Implementation Of Management Information System In Information Technology And Management

Management Information System (MIS)

Discuss about the Implementationin Information Technology and Management.

Information system is known an organized system that is used for the collection, organization storage and communication of information. According to Stair and Reynolds (2013), it can also be defined as the study of complementary networks that people and organization can use to collect, filter process, develop and distribute data. It is a combination of hardware, software, infrastructure and trained people to facilitate planning, coordination and decision making in an organization. As mentioned by Cassidy (2016), there are several types of information system that are available such as transaction processing systems, decision support system, office support system, transaction supporting system and management information system. All of these information systems are useful for a business organization. Such as transaction processing system that is capable to provide a way to collect, process, display or cancel transactions (Braglia and Frosolini 2014). On the other hand, decision support system that helps to make decisions by working and analyzing data that can produce arithmetical projections and data models. However, management information system is suggested for McDonalds. Management information system is a unique information system that mostly collects data by the transaction processing system. This data is then used to develop reports in a way that managers can use it to make regular business related decisions. This system is exceptionally useful to deal with organizational problems. This system also increases efficiency of managerial activities. Further in this report, a complete description is provided about management information system along with its importance. It is also mentioned that how this system help McDonald. Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) of MIS is also mentioned in this report along with its challenges and solutions.

Management information system delivers knowledge that business companies require to manage themselves effectively. MIS are typical computer systems that are used for managing and organizing a company. According to Choudhary (2015), the five main components of MIS are hardware, software, data (required for decision making method), procedures (design, establishment and documentation) and people (individual employees, teams or organization). This system is different from other information systems as they are used to scrutinize and assist tactical and equipped behavior. Rationally, the term management information system is mainly used to submit to the study of how employees, teams or companies assess, design, supervise and utilize systems to develop information to enhance competence and efficacy of decision making.

Importance of MIS for McDonalds

The idea of MIS has changed enormously over a phase of time comprising many different facets of the organizational meaning. In its preliminary days, the concept of MIS was to route the information available in the organization. Then that data was obtainable in the shape of reports at continuous intervals. MIS was competent of dealing with the data from the level of compilation to dispensation. This concept was later customized by adding a distinction between data and information. Information is known as a product of an analysis of data. This perception is analogous to a raw material and the completed goods (Ma and Ji 2014). Those information can be analyzed in a several ways, generating diverse shades and stipulation of the information as a product. It was, therefore, demanded that MIS should be more individual-oriented so that each employee can have dissimilar orientation towards the information.

Later this notion was further changed in a way that I can present information in a different form and format. This different form can develop an impression on its user, infuriating a judgment or an examination. It was understood that some type of discerning step was essential in the system to better study and exposure. Hence, the new conception of exemption exposure was included in MIS. After that the concept of MIS was further developed so that the system can become able of managing requirement based exclusion coverage. This need may either of an individual or a group of people.

Management information systems are extremely important, especially in hospitality and tourism industry. For an organization like McDonalds, the use of MIS is principally focused on the following areas.

Flow of information organization-wide: McDonalds is a customer-focused company. MIS can provide a big picture regarding the overall organization wide information. MIS will make sure that updated and strategically necessary information can be generated in the form of data and reports (Choudhary 2015).

Decision-making process: Out of management information system can be found in the form of reports. These reports can be used by the management of McDonalds in the decision making process. It will also help McDonalds to prepare itself strategically for the upcoming business venture.

Managerial control and scrutiny: According to Braglia and Frosolini (2014), properly formulated, incorporated and centrally consolidated data and knowledge can help a manager with an insight regarding the entire administrative process. MIS does the same job as it helps the managers to have a strong control over the managerial activities and methods.

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) In MIS

Computer dependant systems: As management information system is a computer based system, it can help McDonald to provide swift and efficient service to its customers (Ma and Ji 2014). Through MIS, employees and managers will be able to gain real time information about the organization. It will help the management of McDonalds to cater to the needs of the customers.

Some other advantages that McDonalds will have through MIS are mentioned below.

MIS will help the organization to identify its weaknesses through the presence of revenue report, sales report and employee performance report.

As the management will get real time strategic report, the management will be able to tap the opportunities at the real time. Besides, it will also help to address the weaknesses which will give the organization a competitive advantage.

MIS will help to minimize or eliminate delays and ineffectiveness in the handling of the customers. It will be done as an updated report will be available for the organization related to the taste and preference of the customers.

System development lifecycle is referred to as the relevance development-life cycle. It is a phrase used in systems engineering and software engineering to portray a method for planning, developing, testing and deploying an information system (Gupta and Laxmi 2015). System development life cycle of MIS is mentioned below that will help the management of McDonalds to successfully implement the system in the workplace.

