Management Information System

A Management Information System (MIS) is an integrated, user-machine system for providing information to support operations, management and decision-making functions in an organization. The systems utilizes computer hardware and software; manual procedures; models for analysis, planning, control and decision making; and a database.Decision making is a pervasive function of anyone for achieving goals. In the case of managers decision making is of much importance because

* Managers spend a lot of time making decisions.
* Managers are evaluated in the basis of the number of and importance of the decisions made.

To facilitate scientific decision making, the managers require information, external and internal, supplied to him selectively and at his call. MIS is defined as follows:
Management-it consist of the processes or activities that describe what managers do in the operation of their organization -plan, organize, initiate and control operations.
Information-Data are facts and figures that are not currently being used in a decision process. They are records which need not to be retrieved immediately. Information is data that have been retrieved, processed and used for a decision making
System-In management concept, it optimizes the output of the organization by connecting the operating subsystems through information exchange.

Information handling takes place in every organization. But a systematic collection of the right data, its proper recording and timely retrieval to decision making are all part of a well designed MIS. The system approach is most suited to provide appropriate nformation in the right form at right time .Such a system will help to collect, discriminate, select, relate, classify and interpret the information according to the users need. The systems approach was introduced to achieve synergism, that is, the simultaneous action of separate but interrelated parts together produce a total effect greater than the sum of individual parts. In the past, the effectiveness of the business organizations was less than optimum because managers failed to relate the parts or functions of the systems to each other. The sales function was performed without a great deal of integration with design or production; production control was not coordinated with financial or personnel planning and so on