TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION OF COMPANY AND MIS....................................................................2

DATA.........................................................................................................................................2

INFORMATION......................................................................................................................2

PURPOSE OF INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR PARAMOUNT LIFE VISION COMPANY...............................................................................................................................3

TYPES OF SYSTEM USED BY PARAMOUNT LIFE VISION COMPANY.................4

CHAPTER 2

IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION SHARING WITHIN PARAMOUNT LIFE VISION COMPANY................................................................................................................5

ORGANISATION....................................................................................................................5

DECISION MADE IN PARAMOUNT LIFE VISION COMPANY..................................6

DECISIONS AND PROCESS................................................................................................6

SAFE INFORMATION SYTEM MANAGEMENT BY PARAMOUNT LIFE VISION COMPANY...............................................................................................................................7

SECURITY...............................................................................................................................7

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION FOLLOWED BY THIS COMPANY...............................7

LEGAL THREATS AND MIS...............................................................................................8

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT.........................................................................................8

CHAPTER 3

STRATEGIC INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND DECISION MAKING..............8

Strategic information system...................................................................................................8

Competitive information system.............................................................................................8

STRUCTURED DECISION AND UNSTRUCTURED DECISIONS............................10

CHAPTER 4

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM IN AN ORGANISATION WITH MANY OUTSIDE EXAMPLES........................................................................................................11

CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................12

REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................13

BIBLOGRAPHY....................................................................................................................13

Data within

meaningful and useful

form

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION OF COMPANY AND MIS

Paramount Life Vision Company is a networking business company which is established in 2001. Its main office is in Kathmandu of Nepal and 24 branches all over the country. This networking company collects fund from many local people and uses for infrastructure development as well as production and distribution of goods. It has made investment in housing, hydro- power, local health service and education. Even this company provides loan as like that of bank but in a minimum interest rate. To put overall information of this company, it has used many categories of systems with collection and implementation of different software. The technological configuration is well maintained and used properly. Management information system is a process of managing the essential or useful information which helps for collect, process, store and use as per need that support for decision making, planning, co-ordination and controlling. It can be defined as “technically as a part of interrelated components that collects (or retrieves), process, store and distribute information to support decision making, co-ordination and control in an organisation”, (Laudon and Laudon, 2010). It helps to combine, link, join and help to produce meaningful information through collection of various data. It also helps to interlink and interrelate with sub components.

DATA

It is a raw facts, figures, and numbers, symbol which represents events or physical environment that supports to produce the meaningful information, (Laudon and Laudon, 2010). For example, the total numbers of states in America.

INFORMATION

It is data which is meaningful and useful that represents certain criteria or circumstances and does give some sense which can be easily understood and exist who use to make decisions.

The perfect information system try to show positive effects in any organisation through reducing operating cost, increasing investment with certainty, developing business network and relationship, provide excellent customer service and satisfaction, making business digital enabling and mediating, maintaining accuracy, reliability, integrity and agility for organisation to perform well in the world of information age. It combines, link and measure the importance of data and information in business. Today information system are so useful

INFORMATION SYSTEM

DATAINFOR MATION

Facts

Figures

Symbols

Objects

Events

numbers

for each and every business like bank, government offices, colleges, universities, road system, hospitals, schools, insurance companies, navigations, wars and satellites. It tries to create meaning in terms of system establishment, timeliness, operational excellence, new product development, customers and suppliers intimacy, improve decision making, survival and competitive advantage. Figure: How management system work: (Laudon and Laudon, 2010)

The attributes of management information system are:-

1. Timeliness: It helps to focus and measure the category of data and information which should be meaning and useful as per time. It helps to explain the real time system.

2. Accuracy: It does measures and compares the data with the actual event happening to find out its real worthiness.

3. Cost effectiveness: It helps for cost cutting and competitive advantage through obtaining of meaningful information to use and compare with next organisation and competitors.

4. Reliability: The meaningful or real abstracted data or information should show worthy value to the business for right decision making.

