REFLECTION ON MIS

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM DEFINITION

A management information system (MIS) is a computerized database of financial information organized and programmed in such a way that it produces regular reports on operations for every level of management in a company. It is usually also possible to obtain special reports from the system easily. A management information system (MIS) focuses on the management of information technology to provide efficiency and effectiveness or strategy decision making. The concept may include systems termed transaction processing system, decision support system, expert system, or executive information system. The concept is strongly related to other areas such as information systems, information technology, informatics, e-commerce and computer science. In other words, a management information system is a branch of information systems (IS) that deals with the provision of reports on organizational perfomance to help the moddle management to monitor and control the business.

A system is a set of components (subsystems) that operate together to achieve certain objectives. The objectives of a system are realized in its outputs. An information system is a system that accepts data resources as input and processes them into information output.

TYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Management Information
Systems

A management information system is an information system that uses the data collected by the transaction processing system and uses this data to create reports in a way that managers can use it to make routine business decisions in response to problems. Some of
the reports that this information system creates are summary, exception and ad hoc reports. All this is done to increase the efficiency of managerial activity.

Systems Transaction Processing

A transaction processing system      provides a way to collect, process, store, display modify or
cancel transactions. Most of these systems allow multiple transactions to take place simultaneously. The data that this system collects is usually stored in databases which can be used to produce reports such as billing, wages, inventory summaries, manufacturing schedules, or check registers.

Decision Support Systems

A decision support system helps make decisions by working and analysing data
that can generate statistical projections and data models. This system gives support
rather than replacing a manager’s judgement while improving the quality of a manager’s decision. A DSS
helps solve problems while using external data.

Expert Systems and Neutral
Networks

An expert system, also known as a knowledge-based system, is a computer system that is designed to analyze data and produce recommendations, diagnosis and decisions that are controlled. A neutral system uses computers to foster the way a human brain may process information, learn and remember that information.

Information Systems in
Organizations

This information system collects stores and processes data to give an organization real time
useful and accurate information. This information system encompasses data gathering information from the people and machines that collect, process, output and store data. Also in the networks that transmit and
receive data and the procedures that govern the way data is handled.

Components of an Information System 

An information system depends on the resources of people (end users and IS specialists), hardware (machines and media), software (programs and procedures), data (data and knowledge basis), and networks (communications media and network support) to perform 

TECHNOLOGY

Technology can be thought of as the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. From the invention of the wheel to the harnessing of electricity for artificial lighting, technology is a part of our lives in so many ways that we tend to take it for granted. As discussed before, the first three components of information systems – hardware, software, and data – all fall under the category of technology. Each of these will get its own chapter and a much lengthier discussion, but we will take a moment here to introduce them so we can get a full understanding of what an information system is.

Hardware

Information systems hardware is the part of an information system you can touch – the physical components of the technology. Computers, keyboards, disk drives, iPads, and flash drives are all examples of information systems hardware

Software

Software is a set of instructions that tells the hardware what to do. Software is not tangible – it cannot be touched. When programmers create software programs, what they are really doing is simply typing out lists of instructions that tell the hardware what to do. There are several categories of software, with the two main categories being operating-system software, which makes the hardware usable, and application software, which does something useful. Examples of operating systems include Microsoft Windows on a personal computer and Google’s Android on a mobile phone

Data

The third component is data. You can think of data as a collection of facts. For example, your street address, the city you live in, and your phone number are all pieces of data. Like software, data is also intangible. By themselves, pieces of data are not really very useful. But aggregated, indexed, and organized together into a database, data can become a powerful tool for businesses. In fact, all of the definitions presented at the beginning of this chapter focused on how information systems manage data. Organizations collect all kinds of data and use it to make decisions.

Networking Communication: A Fourth Technology Piece?

