the application of information technology to organizational and managerial needs. MIS majors learn how to determine what information technology can contribute to an organization and how to develop and apply information technology-based business solutions.
The strength of an MIS major
lies in his/her ability to combine an understanding of business with the knowledge of information systems and technology to help organization compete more successfully or streamline current operations.
MIS professionals utilize their business-based backgrounds in working with managers and users to specify technology needs that benefit the organization. They analyze, design, develop, codify, implement, and manage state-of-the-art telecommunications, business, web-based and other computerbased information systems. Besides maintaining traditional transaction processing systems, today’s MIS professionals are involved in exciting growth technologies, such as decision support, e-business, database development and data warehousing, development and use of client server systems, development of web-based technologies for electronic commerce and other business applications, and the design and management of telecommunications systems.
MIS graduates find challenging positions in rapidly expanding high technology fields and in business areas
that use computer-based technology. The careers as telecommunications analysts, systems analysts and designers, electronic commerce analysts, web developers, consultants, database managers/administrators, and computer programmers. Alumni have achieved great success in many St. Louis corporations and consulting firms. Several individuals have started their own computer consulting firms that are prospering in the region.
As you can see , in diagram show about MIS process development of a management information system to facilitate business activity. The seven steps of MIS phase have to implement with information and data. Making Report in the systematic.
The integration of the industry’s leading technology solutions. Step of research for business needs, determine the best solution, perform hard-to-find product searches, provide a firm price quotation and begin processing your order immediately.
Network Analysis
Networks come in many variations and network systems and data communications analysts analyse, design, test, and evaluate systems such as local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), Internet, Intranets, and other data communications systems. Our analysts perform network modeling, analysis and planning. They also may research related products and make necessary hardware and software recommendations.
Business Analysts/Systems Analysts
To analysts who enable Information technology to meet individual needs of an organization. They help an organization realize the maximum benefit from its investment in equipment, personnel, and business processes. This process may include planning and developing new IT solutions or devising ways to apply existing systems.
Software Development
Object-oriented programming languages, as well as client/server applications development, and multimedia and Internet technology. Software installation and Troubleshooting consulting.
Project Management
Balanced scorecard initiative, Business impact analysis, Change management consultancy, Function point analysis, Performance measurement consulting, Performance support systems, Project costing systems, Project management consultancy, Risk assessment and Workflow consulting.
Business and Management
Business performance measurement, Business process re-engineering services, Business re-engineering, Change management services, Human resource services provider, Project management/implementation services.
Information Management
Backup and archiving consulting, Business intelligence consulting, Data and process modelling, Data quality audits, Decision support systems, Enterprise information systems, Enterprise intelligence systems, Financial management information systems, Information modelling and Information systems planning.
From My Experience in Bachelor Degree in SIIT MT , Thailand they divide by 3 main majors 1. Management Information System 2. Infrastructure 3. Supply Chain management You can see in this link to look at education description. http://www.siit.tu.ac.th/pdf/undergrad2011.pdf http://www.siit.tu.ac.th/pdf/courses11.pdf
This 3 majors have to work together in the career and Its quite interesting job. For Delaware MIS : MIS shares responsibility for the campus Web presence providing Web design and development services to both administrative and academic clients. They also focusing on web service same as SIU , Thailand.
MIS - Management Information System is combination from Business Concept integrate with Information Technology Concept. You have to learn and study about these two things for develop how to use IT in Business , such as Business Intelligence.
Business - IT things
You have try to learn about Technology and use those tools to solve business problem to finding the solution. For the closes Idea is about E-Commerce you have to use web site to increase the customer channel and learn how to increase the conversion rate also have to try to using analytic tool like Google Analytic this the most effective tool for business measurement.
Customer and MIS tool
Now all of business have to rely on MIS Marketing and Online process like twiter or facebook for maintain customer relationship and update your information on it. it called CRM.
Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm (9th Edition)
This Text Book I have to study in MIS class since 2008, That time I was Study in SIIT Thailand. It was very nice text book for mananger. and for beginner. I suggest you to start to read this first for who never study about MIS before.
Text Book Description
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS: Managing the Digital Firm - 9th edition
Authors: Keneth C. Laudon and Jane P. Laudon Pearson Prentice Hall, Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 97458. ISBN 0-13-153841-1; XXXII+641+22+14+2+21 pags.
K.C. Laudon, a professor of Information systems at Stern School of Business of the New York University, took his BA in Economics from Stanford and his Ph.D. from Columbia University.
Jane P. Laudon, a management consultant in information systems area, took her M.A. from Harvard University and her Ph.D. from Columbia University.
At the Figure you can see 11 components of Marketing Management Information system Functions. By following List. 1. Business Transaction 2. Operational Database 3. Transaction Processing system. 4. Database for Valid transaction for each TPS 5. Marketing MIS 6. Database of Internal Data. 7. Database of External Data. 8. Sales By Customer , Sales By Salesperson , Sales By Product , Pricing Report , Total Service Calls , Customer Satisfaction. 9. Marketing Application Databases. 10. Manufacturing DSS 11. Manufacturing ES
From This Article Talking about Input and Out put result of MIS process.
Management Information System is about how to organize the information in effective way by using the system. In wikipedia said there are 3 main part of MIS 1 Technology 2 Information 3 People And The Most Important is People , For sure we use this thing and this concept for people not information it self. For another word we should learn about "Internal controls procedures in a business" The goal to solve the problem, we mainly focus on solving problem. For my experience I have use SAP and oracle software to solve many problem in the class room. I finding the way for possible to try on real world business situation and using MIS principle on my job. The MIS have talking about business in Cost , Management , Time , Efficiency , Effective and business Strategy. For MIS student and MIS people should understand and learning in Supply chain management it is quite similar and related in job field and Data mining is also important for knowledge skill. For Google Search Engine also have use concept of Data Mining and Knowledge manaement for solving Algorithm Problem and form the business structure such as adword advertising.
For The Next Article I will follow up by the topic that I have pick up from WIKIPEDIA
Hi welcome to my Blog This A nice day to starting for knowledge about MIS. I hope you enjoy to read on my blog I would like to share every thing from my experience about Management technology and management information system, I was studying in MT MIS in Thailand , my skill is about business analytic I enjoy to share this concept and paper reading and writing down my own article.
· The problem · Magnitude and scope · Alternatives · Viability and cost effectiveness
Requirements Analysis
· Knowing the primary and secondary users · Ascertaining user needs · Primary and secondary sources of information · Design, development and implementation needs
Information is data presented in a form that is meaningful to therecipient. It adds to knowledge and is relevant for the situation.
Two types of information are accounting information and management information.
Data becomes information when they are transformed to communicate meaning or knowledge, ideas or conclusions. By itself data is meaningless.
The attributes of an item of information are: accuracy, form, frequency, breadth (scope), origin, time. horizon. Attributes of a set of information are relevance, completeness and timeliness.
TYPES OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
Seven types of information are necessary for top-level managers.
1. Comfort information: informs about current situation or achievement levels that are tuned to expectations. (Clients served, target achieved, patients treated, operations conducted, etc.)
2. Status information or progress information: keeps abreast of current problem and crises and changes.(progress on office construction, status of research study, labor negotiation, grant application)
3. Warning information: signals that change for good or worse are occurring (stock price, turn over, client complaints, etc.)
4. Planning information: descriptions of projects/programs due in future, knowledge of anticipated developments(future of funding, future of federal/provincial support )
5. Internal operations information: indicators on how organization/ program is performing.
6. External intelligence: information, gossip, and opinions about activities in the environment of the agency. Competition, funding policies, political changes, emerging social policies, etc.
7. Externally distributed information: annual report before release, quarterly progress report for donors, press releases about the agency, publicity material before printing, etc.
Among these, the first five are internal to the organization. Two are external to the organization.
