Management Information Systems_PGSM

Question 1. What is MIS? Explain different types of information system serving

at different levels in organization. Give suitable example.

What is Management Information Systems?

Business informations management according to Dr Xuemei Tian is the process of

managing information as a strategic resource for improving organizational performance by

developing strategies as well as systems and controls in order to improve information quality

and ultimately to deliver value (Tian, 2012). Essentially, information is an extremely important

resource in todays digital age. Relevant and timely information about the organizations

performance should be readily available to assist management and operational teams to see

how best to ensure that targets are met and desired output is delivered. Thus, management

information systems are designed to support the management of organizational functions at

the managerial level of the organization.

Management Information System (MIS) is field of study that encompasses the

development, use, management, and study of computer-based information systems in

organizations (Valacich & Schneider, 2011). The aim here is to produce detailed information

from the data which is captured, processed via the computer systems in order to help manage

a firm or a part of the firm.

Types & Examples of Information Systems

There are different types of information systems (IS) for different levels within the

organization. From the associate or clerk to their supervisors and subsequently managers of

functions and departments, and finally to the senior managers and executive managers, the

various IS systems provide relevant data at all levels to help in decision making and to create

a visibility of how business is evolving per a given period of time.

Three (3) main levels of decision making can be defined generally for an organization:

1. Operational Decisions

2. Tactical Decisions

3. Strategic Decisions

These are illustrated in Figure 1

Figure 1 - Three (3) level pyramid model of information systems types

1. Operational Decisions - Transactional Processing Systems

Basically these types of systems are used within the organizations by data entry clerks,

assistants and associates, who perform transactional and repetitive, day-to-day processes.

This form of systems help to make the processing of these daily transactions very efficient. A

lot of data is generated from such systems and this in turn is used to prepare the lines items,

general reports, summary tables etc. which can be used in the other types of system; MIS

and EIS.

Typical examples of such systems

o Transaction Processing System (TPS): these systems capture the day-to-day business

events, and data input at the operational level. A common example is the check-out

counter in a super market. The purchases made by a shopper is captured, this can

impact the stock levels in real-time if it is networked with the inventory management

system. So at the end of the day, the products sold by a particular counter can be

reconciled, and the stock movement can be analyzed for products which need to be

re-ordered.

Examples

Payroll systems Order processing systems Reservation systems Stock control systems Systems for payments and funds transfers

o Office Automation System (Personal Productivity Software): Another aim of

Information Systems is to make working within the organization well automated and

organized. Office automation systems support a wide range of predefined day-to-day

work activities within all types of organizations: small, medium and large. Typical

example is the Microsoft office suite: Outlook; for mail exchange servers, meeting

requests etc., MS Word for word processing, MS Excel for calculations and list, reports,

pivot tables etc. all these make working more productive, the data generated can be

shared within the organization.

o Collaboration System: All the data and documents generated from Office

automation systems above can be easily shared with Team rooms and MS

SharePoint within the organization. These systems enable people to communicate,

collaborate, and coordinate with each other, share ideas, document archiving

systems etc.

o Functional Area Information System: Apart from the office automation systems in an

organization, other specialized systems within the companys intranet can enable the

implementation of specific tools for use by employees within the organization. These

can be tools for planning for personnel leave and holidays, for the management of

Travel Expenses, personal development, planning of on-the-job training, work

assignments, workflow management etc.

o Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System: Finally under the TPS, we can consider

ERPs. According to Margaret Rouse, and ERP is an industry term for systems solution,

processes and activities, that helps an organization manage the important parts of its

business. ERPs provide visibility for key performance indicators (KPIs) required for

meeting corporate objectives. Within an ERP, departments such as Human Resources,

Technical & Production, Sales, Procurement, Finance & Controlling and Marketing etc.

all have a view of the data within the system. Typically, an ERP system uses or is

integrated with a relational database system (Rouse, 2007).

According to a website which outlines the Business Value of an ERP, such systems help

employees do their jobs more efficiently by breaking down barriers between business

units as illustrated above (NetSuite Inc., 1998 - 2013).

