Management information system

A management information system (MIS) provides information that

organizations require to manage themselves efficiently and effectively.
[1]
Management information systems are typically computer systems used for
managing. The five primary components 1.)!ard"are #.)$oft"are %.) Data
(information for decision making), &.) 'rocedures (design(development and
documentation)( and ).) 'eople (individuals( groups( or
organizations). Management information systems are distinct from
other information systems *ecause they are used to analyze and facilitate
strategic and operational activities.
[#]
Academically( the term is commonly used to refer to the study of ho" individuals(
groups( and organizations evaluate( design( implement( manage( and utilize
systems to generate information to improve efficiency and effectiveness of
decision ma+ing( including systems termed decision support systems( e,pert
systems( and e,ecutive information systems.
[#]
Most *usiness schools (or
colleges of *usiness administration "ithin universities) have an M-$ department(
alongside departments of accounting( finance( management( mar+eting( and
sometimes others( and grant degrees (at undergrad(masters( and 'h. levels) in
M-$.
History
/enneth and 0ane 1audon identify five eras of Management -nformation $ystem
evolution corresponding to the five phases in the development
of computing technology 1) mainframe and minicomputer computing( #) personal
computers( %) client2server net"or+s( &) enterprise computing( and )) cloud
computing.
[%]
The first era (mainframe and minicomputer) "as ruled *y -3M and their
mainframe computers4 these computers "ould often ta+e up "hole rooms and
require teams to run them 5 -3M supplied the hard"are and the soft"are. As
technology advanced( these computers "ere a*le to handle greater capacities
and therefore reduce their cost. $maller( more afforda*le minicomputers allo"ed
larger *usinesses to run their o"n computing centers in5house.
The second era (personal computer) *egan in 167) as microprocessors started
to compete "ith mainframes and minicomputers and accelerated the process of
decentralizing computing po"er from large data centers to smaller offices. -n the
late 1689s minicomputer technology gave "ay to personal computers and
relatively lo" cost computers "ere *ecoming mass mar+et commodities( allo"ing
*usinesses to provide their employees access to computing po"er that ten years
*efore "ould have cost tens of thousands of dollars. This proliferation of
computers created a ready mar+et for interconnecting net"or+s and the
popularization of the -nternet.
As technological comple,ity increased and costs decreased( the need to share
information "ithin an enterprise also gre":giving rise to the third
era (client2server)( in "hich computers on a common net"or+ access shared
information on a server. This lets thousands and even millions of people access
data simultaneously. The fourth era (enterprise) ena*led *y high speed net"or+s(
tied all aspects of the *usiness enterprise together offering rich information
access encompassing the complete management structure.;very computer is
utilized.
The fifth era (cloud computing) is the latest and employs net"or+ing technology
to deliver applications as "ell as data storage independent of the configuration(
location or nature of the hard"are. This( along "ith high
speed cellphone and "ifinet"or+s( led to ne" levels of mo*ility in "hich
managers access the M-$ remotely "ith laptop and ta*let computers(
plussmartphones.
Types and Terminology
The terms Management Information System (M-$)( information
system( Enterprise Resource Planning (;<')( andinformation technology
management are often confused. -nformation systems and M-$ are *roader
categories that include ;<'. -nformation technology management concerns the
operation and organization of information technology resources independent of
their purpose.
Most management information systems specialize in particular commercial and
industrial sectors( aspects of the enterprise( or management su*structure.

Management information systems( produce fi,ed( regularly scheduled

reports *ased on data e,tracted and summarized from the firm=s
underlying transaction processing systems
[&]
to middle and operational level
managers to identify and inform structured and semi5structured decision
pro*lems.

Decision Support Systems (DSS) are computer program applications used

*y middle and higher management to compile information from a "ide range
of sources to support pro*lem solving and decision ma+ing..$$ is ma>orly
used for semi5structured and unstructured decision pro*lems.

Executie Information Systems (EIS) is a reporting tool that provides quic+

access to summarized reports coming from all company levels and
departments such as accounting( human resources and operations.

