ABSTRACT:
In order to show how the
satellite data can be used within ski resort management, we decided to develop
a Management Information System (MIS). A MIS is a computer system that
facilitates
decision-making processes by making the
problem of a ski manager more transparent. The system needs spatial data to (1)
present the problem. (2) To show alternative solutions and (3) Feed models
needed to assess economic and environmental impacts. Furthermore a special
section on 'Eco Labelling', supplying information on future developments
related to sustainable tourism, is implemented.
The ski area MIS integrates all the
products created within the CARTESIAN project and thus provides: automatic
access to a spatial CIS database containing e.g. remote sensing- and
topographic information, a Management Evaluation tool based on MCA (Multi
Criteria Analysis) and advanced 3D visualization tools to provide pre recorded
3D animation's of the ski-resorts.
The MIS can be used in several ways. In
the first place, as an instrument to support communication between stakeholders
involved in a process dealing with {ski resort) management. Typically, the MIS
can be used in a workshop, showing management options (e.g. 'choose the best
Olympic site' or 'stimulate eco-tourism') and their impacts on several criteria
such as environment and economic benefits. Secondly, the MIS can be used by an
engineer as a stand-alone application for calculating the effects of
constructing a ski lift. The MIS provides information on costs and
environmental effects. Thirdly, the MIS is a clear marketing tool with 3D
animations showing the resort from different viewpoints. In order to develop
the MIS, we defined three case study areas each representing a particular
management issue of a ski resort. are the MIS specialization areas? What
emphases exist within the WIIS program?
Indiana University's Master of
Information Science (MIS) program combines the opportunity to explore the field
of information science within four broad themes:
1 Information
Architecture and Design
2 Human-Computer
Interaction and Communication
3. Strategic
Information Management and Leadership
4- Information
Retrieval Systems Design
The program provides a great number of
electives, allowing you to individualize your study. Each student is assigned a
faculty adviser to help with course and career planning.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
The user-centered approach to
Information Science at Indiana University distinguishes SLIS's Information
Architecture from other programs. While taking courses from within this area,
you will investigate information architecture as a social and technological
phenomenon, focusing on the ways in which organizations are making use of
electronic information networking, and the impacts that networking is having on
communication activities, productivity, and information seeking behavior.
Effective organizational principles
derived from established data modeling and indexing schemes will be taught with
an emphasis on support for navigation and information searching tasks.
For further reading in Information
Architecture and Design, Professor Howard Rosenbaurn"s presentation
"Fun with Information Architecture: Designing Web Sites that Work"
may be of interest.
DEFINITION
An organized approach to the study of
the information needs of an organization's management at every level in making
operational, tactical, and strategic decisions. Its objective is to design and
implement procedures, processes, and routines that provide suitably detailed
reports in an accurate, consistent, and timely manner. In a management Information system,
modern, computerized systems continuously gather relevant data, both from
inside and outside an organization. This data is then processed, integrated,
and stored in a centralized database (or datg_warehouse) where it is constantly
updated and made available to all who have the authority to access it, in a
form that suits their purpose.
A management information system (MIS)
provides information that organizations need to manage themselves efficiently
and effectively. Management information systems are not only computer systems.
These systems encompass three primary components: technology, people
(individuals, groups, or organizations), and data (information for decision
making). Management information systems are distinct from other information
systems, in that they are used to analyze and facilitate strategic and
operational activities.12-1 Academically, the term is commonly used to refer to
the study of how individuals, groups, and organizations evaluate, design,
implement, manage, and utilize systems to generate information to improve
efficiency and effectiveness of decision making, including systems termed
decision support systems, expert systems, and executive information systems.121
Most business schools (or colleges of business administration within
universities) have an MIS department, alongside departments of accounting,
finance, management, marketing, and sometimes others, and grant degrees (at
undergrad, masters, and PhD levels) in MIS.