More specifically, an ERP solution:

Gives a global, real-time view of data that can enable companies to address concerns

proactively and drive improvements

Improves compliance with regulatory standards and reduces risk, as authority limits,

roles allocations, limited views are integrated within such systems

Automates core business operations such as lead-to-cash, order-to-fulfillment, and

procure-to-pay, hire-to-retire processes etc.

Enhances customer service by providing one source for billing and relationship

tracking, CRM systems and SRM systems may be fully integrated.

An ERP bridges all levels of decision making, the OLAP (online analytical processing) and OLTP

Online transaction processing aspect of an ERP solution enables multiple users to easily and

selectively, input, extract, view data and to manage transaction-oriented applications,

typically for data entry and retrieval transaction processing (Rouse, 2007). At the upper ends,

Managers are able to extract data, lists, tables and reports from data cubes and business

warehouses which have the capabilities to summarise and analyse all the transaction data

being inputted at the TPS level. This moves us to the tactical and strategic decision levels.

Other systems which are integrated into ERPs are:

o Customer Relationship Management System

o Supply Chain Management System

o Electronic Commerce System

2. Tactical Decisions - Management Information System

o Management Information System: as previously defined, comprises the systems

which produce detailed information to help manage a firm or a part of the firm

(Valacich & Schneider, 2011). Most of the data coming into these systems originate

from TPSs.

o Decision Support System: Tools for data analysis, database queries etc. can be found

within such systems. These support quantitative decision making, demand

forecasting, budgeting, overview on cost centers, profit centers etc.

Evidently these systems enable the middle level managers, supervisors and senior

managers to take tactical decisions.

3. Strategic Decisions: Executive Information Systems (EIS)

For strategic and very high level decisions, Executive Information Systems are used.

These enable executives and senior managers to analyze business trends, compare

actuals vs. planned, identify long-term trends, overview on profitability and business

growth, organic growth etc.

Similar to the tactical decision making systems, the data may originate from TPSs,

additional some external data from social media listening, Group objectives in the case

of Global businesses etc. may be integrated into Executive Information Systems.

Usually these systems should be highly visual, graphical and easy to interpret by top

executives, additionally there should be a capability to drill down into details where

required. With the increase of mobile computing platforms, it has also become

necessary that these systems are available on mobile devices also.

4. Other Specialized Systems

There are also other information systems at use in various fields, namely

o Data Mining and Visualization System: the main purpose of such a system is to

analyze data warehouses to better understand the various aspects of a business. An

example can be market analysis and consumer insight information generated from

websites which are mined.

o Knowledge Management System: Collection of technology-based tools to enable

the generation, storage, sharing, and management of knowledge assets (Valacich &

Schneider, 2011).

o Geographical Information System: Create, store, analyze, and manage spatial data

(Valacich & Schneider, 2011)

Conclusion

Information systems as we can see above may come from various sources, all these forms

and types of systems are all uniquely tailored to provide the right data to different levels of

the organization in order to optimize efficiency and to deliver value to the final consumer.

Question 2

(a) What is re-engineering? Explain BPR?

Re-engineering: Introduction to BPR

Re-engineering is also referred to as, re-design. According to (Chen, 2001), Business Process

Reengineering can be defined as the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of

business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of

performance, such as cost, quality, service and speed

The principle herein is to start afresh. To start on a clean sheet, with special consideration of

only what can be considered as value to the final consumer. No preference is given to

traditional ways of working the aim is to cut out as much waste as possible and to render

the new process and efficient as possible.

Workflows and processes are re-analysed. Task allocations between the people in the

organization is carefully considered in order to come out with the optimum task allocation

strategy.

The purpose of reengineering is to make all your processes the best-in-class (Chen, 2001).

History of BPR

In the 1990's, Michael Hammer and James Champy published a best-selling book,

"Reengineering the Corporation in which they promoted the idea that sometimes radical

redesign and reorganization of an enterprise was necessary to lower costs and increase

quality of service and that information technology was the key enabler for that radical

change.

