Definition: A Management Information System is a set of combined procedures that gathers and produces reliable, relevant, and properly organized data that supports the decision making process of an organization. To sum up, it is a group of processes through which data is obtained, sorted, and displayed in a useful way for decision-making purposes.
What Does Management Information Systems Mean?
What is the definition of MIS? Management Information Systems are very useful tools for the purpose of reviewing and controlling company’s operations. The main goal of these systems is to organize all data collected from every level of the company, summarize it, and present it in a way that facilitates and improve the quality of the decisions being made to increase the company’s profitability and productivity.
These systems are typically are computer-based including either simple excel sheets or more complex platforms. The information being collected and gathered for the system normally comes from both inside and outside sources.
Let’s look an example and see how MIS works.
Example
Mr. Parson is the Chief Operations Officer (COO) at Bermuda Fabrics LLC. As part of his job, he needs to forecast the next quarterly production plan, which includes an expected production quantity for each of the products that the company sells. He needs a lot of information and statistics to come up with a useful and reliable projection that captures the current business environment the company is facing and the company’s capacity to manufacture within those parameters. How could a MIS help Mr. Parson to develop these forecasts properly?
The system can provide all the different variables Mr. Parson needs to develop the forecast. He will need to review production patterns, past sales, current equipment, and current suppliers. By the system displaying all this information in a useful way, Mr. Parson will be able to design a forecasting model (which can also be included on the system) that will allow him to plan for next quarter production.
Summary Definition
Define MIS: Management information system means a computer system designed to gather information and display it in useful ways to aid decision makers.