A management information system gives
the business managers the information that they need to make decisions. Early
business computers were used for simple operations such as tracking inventory,
billing, sales, or payroll data, with little detail or structure. Over time,
these computer applications became more complex, hardware storage capacities
grew, and technologies improved for connecting previously isolated
applications. As more data was stored and linked, managers sought greater
abstraction as well as greater detail with the aim of creating significant
management reports from the raw, stored data. Originally, the term
"MIS" described applications providing managers with information about
sales, inventories, and other data that would help in managing the enterprise.
Over time, the term broadened to include: decision support systems, resource
management and human resource management, enterprise resource planning (ERP),
enterprise performance management (EPM), supply chain management (SCM),
customer relationship management (CRM), project management and database
retrieval applications.
An MIS supports a business' long range
plans, providing reports based upon performance analysis in areas critical to
those plans, with feedback loops that improve guidance for every aspect of the
enterprise, including recruitment and training, MIS not only indicates how
various aspects of a business are performing, but also why and where. MIS
reports include near-real-time performance of cost centers and projects with
detail sufficient for individual accountability.
HISTORY
Kenneth and Jane Laudon identify five
eras of MIS evolution corresponding to five phases in the development of
computing technology: 1) mainframe and minicomputer computing, 2) personal
computers, 3) client/server networks, 4) enterprise computing, and 5) cloud
computing.151
The first (mainframe and minicomputer)
era was ruled by IBM and their mainframe computers; these computers would often
take up whole rooms and require teams to run them - IBM supplied the hardware
and the software. As technology advanced these computers were able to handle
greater capacities and therefore reduce their cost. Smaller, more affordable
minicomputers allowed larger businesses to run their own computing centers
in-house.
The second (personal computer) era began
in 1965 as microprocessors started to compete with mainframes and minicomputers
and accelerated the process of decentralizing computing power from large data
centers to smaller offices. In the late 1970s minicomputer technology gave way
to personal computers and relatively low cost computers were becoming mass
market commodities, allowing businesses to provide their employees access to
computing power that ten years before would have cost tens of thousands of
dollars. This proliferation of computers created a ready market for
interconnecting networks and the popularization of the Internet.
As technological complexity increased
and costs decreased, the need to share information within an enterprise also
grew—giving rise to the third (client/server) era, in which computers on a
common network access shared information on a server. This lets thousands and
even millions of people access data simultaneously. The fourth (enterprise) era
enabled by high speed networks, tied all aspects of the business enterprise
together offering rich information access encompassing the complete management
structure.
The fifth and latest (cloud computing)
era of information systems employs networking technology to deliver
applications as well as data storage independent of the configuration, location
or nature of the hardware. This, along with high speed cellphone and wjfi
networks, led to new levels of mobility in which managers access the MIS remotely
with laptops, tablet PC's, and smartphones.
TERMINOLOGY
The terms MIS, Information system, ERP
and, information technology management are often confused. Information systems
and MIS are broader categories that include ERP. Information technology management
concerns the operation and organization of information technology resources
independent of their purpose.
Kenneth and Jane Laudon identify five
eras of MIS evolution corresponding to five phases in the development of
computing technology: 1) mainframe and minicomputer computing, 2) personal
computers, 3) client/server networks, 4) enterprise computing, and 5) cloud
computing.151
The first (mainframe and minicomputer)
era was ruled by IBM and their mainframe computers; these computers would often
take up whole rooms and require teams to run them - IBM supplied the hardware
and the software. As technology advanced these computers were able to handle
greater capacities and therefore reduce their cost. Smaller, more affordable
minicomputers allowed larger businesses to run their own computing centers
in-house.
The second (personal computer) era began
in 1965 as microprocessors started to compete with mainframes and minicomputers
and accelerated the process of decentralizing computing power from large data
centers to smaller offices. In the late 1970s minicomputer technology gave way
to personal computers and relatively low cost computers were becoming mass
market commodities, allowing businesses to provide their employees access to
computing power that ten years before would have cost tens of thousands of
dollars. This proliferation of computers created a ready market for
interconnecting networks and the popularization of the Internet.