A financial management information system, or integrated financial management information system (IFMIS), is an information system that tracks financial events and summarizes financial information. In its basic form, an IFMIS is little more than an accounting system configured to operate according to the needs and specifications of the environment in which it is installed.
Generally, the term “IFMIS” refers to the use of information and communications technology in financial operations to support management and budget decisions, fiduciary responsibilities, and the preparation of financial reports and statements. In the government realm, IFMIS refers more specifically to the computerization of public financial management (PFM) processes, from budget preparation and execution to accounting and reporting, with the help of an integrated system for financial management of line ministries, spending agencies and other public sector operations.
The principal element that “integrates” an IFMIS is a common, single, reliable platform database (or a series of interconnected databases) to and from which all data expressed in financial terms flow. Integration is the key to any successful IFMIS. In a nutshell, integration implies that the system has the following basic features:
Standard data classification for recording financial events;
Internal controls over data entry, transaction processing, and reporting; and
Common processes for similar transactions and a system design that eliminates unnecessary duplication of data entry.
Integration oftentimes applies only to the core financial management functions that an IFMIS supports, but in an ideal world it would also cover other information systems with which the core systems communicate, such as human resources, payroll, and revenue (tax and customs). At a minimum, the IFMIS should be designed to interface with these systems.
An IFMIS stores, organizes and makes access to financial information easy. It not only stores all the financial information relating to current and past years’ spending, but also stores the approved budgets for these years, details on inflows and outflows of funds, as well as complete inventories of financial assets (e.g., equipment, land and buildings) and liabilities (debt). The scale and scope of an IFMIS can vary, from simple General Ledger System to a comprehensive system addressing Budget, Revenue, Expenditure Control, Debt, Resource Management, Human Resources, Payroll, Accounting, Financial Reporting, and Auditing processes across central government or even including local government and other public sector and quasi-governmental agencies and operations. A more comprehensive, well integrated system will:
Provide timely, accurate, and consistent data for management and budget decision-making;
Support government-wide as well as agency-level policy decisions;
Integrate budget and budget execution data, allowing greater financial control and reducing opportunities for discretion in the use of public funds;
Provide information for budget planning, analysis and government-wide reporting;
Facilitate financial statement preparation; and
Provide a complete audit trail to facilitate audits.
By recording information into an integrated system that uses common values, IFMIS users can access the system and extract the specific information they require to carry out different functions and tasks. All manner of reports can be generated: balance sheets, sources and uses of funds, cost reports, returns on investment, aging of receivables and payables, cash flow projections, budget variances, and performance reports of all types. Some systems have libraries consisting of hundreds of standard reports. Managers can use this information for a variety of purposes: to plan and formulate budgets; examine results against budgets and plans; manage cash balances; track the status of debts and receivables; monitor the use of fixed assets; monitor the performance of specific departments or units; and make revisions and adjustments as necessary, to name a few. Reports can also be tailored to meet the reporting requirements set by external agencies and international institutions like the IMF.
The development of sound MIS is the result of the development and enforcement of a culture of system ownership. An "owner" is a system user who knows current customer and constituent needs and also has budget authority to fund new projects. Building "ownership" promotes pride in institution processes and helps ensure accountability.
Although MIS does not necessarily reduce expenses, the development of meaningful systems, and their proper use, will lessen the probability that erroneous decisions will be made because of inaccurate or untimely information. Erroneous decisions invariably misallocate and/or waste resources. This may result in an adverse impact on earnings and/or capital. MIS which meets the five elements of useability is a critical ingredient to an institution's short- and long-range planning efforts. To achieve sound MIS, the organization's planning process should include consideration of MIS needs at both the tactical and strategic levels. For example, at a tactical level MIS systems and report output should support the annual operating plan and budgetary processes. They should also be used in support of the long term strategic MIS and business planning initiatives. Without the development of an effective MIS, it is more difficult for management to measure and monitor the success of new initiatives and the progress of ongoing projects. Two common examples of this would be the management of mergers and acquisitions or the continuing development and the introduction of new products and services.
