PROCESS OF MIS

The MIS implementation process (Table 3) involves a number of sequential steps (Murdick and Ross, 1975):

1. First establish management information needs and formulate broad systems objectives so as to delineate important decision areas (e.g., general management, financial management or human resources management). Within these decision areas there will be factors relevant to the management decision areas, e.g., general management will be concerned about its relationship with the managing board, institute-client relationships and information to be provided to the staff. This will then lead the design team to ask what information units will be needed to monitor the identified factors of concern. Positions or managers needing information for decision making will be identified.

2. Develop a general description of a possible MIS as a coarse design. This design will have to be further refined by more precise specifications. For efficient management of information processing, the MIS should be based on a few databases related to different sub-systems of the organization.

3. Once the information units needed have been determined and a systems design developed, decide how information will be collected. Positions will be allocated responsibility for generating and packaging the information.

4. Develop a network showing information flows.

5. Test the system until it meets the operational requirements, considering the specifications stipulated for performance and the specified organizational constraints.

6. Re-check that all the critical data pertaining to various sub-systems and for the organization as a whole are fully captured. Ensure that information is generated in a timely manner.

7. Monitor actual implementation of the MIS and its functioning from time to time.

Methodology for implementing MIS

1. Understand the organization

2. Analyse the information requirements of the organization

3. Plan overall strategy

4. Review

5. Preliminary analysis

6. Feasibility assessment

7. Detailed fact finding

8. Analysis

9. Design

10. Development

11. Cutover

12. Obtain conceptual schema

13. Recruit database administrator

14. Obtain logical schema

15. Create data dictionary

16. Obtain physical schema

17. Create database

18. Modify data dictionary

19. Develop sub-schemas

20. Modify database

21. Amend database