Lecture 15 - Management Info Systems
Key Concepts:
Data vs Information
Information Technology (IT)
Information System (IS) vs. Management Information Systems (MIS)
Business Intelligence (BI)
objectives of an information system
contemporary approach to MIS
MIS Definitions
Data: raw facts, e.g. a list of items scanned at a supermarket checkout scanner
Information: data shaped into a form that is meaningful… to human beings. e.g. which items are selling well? Which aren’t? Which need reordering right way? Which need reordering this week…etc.
Information Technology: all the hardware and software that a firm needs to use in order to achieve its business objectives. e.g. desktops, laptops, server, smart phones, MS Office, MySQL DBMS, Tableau, MS Power BI, custom software.
Information System (IS): A set of interrelated components that collect, process, store and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organization
Information System Literacy: understanding the technical, organization, management dimensions of an information system.
Dimensions of an Information System
Technical: already been mentioned. e.g. processors, memory, secondary storage, servers, databases, networks
Organization: different groups in a firm have different information needs, e.g. senior management does long range planning vs. operational workers deal with day-to-day transactions.
rules: (such as course prerequisites, course capacity, access to Learn) are embedding in the information system. This is the control aspect of an information system.
Management: makes decisions, formulate actions plans, design and deliver new products and services.
The mission of MIS
to improve the performance of people in organizations through the use of information technology (IT)
To fully or partially automate data gathering, processing, storage and information distribution with the help of IT. To convert business data into information with business intelligence.
Recall information is data shaped into a form that is meaningful to human beings.
Business intelligence is IT to help make better business decisions. e.g. data and software tools for organizing, analyzing and providing access to data.
MIS vs. IS
Wikipedia and some other online resources consider MIS as a part of an IS and is designed to support or automate decision making.
The textbook considers and MIS as broader than an IS: for an MIS both technical and behavioural issues are considered.
Why Have MIS:
Information Technology: h/w and s/w a firm uses to achieve its business objectives.
Data: raw facts
Information: Data shaped into a form that is meaningful to human beings.
Business Intelligence (BI): IT to help users make better business decisions.
Information System (IS): Interrelated components that collect, process, store and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organization
Management IS (MIS): IS + behavioural issues.
Why Consider an IS?
create or maintain a competitive advantage
adapt to (internal and external) change
cost benefit analysis
How to develop and manage an IS?
design, implement, and integrate
training, new business practices
privacy and security
Contemporary Approaches: from IS to MIS
Why Do Some Companies Get a bigger productivity Boost
Key Point: There are two different approaches to optimize in order to get the most value from your IS investment.
Technical Approaches
Computer Science: methods of computation, storage, and and access
Operations Research: optimizing selected parameters such as transportation costs, inventory levels.
Management Science: models for decision making and management practices.
Behaviour Approaches
Sociology: how information systems affect individuals, groups and organizations.
Economics: production of digital goods, dynamics of digital markets
Psychology: how humans decisions makers user formal information
A Sociotechnical Approach
Optimal organization performance is achieved by jointly optimizing both the social and technical systems used in production
Both behavioural and technical aspect need to be considered