The term management information system (MIS) made its first appearance in U.S. navy report on the use of computers to construct a single integrated system to manage all navy resources.
Management Information System Definition- An information system that integrates data from all the departments it serves and provides operations and management with the information they require. (source: Computer Desktop Encyclopedia)
The term “management information system”(MIS) is synonymous with computer based systems. Used broadly, it is seen as the system satisfying all the information needs of managers. MIS is the study of providing information to people who make choices about the disposition of valuable resources in a timely, accurate, and complete manner at a minimum of cognitive and economic cost for acquisition, processing, storage, and retrieval.
Another definition emphasises the use to which the information is put, rather than the way it is produced: “A system to convert data from internal and external sources into information and communicate that information in an appropriate form, to managers at all levels in all functions to enable them to make timely and effective decisions for planning, directing and controlling the activities for which they are responsible.”(Bee and Bee, 1999).
Management Information System (M.I.S.) is basically concerned with processing data into information. which is then communicated to the various Departments in an organization for appropriate decision-making.
Data collection involves the use of Information Technology (IT). Telecommunications provides the means for communication and for the transmission of messages.
Systems Analysis
Systems analysis is the study of a system under consideration. Its purpose is understanding and documentation of the essential characteristics of the system being studied. Its eventual goal is to come up with a specification of the system under study. Systems analysis is not a preliminary study. It is an in-depth study of the end user information needs that produces functional requirements that are used as the basis for the design of a management information system. Systems analysis traditionally involves a detailed study of:
- The information needs of a company and end users.
- The activities, resources, and products of one or more of the present information systems being used.
- The information system capabilities required to meet your information needs, and those of other stakeholders that might use the system.