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UNIT-1

By:Mehul Patel

Mehul20_march1989@yahoo.in

mailto:Mehul20_march1989@yahoo.inmailto:Mehul20_march1989@yahoo.in

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Functions of Management Information Systems

There are many different functions involved in a successful Management

Information Systems (MIS) department. There has to be people skilled in both

software and hardware installations. All employees must also maintain goodpeople skills. The Surry County MIS Department deals with every department in

the County in some form or another. The MIS department is responsible for all

computers that are on the Surry County Network. At the present time the number

of PCs that are supported by MIS Department is around 300 and is growing

everyday. Not only does the MIS department support PCs we also maintain

County servers. These servers control the Tax, Finance, E911, Sheriff, EMS, Fire

Marshal, and many other departments' daily activities. Without these servers in

proper working order things in Surry County would be a lot different than you

know them to be.

A. Breakdown Of Departmental Functions:

There are 10 basic functions of an Management Information Systems

department. These functions consist of the following: help desk, support

teams, service and support, training, networking, purchasing, installations,

research and development, operations, planning, budget.

B. Explaining Each Of The Functions:

Help Desk: Service support calls and help solve problems. All calls entered

into helpdesk database for quick update and retrieval. Support Teams:

Teams assigned to different department and projects to better offer ongoing

knowledge and expertise in any single area. Service and Support: Repair

hardware, software support, warranty service. Provide onsite service to all

County sites. Provide phone support. Act as liaison between the department

head and the vendor support team. Training: Train employees on

computer basics, office productivity software and specialized software

individual to each department. Provide training facility for vendor use.

Networking: LAN / WAN design, implementation and support. File, print,

e-mail, www server support. Backup and anti-virus server support.

Ethernet, and fiber optic support. Purchasing: Specifying purchasing

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specs. Maintaining standards for purchases. Provide quote, assist in

maintaining fixed assets, assist in grant proposals. Installations: New

hardware and software. Research and Development: Review of current

trends in the industry, attend training in new technology, and evaluating new

systems. Operations: Daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance such as

backups, server auditing, and system usage checks. Light data entry and

modifications. Planning and Budget: Maintaining relationships with

departments and their priority areas. Planning for long and short-term

projects and budget review for future years.

Organization as a System: A 10-Step Process

Table of Contents

Introduction

Step 1. OutputsStep 2. Customers

Step 3. Environment / Community NeedStep 4. Customer Knowledge

Step 5. Processes

Step 6. InputsStep 7. Suppliers

Step 8. VisionStep 9. Plan to Improve

Step 10. Design and Redesign

Introduction

Deming first called attention to the importance of linking a system for production with a system

for improvement and tying them to a common aim for the future. He referred to this as "viewingproduction as a system." Dr. Thomas Nolan, of Associates in Process Improvements, Silver

Spring, MD and Dr. Paul Batalden of the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, DartmouthMedical School, are responsible for creating this document based on the work of Dr. Deming.

This exercise has helped many leaders view their organization as a system. This document isused with permission.

All the tools and methods of quality improvement revolve around a basic understanding of"production as a system." Whether the organization produces cars, bank deposits, surgery oreducation, the principles are the same. Therefore, it is important to read through this section in its

entirety being mindful that this will later be part of your project.

Deming defined a system as a group of interdependent people, items, processes, products, andservices that have a common purpose or aim. A system that is capable of continual improvement

can be illustrated as:

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To understand an organization as a system of production we must consider:

How we make what we make.

Why we make what we make.How we improve what we make.

This can be depicted as:

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By defining a system in this way, we can link the means of production with the aim or purpose ofthe organization in order to continually improve. "Aim" means the connection to the underlying

social or community need. The aim also considers the environmental issues that may effect thefuture of the organization. General systems theory, originally proposed by Von Bertalanffy and

then by others in biology, psychiatry, management, and engineering, is all related. An "open

system" is a system that permits continued access from "outside" of the system itself.

Step 1: Outputs

The question we seek to answer is: What do you produce? orWhat do you make?

Tips:

List the important ones first (e.g., highest volume, etc.)

Be sure you are listing services or products, not the activities necessary toproduce them. For example, "lab result reports" is the product and laboratorytesting is the process; "organizational policy" is the product and "policy-making"

is the process.Manufacturing organizations produce a product. Service organizations produce

services. Health care workers commonly produce information, procedures, reportsand decisions, patient interventions, services, and a therapeutic environment

among other outputs.This is a difficult exercise for service organizations. We are in the habit of

describing what we do -- not what we make. Being able to describe what we makeis the beginning of being able to figure out how to improve.