5. Usability: It should produce the right information which can be used for real functioning by reducing data redundancy. (Post and Anderson, 2006)

Information system means Computer based system which help to collect categorise, link, hybrid, standardise, reduce data redundancy and increase functioning of information through achievement of operational excellence in a business. It shows intimacy, integrity, agility, scalability, sustainability and security of information by link to provide the meaning as a system. (Rai and Sharma, 2008)

PURPOSE OF INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR PARAMOUNT LIFE VISION COMPANY

Helps to avoid data redundancy for better decision making Establish network and relation with database Increase business functioning and achievement of operational excellence Helps to organise data and DBMS Reduction of business failure and risk Show integrity and easy way to perform task Value creation and value analysis with engineering Reduce uncertainty and increase change of success (Lead, 2007)

INPUT PROCESSES OUTPUT

FEEDBACK

Management information system is a link or interlink between sub components which helps to create, input, process and output through the collection, retrieve, store, co-ordination and control to produce the meaningful information for better decision. The nature of MIS, helping directly or indirectly for this company: (Patel and Burma, 2004)

Helps for planning, organising, leading and controlling It serves as a nervous system in the human body It link and organise components together to make better decision It supports operations, process and store data as per need in a structured way It helps for conversion of data into meaningful form (Patel and Burma, 2004)

TYPES OF SYSTEM USED BY PARAMOUNT LIFE VISION COMPANY

1. TPS (Transaction Processing System): This is the business system used by Paramount Life Vision Company that solved the operational level. A TPS is a computerised system that performs and records the daily routine transactions necessary to conduct the business for example: sales order entry, payroll, employee record keeping and logistics management. In this operational level task, resources and goals are predefined and highly structured. The types of TPS system used by this organisation: (Laudon and Laudon, 2010)a. Sales and marketing system: It consists of sales management, market research,

promotion, pricing, new product development, sales order information and understanding of PLC of the company.

b. Manufacturing and production system: It consists of scheduling, purchasing, shipping, receiving, engineering, operations, machine, purchase and quality control of the company.

c. Finance and accounting system: It consists of budgeting, general ledger, billing, cost accounting, A / R, A / P and fund management of the company.

d. Human resource system: It consists of personnel records, benefits, compensation, labour relations, and training, payroll and employment records of the company.

2. Knowledge work and office system: It serves the information needs at knowledge level of this organisation through word processing, desktop publishing and document imaging system. (Laudon and Laudon, 2010)3. MIS (Management Information System): It serves the management level of organisation, providing managers with reports or with online access to the organisation’s current performance with historical records. It provides answers to routine questioned that have been specified in advance and have a pre defined procedure for answering them. It summarises and produces the report on the company’s basic operation. It has little analytic capability. For example: in a college producing attendance report of one student out of many. (Laudon and Laudon, 2010)4. DSS (Decision Support System): It also serves the management level of the organisation. It helps managers to make decisions that are unique, rapidly changing and not easily specified in advance. This system addresses problems where the procedures for arriving at a solution may not be fully predefined in advance.

It uses internal information from TPS, MIS and external sources. It has more analytical power than other systems. It includes user friendly software which is interactive. It is also called business intelligence system. (Laudon and Laudon, 2010)5. ESS (Executive Support System): It serves the strategic level of the organisation. This system addresses non routine decisions requiring judgement, evaluation and insight because there is no agreed on procedures for arriving at a solution. They draw summarised information from internal MIS and DSS. It supports senior management. For example, it provides minute to minute view of firm financial performance. (Laudon and Laudon, 2010)

CHAPTER 2

IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION SHARING WITHIN PARAMOUNT LIFE VISION COMPANY

ORGANISATION

Organisation is an association or house where business functioning will be performed and maintained to achieve the goals, objectives, mission, vision, target and strategy through accomplishment of tasks. It consists of use of hierarchical structure for accountability, authority and adherence to the principle of success which helps to maintain efficiency and effectiveness at workplace. It consists of routines and business processing, organisational policies and politics, culture, environment and structure. The importance of information sharing within this company helps for following: (Robbins, 2008)

Fulfilment of organisational goals, mission, vision and target Showing relationship between organisation and information technology Link organisation environment, culture, management decisions, business process and

policies Separate work from location Reorganise work flows and increase flexibility Mass customization ( use software and computer hardware for production check and

control) Help for change and control over resistance to change Establishment of internet, extranet, intranet and ecommerce (Robbins, 2008) / (Lead,

2007)

DECISION MADE IN PARAMOUNT LIFE VISION COMPANY

DECISIONS AND PROCESS

Decisions are the concrete valuation and evaluation of final point about how to apply strategy in a systematic arrangement of information through the use of data in an organisation. Simon (1977) describes the process of decision making with four steps: intelligence (collection, classification, processing and presentation of data), design (methods or procedures), choice (among alternatives) and review (recall and see feedback with best implementation). Figure level of management with decisions made: (Laudon and Laudon, 2010)

Strategic decisions are made by top level managers like CEO or board of directors with the help of executive support system about organisation mission, visions, goals, target, strategy, objectives, rules, regulation and procedures to govern the organisation in a smart and perfect way. (Laudon and Laudon, 2010)

