The MIS Development Work Is Divided Into 4 Phases

Module 3

One major reason for under utilization of computers and the failure to utilize fully the potential of information systems is lack of managerial involvement in the strategic planning for systems development and design activities

The MIS development work is divided into 4 phases:

1. Strategic and project planning: The problems of meeting short-term and long-term objectives with current projects that flow into a larger strategy covering the long term

1. Conceptual system design: The feasibility study is conducted during this phase. Also a broad-brush picture is created by technical leaders.

1. Detailed system design: This phase provides the details of how the system will work.

1. Implementation, evaluation and maintenance: The output of detailed design is a set of specifications. Implementation is converting these specifications to a working system. When the system is running, it must be evaluated against the original objectives. Finally, it must be maintained.

: to a great extent ,these phases overlap

: all topics will be considered from the managers viewpoint

General business planning

General business item Their importance

Statement of mission or purpose clearly defines the business of the firm.

Objectives Set goals for the company in all key performance areas.

Strategic plans Provide general guidance on how to get to the long-range objectives.

Operating plans Provide detailed guidance on how to get to the short-term objectives.

(General Business Planning Overview)

Mission statement: First, it serves as a constant remainder that computers and information systems are not the point of the business-they are tools to aid management in the real, stated business purpose. Second, the mission statement serves as the outline for the MIS department’s mission statement.

Objective: These general business objectives represent valuable opportunities for the MIS department to identify and understand the challenges the company faces.

Strategic and Operating Plans: The various strategic and operating plans that the business has produced to meet its objectives are another source of valuable input to the MIS group. If the company plans to introduce a new short-life product next year, there is an opportunity to provide marketing, production, and financial information/analysis relative to that product. And if the management information system is correctly designed and implemented, it can be used for the next product or set of products.

Review

To be effective, the MIS department must state it mission and purpose, set its objectives, and lay out plans in support of the larger business. Only then is the whole organization pulling in the same direction, all contributing to the meeting of the same objectives.

Similar to general business planning MIS planning has to be done, giving importance to above four items. MIS planning is a derivative of business planning

The need for a systems view:

This patchwork or piecemeal approach to systems development, which has no unifying framework and is without a master plan, has several disadvantages.

1. Failure to relate subsystems- an inability to communicate between systems and the incompatibility of subsystems

2. Cost involved-cost in time, resources, and money.

There are multiple reasons why the piecemeal approach developed.

1-A systems view and systems plan take time, money, and upper-management involved to create.

2-The financial payoffs come quickly and painlessly for isolated applications like materials inventory.

3-Managers failed to understand the future of the computer and information systems.

We can achieve an integrated approach to systems development by systems planning.
The four special reasons for systems planning are

1. To off set uncertainty- helps firm to deal with unknowns in a better way
2. To improve economy of operations
3. To focus on objectives
4. To provide device for control of operations

MIS objectives

The purpose of MIS is to support and assist management in the company’s business. Each company objective must be reflected in at least one MIS objective.

Strategic Planning, Project Planning, and MIS

It is imperative to have a long-range, total MIS plan into which all shorter-range plans and projects fit.Each business strategy should be supported by an information management strategy. Each business information management strategy should tie in to some business strategy;

MIS PLANNING - Project Planning

Project --- A number of tasks related in a complex fashion to achieve a one-time objective eg-: creation of MIS

-: they have clearly specified beginning and end dates.

-: is a one-time effort

-: unusual problems arise that call for nontraditional solutions.

-: require the development of new techniques and advances while the project is in progress

NEEDS AND OBJECTIVES

The statement of general needs and objectives is almost always too high level and vague to be implemented. The process of refining these vague requirements is a crucial factor in project success. These key steps should be taken:

1. The problem statement must be comprehensible
2. Input.
3. what the system should do
4. Output.
5. Budgets
6. Schedules.

(Planning cycle)

All this discussion hinges on understanding what constitute a plan. The following items should certainly be included.

1. Summary statement of the problem being solved by this project is required.

2. A breakdown of the work to be done is required. Also estimate of how long each piece will take are needed. Documentation, testing and maintenance efforts should be included.

3. A list of dependencies on outside groups with target dates for “delivery” of services or equipment is required.

4. A list of outside groups that depend on this project with target dates for “delivery” is required.

5. A list of interdependencies of various pieces within this project with dates of need/ delivery is required.

6. The skills needed to complete the project should be listed. Eventually the people who work on the project must match this list exactly.

7. Other resources needed to complete the project must be identified. Dates these items are needed must be specified.

8. A budget covering salaries, rent , capital expenditures,and so on must be part of the plan.

9. A statement of the reporting and tracking system to be used must be included.

10. A schedule of activities reflecting all the above work and interdependencies is required.

11. A backup plan if any piece of the plan fails must be supplied.

PLANNING TECHNIQUES

Planning techniques rest on some fundamental management premises.