Management needs to ensure that MIS systems are developed according to a sound methodology that encompasses the following phases:
• Appropriate analysis of system alternatives, approval points as the system is developed or acquired, and task organization. • Program development and negotiation of contracts with equipment and software vendors. • Development of user instructions, training, and testing of the system. • Installation and maintenance of the system.
Management should also consider use of "project management techniques" to monitor progress as the MIS system is being developed. Internal controls must be woven into the processes and periodically reviewed by auditors. Management also should ensure that managers and staff receive initial and ongoing training in MIS. In addition, user manuals should be available and provide the following information:
• A brief description of the application or system. • Input instructions, including collection points and times to send updated information. • Balancing and reconciliation procedures. • A complete listing of output reports, including samples.
Depending on the size and complexity of its MIS system, an institution may need to use different manuals for different users such as first-level users, unit managers, and programmers.
A management information system (MIS) is a system or process that provides the information necessary to manage an organization effectively. MIS and the information it generates are generally considered essential components of prudent and reasonable business decisions.
The importance of maintaining a consistent approach to the development, use, and review of MIS systems within the institution must be an ongoing concern of both bank management and OCC examiners. MIS should have a clearly defined framework of guidelines, policies or practices, standards, and procedures for the organization. These should be followed throughout the institution in the development, maintenance, and use of all MIS.
MIS is viewed and used at many levels by management. It should be supportive of the institution's longer term strategic goals and objectives. To the other extreme it is also those everyday financial accounting systems that are used to ensure basic control is maintained over financial recordkeeping activities.
Financial accounting systems and subsystems are just one type of institutional MIS. Financial accounting systems are an important functional element or part of the total MIS structure. However, they are more narrowly focused on the internal balancing of an institution's books to the general ledger and other financial accounting subsystems. For example, accrual adjustments, reconciling and correcting entries used to reconcile the financial systems to the general ledger are not always immediately entered into other MIS systems. Accordingly, although MIS and accounting reconcilement totals for related listings and activities should be similar, they may not necessarily balance. An institution's MIS should be designed to achieve the following goals:
• Enhance communication among employees. • Deliver complex material throughout the institution. • Provide an objective system for recording and aggregating information. • Reduce expenses related to labor-intensive manual activities. • Support the organization's strategic goals and direction.
Because MIS supplies decision makers with facts, it supports and enhances the overall decision making process. MIS also enhances job performance throughout an institution. At the most senior levels, it provides the data and information to help the board and management make strategic decisions. At other levels, MIS provides the means through which the institution's activities are monitored and information is distributed to management, employees, and customers.
Effective MIS should ensure the appropriate presentation formats and time frames required by operations and senior management are met. MIS can be maintained and developed by either manual or automated systems or a combination of both. It should always be sufficient to meet an institution's unique business goals and objectives. The effective deliveries of an institution's products and services are supported by the MIS. These systems should be accessible and useable at all appropriate levels of the organization. MIS is a critical component of the institution's overall risk management strategy. MIS supports management's ability to perform such reviews. MIS should be used to recognize, monitor, measure, limit, and manage risks. Risk management involves four main elements:
• Policies or practices. • Operational processes. • Staff and management. • Feedback devices.
Frequently, operational processes and feedback devices are intertwined and cannot easily be viewed separately. The most efficient and useable MIS should be both operational and informational. As such, management can use MIS to measure performance, manage resources, and help an institution comply with regulatory requirements. One example of this would be the managing and reporting of loans to insiders. MIS can also be used by management to provide feedback on the effectiveness of risk controls. Controls are developed to support the proper management of risk through the institution's policies or practices, operational processes, and the assignment of duties and responsibilities to staff and managers.