Business decisions are made by middle level managers like different department heads with the help of MIS and DSS to complete the daily routine activities through the use of TPS system in an organisation. It also consists of decision making with sub department by getting approval from strategic decision or top level authority. (Laudon and Laudon, 2010)

Functional decisions are made or perform at low level with the help of low level managers by using the system called TPS. It helps to solve daily routine activities in this company. (Laudon and Laudon, 2010)

For Paramount Life Vision Company while making decisions some critical factors will affect:

Understanding top level management ability, risk taking and power of decisions Providing sufficient training Using clear performance measures Building groups and teams Facilitation and support Participation and involvement Technological expertise and creativity Risk taking and making

Strategic Decisions

Business Decisions

Functioning Decisions

ESS Top Level Management

MIS, DSS Middle Level Management

TPSLow Level Management

Networking and relationship Applying disruptive technologies Enlargement of scope in terms of management thinking Sustainability of competitive advantages Make wise technology purchasing decisions (Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 2007)

SAFE INFORMATION SYTEM MANAGEMENT BY PARAMOUNT LIFE VISION COMPANY

SISM helps to manage the overall information required for better decision in an organisation. It consists of how to build a system which may not be easily affected by vulnerability, destruction, error and abuses. It needs to be safe from security, control, hardware failure, software problems and disasters. Even it talks about tapping, shifting, message alteration, theft, fraud, radiation, hacking, viruses and copy of data. The safe information system management will make high alert about system controlling, performance and management without any problem in an organisation. It focuses on information system and application controls, disaster recovery and MIS audit as well as security measures to use, ethical consideration and legal threats through best use of knowledge management. (Post and Anderson, 2006)

SECURITY

They are the policies, procedures and technical measures used to prevent unauthorised access, alteration, theft or physical damage to information system. The security consideration consists of tapping, shifting, message alternation, viruses, hacking, vandalism, attacks and radiation. Even it covers the security problems of copy of data, hardware and software failure. The security problems can be solved by access control, use of firewall and anti viruses, securing wireless network, establishment of encryption and digital certificate, controlling network traffic, security outsourcing and insuring software quality of a system. (Laudon and Laudon, 2010)

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION FOLLOWED BY THIS COMPANY

Ethics is related with what to do or not about what is wrong or right i.e. principles of right and wrong that individual acts as a free moral which will guide the behaviour. It consists of frauds (online), software viruses, hacking, piracy and destruction of MIS. It has rise in the world due to threatening social change, distribution of power, obligation, and increase in crime and value of money. It has affected everyday’s life due to rapid change, dependence, vulnerability, abuse, inequality, maintaining boundaries and number balance over power in the MIS in the age called information age. It will totally affect the organisational working system. (Robbins, 2008) / (Chaff and Wood, 2005)

LEGAL THREATS AND MIS

It consists of legal things which may directly or indirectly harm or support MIS. Even it helps to create the system through the following of right laws, orders, principles and attributes. It helps to avoid copying and control over the patients’ rights.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Knowledge management is the process of planning, capturing, organising, controlling and building information creation through use of IT and make them available to other for future references. It consists of two words knowledge means capacity how to make proper use of information where management means sharing of knowledge for idea creation, development and innovation. The critical factor which directly or indirectly affects the KM may be strong link to business imperative, knowledge leadership, continuous learning, knowledge creation and sharing of culture with systematic knowledge processing. These all factors which are explained will try to create that kind of decisions through use of computerised MIS by considering security, legal threats to bring best practices of KM in an organisation. (Awad and Ghaziri, 2003)

CHAPTER 3

STRATEGIC INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND DECISION MAKING

Strategic information management helps for planning, controlling and managing the information system strategy to ensure that right kind of information is available for the right kind strategic decision making in an organisation. For example Paramount Life Vision Company as well as other company like Tesco may use SISM for making right decisions regarding extension of business to many countries through past records of information of data available with the help of system management. This system helps to forecast the future through past and present information. The types of systems that provides strategic information for decision making are: (Post and Anderson, 2006)

Strategic information system: It helps for making right kind of decision for executive management. For example, Iceland may use strategic management system to make long term mission, vision, objectives and market target through which consumers can be captured by an organisation. (Post and Anderson, 2006)

