MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS- A CASE STUDY OF University

COMPANY LIMITED, DUBAI.

Introduction

Rapid development of the technology has turned the world into a global village. For

every economy, teaching and learning are the backbone of the process of growth of the economy.

Thus, they need special attention. The process of e-learning consists of using information

technology for teaching and learning. The schools and universities are highly concerned about

these technologies to improve their education standards. Use of these technologies is associated

with the management information system.

This report throws light on the use of management information system used by the

organizations with special focus on the Al-Dar University. In academic institutions management

of data has become the biggest issue. This case has identified all the problems associated with

the management information system of Al Dar University and the recommends solution for the

problems of the university associated with the use of information system.

The case is a structural analysis of the current situation, problems and analysis of the

problems associated with the university. The first section of the case is associated with the

decision making process of the organization and its relation to the management information

system in the organization. The second section of the report is the case analysis. This section

explain in detail about the management information system used by the organization. The next

section explains about the problems associated with the use of MIS in the university. Following
sections have thrown light on the suggestions to eliminate the current problems and process of

implementation of the given recommendations.

Case Analysis

The case is about the use of Management Information system at Al Dar University. The case

explains that the current management system used by the organization has provided various

efficiency for the business management. But the main aim of the case is to throw light on the

functioning of management information systems. MIS used by the university has made it easy to

perform all the operational tasks easily. It would provide a better understanding to implement the

MIS efficiently. The case study has been conducted in AL DAR UNIVERSITY on the usage of

information management systems. The key reasons of implementing the management

information systems at AL DAR UNIVERSITY is due to the fact that the management

information systems in use at the university are working efficiently to perform the operations of

the university. The management information systems also have a key distinctive feature.

The management information systems are capable of updating themselves regularly with the

ongoing changes in the parameters of the information. Any change perceived in parameter

changes and reflects in the system which updates itself automatically and gears up to the new

details. The management information system therefore harbors updated information regarding

the operations of the organization. This feature of the management information systems in use at

AL DAR UNIVERSITY has brought along efficiency in running the business’s operations and

has outstood as a milestone development in the field of information management systems from

across the world.

In this case the usage, advantages and disadvantages of using the Management information

system in the AL DAR UNIVERSITY, Dubai. Management information systems have been

developed based on modern day information techniques needs. Management information

systems is used in managing, controlling, organizing and analyzing the information within an

organization (Kroenke, 2014). The management information systems are also used in the process

of decision making. The management information systems are designed differently to serve

different business needs. An organization may purchase a Management information system by

considering the organizational and business needs of the organization. In the MIS the

organization may keep the information regarding the students’ personal information, guardians’

information and other relevant information. There are several advantages of using the MIS. One

of the major advantages is, MIS makes the decision making process quicker. Decision making is

normally carried out by human workforce. However, by using management information systems,

the process of decision making becomes quicker. MIS helps in the decision making process by

analyzing the business outcomes and advices the necessary course of action. It eliminates the

human bias in the process of decision making. Management information systems minimizes

manual documentation and workload. Without using MIS the information can be recorded by

marinating a manual diary using manpower.

The management information systems enable greater flexibility, and automated record keeping in

faster a faster method. MIS also enables coordination and control of information within an

organization. All the processes involved in the operation of the university related to student
database. Those are brought into a common synchronization point where they can be easily

controlled and monitored. This facilitates faster coordination of various activities within the

operations of any business embracing the management information systems. Management

information systems also facilitate decentralization in the university. Various operation within

the functional departments of university can be easily accessed by the user and his convenience

and comfort. The MIS brings flexibility in the working culture of the organization. The

management information systems enable better planning strategies and timely output.

There are some disadvantages associated with the Management Information system as well. One

of the greatest disadvantages of management information systems is, the setting up of the

systems requires a considerably huge amount capital and the initial installation of MIS is quite

expensive. The management information systems require close monitoring to ensure efficiency.

As a result of this, a company with management information systems instilled in place, requires a

considerably huge workforce which ought to be adequately skilled to ensure the management

information systems are maintained properly and to manage the operation of MIS is restored

immediately, in case of failure. Another disadvantage associated with management information

systems is the, outputs is always governed and controlled by the quality of the inputs, which are

fed into the system. Therefore providing quality and reliable information to the MIS is really

necessary. The systems do not reserve the right to intelligently acknowledge discrepancies in the

credibility aspect of the input data.