Re-engineering is ... about rejecting the conventional wisdom and received assumptions of

the past. ... Reengineering is the search for new models of organising work. Tradition counts

for nothing. Re-engineering is a new beginning. ... To succeed at reengineering, you have to

be a visionary, a motivator, and a leg breaker culled from Hammer and Champy (1993) by

(Chen, 2001)

According a website article on BPR by Margaret Rouse, Hammer and Champy felt that the

design of workflow in most large corporations was based on assumptions about technology,

people, and organizational goals that were no longer valid. They suggested seven principles

of reengineering to streamline the work process and thereby achieve significant levels of

improvement in quality, time management, and cost (Rouse, 2009)

Key Concepts of BPR

Challenge assumptions underlying all current processes

Identify all the processes in an organization and prioritize them

Process and goal orientation not task orientation

Organizational re-structuring

Best use of IT systems to optimize the new processes

Capture information once and at the source

Optimization of information flow

Link parallel activities in the workflow instead of just integrating their results.

Put the decision point where the work is performed, embed controls into the

process.

(b) What are the value activities of organization? How information systems

support the value activities of organizations?

What are the Value Activities in an Organization?

The concept of value chain is attributed to Michael Porter from his 1985 best-seller,

Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance.

Investopedia states that: Value-chain analysis looks at every step a business goes through,

from raw materials to the eventual end-user. The goal is to deliver maximum value for the

least possible total cost (Investopedia, 2013)

From Figure 2 below, the diagram of the Porter Value Chain splits activities within the

organization into Primary and Secondary or Support activities.

Primary Activities: Inbound Logistics, Operations, Outbound Logistics, Marketing and Sales

and Service (above)

Secondary Activities: General Administration, Human Resource management, Technology,

Systems Development and Infrastructure etc. (below in teal)

Diagram from (Valacich & Schneider, 2011)

Figure 2: Porter's value chain and corresponding sample uses of information systems to add value.

Basically, value is what the customer is willing to pay for. So the primary activities

(inbound logistics to service) within the Value Chain represent the internal processes and

activities within the company which directly help to design, produce, market, deliver and

support its product.

Value is accumulated this chain of activities, which ultimately lead to an end product or

service. From Porters view these are the firms value-adding activities, based on its pricing

strategy and cost structure.

According to (Valacich & Schneider, 2011), Value chain analysis is the process of

analyzing an organizations activities to determine where value is added to products and/or

services and what costs are incurred for doing so. Appropriate Information Systems can be

the key enablers of automation of activities along the value chain, value chain re-design has

become a popular tool for applying information systems, identifying, analyzing and

eliminating waste in the value chain, and to make processes Smarter and efficient.

Value Chain Theory

According to Porters concept, in order for the company to deliver its products as the

right price to the consumer and to achieve competitive advantage, the organization should

ensure that its primary and support activities can work efficiently at optimum level.

If an activity is performed well it is said to add value. Material flow within the primary

activities should be optimized, similarly information flow within the support or secondary

activities should also be optimized. This will ensure zero-waste and efficient resource usage,

hence the right cost to the consumer.

Similar concepts such as the Lean Value Stream design, also aim at optimizing value to

the customer through a complete value creation process with minimum waste.

Information Systems to enable Value Chain Optimization

The analysis of the types of information systems in the previous question provides an

insight into how Information Systems can help to enhance value chain activities.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System:

ERP are very huge investments from the start point, however in the long-term ERPs

are supposed to enable organizations to leverage on the standardization and analytical

capabilities that such systems offer in order to make people, systems and processes work

most efficiently within the organization.

As stated earlier, within an ERP, departments such as Human Resources, Technical &

Production, Sales, Procurement, Finance & Controlling and Marketing etc. all have a view of

the data within the system. In this light, material flow within the manufacturing process from

demand planning, procurement of raw materials, production planning and manufacturing

until the products arrive in the material handling section (warehouse) and delivery to the final

consumer is completed should be optimized with IS tools within the ERP.

Technical and Production planning systems (computer-aided manufacturing) are

available for such purposes and intents. Within the manufacturing process, critical control

points embedded within the process should ensure minimal rework which will result from

contamination.

Accurate demand planning and production planning systems should ensure timely

delivery, just-in-time to the customer, fresh products and reduced inventory costs, as demand

is planned accurately.

