UNIT 3

MIS Design, Issues and Challenges

Learning Objectives
• The phases which are used in MIS design
• Know the Functions of a Management Information System
• The benefits of management information systems
• The challenges of management information systems
• Understand the main factors which influences MIS design
The Phases which are used in MIS Design
• Design is one of the most decisive steps of
any proposed system. To do a successful
design, we follow some necessary steps of
system development.

• To design a MIS is a strategic process

which includes development phases. The
phases which are used in MIS design are as
follows –
– Problem identification
– Analysis
– Design
– Implementation
– Maintenance
1. Problem Investigation
• This is an initial phase of MIS design. This phase is used to identify the root causes
of MIS design.

• The system development experts gather requirements and think about the solution of
a problem, after identifying all the necessities, the designing process starts.

• The main objective of the investigation phase is to do a feasibility study to develop

the proposed MIS. This phase is known as a preliminary study of MIS design; it
investigates the system needs and its objectives as per user’s requirements and mainly
focuses on resource identification and management, cost-benefit analysis, etc.
2. Analysis
• An analysis is a detailed enquiry about a particular problem. It enquires about the
answers to all possible questions like what, why, when, how?

• An analysis is a systematic study of a system. In this phase, various components of a

system are identified and analyze their interrelationship.

• The person who did the analysis is known as an analyst. The analyst is an
experienced and expert candidate who did the analysis.
3. Design
• Design is a sketch or blueprint of a proposed system. It describes one or more
components of a system and its relationship. The system experts are making design
and describe the internal and external layout of the new system.

• The design describes the interdependency between the components of the system
thoroughly using graphical methods. Commonly design has two categories -
– Logical design - this design describes the abstract of a system

– Physical design - this design relates to the system's processes i.e. input, process, and output.
4. Implementation
• After getting requirements done and the design activity over, the implementation
phase starts.

• In this phase, all the work gets implemented as per preplanned activities.

• The main objective of this phase is to implement all the components of the system in
a systematic manner so that all the objectives of the system gets fulfilled.
4. Implementation
• After getting requirements done and the design activity over, the implementation
phase starts.

• In this phase, all the work gets implemented as per preplanned activities.

• The main objective of this phase is to implement all the components of the system in
a systematic manner so that all the objectives of the system gets fulfilled.
5. Maintenance
• A good way to implement a system in such a way so that in the future if any updation
requires; can be successfully implemented in the system without any trouble.

• In most the cases, it happens that after successful implementation of the system if
some necessary changes or updation requires in the system then the system doesn't
allow implementing these.
 Influences on MIS Design
• There are numerous factors which
influence the structure and scope
of an organization’s MIS which
are summarized in the figure

Major influences on the organization’s MIS

 Influences in MIS Design
• The primary function of the organization: Is it a manufacturing or service company, a
wholesaler, a local authority, a public utility, a hospital? Are there numerous functions?
What linkages exist between them? Are they complementary or disparate? What type of
technology is used?

• The structure and levels of the organizations: Is the organization composed of numerous
sections and levels? What degree of autonomy have the section/departments?

• The degree of centralization or decentralization: Is the organization tightly controlled at

the center? What decision/actions are the sections allowed to take? What is the committee
structure?
 Influences in MIS Design
• Interaction with environment: To what extent is external information of importance?
In what ways does the organization need to communicate with its environment – to
customers, suppliers, trade unions, government departments etc. What is the
legislative framework? To what extent if any does the Data Protection Act apply?

• What decisions need to be taken: What is the extent of programmed and non-
programmed decision making? What levels take the decisions? What is the urgency
surrounding the decision making process? What is the time scale of the decisions?
 Influences in MIS Design
• The scale of operation: How many employees? How many branches/departments/sections? What is the volume of
orders, invoices, bills, enquiries, transactions etc.?

• The management style: Is it an authoritarian or participative style? Are procedures and operations routine closely
prescribed? Is management by exception practiced ? What is the control structure?

• Use of Information Technology: What is the extent and type of I.T usage? What degree of expertise exists
throughout the organizations – not just the I.T specialists? What is the availability of equipment?

• To what extent is planning formalized? What time scales are involved? What is the extent of participation in
planning? How is planning monitored? How are plans implemented?
 Data Protection Act (DPA)
• Another important influence on the design and operation of computer based
system is the need to conform to the DPA of 1984.

• The DPA was passed to prevent the misuse of personal data in computer
systems and to allow individuals to know what data are held concerning them.

• All data users and computer bureau must be registered with the Data Protection
Registrar before they can hold personal data on computer files. (Manual files
are not covered by the DPA)
 Characteristics of Computerized MIS
• It should be able to process data accurately and with high speed, using various
techniques like operations research, simulation, heuristics, etc.
• It should be able to collect, organize, manipulate, and update large amount of raw data
of both related and unrelated nature, coming from various internal and external
sources at different periods of time.
• It should provide real time information on ongoing events without any delay.
• It should support various output formats and follow latest rules and regulations in
practice.
• It should provide organized and relevant information for all levels of management:
strategic, operational, and tactical.
• It should aim at extreme flexibility in data storage and retrieval
 Benefits of MIS
Growth:

• Indicators of success / benefits that have an impact on revenue enhancement is the increased sales in
existing markets and expansion into new markets.