SDLC will start with a written request which is called as system request which will figure out the needs of an IS. It will also describe the changes or improvements by the management concern. This request could be either minor or major. A minor request can ask for adding a new report of altering an existing evaluation formula. On the other hand, major report will involve the development of an entire information system which will meet the requirements of a new business need.

Preliminary investigation is also called as feasibility study that helps to define the business related problems and opportunities. It will also decide whether or not a new system is required, while spending minimum amount of money and time (Bano and Zowghi 2013). Three major aspects of feasibility study are technical feasibility, economic feasibility and operational feasibility. Within technical feasibility, it will be discussed whether the project can be done by using existing equipments or not. Economic feasibility will decide whether there are sufficient amount of benefits in developing the system. Operational feasibility will identify whether the system will used if it is developed and implemented. It will also identify that whether the end users will show any kind f resistance while using this system.

The major activities of feasibility study are shown in the table below.

Name of the Phase	Feasibility Study
Important functions	To describe problems and opportunities and identify whether or not MIS is feasible.
Output	Feasibility Study
Major tools	Techniques related to fact-gathering and estimation of requirements.
Tasks of individuals	·         The analyst will collect information related to the problems and opportunities ·         The analyst will develop probable estimates of necessities for probable solutions. ·         More clear estimates will be established by the analyst for the next analysis phase. ·         Management will decide whether they will continue the project or not.

                                                                                     Table 1: Steps and tasks of Feasibility Study

(Source: Wakchaure and Joshi 2015)

Analysis of the system

Purpose of this phase is to learn how the existing system is operating. It will help to determine and document what the system is capable to do in order to recommend proper solutions. After gathering the facts, software team will analyze them carefully. This method is called as requirement analysis. After the development of an alternative plan is done, then the end product for this phase comes which is system requirement documents. It will help the management and the users to understand the alternative plan. Based on the documents, the management will develop a system in-house or will purchase a commercial package or will modify the current system. Steps and tasks of this phase are mentioned in the table below.

Phase Name	Analysis
Main Function	To identify the requirements of MIS
Output	Specification of the problems
Primary Tools	Techniques for fact-gathering, data flow diagrams, system models, system flow charting, data dictionary and Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) for implementing these above mentioned tools.
Tasks of individuals	·         Current system will be studied and results will be documented by the analyst. It will help to understand its issues and its strong points. ·         A list of requirements will be then developed for the new system which is MIS. ·         A diagram of the functions for the new system will be drawn. ·         In the end, the analyst can develop a prototype of the system.

                                                                                           Table 2: Steps and tasks of Analysis

                                                                                              (Source: Sadagopan 2014)

The main purpose of this stage is to develop a blueprint that will satisfy all the mentioned requirements.    Within this phase, all the necessary outputs, files, inputs and application programs will identified along with manual procedures. According to dos Santos et al. (2016), this phase can include the scheming internal and external controls such as computer related and manual features. It will ensure that the system will become dependable, precise, protected and maintainable.  Then the design will be documented in the system design requirement which will be presented to the management and users for their reviews and support. The steps and tasks within this phase are hereby shown in the table below.

Name of the Phase	Design
Primary functions	To design a new system (MIS) that will fulfill the requirements of users and the management.
Output	Specification of the Design
Primary tools	HIPO Charts, data models, data vocabulary, data models, system models and input and output blueprint forms. For implementing these tools, using of CASE is also necessary in this stage.
Tasks of individuals	·         All the required hardware and software will be ordered by the analyst. ·         Functional diagram will be altered by the analyst into hierarchical diagrams of the design step. ·         Then the safety measures will be incorporated into the design of the system y the analyst. ·         User interface will be designed by the analyst. It will include input and output formats.       ·         Analyst will decide staffing necessities including design methods and work flow. ·         In the next step, proper database should be developed by the database engineer.     ·         Specifications and settings of the system will be then reviewed by the users, managers and analyst. They will make sure that the system is accurate.

                                                                                        Table 3: Steps and tasks for design

                                                                                             (Source: dos Santos et al. 2016)

During this stage, MIS will be developed and put in place. Programs of application will be noted, tested and saved. Documents related to the operation and methods will be completed. Management of the organization and users will approve this system. Within the final preparation, the users will be guided about the changes in the new system that is different from the old system. Once the system is ready to use, an assessment will be conducted to figure out overall quality of the information system (Alizarchik and Lukashevich 2015). The management can also use post-implementation system evaluation test to ensure the system is properly operating and its costs are within anticipation. The steps of this phase are hereby mentioned in the table below.

