marketing, personnel etc.) will view the business in the perspective of its own
activities. Hence, functional manager measures his performance by his own
professional criteria, instead of measuring his contribution to the enterprise.
4. Difficulty in setting realistic and meaningful objectives: Some jobs and areas of
performance cannot be quantified and hence are not amenable for objective
evaluation.
5. Lack of relevant skill: Managers may not have the requisite skills for identifying
objectives.Communicatioin and interpersonal interaction such as counseling and
giving as well as receiving feedback.
6. Lack of individual motivation: The rewards and incentives for superior performance
have to be specified clearly. If the reward, promotion and such other incentives are
not allowed then with the passage of time consistent good performance cannot be
maintained.
7. Poor integration with other system: The objective setting and review phases must be

performed in conjunction with other activities such as budgeting, forecasting and

the like. Moreover, MIS necessitates decentralization of decision making powers
and delegation of authority so as to fulfil the objectives. Too much decentralization
is also problematic.
8. Lack of understanding of the philosophy behind MIS: MIS programme in some
organization meets the resistance of the employees because it is imposed on them as
a Control device to curb their freedom.

APPLICATION
MIS helps the management to take decisions in the following fields:
1. To carry out study, in order to provide information about the competitors, their share in the
market, prices etc.This will enable the management to take decision about the quality, quantity
and sales price of the product to be produced.
2. To acquire knowledge about new processes and technologies developed.
3. Forecasting.
4. Inventory management.
5. To permit management by exception.
6. To prepare long range plans.
7. To find out new opportunities.
8. Scheduling problems.
9. Reservation system being operated in Airlines.
10. To allocate capital resources.
11. To exercise the necessary control over day-to-day operations.
12. To know about government policies related with the business of the organization etc.

CONCLUSION

Management information system is a system of obtaining, abstracting, storing and

analyzing data produce information for use in planning, controlling and decision making by
yielding information for managers, at the time they can most effectively use it
In other words, management information system is a formal method of making
available to management accurate and timely information necessary to facilitate the
decision-making process and enable the organizations planning, control and operational
functions to be carried out effectively.

REFERANCE
1. www.wikipedia.com
2. www.google.com
3. MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
ROBERT SCHULTHESIS
MARY SUMNER
By TATA MCGRAW-HILL EDITION
4. Industrial Engineering and Production Management
-M.MAHAJAN