The management information systems are also associated with the disadvantage of decreasing or

varying effectiveness with changes in the management of a particular university entity. The

management of a university is the determinant of the management information system.

systems. Some organizations may embrace manual decision making processes where the

management is ignorant of the impending benefits of using these systems. The management

information systems also have a key shortcoming to the flexibilities of frequent self-updates. The

management information systems which are currently in use in many organizations lacks the

flexibility of being able to update themselves in real time. The updates of MIS has to be done

manually. During the updates the workload in MIS will be higher.

Decision making and originality:

Considering the usage of management information systems and the variety of efficiencies that

the management information systems provides to business management. This case has been

chosen to optimize the functioning of management information systems. It would provide a

better understanding to implement the MIS efficiently.

The key reasons of actualizing the administration data frameworks at AL DAR UNIVERSITY is

because of the way that the administration data frameworks being used at the college are

working productively to play out the activities of the college. The administration data

frameworks likewise have a key particular element. The administration data frameworks are

equipped for refreshing themselves routinely with the progressing changes in the parameters of

the data. Any change apparent in parameter changes and reflects in the framework which

refreshes itself consequently and equips to the new subtleties. The administration data

framework in this manner harbors refreshed data with respect to the tasks of the association. This

element of the administration data frameworks being used at AL DAR UNIVERSITY has
brought along effectiveness in maintaining the business' tasks and has outstood as an

achievement improvement in the field of data the executives’ frameworks from over the world.

In today’s world of universal dependence on Information Systems, organization’s own students

who are present in different locations need to access the organization’s database, these include

organization’s teachers, students, and guardians. However, there are a lot of organizations those

are geographically distributed, and it is possible for an organization to have all of its databases

concentrated at one computer with worldwide access to this site provided by the

telecommunications. “A database is a single logical database that is spread physically across the

computers in multiple locations that are connected by a data communications network”.

Although the operation management of such a centralized system and its databases can be

managed in a well-controlled way, and this can be beneficial. However, it causes some problems,

for instant, if one site goes down, then everyone loses access of the databases until the site

restores again. The communications costs from the many far computers and terminals to the

central site can be high-priced. One solution to such problems, and an alternative design to the

centralized database, is known as distributed database and it is the ideal solution for such

problems. Here we are going to study the design and implementation of a database for the

organizations, who are geographically present. It will also study the usage and efficiency of

database system in these organization.

Management information systems at AL DAR UNIVERSITY , Dubai.

Background information.
AL DAR UNIVERSITY was established in the year 1994 in Dubai. The main motive of the

university is to provide the industry relevant skills to the students. The students portfolio include

both native and foreign students. The university has its branches all over the world, and they

proudly keep extending it. They also very proud of their diverse environment. The group

provides a wide variety of courses ranging from undergraduates to short term courses . There are

numerous undergraduate courses present in the university. The students can pursue professional

degrees from the university as well.

As a part of the strategy university focuses extracurricular activities. This includes both indoor

and outdoor activities. It has been referred as the most prestigious university in Dubai from past

20 years. The university has an average number of about 5,000 students and 100 professors in

Dubai.

Having been termed as one of the most prestigious university from contemporary times, it is not

just an acclaim of the study world. It also holds general sentiment ranking in the education level

from among its competing universities. The success of university has been attributed to two

major factors. One is their ability to diversify their student intake from almost all countries

across the world. This diversity has brought efficiency in running the operations of the

university. Since, the construction of ideas is enhanced by building diversity. There is also an

environment team who is working to connect people from different cultures through social

network. The other factor attributed to the leading is the effective use of management

information systems in the day to day operations. The management information systems in use at

the University are flexible as they update themselves automatically and create a real time

interaction as a result. They have realized greater milestones with this development.
The university aims to do its operations with honesty and dedication, that’s why it makes efforts

to bring innovative technologies across the departments for better secure and personal

information of system. The university has a huge organizational hierarchy chain; the university

may face small changes in its organizational structure due to the implementation of this SPS,

GPS system in the region of Dubai. The information technology is managed under the

administrative office. It also includes IT personnel to resolve the technical issues timely.