Competitive information system: This system helps to establish cost cutting or cost reduction through use of IT by organisation. It helps for competitiveness or competitive advantage through use of innovative information technology of today. For example, Sainsbury can use CIS to know which market or level of customers it can capture through different products or goods available by maintaining quality and price. SIMS helps for strategic information planning that manage strategic information of an organisation needs as and information system strategy plan to ensure that information is available as far as possible for strategic decisions. Now a day business organisation Tesco, ASDA, Iceland and Sainsbury are using strategic system management to make strategic decisions, planning future portfolio, establishment of target marketing, know the level of customers and so on with the help of information available from different sources in an organisation. Even it helps to know

the short analysis of an organisation in advance to deal with upcoming things to manage well in advance. (Post and Anderson, 2006)

Strategic decisions making is not an easy task, which require fact figures, data, pictures or information from strategic information system management because to make right kind of decisions, it needs to analyse, plan and forecast as a decision making to have a choice from two or more alternatives. The strategic decision making consists of following process:

Identify the problems: It helps to find out the real an organisation do have in terms of anything. The managers should have power, authority, information as well as resources needed to solve the problem. It consists of pressure and need to be aware in advance to solve for example why Tesco’s sales is decreasing since 2008 which can be known by strategic decision making through advance use of SISM.

Identify the decision criteria: Decision criteria are determined and identify by different factors which plays vital role to solve problems like cost, risk and outcomes that the organisation will get for example ASDA can use SISM for the implementation of ASDA’s mobile by introducing new and better offer than other groceries like Tesco’s mobile. It helps to find out the real decision criteria, condition and circumstances that organisation can deal and cope for better decision making.

Allocating weights to the criteria: It is not of equal importance. It helps to assign a weighed to each item place to put in correct order in accordance with importance or value it has in terms of decision making. For example any organisation who want to make right decision need to be analysed, managed, forecast and know well in advance about how much weighed should be given to decision criteria.

Developing alternatives: It easily help to find out the actual alternative from where the right kind of decisions can be taken with the use of SISM for example Mark and Spencer do offer expensive things in UK but due to recession the business is going down and should go for generic strategies which will be most suitable for this organisation to choose by using SISM.

Analysing alternatives: It helps to find out the each and every alternative strength and weakness so that best alternative can be used with the help of SISM. It tries to find out real valuable alternatives which will give maximum benefit to the organisation.

Selecting alternatives: Selecting the best alternative among many is not an easy task which requires high capacity, ability and best technique to choose so the organisation gets sufficient benefit as far as possible.

Implementing the alternatives: It helps for putting the chosen alternative into action to get the right output for gain of competitiveness with the use of SISM. It will give appropriate action to complete the task as far as possible. (Chaff and Wood, 2005)

Managers are those personnel who help to manage the overall activities of an organisation’s by well planning, organising, controlling and managing with the help of SMS. The managers will make two types of decisions to boost up organisation ahead. They are structured and unstructured decisions. The decisions made by the managers should have (attributes) like

It should focus on what is important

It should have logic and consistence It should acknowledges both subjective and objectives and blends analytic with

intuitive thinking It most requires only as much as information and analysis as it necessary to resolve a

particular dilemma. It encourages and guides the gathering of relevant information and opinion It is straight forward, reliable, easy to use and flexible (Chaff and Wood, 2005)

STRUCTURED DECISION AND UNSTRUCTURED DECISIONS

For unstructured problems, that are new or unusual and for which information is ambiguous or incomplete. It requires custom made solution. The non programmed decisions that are unique and recurring that generates unique responses out of many system, ESS is help by management cockpit, dash boards and balance score cards. This all factors will help ESS. The management cockpit is a enterprise management module which use information technology to provide management with a firm performance in terms of HRM, marketing or production. The management dash board will help senior managers by providing quick, easy access data to help lower level and check the performance. The balance score card will provide a framework which helps to combine financial, internal, customer, innovation and learning perspective that can be used for developing and constructing management dash board and cockpit. The top level management of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury or any big organisation can use balance score card to check the performance of employees of firm with the help of management cockpit and dash board by introducing best use of decision technique and tools like data mining, database and data marts. The export system helps to capture knowledge with the help of using IT made available to other worker in the organisation for example this system may help low level employees in an organisation. The executive support system, export system, DSS, MIS and TPS are the available tools and technique which helps for better decision making. They help to make structured as well as unstructured decision in an organisation. The decision made should be well competitive, intelligent and should be help by early indicators at all. They are helped by reliable data, information, knowledge, action and result. The tools and technique of SIM like data ware house, data marts and data mining help to store information for future use. (Chaff and Wood, 2005)

Any organisations who want to make right kind of decision should focus on available tools and techniques so that the decision made by choosing the best alternative will help for competitiveness and efficiency maintain. For example bank like HSBC, Lloyds and Barclays use SIMS why they are one step ahead than other banks in UK. (Chaff and Wood, 2005)

CHAPTER 4

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM IN AN ORGANISATION WITH MANY OUTSIDE EXAMPLES:

Management information system in an organisation plays vital role to bring the organisation into a new form of life to cope with today’s advancement and development by incorporating innovation and creation. Day by day new technological development has brought risk and new innovation in the world. For example, due extensive use of advance technology made communication system perfect to cover whole world with minimum cost and quality. Each and every organisation should implement and introduce MIS for fast working, bringing new management change, and cost cutting and coping with high pressure competition. Many colleges and universities has adopted new software and information system in terms of name, address overall grades and completion of years of students which can be well known by implementing MIS.