Marketing Information Systems are Management -nformation $ystems

designed specifically for managing the mar+etingaspects of the *usiness.

!ffice "utomation Systems (!"S) support communication and productivity

in the enterprise *y automating "or+ flo" and eliminating *ottlenec+s. ?A$
may *e implemented at any and all levels of management.

School Information Management Systems ($-M$) cover school

administration(and often including teaching and learning materials.

Enterprise Resource Planning facilitates the flo" of information *et"een

all *usiness functions inside the *oundaries of the organization and manage
the connections to outside sta+eholders.
[)]
Advantages
The follo"ing are some of the *enefits that can *e attained for different types of
M-$s.
[7]
@ompanies are a*le to highlight their strengths and "ea+nesses due to
the presence of revenue reports( employeesA performance record etc. The
identification of these aspects can help the company improve their *usiness
processes and operations.
Biving an overall picture of the company and acting as a communication
and planning tool.
The availa*ility of customer data and feed*ac+ can help the company to
align their *usiness processes according to the needs of the customers. The
effective management of customer data can help the company to perform
direct mar+eting and promotion activities.
M-$s can help a company gain a competitive advantage. @ompetitive
advantage is a firm=s a*ility to do something *etter( faster( cheaper( or
uniquely( "hen compared "ith rival firms in the mar+et.
Systems management
Systems management refers to enterprise-wide administration of distributed
systems including (and commonly in practice)computer systems.
[citation
needed]
Systems management is strongly influenced by network
management initiatives intelecommunications. The application performance
management (!") technologies are now a subset of Systems management.
"a#imum productivity can be achieved more efficiently through event correlation$
system automation and predictive analysis which is now all part of !".
[%]
&entrali'ed management has a time and effort trade-off that is related to the si'e of
the company$ the e#pertise of the (Tstaff$ and the amount of technology being
used)
*or a small business startup with ten computers$ automated centrali'ed
processes may take more time to learn how to use and implement than +ust
doing the management work manually on each computer.
very large business with thousands of similar employee computers may
clearly be able to save time and money$ by having (T staff learn to do systems
management automation.
small branch office of a large corporation may have access to a central (T
staff$ with the e#perience to set up automated management of the systems in
the branch office$ without need for local staff in the branch office to do the
work.
System management may involve one or more of the following tasks)
,ardware inventories.
Server availability monitoring and metrics.
Software inventory and installation.
nti-virus and anti-malware management.
-ser.s activities monitoring.
&apacity monitoring.
Security management.
Storage management.
/etwork capacity and utili'ation monitoring.
nti-manipulation management
Contents
Functions
*unctional groups are provided according to (nternational Telecommunication
-nion Telecommunication Standardi'ation Sector ((T--T) &ommon management
information protocol (0.122) standard. This framework is also known as *ault$
&onfiguration$ ccounting$ !erformance$ Security (*&!S).
Fault management
Troubleshooting$ error logging and data recovery
Configuration management
,ardware and software inventory
As we begin the process of automating the management of our
technology, what equipment and resources do we have already?
How can this inventorying information be gathered and updated
automatically, without direct hands-on examination of each device, and
without hand-documenting with a pen and notepad?
What do we need to upgrade or repair?
What can we consolidate to reduce complexity or reduce energy use?
What resources would be better reused somewhere else?
What commercial software are we using that is improperly licensed,
and either needs to be removed or more licenses purchased?
!rovisioning
What software will we need to use in the future?
What training will need to be provided to use the software effectively?
Software deployment
What steps are necessary to install it on perhaps hundreds or thousands
of computers?
!ackage management
How do we maintain and update the software we are using, possibly
through automated update mechanisms?
Accounting management
3illing and statistics gathering
Performance management
Software metering
Who is using the software and how often?
If the license says only so many copies may be in use at any one time
