Question

A COMPANY WANTS TO GO INTO PRODUCTION AND SALE OF COMPUTERS. EXPLAIN HOW YOU WILL DESIGN AN INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR THE ENTIRE COMPANY. CONSIDER VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS SUCH AS FINANCE, MARKETING & SALES, HUMAN RESOURCE, MANUFACTURING, CUSTOMER SERVICE, ETC. ALSO CONSIDER THE WAY YOU WILL PACKAGE INFORMATION TO THE LOWER LEVEL, MID LEVEL AND HIGH LEVEL EMPLOYEES IN THE DEPARTMENT.

Answer 1

Management Information Systems are typically organized around the functional areas of an organization. Learn about some of the most common applications of Management Information Systems.

MIS Applications
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Many organizations are structured based on functional areas. This is often reflected in an organizational chart. Typically, functional areas include finances, human resources, marketing, etc. Many of these functional areas have their own Management Information System, or MIS.

Financial MIS
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A financial MIS provides financial information for managers to make daily decisions on operations within the organization. Most systems provide these functions:

Integrate financial information from multiple sources
Provide easy access to financial information in summarized form
Enable financial analysis using easy-to-use tools
Compare historic and current financial activity
A financial MIS often has a number of subsystems, depending on the type of organization. These include systems to analyze revenues, costs and profits, auditing systems for both internal and external purposes and systems to manage funds. A financial MIS can also be used to prepare reports for third parties, such as external auditors or shareholders.

Marketing and Sales
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A marketing MIS supports activities throughout the many activities of marketing departments. Some of the typical subsystems of a marketing MIS are marketing research, product development and delivery, promotion and advertising, product pricing and sales analysis.

One of the most common uses of a marketing MIS is to produce sales reports. These are typically produced on a regular schedule, such as by week, month and quarter. Reports can be organized by sales representative, product, customer or geographic area. Such reports allow managers to see which aspects of sales are doing well and which ones need attention.

Perhaps one sales representative has suddenly experienced a drop in sales by losing one major customer and needs some support to develop some new leads. If there are only a handful of sales reps sharing one office, a manager might be able to pick up on this just by talking to everyone. However, what if a manager has to oversee more than 100 sales reps in 12 different offices around the nation? A specialized information system that provides regular updates in a meaningful format will make it a lot easier for the manager to make effective decisions.

Human Resource
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A HRIS, or Human Resource Information System, is a software solution for small to mid-sized businesses to help automate and manage their HR, payroll, management and accounting activities.

A HRIS generally should provide the capability to more effectively plan, control and manage HR costs; achieve improved efficiency and quality in HR decision making; and improve employee and managerial productivity and effectiveness.

A HRIS offers HR, payroll, benefits, training, recruiting and compliance solutions
Most are flexibly designed with integrated databases, a comprehensive array of features, and powerful reporting functions and analysis capabilities that you need to manage your workforce. This can give back hours of the HR administrator’s day previously spent attending to routine employee requests.

A HRIS also facilitates communication processes and saves paper by providing an easily-accessible, centralized location for company policies, announcements, and links to external URL’s. Employee activities such as time-off requests and W-4 form changes can be automated, resulting in faster approvals and less paperwork.

An affordable Human Resource Information System (HRIS), for example Sage HRMS’s e-capabilities, allows companies to manage their workforce through two powerful main components: HR & Payroll. In addition to these essential software solutions, HRIS offers other options to help companies understand and fully utilize their workforce’s collective skills, talents, and experiences.

Some of the most popular modules are:
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Organization charts :-(Create professional looking, dynamic organization charts)

Employee self service :-(Employees can update personal information and view benefits elections, absence transactions, time-off balances and payroll information)

Benefits Administration :-(Save paper and postage, take weeks off the benefits open enrollment period, reduce administration time, and improve data accuracy)

Manufacturing
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Manufacturing is one of the areas where information systems have made a major impact. A typical manufacturing MIS is used to monitor the flow of materials and products throughout the organization. In a manufacturing process, raw materials or parts are transformed to finished products, and a manufacturing MIS is used at every stage. Some of the common subsystems in a manufacturing MIS include: design and engineering, production scheduling, inventory control, process control and quality control.

Consider the example of building an airplane. How many different parts do you think there are in an airplane? One of those commercial jets used by the major airlines easily has over 100,000 parts. Many of those parts come from suppliers and have to be ordered. Others are made at the manufacturing plant itself. Now think of the process that is needed to get all those parts at the right place at the right time. And all those parts have to be carefully inspected before they can be used in building the plane.

Customer Service
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Implementing new, replacing or upgrading a Customer Information System can improve responsiveness, increase productivity, improve information access, and automate business processes.

Because CIS systems manage many aspects of your business operation – from service requests to billing and collections – implementation must meet the highest standard. While potential improvements are substantial, full implementation can be a challenge. Therefore requirements must be defined, prioritized and based on your unique business needs.

Service Objective
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Fully implemented and integrated CIS solutions can profoundly improve utility performance and enhance customer service levels. Westin develops requirements, assists with systems evaluation and selection, and provides implementation services, to improve billing accuracy, reduce service order backlog, minimize overtime, and cut abandoned calls, to name a few. We can help you:

-Improve information access, increase customer self-service and reduce demands on service staff;

-Improve billing accuracy and meter-to-cash cycle times;

-Develop interfaces to Meter Data Management (MDM), GIS, IVR, and Work Management systems to improve CSR functions;

-Reduce payment defaults by enabling automatic funds transfer, credit card, phone pay, web pay;

-Automate communication with customers about utility programs and activities such as water quality, water conservation and     maintenance activities;

-Facilitate dispatching and provide CSRs with real-time status on service request and service orders by integrating CIS with mobile solutions;

-Eliminate redundant data entry, replace manual tasks, and expedite service by automatically transferring relevant information from service requests to work orders; and

-Optimize service routing and real-time information exchange among CSRs, technicians, supervisors and operation managers.

Westin combines a proven methodology, nationally recognized business and technical experts, and direct knowledge of CIS applications in utilities. Working collaboratively with your staff, we identify opportunities for improving business effectiveness, overcoming challenges and implementing enterprise solutions.