DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DSS, MIS & EIS

With the exposure to all the above information systems, let us find out the differences between DSS and MIS. Table-1 enlists some basic differences between Decision Support System, Management Information Systems and Executive Information System. As the name implies, the later two are the systems that provide information that may or may not be used for making a decision whereas the support information provided for deciding on the policy, planning or implementation is the basic component of DSS.

Let us find out the characteristics of the three systems :

DSS (DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM) :

- DSS generally provide support for unstructured, or semi-structured decisions (decisions that cannot be described in detail).

- DSS problems are often characterized by incomplete or uncertain knowledge, or the use of qualitative data.

- DSS will often include modelling tools in them, where various alternative scenarios can be modeled and compared.

- Investment decisions are an examples of those that might be supported by DSS

MIS (MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS) :

-    MIS is generally more sophisticated reporting systems built on existing transaction processing systems

-    Often used to support structured decision making (decisions that can be described in detail before the decision is made)

-    Typically will also support tactical level management, but sometimes are used at other levels

-   Examples of structured decisions supported by MIS might include deciding on stock levels or the pricing of products.

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ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Many firms have tried to take transaction processing to a higher level by creating Enterprise Information Systems that encompass the transaction processing done in the various functional silos. The idea of these efforts is to create unified databases that permit any authorized individual to obtain whatever information would be helpful in making decisions across the organization. So having all this information in a unified database should improve decision-making. Enterprise information systems are quite controversial because the effort to create them is enormous. They involve much more than changing the format of databases. Often it is necessary to change business processes to suit the needs of the information system instead of vice versa. Nonetheless, many organizations have found that the integration resulting from this large investment seems to be worthwhile. The last part of this discussion explains why these information systems are usually called Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems even though planning is not their main focus. 

 

Management and Executive Information Systems

A Management Information System (MIS) provides information for an organization’s managers. The idea of MIS predates the computer age. For example, as long ago as the middle 1500s, the Fogger family in Augsberg, Germany, had business interests throughout Europe and even into China and Peru. To keep in touch, they set up a worldwide news reporting service through which their agents wrote letters about critical political and economic events in their areas of responsibility. These letters were collected, interpreted, analyzed, and summarized in Augsberg and answered through instructions sent to the family’s agents. This paper-based system encompassing planning, execution, and control helped the family move more rapidly in the mercantile world than their rivals. Instructions went out to the agents; the agents executed their work’ and the agents reported their results. 

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COMPUTER BASED INFORMATION SYSTEMS

An Information system is a set of people, procedures, and resources that collects, transforms, and disseminates information in an organization. Today’s end users rely on many types of Information Systems (IS). Some are simple manual information systems, where people use tools such as pencils and paper, or machines such as calculators and typewriters. Others are computer-based information systems. Computer-based information systems mean the use hardware, software, telecommunications, and other forms of Information Technology (IT) to transform data resources into a variety of information products. Four kinds of organizational changes are enabled by Information systems. These are automation, rationalization, re-engineering, and paradigm shift. When an organization does not use its internal resources to build and operate information system it takes help of other organizations to provide these services. This is called outsourcing. There are advantages and disadvantages of using outsourcing. Quality programs differ greatly from company to company. Some are merely generalized “sales” campaigns intended to sensitize employees to the need to strive for more quality in their daily work. At the opposite extreme, quality programs can result in fundamental changes in the way a company does its business. Companies also follow different routes in achieving quality. Whatever route a company selects, the more it tries to achieve with its quality programs, the more information systems can contribute the success of those programs.

A computer based information system uses the resources of people (end users and IS specialists), hardware (machines and media), and software (programs and procedures), to perform input, processing, output, storage, and control activities that convert data resources into information products as shown in Figure-1.

Figure-1: The Components of an Information System

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MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM 

The subject of management information system (MIS) has different meaning for different people. The concept of MIS has evolved over a period of last two decades or so. The initial management information systems were built to process transactional data of an organization and to produce regular reports. The reports were not targeted and individuals picked the required data from the report. The information systems evolved further and produced different reports according to requirements. Instead of user looking through the report for required data, the system generated a report in a suitable format that created an impact on its user and provoked an action, a decision or an investigation. Today, an information system has evolved to the stage where they handle databases and facilitate decision-making. 

Accordingly, definition of MIS has also evolved. There are many closely related definitions in use. The terms MIS is synonymously used with terms the Information System (IS), the Information and Decision System and the Computer based Information System. 

The MIS is defined as an integrated system of man and machine for providing the information to support the operations, the management, and the decision-making function in the organization. 

The above definition emphasizes an association between MIS and decision-making. An application software that processes data, which is not used for decision-making, cannot be called an MIS. For instance, a computer-aided design system is not an MIS. 

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