but may be installed in many more places than licensed, then trac
usage of those licenses!
If the licensed user limit is reached, either prevent more people from
using it, or allow overflow and notify accounting that more licenses
need to be purchased!
4vent and metric monitoring
How reliable are the computers and software?
What errors or software bugs are preventing staff from doing their "ob?
What trends are we seeing for hardware failure and life expectancy?
Security management
(dentity management
!olicy management
,owever this standard should not be treated as comprehensive$ there are
obvious omissions. Some are recently emerging sectors$ some are
implied and some are +ust not listed. The primary ones are)
3usiness (mpact functions (also known as 3usiness Systems
"anagement)
&apacity management
5eal-time pplication 5elationship 6iscovery (which supports
&onfiguration "anagement)
Security (nformation and 4vent "anagement functions (S(4")
7orkload scheduling
!erformance management functions can also be split into end-to-end
performance measuring and infrastructure component measuring
functions. nother recently emerging sector is operational
intelligence (8() which focuses on real-time monitoring of business
events that relate to business processes$ not unlike business activity
monitoring (3").
Standards[edit]
Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF)
lert Standard *ormat (S*)
&ommon (nformation "odel (&(")
6esktop and mobile rchitecture for System ,ardware (6S,)
Systems "anagement rchitecture for Server ,ardware (S"S,)
9ava "anagement 4#tensions (9"0)
pplication service management
Alication ser!ice management (ASM) is an emerging discipline
within systems management that focuses on monitoring and managing
the performance and :uality of service of business transactions.
S" can be defined as a well-defined process and use of related tools to detect$
diagnose$ remedy and report the service :uality of comple# business transactions
to ensure that they meet or e#ceed end-users; !erformance measurements relate to
how fast transactions are completed or information is delivered to the end user by
the aggregate of applications$ operating systems$ hypervisors (if applicable)$
hardware platforms$ and network interconnects. The critical components of S"
include application discovery < mapping$ application =health= measurement <
management$ transaction-level visibility$ and incident-related triage.
S" is related to application performance management (!")$ but serves as a
more pragmatic$ =top-down= approach that focuses on delivery of business
services. (n strict definition$ S" differs from !" in two critical ways.
%. !" focuses e#clusively on the performance of an instance of an
application$ ignoring the comple# set of interdependencies that may e#ist
behind that application in the data center. S" specifically mandates that
each application or infrastructure software$ operating system$ hardware
platform$ and transactional =hop= be discretely measurable$ even if that
measurement is inferential. This is critical to S".s re:uirement to be able
to isolate the source of service-impacting conditions.
>. !" often re:uires instrumentation of the application for management and
measurability. S" advocates an application-centric approach$ asserting
that the application and operating system have comprehensive visibility of
an application.s transactions$ whether on-machine or off-machine$ as well
as the operating system itself and the hardware platform it is running on.
*urther$ an in-conte#t agent can also infer network latencies with a high
degree of accuracy$ and with a lesser degree of accuracy when the
transaction occurs between instrumented and non-instrumented platforms.
pplication service management e#tends the concepts of end-user e#perience
management and real user monitoring in that measuring the e#perience of real
users is a critical data point. ,owever$ S" also re:uires the ability to :uickly
isolate the root cause of those slow-downs$ thereby e#panding the scope of real
user monitoring?management.
The use of application service management is common for comple#$ multi-tier
transactional applications. *urther$ the introduction of hypervisor-
based virtuali'ation technologies has proven a catalyst for the adoption of S"
technologies$ as comple# applications are disproportionately impacted by the
introduction of hypervisors into an e#isting environment study by the berdeen
@roup indicates that most deployments of virtuali'ation technologies are
hampered by their impact on comple# transactional applications.
(ntegrated business planning
"ntegrated business lanning ((3!) refers to the technologies$ applications and
processes of connecting the planning function across the enterprise to improve
organi'ational alignment and financial performance. (3! accurately represents a