Customer Relationship Management System: These can help to manage customer orders

within the system, reduce delays which may result when customers orders are blocked for

reasons of credit limits.

This can ensure also timely customer order processing, Customer Service Response

systems, can also enable handling of customer enquiries and to ensure customer satisfaction.

Supply Chain Management & Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) System: Sourcing

of raw materials and other goods and services; machine parts, services etc. from suppliers can

be greatly enhances with SRM systems. Competitive bidding, timely re-ordering, on-time

payment can all be enhanced with such systems.

Electronic Commerce System: these systems enable customers to have access to the portfolio

of goods and services offered, to compare easily with other brands and to sample views from

other buyers and their comments.

Conclusion

In a nut shell, value activities can be enhanced with IS tools which can provide

information, automation and analytical capabilities to render processes for efficient. BPR also

offers the platform for businesses to re-design their processes and systems and to focus on

value adding activities and to eliminate waste.

Question 3

(a) What is Database? Explain DBMS.

Introduction to Databases

According to (Valacich & Schneider, 2011) databases are collections of related data

organized in a way that facilitates data searches, are vital to an organizations operations and

often are vital to competitive advantage and success.

Data values kept in tables which interrelate with other tables and other databases.

This enables the capability to find records and attributes or related information by means of

search and query functions. Other files, images, supporting documents can easily be linked

with other database values by means of document archiving systems.

Basically there should be a source or data entry point. Information may be inputted

by a clerk or multiple users via a transactional processing system which captures the data.

The design of the database enables the data captured to be stored for easy retrieval and for

further analysis and queries.

Types of Databases

Two (2) main categories of databases, these are:

Flat-file databases: very simple and ideal for small amounts of data

Relational databases: more complex, with a logical structure and scripts

Based on the nature and type of data to be stored and also the volume of data, an appropriate

type of database can be selected.

There are however a lot of different examples of types of databases, some of these are:

Active Databases

In-Memory Database

Cloud Database

Document-Oriented Database

Knowledge Base

Parallel Database

Embedded database

Database Management Systems (DBMS)

This is defined as a specific type of software or platform for creating, entering, storing,

organizing and accessing data contained in the databases. Such applications and programs

allow organizations to easily store, retrieve, and analyse data.

A DB Administrator usually manages of a database, ensuring the right access and

authorization is given to the right users, backup systems and redundancy checks are in place

and also to ensure that the scripts are running fine.

End-users may access the data from various platforms and devices. Various logical

views may be made available to different users depending on their authorization and access

rights.

Advantages of databases (Valacich & Schneider, 2011):

Programdata independence: data is not necessary stored within a program, thus,

upgrades and new implementations can be completed and the data remains intact

within the DB

Minimal data redundancy: no duplication of data as data can be interlinked

Improved data consistency

Improved data sharing

Increased productivity of application development

Enforcement of standards: the DB administrator can enforce rules

Increased security by the use of access restrictions.

Reduced program maintenance: Information changed in the central database is

replicated seamlessly throughout all applications.

Costs & Risks of databases (Valacich & Schneider, 2011):

Setup Costs and complexity of installation

Cost to hire a DB Administrator

Need for backup and recovery

Conversion costs: where there is a need to convert data from a legacy system

(b) List the different Database models. Explain any one of them.

Database Models

Different database models exist. A data model is a collection of concepts and rules

for the description of the structure of the database (GITTA, 2010). There are different models

of databases and data types, similar to the categories, types and examples previously cited.

Some of these are:

Network Model

Hierarchical Model

Relational Model

Object-oriented Model

Object-relational Model

Hierarchical Model

According to Wikipedia, the hierarchical database stores data in a series of records.

Records have attributes, a set of field values attached to them. Parent - Child Relationships

are used to create links between record types. Hierarchical databases do this by using trees,

and it is only able to cope with one tree, implying that there can only be one parent per child,

and no relationships among the child records are possible. It is one of the oldest models of

databases

Advantages of Hierarchical Databases

Easy to design

Cheap to maintain

Easy to use

All data are stored in a common database

Shortcomings of Hierarchical Databases

Relationships are difficult to implement in a hierarchical model.