It is the world of high financial investment and risk where credit crunch has hit the overall performance of banking industry, that’s why to manage the overall data and information banks are using different IT system and technologies to manage the overall performance. Out of many systems and software, used by Himalayan Bank is Pumari System which has brought banking excellence and increase the performance to cut down the number of employees and increase facilities by introducing new IT system and techniques. www.himalayanbank.com

In UK, many foreign students will come to study and the home office does have excellence record keeping system where the officers of home office can check each and every details whether the students are attending the college regularly and following the overall rules and regulations or not. Even many college of UK are using biometric system to keep the overall attendance performance to show or forward to UK home office. Even with the help of MIS UK government has introduced NI number to control over unemployment problem in the country. The UK home office is very strict about student performance, hours of work and attendance which can be checked by introducing new MIS. www.homeoffice.com

If we come to the grocery organisation like Sainsbury, ASDA, Tesco and Iceland, they fully use MIS to control over sales, stock availability, revenue and cost management and bring excellence in service sector management for example the self check out system used by Tesco is the latest innovation implemented to get service excellence in the organisation. This kind of organisation use MIS to control over performance and cut down employee’s number to cut revenue and profit. www.tesco.com/www.iceland.com/www.sainsbury.com

CONCLUSION

In the world, many organisations use information system management to control over the information and make right decision at the right time with the best use of data and information available since long. The Paramount Life Vision Company has also used the information system to control over information management as like that of other companies in the world to get competitive advantage, business excellence, customer and suppliers relationship, understanding top level management ability, risk taking and power of decisions making, providing sufficient resource availability, measuring performance, building groups and teams, facilitation and support, participation and involvement, technological expertise and creativity, risk taking and making, networking and relationship and enlargement of scope in terms of management thinking. It also helps for fulfilment of organisational goals, mission, vision and target, showing relationship between organisation and information technology, establish link between organisation with environment, culture, management decisions, business process and policies, making separate work from location, reorganise work flows and increase flexibility, mass customization ( use software and computer hardware for production check and control) and help for change and control over resistance to change through of computer based system.

REFERENCES

1. Chaffey, D., and Wood, S., (2005), Business Information Management, Pearson Education- Fundamental text

2. Post, G., and Anderson, (2006) Management Information System, McGraw Hill

3. Rai, H., and Sharma. D, (2008) Policies of Management System, Ekta Publication

4. Patel, G. and Burma. C. (2004) Introduction of Management System, S. Chand Publication

5. Mittal T. & Srivastab B. (2007) Strategic Management Information System, Oxford Publication.

6.Robbins, S, Cenzo, D.(2008) Fundamentals of Management Essential Concepts and Applications, (6th Edition), Pearson Education.

7.Mc Leod, R. (2007) Management Information Systems, (10th Edition), Prentice Hall Publishing.

8. Fitzsimmons, J.A & Fitzsimmons, M.J. (2007) Service Management: Operations Strategy, Information Technology, (6th Edition) Singapore, McGraw Hill International Edition.

9.Laudon, K and Laudon, J (2010). Management Information Systems (11th Edition) Prentice Hall.

10. Awad, E and Ghaziri, H. M, (2003), Knowledge Management (3rd Edition), Prentice Hall

BIBLOGRAPHY

1.Robbins, S, Cenzo, D.(2008) Fundamentals of Management Essential Concepts and Applications, (6th Edition), Pearson Education.

2.Mc Leod, R. (2007) Management Information Systems, (10th Edition), Prentice Hall Publishing.

3. Fitzsimmons, J.A and Fitzsimmons, M.J. (2007) Service Management: Operations Strategy, Information Technology, (6th Edition) Singapore, McGraw Hill International Edition.

4.Laudon, K and Laudon, J (2010). Management Information Systems (11th Edition) Prentice Hall.

7. Awad, E and Ghaziri, H. M, (2003), Knowledge Management (3rd Edition), Prentice Hall

THE END