holistic model of the company
[citation needed]
in order to link strategic
planning and operational planning with financial planning. The process that
achieves this ideal is called Si"!A4$ Smart "ntegrated Market-driven P#anning
< $#ecution.
3y deploying a single model across the enterprise and leveraging the
organi'ation;s information assets$ corporate e#ecutives$ business unit heads and
planning managers use (3! to evaluate plans and activities based on the true
economic impact of each consideration.
Comonents
s illustrated right$ planning is integrated across the enterprise$ which enables
decision makers to identify the activities that deliver the greatest financial impact
across the company.
Analyses
&ompanies use (3! to translate insight into financial impact by providing analyses such
as(dentification of top financial (profit) drivers
nswers to Bwhat-ifC :uestions
Simulation
8ptimi'ation to any variable or ratio$ including balance
sheet$ profitability$ /!D$ cash flow$ etc.
(ntelligent sensitivity analysis
"odeling infeasibilities
-nderstanding of uni:ue performance driver relationships
8pportunity costs and marginal economic value
%enefits
(3! transforms planning into a decisive competitive advantage by)
[citation needed]
!roviding an integrated planning platform across marketing$ operations and
finance
@enerating a holistic understanding of performance drivers
Euantifying the financial impact and interdependencies across planning
alternatives
8ptimi'ing strategic planning and resource allocation
3alancing sales and operations planning for profitability
Euantifying financial risk
(ncreasing business fle#ibility
/etwork management
(n computer networks$ net&ork management refers to the activities$ methods$
procedures$ and tools that pertain to theoperation$ administration$ maintenance$
and provisioning of networked systems.
[%]
/etwork management is essential to
command and control practices and is generally carried out of a network
operations center.
8peration deals with keeping the network (and the services that the network
provides) up and running smoothly. (t includes monitoring the network to spot
problems as soon as possible$ ideally before users are affected.
dministration deals with keeping track of resources in the network and
how they are assigned. (t includes all the =housekeeping= that is necessary to
keep the network under control.
"aintenance is concerned with performing repairs and upgradesFfor
e#ample$ when e:uipment must be replaced$ when a router needs a patch for
an operating system image$ when a new switch is added to a network.
"aintenance also involves corrective and preventive measures to make the
managed network run =better=$ such as ad+usting device configuration
parameters.
!rovisioning is concerned with configuring resources in the network to
support a given service. *or e#ample$ this might include setting up the network
so that a new customer can receive voice service$real time communications etc.
common way of characteri'ing network management functions is *&!SF
*ault$ &onfiguration$ ccounting$ !erformance and Security.
*unctions that are performed as part of network management accordingly include
controlling$ planning$ allocating$ deploying$ coordinating$ and monitoring the
resources of a network$ network planning$ fre:uency allocation$
predeterminedtraffic routing to support load balancing$ cryptographic
key distribution authori'ation$ configuration management$ fault
management$ security management$ performance management$ bandwidth
management$ 5oute analytics and accounting management.
6ata for network management is collected through several mechanisms$
including agents installed on infrastructure$synthetic monitoring that simulates
transactions$ logs of activity$ sniffers and real user monitoring. (n the past network
management mainly consisted of monitoring whether devices were up or downG
today performance management has become a crucial part of the (T team.s role
which brings about a host of challengesFespecially for global organi'ations.
[>]
#ote$ /etwork management does not include user terminal e:uipment.
Contents
Tec'nologies
small number of accessory methods e#ist to support network and network
device management. ccess methods include the S/"!$ command-line interface$
custom 0"A$ &"(!$ 7indows "anagement (nstrumentation (7"()$ Transaction
Aanguage %$ &853$ /4T&8/*$ and the 9ava "anagement
4#tensions (9"0). (nternet service providers ((S!) use a technology known
as deep packet inspection in order to regulate network congestion and
lessen (nternet bottlenecks.
Schemas include the 734"$ the &ommon (nformation "odel$
and "T8S( amongst others.
(n the -nited States$ "edical Service !roviders provide a niche marketing utility
for managed service providers as ,(! legislation consistently increases