As technological complexity increased
and costs decreased, the need to share information within an enterprise also
grew—giving rise to the third (client/server) era, in which computers on a
common network access shared information on a server. This lets thousands and
even millions of people access data simultaneously. The fourth (enterprise) era
enabled by high speed networks, tied all aspects of the business enterprise
together offering rich information access encompassing the complete management
structure.
The fifth and latest (cloud computing)
era of information systems employs networking technology to deliver
applications as well as data storage independent of the configuration, location
or nature of the hardware. This, along with high speed cellphone and wjfi
networks, led to new levels of mobility in which managers access the MIS
remotely with laptops, tablet PC's, and smartphones.
TYPES
Most management information systems
specialize in particular commercial and industriai sectors, aspects of the
enterprise, or management substructure.
• Management
information systems (MIS), per se, produce fixed, regularly scheduled reports
based on data extracted and summarized from the firm's underlying transaction
processing
systems141 to middle and operational
level managers to identify and inform structured and semi-structured decision
problems.
• Decision support
systems (DSS) are
computer program applications used
by middlemanagement to compile
information from a wide range of sources to support problem solving and
decision making.
• Executive
information systems (EIS) is a reporting tool that provides quick access to
summarized reports coming from all company levels and departments such as
accounting, human resources
and operations.
• Marketing
information systems are MIS designed specifically for managing the marketing
aspects of the business.
• Office
automation systems (OAS) support communication and productivity in the
enterprise by automating work flow and eliminating bottlenecks. OAS may be
implemented at any and all levels
of management.
• School
management information systems (MIS) cover school administration, and often
including teaching and learning materials.
ADVANTAGES
The following are some of the benefits
that can be attained for different types of management information systems.13
• Companies
are able to highlight their strengths and weaknesses due to the presence of
revenue reports, employees' performance record etc. The identification of these
aspects can help the company improve their business processes and operations.
• Giving
an overall picture of the company and acting as a communication and planning
tool.
• The
availability of the customer data and feedback can help the company to align
their business processes according to the needs of the customers. The effective
management of customer data can help the company to perform direct marketing
and promotion activities.
• Information
is an important asset for any company in the modern competitive world. The
consumer buying trends and behaviours
can be predicted by the analysis of sales and revenue
reports from each operating region of
the company.
ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS
• Enterprise
systems—also known as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems—provide integrated software modules
and a unified database that personnel use to plan, manage, and control core
business processes across multiple locations. Modules of ERP systems may
include finance, accounting, marketing,
human resources, production,
inventory management, and distribution.
• Supply
chain management (SCM) systems enable more efficient management of the supply
chain by integrating the links in a supply chain. This may include suppliers,
manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and final customers.
• Customer
relationship management (CRM) systems help businesses manage relationships with
potential and current customers and business partners across marketing, sales,
and service.
• Knowledge
management system (KMS) helps organizations facilitate the collection,
recording,organization, retrieval, and dissemination of knowledge. This may
include documents, accounting records, unrecorded procedures, practices, and
skills.
DEVELOPING INFORMATION SYSTEMS
"The actions that are taken to
create an information system that solves an organizational problem are called
system development".1 These include system analysis, system design, prog
ramming/implementation, testing, conversion, production and finally
maintenance. These actions usually take place in that specified order but some
may need to repeat or be accomplished concurrently.
Conversion is the process of changing or
converting the old system into the new. This can be done in three basic ways,
though newer methods (prototyping, Extreme Programming, JAD, etc.) are
replacing these traditional conversion methods in many cases:
• Direct
cut - The new system replaces the old at an appointed time.
• Pilot
study — Introducing the new system to a small portion of the operation to see
how it fares. If good then the new system expands to the rest of the company.
• Phased
approach - New system is introduced in stages.
External links
Management information systems (MIS) is
an organized approach to gathering information from company operations and
making a strategic management decision. Developing quality characteristics for
gathering information is essential to making solid management decisions. The
main qualities of good management
information system are:
1.
Relevance: Information should be relevant to the strategic decision that
company management is currently reviewing. Because companies may review several
business opportunities at one time, avoiding information not relating to
the decision is essential
2. Accuracy:
MIS information should be accurate and avoid any inclusions of estimates or
probable costs. Making decisions based on estimates can lead to cost overruns
or lower profits from future operations.