Name of phase	Implementation
Main function	To note down and test the computer programs. To transform the older system (computerized or manual) into a new system
Output	Fully coded and tested programs that are verified by the management and users. Training materials along with documents for users.
Main tools	Several tools for programmer, structured walkthroughs, computerized weakening testing, application generators, fourth generation languages along with CASE to implement the tools.
Tasks	·         The preparation of the site and installation of the required equipments will be monitored by the analyst. ·         The analyst will supervise the testing and correction of the programs and prototype. ·         The new program will be noted down by the analyst. If necessary then the new supporting programs will be bought. ·         The analyst will plan to test the program. ·         The testing team developed by the analyst will test the program. ·         The analyst will then supervise and plan conversation. ·         The programmers will be asked to install the program. ·         The data entry staff will then enter fresh and new data into the new system.

                                                                                     Table 4: Steps and tasks for implementation

                                                                                     (Source: Wakchaure and Joshi 2015)

After the implementation stage, the new MIS is ready to be used by the users. During the system operation, maintenance and improvements must be requested to deal with any problem that is identified by the users. After several years of operation, this new MIS must be changed. Maintenance changes are made to eliminate the errors or to conform to government or user demands. Improvements will be modified which will increase capability and accuracy such as delivering new information in an existing report (Wakchaure and Joshi 2015). It can also add a new report after improvement. Steps of this phase 5 are hereby mentioned below.

Name of the Phase	Maintenance
Primary functions	To restore and upgrade the system as per requirement.
Output	Updated and upgraded system and user documentation along with revised program.
Main tools	Incremental models that will include data dictionary, data models, data flow diagrams, system flow charts, HIPO charts and input-output design forms. CASE products will be required along with application generators and fourth generation languages to use the mentioned tools.
Tasks of individuals	·         An end user will notify the analyst about a problem. ·         Then the analyst will develop an incremental model that will assess the impact of the modification. ·         Management along with the board that control any type of change in the organization will decide if the system will be upgraded or not. ·         If the change in the system is approved by the higher authority, then the analyst will improve the system and document all the change. ·         The programmers will test the program.

                                                                                           Table 5: Steps and tasks for maintenance

                                                                                                           (Source: Karim 2016)

The challenges related to MIS are divided into three factors which are humanistic, organizational and environmental.

One of the major problems is lack of knowledge of the managers along with the users as they have no idea about what they want and what information needs are. On the other hand, if the designers cannot properly understand the needs of the users, then they will not be able to develop a user friendly system. Besides, if the managers do not have ample amount of information about the collaboration method with the designer team, then expected system will not be developed. Lack of knowledge of most of the analysts and programmers with new system work atmosphere can also be another challenge (Karim 2016). Last but not the least, if the collected data is not accurate, it will create problems while developing the problem.

Organizational factors

If the managers, users and system directors are not willing to participate and collaborate then it would be a problem. If the existing manual systems are not consistent and are complex then developing a new system will take a lot of time. It is important to analyze the method before designing the system. If it does not take place, then the development of the system will become complex. Besides, if the organization does not have ample amount of workforce in the management and computer fields then testing will not be done properly.

Environmental factors

The biggest challenge within this factor is the lack of proper consultants for scheming the system and software. Absence procedures and methodology and stages of developing the system can also hamper the installation of the new system. According to Alizarchik and Lukashevich (2015), it is important to evaluate environmental aspects in MIS. If it is not done, then the system will not work properly. However, over all of this, it is important for the management to provide adequate investment for developing this system. If proper amount of investment is not done, then system will not work as per expectation of the management.

A comprehensive plan must be developed for using information systems in the organization, before using MIS. It will help the employees to learn how information system works. The organization will have to hire skillful and efficient employees who have knowledge about the information system. Existing employees must be encouraged to learn to use information systems. Managers and employees will be using the system must participate in the system creating process. It will allow them to understand the new system from its initial stages.

Conclusion

In the end, it can be concluded that management information system has a strategic role in an organization that is operating within hospitality industry. It can help to develop products, services and capabilities that will allow an organization to have major advantages over competitive forces it faces in the global market. McDonalds is currently facing immense competition from companies such as KFC, Dominoz, Pizzahut, Burgerking and Subway. Therefore, it can be said that installing MIS will allow McDonalds to deal with its market competitors. However, from the entire discussion, it is also clear that installed MIS should be flexible enough to deal with altering information need of the organization. Designing MIS is obviously a complex task. Therefore, the analyst and programmers will face several challenges. It is the duty of the host organization to provide every type of support to the analyst and programmers so that they can develop a flexible MIS.  In short, flexible MIS can only be achieved if the MIS is planned. Planned means, the development team knows and understand the requirements of the organization. Another important advantage of MIS is its decision support system which is also described in the report. Therefore, it is expected that MIS will fulfill the nee of the organization and will help it to take critical business decisions. However, installing MIS will not solve all the problems. It is possible that for some time it will work properly. However, with the changing demand of the customers the organization will have to change its strategies. In this scenario, MIS must be upgraded and updated. Otherwise it will not provide expected results.

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