BBA 601 Management Information System (Study Material)
CHAPTER 5: PLANNING, DESIGNING & IMPLEMENTATION OF MIS
Chapter Outline: Introduction, Contents of MIS Plan, Steps in MIS planning,
Development & implementation of the MIS,
#INTRODUCTION:
Plan Develop Implement
MIS should be flexible enough to deal with the changing information needs of the
organization.
Plan should be concurrent with the business plan of the organization.
It is important that the business plan is understood in terms of the information
needs.
Management needs should be translated into information needs and after that the
designer has to evolve a plan of development & implementation.
#CONTENTS OF MIS PLAN:
1. MIS GOALS & OBJECTIVES: Goals & objectives have to be stated so that they
can be measured in quantifiable terms……..ex: the query processing should not
exceed more than 3 seconds.
2. STRATEGY FOR THE PLAN ACHIEVMENT: Designer has to take a number
of strategic decisions for the achievement of the MIS goals & objectives…….ex:
Resources for system development inhouse vs external, Manpower composition:
Analyst, programmer skills, know how etc.
3. THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE MIS: Provides information about the system,
subsystem structure, input/output linkages etc.
4. THE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE: Time schedule is chalked out in
alignment with the business plan. Revision measures as and when needed are
initiated.
5. HARDWARE & SOFTWARE PLAN: Economics of investment is worked out
giving due importance to the technical & operational feasibility. Organizations
ignoring this aspect suffer from over-investment, under-utilization and are not
able to meet the critical information requirements.
#STEPS IN MIS PLANNING:
1. ASCERTAINING THE CLASS OF INFORMATION: It is a complex task and it
can be simplified by classifying it into the following categories:
1. Organizational Information: Information required by a no. of personnel,
departments & divisions of an organization. Needs to be studied
thoroughly & critically as it is used across the organization.
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Compiled & prepared by: Soumitro Chakravarty, Faculty Member, Deptt. of Mgmt. BITEC, Lalpur
BBA 601 Management Information System (Study Material)
2. Functional Information: Refers to information local in nature & to be used
by a functional head in conducting administration & management of the
function.
3. Knowledge Information: That information which compels a manager to
think, decide & act. It shows the trend of the activity or a result against the
time scale. Ex: whether the sales are declining & the trend is likely to
continue in the next quarter.
4. Decision Support Information: Decision making mostly done by top level
management. Decision support information supports the manager in
decision making.
5. Operational Information: Refers to the information which is required by
the operational & lower levels of management. Ex: information to change
job from one machine to another, about over-time etc.
2. DETERMINING THE INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS:
1. Asking or interviewing: Designer of MIS puts questions or converses with
the user of the information to determine the information requirements.
Questions could be of various types like open ended….closed
ended….MCQ etc. Placing questions is an art…..
2. Determining from existing system: Study of existing system gives idea of
information requirements. In many cases studying systems from other
companies can give additional information requirements. Text books,
handbooks, research studies etc……
3. Analysing the critical factors: Critical factors differ from organization to
organization. Ex: High Technology business mgmt. of technology is the
critical function, in consumer industry marketing & service become the
critical functions.
4. Experimentation & modeling: Employed only in cases when there is total
uncertainty about the information requirements. Information needs
evolved by experimentation. At times models are used to decide the initial
information needs.
#DEVELOPMENT & IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MIS:
Development of MIS
PROTOTYPE APPROACH LIFE CYCLE APPROACH
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Compiled & prepared by: Soumitro Chakravarty, Faculty Member, Deptt. of Mgmt. BITEC, Lalpur
BBA 601 Management Information System (Study Material)
1. PROTOTYPE APPROACH
In simple terms prototype approach consists of first of all designing the working
model of a system on a smaller scale and then refining it progressively until the final
application is developed with information requirements being met.
TEST FINAL SYSTEM
PROTOTYPE
BASED ON PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT
INITIAL
REQUIREMENTS
Revise Prototype
NO User YES
Satisfied?
Prototype Approach (Macro View)
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Compiled & prepared by: Soumitro Chakravarty, Faculty Member, Deptt. of Mgmt. BITEC, Lalpur
BBA 601 Management Information System (Study Material)
Mission ,
Goals
Review
Modify Prototype
Identify specs
Information Refine the
needs needs
Implement
Develop revised
Define Develop & test prototype
System
Boundaries &
scope
Training
Initial
Define
System Prototype User
Satisfied?
Objectives
Develop initial YES
Examine
prototype Document
feasibility
specifications Develop appl. With
final specs.
Prototype Approach (Exploded View)
This approach is simple when number of users is one or few but for multiple/large
number of users of the same system the designer’s task becomes difficult.
This is so because in that case multiple users are on the same platform and greater
understanding of their needs, requirements, attitudes & objectives are involved.
Generally speaking for systems which are not very elaborate, where information
needs are not very clearly defined this method is normally used.
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Compiled & prepared by: Soumitro Chakravarty, Faculty Member, Deptt. of Mgmt. BITEC, Lalpur
BBA 601 Management Information System (Study Material)
2. LIFE CYCLE APPROACH:
Employed in case of designing of systems which have a life (birth &
death) and can be developed in a systematic manner, and can be reviewed
after a year or two, for significant modifications if any. Ex: pay roll, order
processing, basic financial accounting etc.
Thus, choice of system design in the prototype & life cycle approach is
decided on the basis of the nature of the system or application.
Hence, Life Cycle approach is used for a)Systems which remain valid for
a long time with no significant changes. For closed systems with little or
no uncertainty about the information needs.
No need to try out the application as it is already proven.
The system & application is universal & governed by principles &
practices.
INSTALL THE
PHYSICAL SYSTEM
SYSTEM DESIGN
APPLICATION
SYSTEM CONDUCT
ASSESS SPECIFICATIONS AWARENESS &
FEASIBILITY TRAINING
PROGRAMME OPERATE THE
SPECIFICATIONS SYSTEM
INFORMATION
REQUIREMENT
ANALYSIS
CONCEPTUAL DEVELOP THE REVIEW & AUDIT
DESIGN SYSTEM
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Compiled & prepared by: Soumitro Chakravarty, Faculty Member, Deptt. of Mgmt. BITEC, Lalpur
BBA 601 Management Information System (Study Material)
#IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MIS
In the process of implementation, the system designer acts as a change agent or
catalyst. For successful implementation he has to handle the human factors
carefully.
User apprehensions are there about the change from old to new systems. The
transition may not be smooth. They have to be assured that their fears are baseless
and the responsibility rests with the designer.
On many occasions there may also be fears that upon implementation of the new
system their roles may get reduced in the organization, fear complex may get
reinforced, career prospects may get affected. IT is the task of the designer to
ensure that these are removed to ascertain smooth implementation of the system.
GUIDELINES FOR SYSTEM DESIGNER:
1. Not question beyond a certain limit about the information needs of the
user.
2. Not forget his role is to offer a service & not to demand terms.
3. Demand of users should be respected.
4. Don’t mix technical needs with information needs.
5. Ensure global nature of the system.
6. Ensure management acceptance.
7. Bring about user participation from time to time.
8. Conduct periodic meetings with users.
9. Train the users with patience.
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Compiled & prepared by: Soumitro Chakravarty, Faculty Member, Deptt. of Mgmt. BITEC, Lalpur