Extensive programming activities required

Navigation inside the tree is complicated

Inability to link a child document with multiple parents documents

Alteration of data is difficult due to rules governing the relationship of records.

Question 4. Explain the various steps involved in developing information

system development life cycle.

Developing Information Systems (IS)

Increasingly, there are various forms of information systems and technological

solutions emerging in todays workplace. Ranging from simple software for a single user to

more advanced Online Analytical Processing systems (OLAP), which offer complex and multi-

dimensional data query functionality typical of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions

for multiply users, it is only foreseeable that one may be involved in the development of some

IS solution, regardless of which department one may work in.

Just as we have a myriad information system solutions comprising hardware, software

and web-hosted services, platforms, applications etc., there are various methods and

approaches for developing, acquiring and implementing these systems. Furthermore, there

are different phases and stages within the development life cycle of such systems. I will thus

proceed to explain the system development process and specifically the steps involved in

developing these systems.

System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

According to a systems development lifecycle (SDLC) manual by Bender RBT Inc., there are

three (3) primary objectives for any Information systems deployment project (Bender RBT

Inc., 2003):

Ensure that high quality systems are delivered

Provide strong management controls over the projects

Maximize the productivity of the systems staff

The SDLC process describes the life cycle of an information system from initiation to

retirement (Valacich, et al., 2011). The process has several phases:

Initiation, Systems Planning & Selection

Systems Analysis

Systems Design

Systems Development

Systems Implementation and Operation

Systems Maintenance

The steps within the tailored to ensure that the main objective for the implementation or

deployment are achieved.

Initiation, Planning & Selection

This is the start-up phase, where the feasibility studies are carried out. A business case is

developed, possible projects and systems are compared.

After the decision is taken on the system to be developed, a project plan is elaborated.

Systems Analysis

At this stage, business requirements are clearly defined for the system to be implemented.

Information is sought from users. The system designers seek to gain a thorough

understanding of an organizations current way of doing things in the area for which the new

information system will be constructed (Valacich & Schneider, 2011). A Joint application

design (JAD) session is also recommended in order for all stakeholders to sit down and to

draw up the system design within joint sessions.

The future process flows and data flows are modelled. The system designers and analysts

evaluate and compare alternative system designs and solutions. At the end a system approach

is selected, details of that particular system approach can be defined. So a major deliverable

from this phase is a document with a list of the business requirements.

Systems Design

The main question at this stage is How will the system deliver the business requirements?

(Tian, 2012). The system design and configurations are also evaluated out at this stage.

Systems Development

At this point the system design or solution agreed at the previous stage is programmed,

configured and deployed. Here the deployment plan is elaborated.

Systems Implementation and Operation

Implementation, deployment and testing. These can occur in different testing environments

depending on the solution being implemented. In the case of some ERPs, developments and

initial configurations are completed in a testing environment e.g. Sandbox, Regression, Pre-

Production. Some of the data from the legacy system is imported into the testing environment

to ensure that the system functions as expected.

After testing is successful and validated by stakeholders and end-users, a cut-over plan can

be elaborated for the Live or Production environment (final changeover) into the new system.

Once the go-live is planned, executed and successful, the development cycle usually moves

into a hyper care mode, to ensure that processes are running fine and all minor bugs and

issues are fixed, then the implementation can move into Sustain mode and operations can

take over fully.

Importantly all documentation and training required for the use of the new system should be

available for the organization. The support structure in case of escalations and error

corrections required should be clearly defined.

Systems Maintenance

Monitoring, sustaining, revising and upgrading the system. Some ERP have elaborate

maintenance procedure. Any new enhancements go through the previous phases outlined

above until they are fully tested and validated for Production environment. Release cycles are

also scheduled to ensure systematic monitoring of all updates, patches and new releases.

Conclusion

Other models exists apart from the SDLC such as the waterfall model, prototyping, Agile

software development, timeboxing etc.

Essentially, the phases to ensure that an appropriate solution is selected, designed to meet

the exact business requirements of the business, and that the users are properly trained.

Finally all the data prepared for the cut-over should be properly prepped for the new system,

as the saying goes; Garbage in, garbage out. So if the cut-over is poorly done, and inaccurate

information is loaded, the new solution or system may become a new nightmare.

