Management Information System (MIS)
A management information system (MIS) is a formal method of collecting data, analyzing them, and providing useful information to aid in decision making. It is a system installed in an organization to give managers information that will support them in sound decision-making. It is the basis of a control system in the organization.
MIS is designed to provide the information needed by management in order to plan, control, and evaluate the functions of the organization. It provides analytical and systematic information necessary to all levels of managers for taking the right decision at the right time.
Ricky W. Griffin – MIS is a system that gathers comprehensive data, organizes and summarizes it in a form valuable to managers, and provides those managers with the information they need to do their work.
Stephen P Robbins and Mary Coulter – MIS is a system used to provide management with needed information on a regular basis.
MIS facilitates the managers to perform their functions of planning, controlling, staffing, and other functions effectively. It collects relevant raw data, transfers the data into relevant information, and transmits that information to concerned managers. Functional departments need different types of information on the basis of their nature of work as the finance manager needs financial information, marketing manager needs marketing information, and so on, thus facilitation of effective information is essential.
Features/Characteristics of MIS
The common features of management information system are:
- It helps in decision-making.
- Helps to control all the mechanisms of an organization.
- Helps to collect financial and non-financial information.
- It is a formal method of collecting information in a summarized form.
- It is designed within a framework that emphasizes profit planning, performance planning, and control the all activities at all levels.
- Integrates the required information both related to the financial and non-financial activities of an organization.
- It is flexible and can be modified as per the demand of the situation.
Components or Steps of Management Information System
Management information system involves some process to convert past, present and anticipated relevant data into information for managerial decision making. The important steps of MIS are:
- Assembling
- Processing
- Analysis
- Storage and Retrieval
- Evaluation
- Dissemination
Assembling is the process of searching and collecting raw data and putting them into a file.
Processing is the act of editing and summarizing the data.
The analysis is the process of examining and scrutinizing the data into useful statistics such as percentages, ratios, etc.
Storage and retrieval is the process of coding and indexing the data for quick rearrangement and recovery at the time of requirement.
Evaluation is the process of determining the usefulness of processed data.
Dissemination is the act of giving information in the required form to the decision-maker.