Role (Functions)of Information Systems

MIS plays very vital role in the management, administration and operation of the organization. The system ensures that an appropriate data is collected from various sources, processed and sent further to all the needy destinations and fulfil the information needs of an individual and top management 

At every phase of the management process, managers constantly need information in order to make effective decisions.Management information is the information required by managers as they make their decisions, such as the

–number of staff required to be employed by each department,

–their training requirements,

–career development plans,

–job descriptions,

–budgets,

–overall forecasts,

–benchmark surveys, and

–progress reports on socio economic conditions.

The role of MIS in an organisation can be broadly classified into  The support to Business Operations and support to decision making, some of the common areas where MIS plays a major role are given below.

(i) Timely and Accurate Transaction Processing.

(ii) Streamlining Accounting and Records Management.

(iii) Providing Managers with ad hoc and interactive support in decision-making.

(iv) Provision of an easy and systematic way in digging out critical information tailored according to specific requirements, and customized in preferred formats.

(v) Enables an organization to gain competitive advantage over others.

(vi) Better communication, inter-organizational computing, and internet-working. Supports business operations and successful management of business enterprises.

(vii) Better use of executive resources by automating routine functions.

(viii) Increased ability to make sound, rational and informed decisions involving complex combinations of factors, and doing so with more confidence and speed.

(ix) Better use of time by making facilities available every time they are required.

(x) Improved customer services and improved personnel relations within the organization 

The Functions of the Information system can be simply summarised in the following image below