What Is MIS? Intoduction & Definition
What Is MIS? Intoduction & Definition
The following are some of the justifications for having an MIS system
Components of MIS
The major components of a typical management information system are;
This type of information system is used to record the day to day transactions of a
business. An example of a Transaction Processing System is a Point of Sale
(POS) system. A POS system is used to record the daily sales.
Decision support systems are used by top level managers to make semi-
structured decisions. The output from the Management Information System is
used as input to the decision support system.DSS systems also get data input
from external sources such as current market forces, competition, etc.
A manual information system does not use any computerized devices. The
recording, storing and retrieving of data is done manually by the people, who are
responsible for the information system.
The following diagram illustrates how a typical manual information system works
Advantages and Dis-advantages of a manual
information system
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Time consuming –all data entries need to be verified before filing, this is a
time consuming task when done by humans. Retrieving data from the filing
system also takes a considerable amount of time
Prone to error – the accuracy of the data when verified and validated by
human beings is more prone to errors compared to verification and
validation done by computerized systems.
Lack of security – the security of manual systems is implemented by
restricting access to the file room. Experience shows unauthorized people
can easily gain access to the filing room
Duplication of data –most departments in an organization need to have
access to the same data. In a manual system, it is common to duplicate
this data to make it easy to accessible to all authorized users. The
challenge comes in when the same data needs to be updated
Data inconsistency – due to the duplication of data, it is very common to
update data in one file and not update the other files. This leads to data
inconsistency
Lack of backups – if the file get lost or mishandled, the chances of
recovering the data are almost zero.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Summary