Increased customer satisfaction:

• Good management information system will speed up the process so that, the time required to serve a
customer can be faster.

Improved quantity and quality of information:

• Application of good information system will certainly generate reports, compilation of data that is managed
by qualified and comprehensive database. This can be achieved when each of the reporting process is
executed automatically by computer machines.
 Benefits of MIS
Improved quality and quantity management decisions:

• It is inevitable that any decision-making relies heavily on information that supports the policy to be taken. It can only be
realized if information systems can provide information that is relevant, accurate, current and can be retrieved at any time.

Improved quality of internal and external communications:

• A good information system must be supported by electronic data communication network systems that are reliable as well.
With the application of good information systems, each party both inside and outside the company can exchange
information more effectively and efficiently.

Improved quality of planning:

• Planning is an essential process for businesses. However, any plan that will be made needs the support of adequate
information into practice. If not, then the plan may be disoriented and will not reach its target because of mistaken
information into its base.
Benefits of MIS
Improved quality control and supervision:

• When the information system is built and maintained properly, any activity within the
business environment can be constantly monitored.

• Monitoring is certainly an impact of improving control over every procedure and

activities occurring within the company
Limitation of MIS
• The MIS is as good as its design - MIS if designed in an improper manner
does not serve the management and hence is of little relevance.
• The MIS is as good as its users - if the users do not know how to leverage the
information available from MIS then MIS is of little use.
• The MIS is no good if the basic data is obsolete and outdated
Challenges of MIS
• The existing barriers can be divided into humanistic, organizational and environmental
factors

Humanistic factors

• The lack of information on the part the managers and users as they don’t know exactly what
they want and what their information needs are.

• The lack of understanding of the needs of the users by designers (the lack of correct definition
of the needs and their analysis)

• The lack of information on the part of managers and users about the collaboration method
with the designer team.

• The lack of participation from managers and users in system design.

 Challenges of MIS

• The lack of understanding of the managers with regards to the software

and information systems.

• The lack of information of most of the analysts and programmers

(designers) with new system work environment.

• The lack of acceptance of the system executers and resistance against the
change.

• The lack of accuracy in the data collected

 Challenges of MIS
Organizational factors

• The lack of good conditions for participation and collaboration of the managers, users
and system directors

• The lack of consistency and complexity of the existing manual systems.

• The lack of existing systems and methods analysis before the system design

• The lack of human resources with management and computer fields and other required
specializations (the problems of absorbing human resources)
 Challenges of MIS
• Inadequate education of the users
• Inadequate and incomplete documentation

Environmental factors
• The lack of suitable consultants for designing the system and software
• The lack of procedures and methodology and stages of creating the system
• The lack of evaluation of environmental aspects in management information systems
 Other Challenges
• Requirement of Skilled Staff

• Finding and withholding talented professionals

• Matching strides with the ever changing world of business technology

• Development and implementation of the right strategy

• Revising reporting systems

• Improving fragmented data

 MIS Security and Ethical Issues
Security of an Information System
• Information system security refers to the way the system is defended against
unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection,
recording or destruction.
There are two major aspects of information system security:
• Security of the information technology used - securing the system from malicious
cyber-attacks that tend to break into the system and to access critical private
information or gain control of the internal systems.
• Security of data - ensuring the integrity of data when critical issues arise such as
natural disasters, computer/server malfunction, physical theft etc.
– Generally an off-site backup of data is kept for such problems.
 MIS Security and Ethical Issues
Guaranteeing effective information security has the following key aspects:

• Preventing the unauthorized individuals or systems from accessing the information.

• Maintaining and assuring the accuracy and consistency of data over its entire life-cycle.

• Ensuring that the computing systems, the security controls used to protect it and the communication
channels used to access it, are functioning correctly all the time, thus making information available in
all situations.

• Ensuring that the data, transactions, communications or documents are genuine.

• Ensuring the integrity of a transaction by validating that both parties involved are genuine, by
incorporating authentication features such as "digital signatures".
MIS Security and Ethical Issues

• Ensuring that once a transaction takes place, none of the parties can deny it,
either having received a transaction, or having sent a transaction. This is
called 'non-repudiation'.

• Safeguarding data and communications stored and shared in network systems.

 Information Systems and Ethics
• Information systems bring about immense social changes, threatening the existing distributions of
power, money, rights, and obligations.

• It also raises new kinds of crimes, like cyber-crimes.

The following organizations promote ethical issues:

• The Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP)

• The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM)

• The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

• Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR)

 The ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
• Strive to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness, and dignity in both the process
and products of professional work.
• Acquire and maintain professional competence.
• Know and respect existing laws pertaining to professional work.
• Accept and provide appropriate professional review.
• Give comprehensive and thorough evaluations of computer systems and their
impacts, including analysis and possible risks.
 The IEEE Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
• To accept responsibility in making decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the
public, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment;

• To avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible, and to disclose them to affected
parties when they do exist;

• To be honest and realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available data;

• To reject bribery in all its forms;

• To improve the understanding of technology, it’s appropriate application, and potential consequences;
END OF UNIT 3