Question 5

(a) Explain the relationship between information system and organization.

(b) Explain how IS an act as an organization resource vis-a-vis more traditional

resource like man, machine and money.

Introduction

Information systems and technological solutions are available in varied forms today.

Information systems are combinations of hardware, software, and telecommunications

networks that people build and use to collect, create, and distribute useful data, typically in

organizational settings (Valacich & Schneider, 2011).

Organizations employ various types of information system solutions as mentioned earlier

within this document in order to automate, simplify and to make processes, workflows and

systems more productive and effective.

The aim of an organization is to employ its tools and resources in order to deliver the

goods and services which it seeks to offer to the final consumer. The role of Information

Systems, thus is to provide the capability, via the data processing tools in order to provide the

support to help business to succeed at their goals and objectives.

Information Systems & Organizations

According to (Tian, 2012), information systems and organizations influence each

other. IS can be an enabler of competitive advantage and efficiency to an organization if

correctly used. It is important however to note that factors such as culture, politics, business

processes, management decisions, the external environment etc. all impact this interaction

between the IS and the firm.

Impact of IS on organizations:

ERP: full integration of all the department within the organization. Enhanced information and

data flow. The TPS solutions help to automate data entry and to make these processes more

effective.

Customer & Supplier Relationship Management Systems: These have enhanced the

interactions with external suppliers and customers so that procurement and sales processes

can be enhanced and automated.

Employee Self-Service Portals: Tools which enables employees to manage their trainings,

leave and development plans etc. have greatly encouraged learning organisations

Office Automation System (Personal Productivity Software): Information Systems able to

make working within the organization well automated and organized. Office automation

systems support a wide range of predefined day-to-day work activities within all types of

organizations: small, medium and large. Typical example is the Microsoft office suite: Outlook;

for mail exchange servers, meeting requests etc., MS Word for word processing, MS Excel for

calculations and list, reports, pivot tables etc. all these make working more productive, the

data generated can be shared within the organization.

Collaboration System: All the data and documents generated from Office automation

systems above can be easily shared with Team rooms and MS SharePoint within the

organization. These systems enable people to communicate, collaborate, and coordinate with

each other, share ideas, document archiving systems etc.

There are other systems that impact the organization, it is important that these IS solutions

usually come at a great expense to the business, and so the use must be optimized to

ensure that waste is rather not generated.

Information Systems as a Resource

From the above we can see that IS can be viewed as a resource to the organization

Employee Empowerment: Employees have the power to determine their progress within

the organization to a very large extent. The learning and personal development is greatly

enhances with IS tools.

Controls Embedded, Improved Control: with the business controls embedded within

workflows and processes, risk of fraud, operational controls etc. are enhances

Authorizations and Access Restrictions: Access control goes a long way to ensure security

and to prevent data misuse.

Empowering Mobile Computing, Flexibility: With IS, mobile computer via VPNs can be

developed. This can promote working from home for workers who need time with kids at

home and can work remotely.

Decision Support: Quantitative data can be obtained from IS to enable fact based decision

making

Harmonization: With ERPs, harmonization and standardization which can offer an

opportunity to leverage on size for automation and innovation is also encouraged.

Collaboration: With IS, sharing has been enhanced, via teleconferencing capabilities, team

rooms, share points etc.

Conclusion

From an economic point of view a resource is viewed as a factor required to accomplish an

activity, or as means to undertake an enterprise and achieve desired outcome. The

attributes listed above enables IS to be viewed as a traditional resource. Clearly IS enables

outputs to be achieved more effectively if properly used.

Question 6

(a) Explain CSF method for information system planning.

Introduction

CSF is simply; Critical Success Factors. It is a means of determining what success looks

like. For a given process or activity some key performance indicators can be highlighted to

show clearly the business requirements expected.

Information systems need to be planned thoroughly and to be properly executed since they

are costly and consume a lot of resource during their implementation.

According to (Reddy, 2013) and other manuals on information system planning, the following

CSF are essential for planning an IS.

Proper Planning: Understand clearly the business requirements, make an appropriate choice

of the best solution. Build a robust implementation plan which is well understood, validated

by all stakeholders and is adequately monitored.