Technology advances have increased both the availability and volume of information management and the directors have available for both planning and decision making. Correspondingly, technology also increases the potential for inaccurate reporting and flawed decision making. Because data can be extracted from many financial and transaction systems, appropriate control procedures must be set up to ensure that information is correct and relevant. In addition, since MIS often originates from multiple equipment platforms including mainframes, minicomputers, and microcomputers, controls must ensure that systems on smaller computers have processing controls that are as well defined and as effective as those commonly found on the traditionally larger mainframe systems.
All institutions must set up a framework of sound fundamental principles that identify risk, establish controls, and provide for effective MIS review and monitoring systems throughout the organization. Commonly, an organization may choose to establish and express these sound principles in writing. The OCC fully endorses and supports placing these principles in writing to enhance effective communications throughout the institution. If however, management follows sound fundamental principles and governs the risk in the MIS Review area, a written policy is not required by the OCC. If sound principles are not effectively practiced, the OCC may require management to establish written MIS policies to formally communicate risk parameters and controls in this area.
Natural disasters such as fires and earthquakes can strike at any time. A spilled cup of coffee can also do some damage! Waiting until disaster strikes isn't the best time to figure out how to recover your systems. Smart organizations create a disaster recovery plan ahead of time and/or use firms specializing in disaster recovery.
Management Challenges
There's a reason why we explain all those methods and procedures and processes in future chapters for building good, solid information systems. They ensure system quality so that the product produced by the system is as good as it can be.
Designing Systems that are Neither Over-controlled nor Under-controlled
You should be realistic about security and system controls. If you institute five layers of entry into your Web site, people probably won't use it that much. They'll either ignore it or find a way around your controls. You have to analyze the system and determine those areas that should receive more security and controls and those that probably can use less. You probably don't want to go to the expense of checking absolutely every transaction that is entered into the system, so you check a sampling of the data. Just make sure the sampling is large enough to detect any exceptions.
Implementing an Effective Security Policy
Does your company devote enough resources to information systems security? If your company is like the majority, sadly the answer to that question will be no.
Solution Guidelines
While there is no surefire way to protect systems and data from every threat, great and small, businesses need to take a more firm-wide approach to security. Every person in the organization, from the CEO down, needs to be involved in security. Organizations must control access through firewalls, transaction logs, access security, and output controls. Software programs that track "footprints" of people accessing the system can be a good way to detect intruders, what they did, what files they accessed, and how they entered your system initially.
A few methods an organization can use to beef up security are:
·What firm resources are the most critical to control and secure?
·What level of system downtime is acceptable?
·What is the minimum acceptable level of performance for software and systems?
·How much is the business willing to invest to protect its information assets?
The headlines telling of hackers' exploits in the past year should be enough to convince every company of the need to install firewalls, access controls, and other security measures. With the installation of cable modems or DSL lines, home users must follow the same guidelines. These new connections, which leave your personal computer "always on," are just as vulnerable to attacks as corporate systems.
In corporate systems, it's important to ensure authentication methods are in place so that unauthorized users can't gain access to the system and its data. Because most simple password systems are too weak and make the system too vulnerable, security experts are devising new methods to control access.
Biometric authentication is becoming more popular as a method of protecting systems and data as the technology is refined. While you may have seen the fingerprint or facial recognition techniques only on sci-fi movies, rest assured it may be the next wave of security that's installed in your organization.
If you allow employees to keep certain data on their machines that are not backed up to the mainframe computer, you need to ensure that safeguards are installed on the individual PCs. Make sure you have controls in place for accessing individual data, backing it up, and properly protecting it against corruption. Do you even have a policy about whether employees can store data on their individual terminals?
Firewalls, Intrusion Detection Systems, and Antivirus Software
The four types of firewalls described in the text are:
·Packet filtering: data packet header information is examined in isolation
·Network address translation (NAT): conceals IP addresses and makes it more difficult to penetrate systems
·Application proxy filter: sort of like a fence through which a substitute message passes.
·Stateful inspection: the actual message comes through the firewall but must be identified by the user as passable.