The answer to this question helps begin the knowledge building activity by focusing on what

care, service,or products the hospital produces.

Step 2: Customers

The question we seek to answer is: Who uses or receives these services or products?

Tips:

List the customers you often encounter. Focus first on the external customers.Be as specific as is practical.

Customers are those who need and/or benefit from the products and servicesyou produce.

The answer to this question is a clarification of the identity of those who benefit from what you

make.

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Step 3: Environment / Community Need

The question we seek to answer is: What is the underlying need that those customers have

for what you make?

Tips:

What environmental issues can impact what you provide ? (competitors whohave developed innovative approaches, national or international issues, change in

Federal laws/regulation, etc.)Focus on the fundamental, underlying needs for your services. "Why do people

actually need what you make?"Sometimes it is helpful to take each major customer and carefully ask about

their need for what you make.

It is often helpful to work with the highest volume outputs and the mostimportant customers rather than initially trying to address the needs of allcustomers for all services and products.

Sometimes it is helpful to ask, "What other services or products might meetthat need?" as a means of gaining further insight into the underlying need.

Remember that the focus is on the need--not what you or anyone else may do tomeet that need.

The purpose of this question is to help you gain insight into the underlying need for what you do.

Step 4: Customer Knowledge

The questions that must be answered here are:

What measures or characteristics do customers use when they assess and judgethe goodness or quality of what you make?

What about the customers might prompt or drive their interest in assessing andjudging quality that way?

Tips:

Start with a single customer, identify what you produce for them, and ask howthat specific customer assesses quality or "goodness" about that product or

service.Now focus on what might prompt each customer (or customer group) to assess

and judge quality that way. What are their reasons for that quality characteristic?Connect those "prompts" to the measures of quality with an arrow from the

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prompt to the measure. These prompts can be thought of as "drivers" of themeasures of quality and goodness.

The answers to these questions help develop further insight into the ways in which improvements

in what is done can be guided by the specific quality concerns of those who benefit from what

you do. The intention here is to build further knowledge of the customers that you serve.

Step 5: Processes

The question we seek to answer here is: What methods or activities do you use to make your

service or product?

Tips:

Arrange the processes in a typical scenario that illustrates what usuallyhappens. This may be the steps of how a patient comes and moves through themajor steps in the hospital, or it can be the production of a car.

Some processes come together to form the "core" process--or mainstay--ofwhat you do. Other processes support that core process. Both are important.

Supportive processes find their way into many steps of the core process.Arrange the steps in the core process in such a way that it is clear that the

supportive processes help the core process. If displaying the Post-It notes on apiece of butcher paper, consider turning the sheet on its long side and starting the

first step in the core process in the upper left hand corner of the sheet, then list thesteps in sequence across the top of the sheet. The supportive processes can be

clustered on the bottom one-half of the sheet.

The answers to these questions reveal that there are several processes at work to generate what

you produce. Some of them are linked to each other. Some of these linked processes form a"core" that represents the basic work of the organization as it constitutes the "mainstay" of what

is regularly produced. Further, it will be clear that some other processes are linked in asupportive way to that "main" or "core" process.

Step 6: Inputs

The question we seek to answer here is: What comes into your process and is changed by the

regular actions of the process to create the services or products?

Tips:

List the human, financial, material, and information inputs to your processes.

Inputs come from internal as well as external sources.

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The answer to this question builds knowledge of the needs, skills, materials or goods thatregularly enter your system and which form the beginning point for your work.

Step 7: Suppliers

The question we seek to answer is: Who or what specific people, departments, or

organizations provide the inputs?

Tips:

For each input in step 6, list the supplier(s).

List suppliers of patients, goods, manpower.Sometimes the same person or department can be a supplier as well as a

customer of the process. If so, they supply one thing and receive another --

presumably your process has added value to what they have supplied.Remember that the concept of supplier applies both inside and outside yourorganization.

The answer to this question identifies those you depend on for what you do.

Step 8: Vision

The question we seek to answer is: Based on what you know about the need for what you do,

and your knowledge of the customers, what is the vision for the future in yourorganization?

