MIS AND DATA PROCESSING

MIS AND DATA PROCESSING

MIS can be differentiated from data processing from the users point of view. Historically the data processing was the first subsystem to be used in business organisations. It is recently that the data processing is being treated as a lower level activity as compared to MIS. Data processing is basically aimed at processing of transactions generated from day-to-day operations within an organisation; whereas MIS aims at supplying information from the processed data to various cadres of management to support their decision making process. The use of computers for processing of data actually started/with data processing. MIS has evolved only recently within the organisations. Data processing could be further divided into four different streams as given below:

a) Office Automation Systems (OAS)

The Office Automation Systems are these activities and processes which are undertaken on the computer to perform the office routines such as routine correspondence scheduling  appointments, calendar functions, bulk mail, word processing. etc. However it may be noted, that OAS does not lead to generation of data directly. These systems are designed following basic principles of Office Management.

b) Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)

The transactions which get generated on a day-to-day basis in an organisation are 

collected. stored and used for updating master data files so as to change the current status of organisational entities within an organisation. The Transaction Processing Systems are primarily aimed at updating the history files. generation of detailed transaction reports and preparing summarised processed transaction data. Examples of Transaction Processing Systems are sales accounting systems, financial accounting systems personnel accounting systems, etc. All these systems are designed following the basic principles of accounting.

c) Management Information Systems (MIS)

These systems are designed for providing/information to the key functionaries in an organisation. These systems make use of the already processed transaction data which is outputted from TPS and generate information reports after processing data. The examples of this kind of systems could be personnel information systems, marketing information systems, sales information systems, production and operations systems, etc. These systems are designed following the principles of organisational theory. The major group of users for this kind of systems are the middle levels of management.

(d) Decision Support Systems (DSS)

DSS are the highest order of systems among the computer based information systems. These systems make use of the summarised organisational data as well as external data collected from the environment of the organisation. The internal data is mostly used for studying the trends whereas external data is mostly used for understanding the environment. These systems also make use of analytical and planning models such as management science and operations research models. These systems are mostly used for assisting the top management in taking unstructured and semi-structured decisions having long-term impact on the organisational performance.

OPERATING ELEMENTS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Any information system will make use of the following physical components:

a) Hardware: The equipment and devices for inputting, outputting, secondary storage, processing as well as communications in the system.

b) Software: The set of programmes to facilitate processing procedures; it includes systems software, applications software and the model base.

c) Data Base: The organisational data to be used by various software programmes is usually stored in the form of files and database on the physical storage media such as computer tapes, disc drives, floppy diskettes.

d) Procedures: The operating procedures documented in the form of physical manuals constitute an important part of MIS components. These documents could be divided into three major types: Operating Manuals, User Manuals, and Systems Manuals.

e) Operating Personnel: The manpower operating these information svstems include systems managers, systems analysts, data administrators, programmers, data entry ( and computer operators.

Processing Functions

The major processing functions in information systems include the following:

a) Processing of business transactions: To capture, collect,.record,‘store and process the events of business interest, so that their effect should be carried over to the organisational performance records.

b) Updation of master files: The effect of these transactions is carried over to the , status files of the organisational performance. Master files at any given time shall reflect the status of any entity after having incorporated the impact of 

up-to-moment transactions.

c) Generation of information reports: After having processed the transactions and updation of master files, the information reports are generated so as to assist the managers in their decision making.

(d) Processing of interactive enquiries: On-line information processing systems provide the facility of responding to the business queries raised by the managers on the data files-both master as well as transaction files.

e) Providing interactive analytical support: The key decision makers not only need to interact with the data files for extracting data, with the help of scientific and planning models, they also require on-line processing support to analyse, the impact of some possible actions. When the system is able to extract data from 

relevant files and address this to the models chasm by the user, this leads to a , Decision Support System.

MIS AND TOP MANAGEMENT

In order to relate the information systems to the corporate strategy in an organisation, it becomes important that the top management should take keen 

interest in the development and implementation of information systems. More often than not, it has been found that the top management does not take keen interest in the development of structured, formalized and public information systems.The key managers normally tend to depend upon their informally designed private information systems, It is necessary that, for successful implementation of information systems in an organisation, a corporate plan should be prepared covering a period of 5 to 10 years for the organisation. The components of corporate plan should include a mechanism for implementation, proposed organisational structure and changes over a period of time, applications to be computerised issues relating to operations management, procurement of equipments and training of staff and effective control of information system function. It could be noted that the companies belonging to the strategic cell need to look after their processing activity more carefully Where as in turnaround cell the companies might be able to convert their processing function as a major competitive weapon. In the factory setting, there is not much to plan, yet the existing applications should be continued. In support cell, processing is not at all critical to the success of the organisation. The top management involvement varies from critical in strategic cell to just negligible in support cell.