Assignment A

Q 1: Define MIS ? What are the characteristics of MIS?

Ans: To the managers, Management Information System is an implementation of the organizational systems and
procedures. To a programmer it is nothing but file structures and file processing. However, it involves much more
complexity.
The three components in MIS gives a more complete and focused definition, where System suggests integration and
holistic view, Information stands for processed data and Management is the ultimate user, the decision makers.
Management information system can thus be analyzed as:
Management:
Management covers the planning, control, and administration of the operations of a concern. The top management
handles planning; the middle management concentrates on controlling; and the lower management is concerned with
actual administration.
Information:
Information, in MIS, means the processed data that helps the management in planning, controlling and operations.
Data means all the facts arising out of the operations of the concern. Data is processed i.e. recorded, summarized,
compared and finally presented to the management in the form of MIS report.
System:
Data is processed into information with the help of a system. A system is made up of inputs, processing, output and
feedback or control.
Thus MIS means a system for processing data in order to give proper information to the management for performing
its functions.
Definition
Management Information System, 'MIS' is a planned system of collecting, storing and
disseminating data in the form of information needed to carry out the functions of
management.

Characteristics of MIS:
Following are the characteristics of an MIS:
It should be based on a long-term planning.
It should provide a holistic view of the dynamics and structure of the organization.
It should work as a complete and comprehensive system covering all interconnecting sub-systems within the
organization.
It should be planned in a top-down way, as the decision makers or the management should actively take part and
provide clear direction at the development stage of the MIS.
It should be based on need of strategic, operational and tactical information of managers of an organization.
It should also take care of exceptional situations by reporting such situations.
It should be able to make forecasts and estimates, and generate advanced information, thus providing a competitive
advantage. Decision makers can take actions on the basis of such predictions.
It should create linkage between all sub-systems within the organization, so that the decision makers can take the
right decision based on integrated view.
It should allow easy flow of information through various sub-systems, thus avoiding redundancy and duplicity of data.
It should simplify the operations with as much practicability as possible.
Although the MIS is an integrated, complete system, it should be made in such a flexible way that it could be easily
split into smaller sub-systems as and when required.
A central database is the backbone of a well-built MIS.
Characteristics of Computerized MIS
Following are the characteristics of a well-designed computerized MIS:
It should be able to process data accurately and with high speed, using various techniques like operations research,
simulation, heuristics etc.
It should be able to collect, organize, manipulate and update large amount of raw data of both related and unrelated
nature, coming from various internal and external sources at different periods of time.
It should provide real time information on ongoing events without any delay.
It should support various output formats and follow latest rules and regulations in practice.
It should provide organized and relevant information for all levels of management: strategic, operational and tactical.
It should aim at extreme flexibility in data storage and retrieval.

Q 2: Explain strategic MIS categories in detail. Give relevant examples.
Ans:
Ans:
Strategic Information System
A Strategic Information System (SIS) is a system to manage information and assist in
strategic decision making. A strategic information system has been defined as, "the
information system to support or change enterprise's strategy."

A SIS is a type of Information System that is aligned with business strategy and structure.
The alignment increases the capability to respond faster to environmental changes and thus
creates a competitive advantage. An early example was the favorable position afforded
American and United Airlines by their reservation systems, Sabre and Apollo. For many
years these two systems ensured that the two carriers' flights appeared on the first screens
observed by travel agents, thus increasing their bookings relative to competitors. A major
source of controversy surrounding SIS is their sustainability.

SISs are different from other comparable systems as:
1) They change the way the firm competes.
2) They have an external (outward looking) focus.
3) They are associated with higher project risk.
4) They are innovative (and not easily copied).

It is mainly concerned with providing and organization and its members an assistance to
perform the routine tasks efficiently and effectively. One of the major issue before any
organization is the challenge of meeting its goals and objectives. Strategic IS enable such
organization in realizing their goals. Strategic Information System (SIS) is a support to the
existing system and helps in achieving a competitive advantage over the organizations
competitors in terms of its objectives. The flow of the unit is in such a way that it starts with
the development of contemporary theory about strategic uses of
corporations' internal information systems leading to systems which transcend the
boundaries of particular organizations.

The process whereby strategic information systems are created or identified is then
examined. A number of weaknesses in the existing body of theory are identified, and
suggestions made as to directions in which knowledge is or may be progressing. A strategic
information system is concerned with systems which contribute significantly to the
achievement of an organization's overall objectives. The body of knowledge is of recent
origin and highly dynamic and the area have an aura of excitement about it. The emergence
of the key ideas, the process whereby strategic information systems come into being is
assessed, areas of weakness are identified, and directions of current and future
development suggested.

Information system is regarded as a tool to provide various services to different
management functions. The tools have been developing year by year and the application of
the tool has become more and more diverse. In management it is now a very power means
to manage and control various activities and decision making process. The original idea of
automating mechanical processes got quickly succeeded by the rationalization and
integration of systems. In both of these forms, IS was regarded primarily as an operational
support tool, and secondarily as a service to management. Subsequent to the development,
it was during the last few years that an additional potential was discovered.