Tips:

Your "vision" for what you seek to become should be clearly related to the

underlying need in the community and society for what you do, as well as to yourknowledge of the customers.

Placing those social/community needs and customer knowledge items (the"prompts" behind the way in which people define quality) side by side on a single

sheet of paper sometimes allows you to begin thinking about what it might take to

become an organization in the future that better meets those needs.Note that your knowledge of the processes of what you do helps inform yourunderstanding of what those processes are able to produce (process capability) in

relation to the needs and to the knowledge of the customer.Is the "vision" shared? What is shared is likely to actually inform ongoing

efforts.Be as specific as you can. If the "picture" of the future is clear--like a

photograph--it is easier for people to know what is meant and, therefore, it is more

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likely to be realized.Remember that your ability to clearly state this aim will improve as you keep

working on it.Sometimes it is helpful to ask this question for five years from now. "What do

we need to become in five years that we are not now, based on our knowledge of

needs and our knowledge of the customer?"Some have found it helpful to realize that a vision of the future should permityour organization to be recognized as "responsive" and as "discernible" by those

you intend to serve.

The ingredients of your shared view of the future for your organization underlie what will be

needed to build a shared sense of that future. The shared sense of the future is what every worker

needs in order to align what they do and how they might improve what they do with the future ofthe organization.

Step 9: Plan to Improve

The question we seek to answer is: Based on your vision for the future, on your knowledge of

the needs, on your knowledge of the customer, and on information from employees

involved and knowledgeable about your work, what is strategically important to improve?

Tips:

Remember that you answer this type of question each time you build a capital

or operating budget.

Limit number of responses to an important few; certainly less than five.Sometimes it is helpful to think of these as "themes" of improvement.Sometimes it is helpful to think of these as the names of major "gaps" against

which the next layer of the organization will be asked to "plan."

The answers to this question provide the near-term focus (12-18 months) for work on the

improvement of what you do. They integrate the improvement efforts of the organization.

Step 10: Design and Redesign

The final question we need to answer is: What specific process(es) will offer you the greatest

leverage in securing the strategic improvements you seek to make?

Tips:

Be as specific as you can.Limit the number of processes to 3-8.

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In keeping with your strategic priorities for improvement, you may identifysome processes that simply need to be stabilized so that they are more predictable.

The answers to this question offer greater precision for the immediate improvement plans and

recognize that improvement will occur either by designing some new processes or by re-

designing existing processes.

Now examine the arrows in the diagram that you first saw in the Introduction. These must be

managed in an organization. Who assures that customer knowledge is gathered and translatedinto a vision? Who monitors the involvement and feeds it back to enhance the vision?

Components of MIS:

The various components of MIS in the project are Data relating to program

implementation through community-based interventions. Data relating to

processes adopted for the development of Tanks. Administration-related data,

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from the roles and responsibilities of the functionaries at various levels Tasks

assigned, completed and the output related information. Data pertaining to

conducting review meetings with people and those conducted at the block and

district levels. Assignments and the Interventions designed by the NGOs for

effective participation of the people and CFTs. The data-based reports generatedby them. Visits conducted in relation to the development of Tanks at village,

Taluk and district levels visit reports on specified indicators. Data relating to

various training programs organized/ to be organized to various stakeholders at

different levels. Important aspects, as extracted from the minutes of the meeting

organized by the TUCs and the issues as raised by the TUGs at the village/ tank

level and those addressed by the TUCs. Efforts made by the CFTs (Processes

adopted by them) with in the broad framework provided by the JSYS through

NGOs process oriented documentation. Data relating to preparation of costestimates and their follow-up etc. Data relating to project finances including the

expenditures made under various heads. Any other related aspect, as suggested or

evolved over a period of time with constant interaction and dialogue with the

people and stakeholders at various levels.

MIS Activities

The textbook defines an information system as a set of interrelated components

that work together to collect, process, store, and disseminate information to

support decision making, coordination, control, analysis, and visualization in an

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organization. In addition to supporting decision making, coordination, and control,

information systems may also help managers and workers analyze problems,

visualize complex subjects, and create new products.

Types of Information Systems

Information systems differ in their business needs. Also depending upon different

levels in organization information systems differ. Three major information systems

are

1. Transaction processing systems

2. Management information systems

3. Decision support systems

Figure 1.2 shows relation of information system to the levels of organization. Theinformation needs are different at different organizational levels. Accordingly the

information can be categorized as: strategic information, managerial information

and operational information.

