SESSION IV
M
I
S
MIS refers broadly to a computer-based system that
provides managers with the tools for organizing,
evaluating and efficiently running their departments. In
order to provide past, present and prediction
information, an MIS can include software that helps in
decision making, data resources such as databases,
the hardware resources of a system, decision support
systems, people management and project
management applications, and any computerized
processes that enable the department to run
efficiently.
Role of M I S

Decision Support


Decision Making Support Functions
Performance Monitoring



to establish relevant and measurable objectives
to monitor results and performances (reach ratios)
to send alerts, in some cases daily, to managers at each level of
the organization, on all deviations between results and preestablished objectives and budgets.
Investment on M I S
Core Competency
 Supply Chain Networks
 Distribution Channel Management
 Brand Equity
 E-commerce
 IT investment leads to

better production processes
 boost production processes
 customization production processes
 computer aided design

Development of M I S
1950s and '60s, “elecsystems” could be
afforded by only the largest organizations.
They were used to record and store
bookkeeping data such as journal entries
 1970s “decision support systems”
 1980s “decentralized computing”,
“executive information system”, “expert
system”

Impact of M I S

Organization’s Function

Performance

Productivity
THE INFORMATION AGE
IN WHICH YOU LIVE
Changing the Face of Business
STUDENT LEARNING
OUTCOMES
1.
2.
3.
Define MIS and IT and describe their
relationship
Validate information personally and
organizationally as a key resource
Explain why people are the most
important organizational resource
STUDENT LEARNING
OUTCOMES
4.
5.
6.
Describe IT as a key organizational
resource
Define competitive advantage and the
role of IT to achieve a competitive
advantage
Discuss how IT can and will impact your
life
INTRODUCTION
What is the Information age?
– a time when knowledge is power
 Who is a Knowledge worker?
– works with and produces information as a
product. Outnumber all other types of
workers by more than four-to-one

INTRODUCTION
Define MIS
– planning for, developing, managing, and using
IT tools to help people perform all tasks related
to information processing and management
 Define IT
– any computer-based tool that people use to
work with information and support the
information and information processing needs

Use of IT
Use of IT

Telecommuting – the use of technologies
to work in a place other than a central
location
INFORMATION AS A KEY
RESOURCE
What is the difference between data
and information?
– raw facts versus data that have a
particular meaning within a specific
context

INFORMATION AS A KEY
RESOURCE
What is Business intelligence?
– knowledge about your customers,
competitors, business partners,
competitive environment, and own
international operations that gives you the
ability to make effective, important, and
often strategic business decisions. It
includes different types of information

Personal Dimensions of
Information
Organizational Dimensions of
Information
Organizational Dimensions of
Information
Internal – specific operational aspects of
an organization
 External – environment surrounding the
organization
 Objective – something that is known
 Subjective – something that is unknown

PEOPLE AS A KEY
RESOURCE
You
 And technology result in
 Technology-literate knowledge worker
– a person who knows how and when to
apply technology

PEOPLE AS A KEY
RESOURCE

Information-literate knowledge
workers…
 Can
define what information they need
 Know how and where to obtain information
 Understand the information
 Can act appropriately
Your Ethical Responsibilities
What are ethics?
– the principles and standards that guide our
behavior toward other people
 What are laws?
 Sometimes ethics and laws collide

Your Ethical Responsibilities
Try to always be
here
Key Technology Categories
Decentralized Computing,
Shared Information, & Mobile
Computing
Decentralized Computing

Decentralized computing – an
environment in which an organization
distributes computing power and locates it
in functional business areas as well as on
the desktops of knowledge workers
 Servers
 Personal
computers
 PDAs
 Tablet
PCs
Shared Information
Shared information – an environment in
which an organization’s information is
organized in one or more central locations,
allowing anyone to access and use it as
he or she needs to
 Necessary because businesses are
greatly internally integrated today

Mobile Computing
Mobile computing – broad general term
describing your ability to use technology to
wirelessly connect to and use centrally
located information and/or application
software
 M-commerce – electronic commerce
conducted over a wireless device such as
a cell phone, PDA, or notebook computer

IT IN SUPPORT OF BUSINESS
What is competitive advantage?
– Providing a product or service in a way
that customers value more than what the
competition is able to do
 IT can help in

 Operational
excellence
 Major business initiatives (SCM)
 Decision making (EIS)
 Organizational transformation
Operational Excellence
Supply Chain Management
Executive Information System
(EIS)
Organizational Transformation

Organizations must continually transform
to…
 Stay
ahead of the competition
 Offer a competitive advantage
 Survive
IT IN YOUR LIFE
Your career
 Learn IT tools no matter your career choice
 Vertical market software – specific to a
given industry
 Horizontal market software – general to
many industries (e.g., accounting and
payroll)
 You will have to manage technology

Ethics, Security, & Privacy
Ethics must be a priority for you
 So must security and privacy

Ethics, Security, & Privacy
Some software is “bad”
 Spyware (sneakware, stealthware) –
software that comes hidden in free
downloadable software and tracks your
online movements, mines the information
stored on your computer, or uses your
computer’s CPU and storage for tasks you
know nothing about

Ethics, Security, & Privacy
Some people use technology in a bad way
 Identity theft – forging of someone’s
identity for the purpose of fraud
 Identity theft may be as high as $5 trillion
worldwide by 2005
