Unit 1: Chapter 1: MIS

What is MIS?

MIS is the use of information technology, people, and business processes to record, store and process data to produce information that decision makers can use to make day to day decisions.

MIS is the acronym for Management Information Systems. In a nutshell, MIS is a collection of systems, hardware, procedures and people that all work together to process, store, and produce information that is useful to the organization.

The need for MIS

The following are some of the justifications for having an MIS system

• Decision makers need information to make effective decisions. Management Information Systems (MIS) make this possible.
• MIS systems facilitate communication within and outside the organization – employees within the organization are able to easily access the required information for the day to day operations. Facilitates such as Short Message Service (SMS) & Email make it possible to communicate with customers and suppliers from within the MIS system that an organization is using.
• Record keeping – management information systems record all business transactions of an organization and provide a reference point for the transactions.

Components of MIS

The major components of a typical management information system are;

• People – people who use the information system
• Data – the data that the information system records
• Business Procedures – procedures put in place on how to record, store and analyze data
• Hardware – these include servers, workstations, networking equipment, printers, etc.
• Software – these are programs used to handle the data. These include programs such as spreadsheet programs, database software, etc.

Types of Information Systems

The type of information system that a user uses depends on their level in an organization. The following diagram shows the three major levels of users in an organization and the type of information system that they use. 

Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)

This type of information system is used to record the day to day transactions of a business. An example of a Transaction Processing System is a Point of Sale (POS) system. A POS system is used to record the daily sales.

Management Information Systems (MIS)

Management Information Systems are used to guide tactic managers to make semi-structured decisions. The output from the transaction processing system is used as input to the MIS system.

Decision Support Systems (DSS)

Decision support systems are used by top level managers to make semi-structured decisions. The output from the Management Information System is used as input to the decision support system.DSS systems also get data input from external sources such as current market forces, competition, etc.

Manual Information Systems VS Computerized Information Systems (MIS)

Data is the bloodstream of any business entity. Everyone in an organization needs information to make decisions. An information system is an organized way of recording, storing data, and retrieving information.

In this section, we will look at manual information systems vs. computerized information systems.

Manual Information System

A manual information system does not use any computerized devices. The recording, storing and retrieving of data is done manually by the people, who are responsible for the information system.

The following are the major components of a manual information system

• People –people are the recipients of information system
• Business Procedures –these are measures put in place that define the rules for processing data, storing it, analyzing it and producing information
• Data –these are the recorded day to day transactions
• Filing system – this is an organized way of storing information
• Reports –the reports are generated after manually analyzing the data from the filing system and compiling it.