demands for knowledgeable providers. "edical Service !roviders are liable for
the protection of their clients. confidential information$ including in an electronic
realm. This liability creates a significant need for managed service providers who
can provide secure infrastructure for transportation of medical data.
System administrator
%or the privileged user account, see superuser!
system administrator$ or sysadmin$ is a person who is responsible for the
upkeep$ configuration$ and reliable operation of computer systemsG
especiallymulti-user computers$ such as servers.
The system administrator seeks to ensure that the uptime$ performance$resources$
and security of the computers he or she manages meet the needs of the users$
without e#ceeding the budget.
To meet these needs$ a system administrator may ac:uire$ install$ or upgrade
computer components and softwareG provide routine automationG maintain security
policiesG troubleshootG train and?or supervise staffG or technical supportin pro+ects.
(elated fields
"any organi'ations staff other +obs related to system administration. (n a larger
company$ these may all be separate positions within a computer support or
(nformation Services ((S) department. (n a smaller group they may be shared by a
few sysadmins$ or even a single person.
database administrator (63) maintains a database system$ and is
responsible for the integrity of the data and the efficiency and performance of
the system.
network administrator maintains network infrastructure such
as switches and routers$ and diagnoses problems with these or with the
behavior of network-attached computers.
security administrator is a specialist in computer and network security$
including the administration of security devices such as firewalls$ as well as
consulting on general security measures.
web administrator maintains web server services (such as pache or ((S)
that allow for internal or e#ternal access to web sites. Tasks include managing
multiple sites$ administering security$ and configuring necessary components
and software. 5esponsibilities may also include software change management.
computer operator performs routine maintenance and upkeep$ such as
changing backup tapes or replacing failed drives in a 5(6. Such tasks usually
re:uire physical presence in the room with the computerG and while less skilled
than sysadmin tasks re:uire a similar level of trust$ since the operator has
access to possibly sensitive data.
postmaster administers a mail server.
Storage (S/) dministrator. &reate$ !rovision$ dd or 5emove Storage
to?from &omputer systems. Storage can be attached local to the system or from
a Storage rea /etwork (S/) or /etwork ttached Storage (/S). &reate
*ile Systems from newly added storage.
(n some organi'ations$ a person may begin as a member of technical support staff
or a computer operator$ then gain e#perience on the +ob to be promoted to a
sysadmin position.
Training
System dministration &onference Training
-nlike many other professions$ there is no single path to becoming a system
administrator. "any system administrators have a degree in a related
field) computer science$ information technology$ computer engineering$
information systems$ or even a trade school program. 8n top of this$ nowadays
some companies re:uire an (T certification. 8ther schools have offshoots of their
&omputer Science program specifically for system administration.
Some schools have started offering undergraduate degrees in System
dministration. The first$ 5ochester (nstitute of Technology
[%]
started in %HH>.
8thers such as 5ensselaer !olytechnic (nstitute$ -niversity of /ew ,ampshire$
[>]
"arist &ollege$ and 6re#el -niversity have more recently offered degrees in
(nformation Technology. Symbiosis (nstitute of &omputer Studies and 5esearch
(S(&S5) in !une$ (ndia offers "asters degree in &omputers pplications with a
speciali'ation in System dministration. The -niversity of South &arolina offers
an (ntegrated (nformation Technology 3.S. degree speciali'ing
in "icrosoft product support.
s of >2%%$ only five -.S. universities$ 5ochester (nstitute of Technology$
[I]
Tufts$
[J]
"ichigan Tech$ and *lorida State -niversity
[K]
have graduate programs in
system administration.
[citation needed]
(n /orway$ there is a special 4nglish-taught "Sc
program organi'ed by 8slo -niversity &ollege
[L]
in cooperation with 8slo
-niversity$ named ="asters programme in /etwork and System dministration.=
There is also a =3Sc in /etwork and System dministration=
[1]
offered by @+Mvik
-niversity &ollege. -niversity of msterdam (-v) offers a similar program in
cooperation with ,ogeschool van msterdam(,v) named ="aster System and
/etwork 4ngineering=. (n (srael$ the (6*.s ntmm course in considered a prominent
way to train System administrators.