It was found that, in some cases, information technology (IT) had been critical to the
implementation of an organization's strategy. An organizations strategy supported by
information system fulfilling its business objectives came to be known as Strategic
Information System. The strategic information system consists of functions that involved
gathering, maintenance and analysis of data concerninginternal resources, and intelligence
about competitors, suppliers, customers, government and other relevant organizations.

Q 3: Write a detailed note on the planning and development of MIS?
Ans:
Planning of information systems:

Many organizations have purchased computers for data processing and for meeting the statutory
requirements of filling the returns and reports to the government. Computers are used mainly for
computing and accounting the business transactions and have not been considered as tool for
information processing.

The organizations have invested on computers and expanded its use by adding more or bigger
computers to take care of the numerous transactions in the business. In this approach, the
information processing function of the computers in the organization never got its due regard as an
important asset to the organization. In fact, this function is misinterpreted as data processing for
expeditious generation of reports and returns, and not as information processing for management
action and decisions.

However, the scene has been changing since late eighties when the computers become more versatile,
in the function of storage, communication, intelligence and language. The computer technology is so
advanced that the barriers of storage, distance understanding of language and speed are broken.

In short, we need a management information system flexible enough to deal with the changing
information needs of the organization. It should be conceived as an open system continuously
interacting with the business environment with a built-in mechanism to provide the desired
information as per the new requirements of the management. The designing as such in open system is
a complex task. It can be achieved only if the MIS is planned, keeping in view, the plan of the
business management of the organization.

Development of information systems:

Once the plan of MIS is made, the development of the MIS calls for determining for the strategy of
development. As discussed earlier, the plan consists of various systems and sub systems. The
development strategy determines where to begin and what sequence the development can take place
with the sole objective of assuring the information support.

The choice of the system or the sub-system depends on its position in the total MIS plan, the size of
the system, the user understands of the systems and the complexity and its interface with other
systems. The designer first develops systems independently and starts integrating them with other
systems, enlarging the system scope and meeting the varying information needs.

Determining the position of the position of the system in the MIS is easy. The real problem is the
degree of structure, and formalization in the system and procedures which determine the timing and
duration of development of the system.



Q 4: Explain the challenges before an E-business management.
Ans:
The scope of E-business is limited to executing core business process of the organization. The process
would have external interface life suppliers, customers, contractors, consultants and so on. The core
business process of the organization is procurement, manufacturing, selling, distribution, delivery and
accounting. These core process are best run by application packages like enterprise definition is made
wider including customer, suppliers and distributors, application package like supply chain
management (SCM) is best suited for planning and execution of entire business process.

In addition to these core business process, organizations use internet enabled systems and other
technologies to handle these process more effectively. Transaction processing workflow, work group
and process control applications are the backend support systems to main ERP/SCM enterprise
management systems.

E-business systems scope manages cross-functional application systems as a single business process.
It integrates cross functions seamlessly, automates the tasks, and updates the information is real time
the ERP/SCM and now customer Relations management system (CRM) is a family of software solution
packages dedicated to care management of functions of business. They are supported by front-end
and back-end systems and applications designed for transaction processing. Work flow management,
work group processing and automated process control, E-business systems use client/server
architecture and run an internet platform. E-business systems lay foundation for other Enterprise
applications, namely E-commerce, E-communications, and E-collaboration.

In Accounting and finance system, IT application is very strong. E-business applications in this area
are capable of accounting every business entity such as material, men, machines, cash, customer,
vendor and so on, all process which deal with transaction, computing, accounting and analysis are
automated using system intelligence and knowledge driver intelligent systems.

Assignment B
Q1: What is an internet? Explain the differences between internet, intranet and extranet.
Ans 1:
Internet
This is the world-wide
network of computers
accessible to anyone who
knows their Internet
Intranet
This is a network that is not available
to the world outside of the Intranet. If
the Intranet network is connected to
the Internet, the Intranet will reside
Extranet
An Extranet is
actually an
Intranet that is
partially
Protocol (IP) address - the
IP address is a unique set
of numbers (such as
209.33.27.100) that
defines the computer's
location. Most will have
accessed a computer using
a name such
ashttp://www.hcidata.com.
Before
this namedcomputer can
be accessed, the name
needs to be resolved
(translated) into an IP
address. To do this your
browser (for example
Netscape or Internet
Explorer) will access a
Domain Name Server
(DNS) computer to lookup
the name and return an IP
address - or issue an error
message to indicate that
the name was not found.
Once your browser has the
IP address it can access
the remote computer. The
actual server (the
computer that serves up
the web pages) does not
reside behind a firewall - if
it did, it would be an
Extranet. It may
implement security at a
directory level so that
access is via a username
and password, but
otherwise all the
information is accessible.
To see typical security
have a look at a sample
secure directory - the
username is Dr and the
password is Who (both
username and password
are case sensitive).
behind a firewall and, if it allows
access from the Internet, will be an
Extranet. The firewall helps to control
access between the Intranet and
Internet to permit access to the
Intranet only to people who are
members of the same company or
organisation.