Besides the components of hardware, software, and data, which have long been considered the core technology of information systems, it has been suggested that one other component should be added: communication. An information system can exist without the ability to communicate – the first personal computers were stand-alone machines that did not access the Internet. However, in today’s hyper-connected world, it is an extremely rare computer that does not connect to another device or to a network. \

PEOPLE

When thinking about information systems, it is easy to get focused on the technology components and forget that we must look beyond these tools to fully understand how they integrate into an organization.

PROCESS

The last component of information systems is process. A process is a series of steps undertaken to achieve a desired outcome or goal. Information systems are becoming more and more integrated with organizational processes, bringing more productivity and better control to those processes. But simply automating activities using technology is not enough – businesses looking to effectively utilize information systems do more. input, processing, output, storage, and control activities that convert data resources into information products.

BINDURA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

FACULTY OF SCIENCE

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Semester: August- December 2016

Course Coordinator: : MR Mavhemwa P.M Contacts: Mobile 0773 845525; compscie@buse.ac.zw, Office no 4A52 Computer Science Block, Astra Campus).

Lectures are mainly online , physical meetings for tutorials will be announced.

CS101-INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE

Course Aims

Introduction to computer science is a course designed to familiarize students with the operation of computers and various application programs and equip them to use computers in their respective areas of study. Previous knowledge of computer is not a requirement.

Objectives

To promote an understanding of the information technology world and the role it plays in various organizations, students will be able to

      Relate the history of computers and link it to the different trends technological developments.

      Apply their knowledge of office applications such as word processing, spreadsheet packages, database management and graphic presentation in various work fields.

       Use internet for research and communication purposes.

      Identify different computer hardware and software components and understand computer specifications

Course outline

Week	Lecture (Hrs)	Content
1	1 (2)	Introduction         Computer Terminology and Concepts       Characteristics of computers       Limitations of computers       Application of computers
	2 (2)	Basic Computer literacy skills (Starting and shutting down the computer,  account creation and login, operating systems (windows7,windows 8) ) Practical
2	3 (2)	History of Computers       The evolution and generations of computers
	4 (2)	Basic Computer literacy skills (Windows Operating system, use of Keyboard and mouse) Practical

Write your reflection of what an information system is, identifying its components

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

Management information system plays a vital role in business growth. To understand Managenent Information System it is critical to understand the following definitions. Management is the process of using hardware, software and people in order to make decisions that will ensure the achievement of organizational objectives. Information is processed data that that is meaningful data where data are raw facts thus meaningless facts. System is a set of interrelated components with a clearly defined boundary working together to achieve a common set of objectives by accepting input and producing outputs. Information system is a combination of hardware, software, infrastructure and trained personnel organised to facilitate planning , control, coordination and decision making in an organisation. Thus overally a management information system is a computer based information system that is used by organizations to gather and process data into information that can be used by managers to make informed decisions at all levels of management i.e. operational, tactical and strategic levels.

Operational level of management that’s where we have information that is needed to be accessed immediately. This is where transaction processes systems (TPS) which  involve the collection, modification and retrieval of all transaction data. TPS form the basis of running any organization. At tactical level this is how the business is managed. We have Management Information Systems which help in how to manage the business at that particular moment. Lastly at Strategic level thus where we have the Decision Support Systems which takes all the data from all organisations and combine it in order to make global decisions. At this level information is summarized and also provide a trend analysis. Decisions made at this level gives the organisation competitive advantage over other organisations.

Major components of MIS are people, software, hardware, data,  telecommunications and procedures.

• People ( specialists, system professionals and end users who uses the system and maintains it.)
• Hardware ( components that are used for input, output and storage devices such as computers and peripheral devices)
• Software ( programs and procedures or set of instructions that controll what the computer takes as input)
• Data (input that the system takes in and process to produce information)
• Telecommunications ( hardware and software that facilitates communications in the organisation)
• Procedures ( rules achieving optimal and secure operations in data processing)

Every information system has main three components which are input, process and output. Input is data that is fed into the system ,process is the conversion of input data into output while the output is information used by managerial team to make informed decisions that profits the organisation or gives it competitive advantage over other competitors.