Unit - 5
Development Of Mis
The plan for development and its implementation is a basic necessity for MIS.
In MIS the information is recognized as a major resource like capital, time and capacity.
If the information resource is to be managed well it calls upon the management to plan for it and control it for appropriate use in the organization.
With the advancement of IT it is possible to recognize information as a valuable resource like money and capacity.
It is necessary to link its acquisition, storage, use and disposal as per the business needs for meeting business objectives.
So we need MIS flexible enough to deal with the changing information needs of the organization .
It should be open system. Designing open system is complex
The sole purpose of MIS is to produce information which will reduce uncertainty risk in a given situation.
The difficulty to determine correct and complete set of information accounts to the following factors:
- The capability constraint of the human being as an information processor, problem solver and decision maker.
- Reluctance (unwillingness) of decision makers to spell out the information for political and behavioural reasons.
- Ability of decision makers to specify the information
Methods of Determining Information
There are four methods of determining information requirements. They are:
- Asking or interviewing
- Determining from the existing system
- Analysing the critical success factors
- Experimentation and Modelling.
Asking or interviewing
- Designer of MIS puts questions or converses with the user the information and determines the information requirements.
- Putting questions is an art , it should be used properly to seek information
- When multiple users or several decision makers in similar functions or positions are involved brain storming session is performed to cover.
- When the experts or experienced users are asked to give their best answers the approach is called Delphi method.
Determining from existing system
- In a number of cases the existing system which has evolved after many years has been designed to give you the requirement of information.
- Companies can add on to the requirement information.
Analyzing critical success factors
- Every business organization performs successfully on efficient management of certain critical success factors.
For example in high technology business the management of technology becomes critical function and in consumer industry marketing and service becomes critical function.
Experimentation and Modelling
- When there is total uncertainty the designer and the user of information resort to this method for determining the information requirement.
- The experimentation would decide the methodology for handling complex situation.
- Test marketing a product is an approach of the experimentation to decide the correct marketing strategy.
The implementation of the system is a management process. It brings about organizational change it affects people and changes their work style.
The process evokes a behaviour response which could be favourable or unfavourable depending on the strategy of system implementation.
The system designer acts a change agent or catalyst.
Certain guidelines the system designer should take care of :
- Not question beyond a limit the information need of the user.
- Not forget that his role is to offer service and not demand terms
- The designer should demand the needs of the user.
- Not to mix up technical needs with information needs.
- Impress upon the user the global nature of system design which is required to meet the current and prospective information need.
- Not to challenge the application of information in decision making.
- Impress upon the user that the quality of information depends upon the quality of input.
Lewin’s Model of Implementation Process
There are three steps to this process:
Unfreezing
- To make people more receptive and interested in change.
Choosing
- To choose the course of action where the process begins and reaches the desired level of stability.
Refreezing
- When the change is consolidated and balance is reinforced.
The quality of information is the result of the quality of the input data, processing design, system design, system and procedures which generate such data and the management of data processing function.
Quality parameters of Information:
There are some major issues involved in interaction of MIS with organization. They are
Whether the misfunction should be handled as centralized and decentralized activity.
The allocation of software and hardware resources.
The maintenance of MIS service levels at an appropriate level.
Fitting the organization of MIS in corporate organization its culture and management philosophy.
- The question of centralization versus decentralization depends on information resource management in the organization.
- In a centralized set the responsibility of acquisition of data of information to the users becomes the centralized function.
- In decentralized set of responsibility, information is at second level so priority is given to the requirement and other things.
- The development process model is divided into centralized and decentralized organization.
In order to develop a system successfully, it is managed by breaking the total development process into smaller basic activities or phases. Any system development process, in general, is understood to have the following phases.
Investigation
Analysis
Design
Construction and Testing
Implementation
Maintenance
System Investigation
Some problem may be bothering a business organization. The managers in the organization (user) may not be very clear about the problem. Preliminary investigation is the first step in the system development project. The preliminary investigation is a way of handling the user's request to change, improve or enhance an existing system. System investigation includes the following two sub-stages.
Problem Definition
Feasibility study
System Analysis
Analysis is a detailed study of the various operations of a business activity (system), along with its boundaries. The objective of this phase is to determine exactly what must be done to solve the problem. Many system analysts have a technical background. The temptation of many technically trained people is to move too quickly to program design, to become pre-maturely physical. System analysis involves a detailed study of:
- The information needs of the organization and its end users.
- Existing information systems (their activities, resources and products).
- The expected information system (in terms of capabilities of IS required to meet the information needs of users).
System Design
System analysis describes WHAT a system should do to meet the information needs of users. System design specifies HOW the system will accomplish this objective. The designing of the system refers to the technical specification that will be implied in constructing the system. The output of the system analysis phase is the input to the system design phase.
The System design should stress on the following three activities.
- User Interface
- Data Design
- Process Design
Construction and Testing
Once the system specifications are understood, the system is physically created. The required programs are coded, debugged, and documented. The system should be tested with some test data to ensure its accuracy and reliability. In fact, construction of the system takes place on the basis of the system design specifications.
Implementation
The system implementation stage involves hardware and software acquisition, site preparation, user training and installation of the system. Then testing of the system, involving all components and procedures should be done. It must be realized that implementation may be the most crucial phase of system.
Maintenance
System maintenance involves the monitoring, evaluating and modifying of a system to make desirable or necessary improvements. In other words, maintenance includes enhancements, modifications or any change from the original specifications.
