Text 2. Management information system

Today we have moved into the age that is different from any other. It is the information age, truly a time when knowledge is power. More so than ever before, businesses all over the world are using information to gain a competitive advantage. Forces shaping today’s new business, such as globalisation and electronic commerce, have made communication information a must for all organisations. Businesses understand that what they don’t know can become an Achilles heel and a source of advantage for their competitors.

Fundamental to the success of an organisation are IT systems that help your organisation work with information and perform tasks related to information processing. Each system has its primary (and sometimes secondary) information-processing responsibilities such as capturing information, processing it and cradling or storing it in a database. Among the different types of systems helping people access that information are management information systems. A management information system (MIS) is a system providing periodic and predetermined reports that summarise information within a database.

So, MISs are systems having information-processing responsibi­lities that include creating information through analytical processing and conveying information to whoever needs it. MISs are often called management alerting systems because they “alert” people (usually management) to the existence (or potential existence) of problems or opportunities. This is an important distinction between an MIS and other systems that support management efforts. MISs are designed primarily to summarise what has occurred and point people toward the existence of problems or opportunities. Reports generated by MISs rarely tell someone why a problem or opportunity exist. Neither they offer a solution. In some instances, however, MIS reports can help people determine where and when to take action.

MISs provide reports in many different forms. MIS produces reports that are periodic and summarised. Periodic reports are reports that are produced at a predetermined time interval i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and so on. Summarised reports are simply those reports that aggregate information in some way. MISs can also generate exception and comparative reports. Exception reports show only a subset of available information based on some selection criteria. As you might guess, comparative reports show two or more sets of similar information in an attempt to illustrate a relationship.

Management information systems (MIS) deal with the planning, development, management and use of information technology tools to help people perform all tasks related to information processing and management. In that definition you can find the three key resources, namely information, information technology and people. Many people believe that information technology is the key resource in MIS. Indeed, information technology is a critically important set of tools for working with information and supporting the information and information-processing needs of the organisation. But the success of IT as a set of tools in the organisation depends on the careful planning, development, management and use of IT with two other key business resources i.e. people and information.

One of the business purposes is to satisfy customers’ needs and wants. Whether it’s building cars, moving lawns or providing telecommunications around the world, a business will only survive if it provides perfect service to its customers. Perfect service occurs at the customer’s moment of value. That is, when the customer wants it (time), where the customer wants it (location), how the customer wants it (form). Today perfect service is only possible if a business has the right information in the hands of the right people at the right time; this occurs through the appropriate use of information technology. Therefore the challenge facing any business is to plan for, develop, manage and use the most important resources – information, information technology and people – to provide perfect service at the customer’s moment of value. The planning, development, management and use of these three fall within the function of management information systems or MISs.

Task 33. Translate the sentences into English:

1. Швидкий розвиток інформаційних технологій викликаний гло­балізацією. 2. Компанії у всьому світі використовують інфор­ма­цію, щоб отримати конкурентну перевагу. 3. Для успіху компанії важливими є інформаційні технологічні системи. 4. Інформаційна система управління охоплює планування, розвиток, управління і використання інформаційної техніки. 5. Ідеальне обслуговування є можливим, якщо компанія забезпечена необхідною інформа­цією та людськими ресурсами у відповідний час. 6. Кожній сис­темі притаманні головні та другорядні завдання з опрацювання інформації. 7. Інформаційна система управління здійснює сис­тематичний аналіз, що підсумовує інформацію у базі даних. 8. ІСУ містить у собі три головні ресурси – інформацію, інформа­ційні технології, людей. 9. Бездоганне обслуговування відзнача­ється у момент споживчої цінності. 10. Перед будь-якою компа­нією постає завдання – ефективне планування, розвиток організа­ції діяльності, управління та використання її трьох найважливі­ших ресурсів. 11. Компанії розуміють, що те, чого вони не знають, може стати для них ахіллесовою п’ятою і джерелом переваг для їхніх конкурентів. 12. Багато людей вважає, що інформаційні технології є головним ресурсом в управлінській інформаційній системі. 13. Серед різних систем, що надають людям доступ до інформації, є інформаційна система управління. 14. Інформаційні системи управління розроблені для підведення підсумків, виявлення проблем чи сприятливих можливостей. 15. Звіти, створені інформаційними системами управління, не пояснюють причин проблеми та не пропонують варіантів рішень.

Task 34. Think over and then write for half an hour on one of the following issues:

A. Do you agree or disagree with the statement: electronic commerce will substitute traditional shopping in the nearest future? Supply arguments to support your answer.

B. Do intranets greatly help companies in doing business successfully? Support your answer with arguments.

C. What resource of a management information system (information, technology or people) is the most important, do you think? Support your answer with arguments.