Ch 6 - Information and decision support systems 

• Management Information System: is an information system used for decision-making, and for the coordination, control, analysis, and visualisation of information in an organisation.

  • Provide routine information to managers in the functional areas
  • Provide information in exception reports and ad hoc (demand) reports
  • MIS used to have everything to do with IT and IS, however, it is now used for the report system.

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• MIS Reports Types:

  • Scheduled Reports:

  • Produced periodically, such as daily, weekly, or monthly. For example, a production manager could use a weekly summary report listing total payroll costs to monitor and control labour and job costs.

  • monthly bills are examples of scheduled reports

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• Key-indicator report:

  • Summarises previous day’s critical activities and is available at the beginning of each work day
  • Used by managers and executives to take quick, corrective action on significant aspects of the business
  • summarise inventory levels , production activity, and sales volume.

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• Demand Reports:
  • Demand reports are developed to provide certain information upon request
  • Are produced on demand rather than a schedule
  • Demand report can be generated to provide requested information by querying the company’s database
  • Come from an organisation’s database system. They are generated from the internet or by using cloud computing. The software can also generate useful graphics, including pie charts and bar graphs

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• Exception Reports:

  • Reports that are automatically produced when a situation is unusual or requires management action
  • This report would only contain items with fewer than five days of sales in inventory

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• Drill-down reports:

  • Provide increasingly detailed data about a situation. Analysts can see data at:

  • A high level first (such as sales for the entire company)

  • At a more detailed level (sales for one department of the company)

  • At a very detailed level (sales for one sales representative)

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• Decision Support Systems: a set of related computer programs and the data required to assist with analysis and decision-making within an organisation.

  • Support for problem-solving phases:
  1. Different decision frequencies: One-time: ad hoc DSS Repetitive: institutional DSS
  2. DIfferent Problem Structures: Highly structured vs. semi or unstructured
  3. Support for various decision-making levels: Operational, tactical, strategic

• DSS model:

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• Components of a DSS: At the core of a DSS are a database and a model base.

• The database management system: software that handles the storage, retrieval, and updating of data in a computer system

  • Allows managers and decision makers to perform qualitative analysis on the company’s vast stores of data in databases , data warehouses, and data marts.
  • A data-driven DSS primarily performs qualitative analysis based on the company’s databases

• The model base: allows managers and decision makers to perform qualitative analysis on both internal and external data

  • A model driven DSS primarily performs mathematical or quantitative analysis

• Model Management System (MMS): is a component of DSS architecture which provides for the creation, storage, manipulation, and access of models

  • Can coordinate the use of models in a DSS, including financial, statistical analysis, graphical, and project-management models

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• Group Support System

  • A group support system (GSS), or group decision support system and a computerised collaborative work system, consists of most of the elements in a DSS, plus software to provide effective support in group decision-making settings

• GSS alternative:

  

• Characteristics of GSS:

  • Special design: Ease of use, Reduction of negative group behaviour
  • Flexibility: parallel communication, decision-making support
  • Anonymous input: automated record keeping

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  • Executive support system (ESS): specialised DSS that includes all the hardware, software, data, procedures, and people used to assist senior-level executives within an organisation.

  • ESS, also called Executive Information Systems (EIS), supports decision making of members of the board of directors, who are responsible to stockholders

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• Capabilities of Executive Support Systems:

  • Defining an overall vision
  • Strategic planning
  • Strategic organising and staffing
  • Strategic control
  • Crisis management

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