Unit – 2
Information
In MIS, information has a precise meaning and has value in decision making. Information brings clarity and creates an intelligent human response in the mind. Information is equivalent to the finished goods produced after processing the raw material.
Information has certain characteristics, which are:
- Improves representation of an entity
- Updates the level of knowledge
- Has a surprise value
- Reduces uncertainty
- Aids in decision making
The quality of information is good or bad depending on the mix of these characteristics.
Therefore in a nut shell
- Information is required to survive in the modern competitive world.
- Information is required to create strong information systems and keep these systems up to date.
Information is classified as:
Classification by Characteristic
Based on Anthony's classification of Management, information used in business for decision-making is generally categorized into three types −
- Strategic Information − Strategic information is concerned with long- term policy decisions that defines the objectives of a business and checks how well these objectives are met. For example, acquiring a new plant, a new product, diversification of business etc, comes under strategic information.
- Tactical Information − Tactical information is concerned with the information needed for exercising control over business resources, like budgeting, quality control, service level, inventory level, productivity level etc.
- Operational Information − Operational information is concerned with plant/business level information and is used to ensure proper conduction of specific operational tasks as planned/intended. Various operator specific, machine specific and shift specific jobs for quality control checks comes under this category.
Classification by Application
In terms of applications, information can be categorized as −
- Planning Information − These are the information needed for establishing standard norms and specifications in an organization. This information is used in strategic, tactical, and operation planning of any activity. Examples of such information are time standards, design standards.
- Control Information − This information is needed for establishing control over all business activities through feedback mechanism. This information is used for controlling attainment, nature and utilization of important processes in a system. When such information reflects a deviation from the established standards, the system should induce a decision or an action leading to control.
- Knowledge Information − Knowledge is defined as "information about information". Knowledge information is acquired through experience and learning, and collected from archival data and research studies.
- Organizational Information − Organizational information deals with an organization's environment, culture in the light of its objectives. Karl Weick's Organizational Information Theory emphasizes that an organization reduces its equi-vocality or uncertainty by collecting, managing and using these information prudently. Everybody in the organization uses this information; examples of such information are employee and payroll information.
- Functional/Operational Information − This is operation specific information. For example, daily schedules in a manufacturing plant that refers to the detailed assignment of jobs to machines or machines to operators. In a service oriented business, it would be the duty roster of various personnel. This information is mostly internal to the organization.
- Database Information − Database information construes large quantities of information that has multiple usage and application. Such information is stored, retrieved and managed to create databases. For example, material specification or supplier information is stored for multiple users.
Classification by Management
Information, in MIS, means the processed data that helps the management in planning, controlling and operations. Data means all the facts arising out of the operations of the concern. Data is processed i.e. recorded, summarized, compared and finally presented to the management in the form of MIS report.
The various methods of collection are :
Method | Overall Purpose | Advantages | Challenges |
Questionnaires, surveys, checklists | When need to quickly and/or easily get lots of information from people in a non threatening way | -can complete anonymously | -might not get careful feedback |
Interviews | When want to fully understand someone's impressions or experiences, or learn more about their answers to questionnaires | -get full range and depth of information | -can take much time |
Documentation review | When want impression of how program operates without interrupting the program; is from review of applications, finances, memos, minutes, etc. | -get comprehensive and historical information | -often takes much time |
Observation | To gather accurate information about how a program actually operates, particularly about processes | -view operations of a program as they are actually occurring | -can be difficult to interpret seen behaviors |
Focus groups | Explore a topic in depth through group discussion, e.g., about reactions to an experience or suggestion, understanding common complaints, etc.; useful in evaluation and marketing | -quickly and reliably get common impressions | -can be hard to analyze responses |
Case studies | To fully understand or depict client's experiences in a program, and conduct comprehensive examination through cross comparison of cases | -fully depicts client's experience in program input, process and results | -usually quite time consuming to collect, organize and describe |
- Value
Value is related to the person who uses it, when he uses it and for what he uses it. Any assessment of the value of information is therefore related to the value of the decision-making supported by such information.
Normative Value of Information
Marschak (1971) and McGuire (1972) made seminal contributions to this field of work.
Decision theory has developed this concept further and the basic assumption is that we always have some preliminary information about the occurrence of events that are related to our decisions.
This information or knowledge is represented by an a priori assignment of probability of occurrence to the event and hence a calculated payoff.
Then a priori probability might be objective or subjective as the case may be and with the knowledge of additional information the probabilities are modified resulting in a change in the expected payoffs.
This approach is however, only good for theoretical discussions as its practical applicability is poor. The problem for such cases has to be highly structured, which is rarely the case in management.
Subjective Value of Information
It is the subject view of the information available. It is the subjective perception or impression of the information.
This subjective value approach varies widely with individuals. In the subjective valuation of information, no probabilities are calculated.
Subjective value of information is the person's (receiver's) comprehensive impression about the information content.
Knowledge is
Personalized information
State of knowing and understanding
An object to be stored and manipulated
A process of applying expertise
A condition of access to information
Potential to influence action
Sources of Knowledge of an Organization
Intranet
Data warehouses and knowledge repositories
Decision support tools
Groupware for supporting collaboration
Networks of knowledge workers
Internal expertise
Activities in Knowledge Management
- Start with the business problem and the business value to be delivered first.
- Identify what kind of strategy to pursue to deliver this value and address the KM problem.
- Think about the system required from a people and process point of view.
- Finally, think about what kind of technical infrastructure are required to support the people and processes.
- Implement system and processes with appropriate change management and iterative staged release.
Types of Knowledge Management Systems
Based on structure and requirement of organization, there are several types of knowledge management systems. Some of them are as follows:
- Expert Systems
These are knowledge management systems developed to facilitate a Subject Matter Expert. This module provides knowledge of different subjects.
- Groupware
In the current global scenario, team members are spread across regions. However, it is important for them to collaborate on various projects. Groupware is a knowledge management system which helps in sharing calendar, project activities and instant messaging.
- SharePoint
It is important for team to store various documents at a single location. SharePoint enables a user to store multiple version of the same document, helps a user search through folders for document, etc.
- Decision Support System
Decision support system helps floor managers; Sales Manager, CEO, etc. take decisions to finalize business or operational strategy. Decision support system comprises of primary data as well as secondary data. Decision support system enables editing of data and converts it information in the desired format.
- Database Management System
Knowledge management systems which support active storage and retrieval of data are known as a database management system.