[N]
,owever$ many other schools offer related
graduate degrees in fields such as network systems and computer security.
8ne of the primary difficulties with teaching system administration as a formal
university discipline is that the industry and technology changes much faster than
the typical te#tbook and coursework certification process. 3y the time a new
te#tbook has spent years working through approvals and committees$ the specific
technology for which it is written may have changed significantly or become
obsolete.
(n addition$ because of the practical nature of system administration and the easy
availability of open-source serversoftware$ many system administrators enter the
field self-taught. Some learning institutions are reluctant to$ what is in effect$ teach
hacking to undergraduate level students
[citation needed]
.
@enerally$ a prospective will be re:uired to have some e#perience with the
computer system he or she is e#pected to manage. (n some cases$ candidates are
e#pected to possess industry certifications such as the
"icrosoft "&S$ "&S4$"&(T!$ 5ed ,at 5,&4$ /ovell &/$ &/4$
&isco &&/ or &ompT(.s O or /etworkO$ Sun &ertified S&/$ Ainu#
!rofessional (nstitute among others.
Sometimes$ almost e#clusively in smaller sites$ the role of system administrator
may be given to a skilled user in addition to or in replacement of his or her duties.
*or instance$ it is not unusual for a mathematics or computing teacher to serve as
the system administrator of a secondary school
Skills
"icrosoft System dministrator 3adge
&ome of this section is from the 'ccupational 'utloo Handboo, ()*)-**
+dition, which is in the public domain as a wor of the ,nited &tates -overnment!
The sub"ect matter of system administration includes computer systems and the
ways people use them in an organi'ation. This entails a knowledge ofoperating
systems and applications$ as well as hardware and softwaretroubleshooting$ but
also knowledge of the purposes for which people in the organi'ation use the
computers.
!erhaps the most important skill for a system administrator is problem solvingF
fre:uently under various sorts of constraints and stress. The sysadmin is on call
when a computer system goes down or malfunctions$ and must be able to :uickly
and correctly diagnose what is wrong and how best to fi# it. They may also need to
have team work and communication skillsG as well as being able to install and
configure hardware and software.
System administrators are not software engineers or developers. (t is not usually
within their duties to design or write new application software. ,owever$
sysadmins must understand the behavior of software in order to deploy it and to
troubleshoot problems$ and generally know several programming languages used
for scripting or automation of routine tasks.
!articularly when dealing with (nternet-facing or business-critical systems$ a
sysadmin must have a strong grasp of computer security. This includes not merely
deploying software patches$ but also preventing break-ins and other security
problems with preventive measures. (n some organi'ations$ computer security
administration is a separate role responsible for overall security and the upkeep
of firewalls and intrusion detection systems$ but all sysadmins are generally
responsible for the security of computer systems.
Duties
system administrator.s responsibilities might include)
naly'ing system logs and identifying potential issues with computer
systems.
(ntroducing and integrating new technologies into e#isting data
center environments.
!erforming routine audits of systems and software.
pplying operating system updates$ patches$ and configuration changes.
(nstalling and configuring new hardware and software.
dding$ removing$ or updating user account information$
resetting passwords$etc.
nswering technical :ueries and assisting users.
5esponsibility for security.
5esponsibility for documenting the configuration of the system.
Troubleshooting any reported problems.
System performance tuning.
4nsuring that the network infrastructure is up and running.
&onfiguring$ adding$ and deleting file systems.
(n larger organi'ations$ some of the tasks above may be divided among different
system administrators or members of different organi'ational groups. *or e#ample$
a dedicated individual(s) may apply all system upgrades$ a Euality ssurance
(E) team may perform testing and validation$ and one or more technical
writers may be responsible for all technical documentation written for a company.
System administrators$ in larger organi'ations$ tend not to be systems architects$
system engineers$ or system designers.
(n smaller organi'ations$ the system administrator might also act as technical
support$ 6atabase dministrator$ /etwork dministrator$ Storage (S/)
dministrator or application analyst.