Intrusion Detection Systems
Firewalls can deter, but not completely prevent, network penetration from outsiders and should be viewed as one element in an overall security plan. In addition to firewalls, digital firms relying on networks use intrusion detection systems to help them protect their systems.
In March 2002, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, reported over 250,000 unauthorized attempted entries into its computer systems by hackers in a 24-hour period. The intrusion detection systems it had in place allowed authorities to track the hacker attempts and thwart damage to its critical data and systems.
Antivirus Software
While most computer users, especially home users, know they are supposed to have antivirus software installed, they may be negligent in keeping it up-to-date. Because new viruses are unleashed almost every week, antivirus software needs constant updating — at least once a week. Many brand-name software programs have an automatic update feature that users should take advantage of.
Securing Wireless Networks
It's becoming more important for wi-fi users to protect their data and electronic transmissions as wireless networks and their access points proliferate around the country. Security is easily penetrated because of the very nature of the spectrum transmission used in wi-fi. Unless users take stringent precautions to protect their computers, it's relatively easy for hackers to obtain access to files. Stronger encryption and authentications systems for wi-fi than the original Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is being installed in newer computer models. But individual users still carry the responsibility to make sure passwords are changed from the original and encryption systems are used to help protect data.
Encryption and Public Key Infrastructure
Most people are reluctant to buy and sell on the Internet because they're afraid of theft, fraud, and interception of transactions. To help ease the mind and make transactions secure, many companies are using very sophisticated methods of protecting data as they travel across the various transmission mediums.
Watch any World War II movie and you'll see episodes of the good guys intercepting coded messages from the enemy. The messages were scrambled and almost impossible to interpret. But the good guys always won out in the end and unscrambled the message in time to save the world. Now we use sophisticated software programs to encrypt or scramble transmissions before they are sent. The sender and recipient have special software programs they can use to encode and decode the transaction on each end.
Encryption software programs incorporate authentication and message integrity in its program to ensure senders and receivers are protected against many of the computer crimes committed on networks and the Internet.
Usually you can't tell if a transmission is authentic when you receive it over the Internet or network. Digital signature software can create a method of verifying that the message, document, or file has not been altered between the time it left the sender and you received it. The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act authorized the use of digital signatures and promises to enhance electronic commerce and make it easier to do business digitally. You must be careful though as digital signatures can be forged or altered the same as an old-fashioned hand-written signature can be forged.
Another way of providing authenticity to network transmissions is by using a digital certificate. Just as your personal signature is connected to you, a digital certificate provides a way of proving you are. GlobalSign.com has lots of information about its digital certificate product and other useful information about this technology. You can get a demo certificate, find someone's certificate, or get more information about how to use your own certificate.
Two methods companies are using to make online transactions more secure are Secure Socket Layers and Secure Hypertext Transport Protocol. The next time you're on an e-commerce or e-business Web site, look in the address text box of your browser and notice if the address begins with https:. If so, the site incorporates one of these two security measures. Public key infrastructure (PKI) is another method for providing secure authentication of online identity and makes users more comfortable transacting business over networks.
Ensuring Software Reliability
Even though your system may appear to be working normally, you should still verify that it is working according to the specifications. Walkthroughs are an excellent way to review system specifications and make sure they are correct. Walkthroughs are usually conducted before programming begins, although they can be done periodically throughout all phases of system development.
Once a system has been coded, it is much harder and more expensive to debug it. We're beginning to sound like a broken record but it's important that you understand and remember that the more work you do before the programming phase begins, the less trouble you'll have later. You can't just start pounding the keyboard and hope everything turns out okay.
As organizations move more toward electronic business and e-commerce, they need to spend more time in the testing phase and do it in realistic terms. As your digital firm is building a new site, or even revamping an old one, you can't afford to underestimate the amount of traffic the site will generate, or overestimate it's stability. Toys-R-Us, Inc., learned that lesson the hard way in December 1999. Their site wasn't tested enough, under realistic conditions, and proved to be a complete failure. It cost the company not just millions of dollars but millions of dissatisfied customers who never came back for a second try.