In its simplest form, an Intranet can
be set up on a networked PC without
any PC on the network having access
via the Intranet network to the
Internet.

For example, consider an office with a
few PCs and a few printers all
networked together. The network
would not be connected to the outside
world. On one of the drives of one of
the PCs there would be a directory of
web pages that comprise the Intranet.
Other PCs on the network could
access this Intranet by pointing their
browser (Netscape or Internet
Explorer) to this directory - for
example
U:\inet\index.htm.
From then onwards they would
navigate around the Intranet in the
same way as they would get around
the Internet.
accessible to
authorised
outsiders. The
actual server (the
computer that
serves up the
web pages) will
reside behind a
firewall. The
firewall helps to
control access
between the
Intranet and
Internet
permitting access
to the Intranet
only to people
who are suitably
authorised. The
level of access
can be set to
different levels
for individuals or
groups of outside
users. The access
can be based on
a username and
password or an
IP address (a
unique set of
numbers such as
209.33.27.100
that defines the
computer that
the user is on).

Q2: Explain the application of MIS by taking either materials management or production planning
system in a manufacturing industry or service organization.
Ans:
In the manufacturing industry, production planning is a very important thing to do so as to increase profits
and maximize wealth. The use of MIS at various departments or stages of manufacturing plays a vital role
in production planning. This can be done in several ways as explained below;
Marketing Information Systems is used to process orders from other organizations for the firms products.
On the basis of these orders, the production/operations section assess available inventory so as to
ascertain whether or not it will be adequate to produce to meet orders. If not, an order is made to the
firms suppliers for inventory. This is done with the help of logistics management information system. Also,
with the use of resources management information systems, the firm is able to assess itself in terms of its
people, know-how, plant facilities and equipment hence is able to tell whether or not it has the capacity to
produce to meet the orders placed for its products. When the firm acquires adequate inventory, the
production/operation section goes into production as scheduled.
Then, business acquisition management information systems are used to handle information related to
markets, competitors, sales etc. Logistics management information systems are used to help with
accounting for inventory.

Case Study
THE CASE OF A DEPARTMENTAL STORE
Mr. BAWA, Director (Sales) of the BAWA Departmental Store Chain in Uganda is a worried person. The
worries revolve around the number of complaints he has been receiving from the Store Mangers about
non-availability of the store information.
The BAWA Stores chain was started about 6 years back. The then management thought it fit to install a
Sales Information System (SIS) also. The present system, therefore, was installed at the beginning of the
chain and became operational a year later.
The system is operated on batch-processing mode and it generates monthly and quarterly reports on
several aspects of Sale.

The basic input document for the processing is the Sale Invoice. In fact the Store personnel enter the
Sale Invoices of the day at the end of the day. The Store Manager is responsible to see that the input
data is created and validated before the same is passed on to the Computer Department for further
processing. Every Store was provided with a PC for this purpose, however, on persistent demands one
more PC was provided to each Store. The Computer Department does the final processing at the Head
Office, and then the Reports distributed to each Store.

The system worked very well for about 3 years, however, for the last two years there have been several
complaints from the Store Managers about the system.
The Mohini started its operations with 3 Stores. In the last six years, the number of Stores has increased
to 8. The management has plans to open an additional Store every year during the next five years. During
the last 3 years the sales of Mohini has increased by nearly 120%.

Apart from the usual retail sales, almost all the Store in the chain cater to several bulk customers e.g.
Government Departments, Factories Canteens etc. Which make bulk purchases from the Stores on a
regular basis. The individual Store Managers generally enter into the sale contracts for these on annual
basis. These are credit sales and the individual Store Manger is responsible for collecting the
outstanding.





Discuss:

1. The general conditions of the Chain now and in the immediate future.
Solution
The general conditions of the chain is good for now. This is demonstrated in the percentage increase in
sales over the last three years. However, the situation can be better. As the chain plans to expand within
the next five years, its focus should not be shifted away from equipping and maintaining existing
infrastructure, equipment etc. the broken down systems should therefore be maintained/replaced.

2. What are the problems, the Chain is facing. List them in order of priority.
Solution
The chain faces the following problems;
-inadequate computers for the stores
-lack of experts or know-how on the part of workers to develop, operate or maintain the system leading to
breakdown
-

3. Suggest a solution to overcome the problems as listed by you.
Solution
Management should fully equip new stores and maintain existing ones. While doing this, it should also
engage the services of experts to develop improved systems for efficient functioning or train staff to better
operate and maintain the system being used currently.

Assignment C
1. B
2. D
3. C
4. C
5. B
6. B
7. B
8. C
9. B
10. D
11. A
12. B
13. B
14. D
15. C
16. B
17. D
18. A
19. C
20. B
21. D
22. B
23. B
24. D
25. C
26. B
27. D
28. A
29. B
30. SYSTEM INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE
31. RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
32. A
33. HEWLETT PACKARD
34. IBM & ORACLE
35. ONLINE SHOPPING
36. KNOWLEDGE ASSETS
37. A
38. D
39. A
40. C