3. Timely:
Many management decisions are based on information from a certain time period,
such as quarterly or annual periods. Information outside of the requested time
frame may skew information and lead to an improperly informed decision.
4. Exhaustive:
MIS information gathering should resemble an upside-down triangle. The early
stages of information gathering should be exhaustive, including all types of
company information. As management narrows its decision-making process, the
information is refined to include only the most relevant pieces.
5. Cost-Effective:
The MIS needs to be a cost-effective and efficient system for gathering
information. Most of these systems are developed internally, creating costs
that cannot be passed to clients.
HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION AND
COMMUNICATION
Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is a
multidisciplinary field concerned with the design, development and
implementation of information technology that is compatible with the needs of
users and organizations. Usability is a part of HCI, but HCI is much larger. In
the MIS program, you will study the process of interaction in order to inform
the theory and practice of user-centered systems design. The goal of the field
is to shape new media and tools that will support human use, augment human
learning, enhance communication and lead to more acceptable technological
developments at the individual and the social levels.
This specialization provides students
with knowledge of the variables likely to influence usability and acceptability
of information technology. Sociological and psychological perspectives will be
examined alongside systems design principles to offer a rich and more complete
way of assessing how users collaborate and communicate using computing tools.
Also, this area provides students with exposure to systems and techniques that
expand the possibilities of information acquisition and sharing in new or
innovative ways.
For further reading in Human Computer
Interaction and Communication, Professor Mark Notess" article
"Usability. User Experience, and Learner Experience " may be of
interest.
Human Factors Engineer Usability Analyst
User Experience Engineer Business Analyst User Experience Tester
Information resources include an
organization's capital information assets, its network capabilities, and
materials held in information centers and archives. Organizational information
assets also include human and structural intellectual capital. Social
intelligence expands the study of strategic management into new contexts, to
cover the processes whereby a society, organization or individual acquires
information in the widest sense, processes and evaluates it, and stores and
uses it for action. The MIS program's focus on strategic information management
and leadership will prepare you to integrate internal information and external
intelligence in support of organizational goals and objectives.
This specialization introduces key
models and methodologies in social informatics to help managers take advantage
of information resources. It examines various aspects of the information
industry: products, producers, suppliers, trends, and market opportunities.
This area surveys social consequences of computerization as shaped and used by
business, public agencies, and individuals. And, it provides orientation and
training in supervision of project teams involved in complex system design
projects.
For additional readings in Strategic
Information Management and Leadership, the Association of Information
Management Professionals.. (ARMA) Website or Communications of the ACM might be
of interest.
INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS DESIGN
Information Retrieval Systems Design
concentrates on understanding any information system from an information
science perspective; that is, as a whole constituted of data, procedures,
equipment, and system users. You will learn principles and methodologies for
information systems design, with a special emphasis on user-centric planning,
project management, system maintenance, and lifecycle issues. Additionally, you
will learn about broader societal and organizational factors that influence
design and can ultimately influence the effectiveness of information systems.
For further reading in Information
Retrieval Systems Design, the literature review on Professor Kiduk Yang's
homepage may be of interest.
References
http://www.occ.qov/publications/pubiications-by-tvDe/comptrollers-handbook/mis.pdf
2 A 3 _ O'Brien, J (1999). Management
Information Systems - Managing Information Technology in the Intemetworked
Enterprise. Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-112373-3.
Laudon, Kenneth C.; Laudon, Jane P.
(2009). Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm (11 ed.).
Prentice Hall/CourseSmart. p. 164.
Transaction processing systems (TPS)
collect and record the routine transactions of an organization. Examples of such systems are sales order
entry, hotel reservations, payroll, employee record keeping, and
shipping.
Pant, S., Hsu, C., (1995), Strategic
Information Systems Planning: A Review, Information Resources Management
Association International Conference, May 21-24, Atlanta.
Laudon, K.,&Laudon, J. (2010).
Management information systems: Managing the digital firm. (11th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.