Strategic information is the information needed by top most management for

decision making. For example the trends in revenues earned by the organization

are required by the top management for setting the policies of the organization.

This information is not required by the lower levels in the organization. The

information systems that provide these kinds of information are known as Decision

Support Systems.

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Figure 1.2 - Relation of information systems to levels of organization

The second category of information required by the middle management is known

as managerial information. The information required at this level is used for

making short term decisions and plans for the organization. Information like sales

analysis for the past quarter or yearly production details etc. fall under this

category. Management information system (MIS) caters to such information needs

of the organization. Due to its capabilities to fulfill the managerial information

needs of the organization, Management Information Systems have become a

necessity for all big organizations. And due to its vastness, most of the bigorganizations have separate MIS departments to look into the related issues and

proper functioning of the system.

The third category of information is relating to the daily or short term information

needs of the organization such as attendance records of the employees. This kind

of information is required at the operational level for carrying out the day-to-day

operational activities. Due to its capabilities to provide information for processing

transaction of the organization, the information system is known as Transaction

Processing System or Data Processing System. Some examples of information

provided by such systems areprocessing of orders, posting of entries in bank,evaluating overdue purchaser orders etc.

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1.Transaction Processing Systems:

TPS processes business transaction of the organization. Transaction can be any

activity of the organization. Transactions differ from organization to organization.

For example, take a railway reservation system. Booking, canceling, etc are all

transactions. Any query made to it is a transaction. However, there are some

transactions, which are common to almost all organizations. Like employee new

employee, maintaining their leave status, maintaining employees accounts, etc.

This provides high speed and accurate processing of record keeping of basic

operational processes. These include calculation, storage and retrieval.

Transaction processing systems provide speed and accuracy, and can be

programmed to follow routines functions of the organization.

2.Management Information Systems:

These systems assist lower management in problem solving and making decisions.

They use the results of transaction processing and some other information also. It

is a set of information processing functions. It should handle queries as quickly as

they arrive. An important element of MIS is database.

A database is a non-redundant collection of interrelated data items that can be

processed through application programs and available to many users.

3.Decision Support Systems:

These systems assist higher management to make long term decisions. These type

of systems handle unstructured or semi structured decisions. A decision is

considered unstructured if there are no clear procedures for making the decision

and if not all the factors to be considered in the decision can be readily identified in

advance.

These are not of recurring nature. Some recur infrequently or occur only once. A

decision support system must very flexible. The user should be able to producecustomized reports by giving particular data and format specific to particular

situations.

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Types of Information Management Systems

The management of Information is facilitated by the use of Information Technology andInformation Sciences. The popular Information Management Systems can be listed as follows:

1 Document management system (DMS) 2 Content management system (CMS) 3 Library management system (LMS)

4 Records management system (RMS) 5 Digital imaging system (DIS)

6 Learning management system (LMS) 7 Geographic information system (GIS)

Document management system (DMS)

The DMS is focused primarily on the storage and retrieval of self-contained electronic dataresources in the document form. Generally, The DMS is designed to help the organizations to

manage the creation and flow of documents through the provision of a centralized repository.The workflow of the DMS encapsulates business rules and metadata.

Content management system (CMS)

The CMS assist in the creation, distribution, publishing, and management of the enterpriseinformation. These systems are generally applicable on the online content which is dynamically

managed as a website on the internet or intranet. The CMS system can also be called as webcontent management (WCM).

Library management system (LMS)

Library management systems facilitate the library technical functions and services that include

tracking of the library assets, managing CDs and books inventory and lending, supporting thedaily administrative activities of the library and the record keeping.

Records management system (RMS)

The RMS are the recordkeeping systems which capture, maintain and provide access to the

records including paper as well as electronic documents, efficiently and timely.

Digital imaging system (DIS)

The DIS assist in automation of the creation of electronic versions of the paper documents suchas PDFs or Tiffs. So created Electronic documents are used as an input to the records

management systems.

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Learning management system (LMS)

Learning management systems are generally used to automate the e-learning process whichincludes the administrative process like registering students, managing training resources,

creating courseware, recording results etc.

Geographic information system (GIS)

The GIS are special purpose, computer-based systems that facilitate the capture, storage,retrieval, display and analysis of the spatial data.