Being an educational institution, the students details should be securely and properly managed .

The goal is to solve the problems related to the new system and the development of the system

by meeting the request of the student in the shortest possible time without delay. So, we

proposed a new system aimed at accessing the specific details through student ID and User

Requirements

The system should be active and available 24*7 and it should provide caller assistance facility.

The system number must be available in emergency dialing.

System Requirements

a.    Functional

 All users are required to renew its data until it is quickly identified

 The system should have the responsibility of not giving user a chance to watch other

user's records.

b.    Non-Functional
  System performance should be accurate and fast for current student ID

 The system contact number must be available on all phones in the UAE.

 The system should be able to handle large numbers of queries to respond.

 The location, phone number must be secured from other users.

Problems faced.

Security and privacy was the major issue in the system. All the systems require security but in a

distributed database system it needs additional security measures because of the distributed

control among verities of sites, huge number of users, and diversified data. Moreover, distributed

database system functions include distributed query management, distributed transaction

processing, distributed metadata management, and all these must be highly secured since it deals

with sensitive data and information. Protection of distributed system assets, including base

resources, storage, communications and user-interface I/O as well as higher- level composites of

these resources, like processes, files, messages, display windows and more complex objects, are

important issue in distributed system (Distributed Database Problem areas and Approaches, p17).

High Implementation Cost considering the additional hardware and labor for managing the

databases on for the sites. For maintenance also it often needs an expensive software to provide

data transparency and coordination across the sites. The organization is growing, hence they may

need more labor and hardware requirements. 

Solution to the problems.

As part of the universities resolutions in the year 2010, there was a unanimous agreement that the

company should speed up with the processes of embracing information technology in the
administration of the business in order to keep up with the security related issues.. This overly

simplified their operations and brought realization. The processes cut on the security hastiness,

reduced the workloads and realization of quality output. Owing to this, university embraced

information technology in their operations. This began with piloting a management information

system in the year 2011. The university was able to institute a management information system

which was able to synchronize its operations. The students plight interactively. The employees

were also able to interact actively with other employees from across various destinations. This

brought a supportive environment to the operations of the university. The management

information systems were bringing better business realizations with the observable milestones in

integrating management information systems to the operations of university, the university chose

to delve deeper in the niche and bring greater realizations.

Advanced exploration in the field has led to the development of management information system

known as in-university information management system at the AL DAR UNIVERSITY. This

development has been hailed by many decision makers in the technology field and in the field of

education. The query management information system of students is one of a kind system. It is

different from the management information systems used by other universities. The query

information management system is coupled with the aspect of being a real-time system in its

operations. This has facilitated automatic updates in the operations of the university student

information. Other management information systems in use by the universities lack in the real

time aspect. This means that updates to the systems are generally supported by manual

operations.
The query information management system has brought along a number of capabilities to the

university. The system has brought about realization of higher students satisfaction. students can

interact freely with their authorities and authorities are able to attend to their requests in real time

and serve them satisfactorily. The real time updating deals with the scholarships, exams results,

updating of information. The customers are also able to place orders from the catering

department and are able to receive them on time during their interactions. The customers can

track the updates from the airline company concerning their schedules. This has brought about

greater realizations of customer satisfaction.

Recommendations.

AL DAR UNIVERSITY should seek technological support from the wide range professionals in

the field of management information systems and the broader information technologies to seek to

improve the compatibility of the management information systems in the company with many

device types.

The university should create sufficient awareness to its student’s base to ensure that there is

adequate knowledge of making maximum use of this technology to bring about realization of

students query satisfaction.

Conclusion.

AL DAR UNIVERSITY has been achieved the desired use of information technology to

simplify the operations of the university. This is clearly seen from the running of a top notch

management information system, the query t information management system. This has brought

about realization of quality and accurate output in the day to day operation of the university.
References.

David Kroenke, Deborah Bunker and David Wilson (2014). Experiencing MIS. Pearson Higher

Education AU. 3(2), 226-231.

Hunt, R. (2008). Microsoft and Core Systems Vendors Position Windows for Large Banks: If

you build it, will they come? Tower Group. 5(4), 37-67.

Menon, S. (2009). Technology Led Innovation Regime. Inside Talk journals. 1(2), 1-3.

https://www.aldar.ac.ae/

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