IT Management assignment help : Management information system & its benefits

Executive summary

Management information system is of utmost importance in every organization. Many organizations understand its benefits and hence, they have implemented it. Not only organizations, governments of different countries have also understood its importance and hence, they have made it a compulsion.

With MIS in the organization, the employees can relax because their workload is reduced to half. The employees can concentrate on other things other than that of data management. Retrieving any data becomes very easy and it can be retrieved quickly in no time.

Employees who have been in an organization and have been using paper for data management may find it uncomfortable to manage data on computers but these employees should be trained. Slowly, they will also understand the importance of the systematic data management system. If an organization thinks that the cost factor will increase then they are right but if they calculate the increase in profits due to the implementation of data management then the organization will realize that it is more than the cost of implementation.

JetBlue Airways never took Management information system seriously and hence, they had to stop 1000s of flight due to the ice – storm. Similarly, Veterans Administration was almost in shock when the professionals in the hospital weren’t able to log into the system.

MIS cannot be replaced by paper and pen. Organizations who understand this will go a long way ahead. In the future, all the organizations will have to implement MIS and they will be left out with no other option.

Introduction

Having a proper information management system in the organization is a must. In the real world, it happens that organizations try to manage their data as per their convenience but later, at the time of crisis, they realize that the database which they are using is not perfect. It is always better to predict the problems that might happen in the future rather than that of ignoring and developing a management information system, that is, cheap or just user-friendly. In the case, two situations have been described where the importance of a proper information system was realized only when the situation got out of control.

Discussion

The benefits of implementing MIS only when required

There are various advantages of implementing MIS only when required and hence, many organizations are happy with the existing method of information management. Few of the advantages of working without a systematic MIS, in the organization, are as follows: –

1. In time of crisis people actually understand the importance of MIS but that is not the case during other happy times. The employees find it very difficult to enter and retrieve data but in the absence of systematic MIS, the workflow is fast and hence, the productivity of employees in the organization is increased.
2. Cost is one of the most important factors due to which management avoids the implementation of MIS. A systematic MIS is a recurring cost because without a proper IT department, the system is just a waste (Gupta, S, T, 2010).

Risks of not having proper MIS

There are various disadvantages and hence, many organizations are willing to shell out money from their pocket for MIS. Few of the risks of not having proper MIS are as follows: –

1. Availability of information is overloaded. Having an MIS will allow the organization to retrieve data systematically but in the absence of it, the available information is unorganized and hence, its usage becomes a difficult task.
2. Physical co-ordination of two departments increases in the absence of MIS. With the help of MIS, one department will feed the data and the other can view it directly from their computer rather than any personal co-ordination. Personal co-ordination leads to a lot of wastage in time (Gupta, S, T, 2010).

Examples of MIS

As mentioned above, there are advantages as well as disadvantages of MIS. The below examples will explain them in detail

1. Security is one of the major problems with MIS. PayPal noticed that there were lots of Hudson and Stivensons in their payment system. After that, they realized that someone has hacked their MIS and was transferring the PayPal money to their account (O’Brien, M, 2007).
2. The management of the organization can be seated at any part of the world and they can get the data that they require with just one click. This is what happened when 3M, a post-it notes and scotch tape manufacturers, implemented MIS in their organization (Bhasin, 2010).

Solutions for Eric Raffin

No doubt, Eric Raffin took a smart decision to not fail over the Denver site. If he would have done that then the 11 sites of Denver would also have stopped working. Few of the alternatives that he would have opted at that point of time are as follows: –

1. Eric Raffin should have called up the Denver information department and asked them to stop the backup. It is clearly mentioned that the server is Denver was taking real-time backup and hence, the corrupted file from VA would have been copied to Denver’s server and due to this, that data was also corrupted. Apart from that, Eric should ask the system department of VA, going forward, to take back-up of data at the end of the day. This will allow the data to be secured and this data can be used in the time of crisis.
2. Data recovery was one of the other options which Mr. Eric Raffin would have opted for. Many people don’t use data recovery method, until and unless, it is very emergency but this was the most important moment for VA. A delay in anything would have led to dead of patients who were admitted in the hospital. The doctors were completely dependent on the MIS and hence, they remembered nothing regarding the things that they had done last. Eric should have called his IT specialist or an outsourced professional who can help him out with data recovery.

Benefits of interconnected MIS

Eric Raffin noticed a lot of problems due to the interconnectivity in the MIS but there are various benefits of interconnected MIS and hence, many organizations prefer to have centralized MIS rather than that of the decentralized MIS. Few of the benefits of centralized MIS are as follows: –

1. The doctors checking the patients and the pharmacy department in the hospital were interconnected by way of MIS. If a doctor checks the patient and enters a medicine in the MIS and a notification was sent to the pharmacy department and hence, the pharmacy delivered the medicine to the patient directly.
2. The doctors and other support department of the hospital were also interconnected by way of MIS. The discharge details and the treatment details of the patient were entered in the MIS by the doctor and the department which took care of discharge released the patients thus, making life simpler for them.
3. The shifts in the hospital were also managed by the MIS. Due to the failure in the MIS system, it was noticed that the nurses weren’t able to change their shifts thus, making them feel restless and uncomfortable.

Advantages of interconnected MIS network for the patients

Not only the hospital staffs, the patients, who were admitted in the hospital, also benefited from the interconnected MIS; few of the benefits that were received by the patients from the interconnected MIS network are as follows: –

1. If a medicine is prescribed by the doctor then the patient gets it delivered at their bed due to integrated MIS. The doctor enters the medicine, which the patient needs, in the MIS. This information is sent to the pharmacy department and they directly deliver the medicine to their bed. In the absence of MIS, the patient or one of his family members will have to go to the pharmacy.
2. The patients in the hospital don’t have to suffer from problems like that of drugs out-of-stock. The inventory level of the drugs is set in the MIS and hence, when a particular drug reaches the minimum stock level then a notification is sent to the pharmacy thus, allowing them to make arrangements for the new stock.

Importance of IT disaster recovery plan

There are various advantages of IT disaster recovery plan and hence, it is important that every organization should have one. Few of the advantages of having a proper IT disaster recovery plan are as follows: –

1. If the important data is stored in the computer is lost due to some human disaster or any other network issues then the organization will lose the data and this will lead to financial losses as well. Reproduction of the data is, merely, an impossible thing so loss of financial information may lead the organization to losses.
2. Every country has certain legal compliance regarding the data that needs to be maintained. In the absence of IT disaster recovery plan and loss of data, the organization will have to face legal complications (AMI-Partners).

Conclusion

Having a proper management information system will reduce the stress of IT department. If a proper MIS would have been present at JetBlue Airways then the operations of flights wouldn’t have been stopped. Similarly, a proper MIS in Veterans Administration would have allowed the employees to be aware about the risk of misusing the MIS.

Recommendations

Few things that would make MIS in JetBlue Airways and Veterans Administration better are as follows: –

1. Implementation of the Data recovery system in a must.
2. A proper backup plan needs to be made as any problem in the MIS won’t disrupt the complete data.
3. IT specialists, who have complete knowledge about MIS, should be hired.

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