Strong Leadership: Effective Project Control & Management is required for any IS

implementation project. Quality information flow should be encouraged

Collaboration: between the users, designers, analysts, project leads, employees etc. this is

Critical to ensure that what the user requires is exactly the solution which is delivered.

Implementation Skills: Effective monitoring of all the multiple tasks which are running during

the implementation is critical to ensure that testing is completed appropriately and the

solution is of top notch quality

Integration & System Test: Testing is very critical to the success of an implementation. Tools

and solutions can be put in place to monitor all testing completed. All issues arising should be

appropriately handled and resolved.

Education & Training: Documentation and tools, as well as support teams should be clearly

defined for all IS project especially in the sustain phase after the project has gone live.

(b) Differentiate between DSS and MIS.

Definition of Decision Support System (DSS)

A Decision Support System (DSS) is a collection of integrated software applications and

hardware that supports business and organizational decision-making activities (Valacich &

Schneider, 2011).

Management Information System (MIS) is field of study that encompasses the development,

use, management, and study of computer-based information systems in organizations

(Valacich & Schneider, 2011). The aim here is to produce detailed information from the data

which is captured, processed via the computer systems in order to help manage a firm or a

part of the firm (Stair, et al., 2010).

The following summarize the main differences between these two systems (Stair, et al., 2010):

Speed: DSSs usually have a faster response time than MIS systems

Support: DSSs support individual users within the organization and in the short run users

have more controls over the DSS, but in the case of the MIS users have less control in the

short run.

Problem Type: A DSS handles unstructured problems that cannot be easily programmed, but

MISs handle only structured problems

Emphasis: DSS is for decision making styles but an MIS emphasizes information only.

Question 7. Explain with the help of suitable example how organization can

achieve competitive advantage with information system

Introduction

Competitive advantage occurs when an organization acquires or develops an

attribute or combination of attributes that allows it to outperform its competitors, according

to Wikipedia.

Information system (IS) encompasses the hardware and software tools employed by

people and organizations use to collect, filter, process, create, and distribute data. Many

varied forms of IS have been outlined in the previous questions.

In actual fact, in order for a company to achieve competitive advantage, the IS solution

in place must be efficiently used and the processes should be Lean, smart and should contain

little waste. Many companies have even failed at attempting to implement ERPs to help to

automate and enhance their operations. Some companies implemented but are

underutilizing their ERPs and are seeing little benefit, thus it is essentially that to be well

positioned as an organization to achieve competitive advantage, business processes should

have minimal waste.

Porters Competitive Forces Model

Basically, with this model, Michael Porter outlines 5 market factors can be analysed so

as to make a strategic assessment of the competitive position of a given organisation in a

given market (Tian, 2012). These are:

Existing competitive rivalry between suppliers: these are the traditional

competitors who are developing new brands and ensuring they become more

efficient within the market, so as to secure market leadership

Threat of new market entrants: free economies, no barriers to entry, start-up costs

not too high etc. these can encourage new organizations to enter the existing

market, thus a point of concern for the organization.

Bargaining power of buyers:

Power of suppliers

Threat of substitute products (including technology change)

In view of such forces as outlined by Porter, organizations who wish to have competitive

advantage should understand the competitive forces, the key issues as far as their industry

is concerned, and the capacity to anticipate changes within their industry.

With IS, things can be done more effectively and in a Smarter way.

DSS and MIS tools can enhance Strategic decision making which can help the business to

stay ahead of competition.

Producing at a lower cost by leveraging on size, economies of scale, and a Computer-Aided

production plant via an ERP can help an organization to be the Best in Class.

Other sources of competitive advantage are outlined below (Valacich & Schneider, 2011):

Quality products: best-made product on the market

Deliver superior customer service: CRM systems

Optimize production costs: Achieving lower costs than rivals

Having a proprietary manufacturing technology, formula, or algorithm

Shorten lead times in developing and testing new products by means of Value

Stream Redesign and BPR

Build a well-known brand name and reputation: Effective Marketing, E-Commerce

etc.

Giving customers more value for their money: Eliminate waste within the value

chain, and strive for zero-waste

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