1-All work can be planned and controlled.

2-Greater the difficulty in planning the work, the greater the need for such planning.

3-Assignment of project management to a project manager with wide responsibilities is an important factor in increasing the probability of success of a project.

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

A fundamental concept in project management is the work breakdown structure

1. System to subsystem

2. Subsystem to task

3. Task to subtask

4. Subtask to work package

SEQUENCE PLANNING

The relationship among tasks must be set forth by a chronological ordering----- a network of events is been established, estimates of the time required to complete each event, based upon the work package information may be entered ------critical path. The final network is sometimes called the master project network plan.

MASTER PROGRAM SCHEDULE

The master program schedule (MPS) is a management document giving the calendar dates for milestones, thus providing the control points for management review.

BUDGETING

The establishment of cost and resource targets for a planned series of periods in advance is project budgeting.

REPORTING AND CONTROLLING

Control of the project means control of performance/cost/time (P/C/T).

These elements, P/C/T, must be reported in a way that ties them all together, otherwise the report is meaningless.

1. REPORTING TECHNIQUES

The reporting system for a project is its own MIS. Some methods of project reporting are:

1. Integrated P/C/T charts
2. financial schedules and variance reports
3. Time-scaled network plans and computerized reports based on them
4. Problem analysis and trend charts.
5. Progress reports.
6. Project control room and computerized graphic systems.
7. Design review meetings and “reference design”. A common “reference design” must provide a formal description of system specifications and goals at any particular time.

1. REPORTING PROBLEMS

Control is difficult if the only reports are written narratives requiring interpretation by management. At the other extreme, reams of computer data reports are equally poor.

Managers prefer graphic displays Comparisons and trends of major variables are also effective in communicating. Projects may fail if the project manager and his or her technical specialists do not make clear to management what is happening and how the money is being spent.

1. CONTROL THROUGH “COMPLETED ACTION”

Managers in a chain of command cannot divest themselves of accountability for tasks that are delegated to them. Responsibility for a work package may be delegated to the lowest level in the organizational hierarchy, but each manager up the line is evaluated on the basis of completed action on the work package. The worker who has responsibility for a work package should be supplied with adequate reports of P/C/T. as variances are reported to the responsible performer; the burden is on that person to take corrective action. His or her ultimate responsibility is “completed action,” the presentation of a completed job to the manager. Only in emergencies and cases of wide variances from planned action should the managers at various levels in the organization step in to reclaim delegated responsibility. The control in a well-run project is essentially self-control, based upon a good reporting system.

CONCEPTUAL SYSTEM DESIGN

The conceptual design sets the direction for the MIS project. So it is vital that managers participate heavily at this stage and also it should not be relinquished to technicians. Conceptual design is also called feasibility design, gross design, or high-level design.The inputs for the conceptual design phase are:

1. A crisp statement of a management information requirement and
2. A set of management objectives for the MIS.

Conceptual design involves showing the feasibility of meeting the management objectives for the MIS, painting the broad-brush picture of the system, showing how the system will work at a high-level. The output of the conceptual design phase is a set of documents describing the MIS in sufficient detail for the technicians to begin their work on detailed design.The key tasks performed during conceptual design are

1. Defining the problem(s) in more detail – by management
2. Refining the management objectives to set system objectives– by management
3. Establishing system constraints- by managers
4. Determining information needs- (by managers) and sources- (by technicians)
5. Developing alternative designs and selecting one
6. Documenting the conceptual system design

Conceptual design is the centre piece or fulcrum of the process

(MIS Development)

1. DEFINE THE PROBLEMS

Problems undoubtedly exist in any dynamic business. There is a lack of clear definition of the problems and a priority system for their solution.

The mission statement for the business as a whole leads to objectives for the general business. From the objectives we derive plans. Associated with each business objective and business plan are information needs. These information needs are the problems to be solved by the MIS function. We must go through an iterative process of

1. stating the information need
2. asking questions about that need
3. suggesting interpretations of the need
4. detailing the original statement
5. reviewing the more detailed statement of need with management

2. SET SYSTEM OBJECTIVES

-: objectives that the systems designer must meet to develop the system

-: objectives should be stated in quantitative rather than qualitative terms

-: That is, a statement of objectives should include exactly what it is that the system is supposed to accomplish and the means by which it will subsequently be evaluated.

-: Despite our understanding of the nature of objectives in the operating activities of the company, it is frequently quite difficult to state objective for systems that cut across all functional areas.

Technician, who frequently turns to topics such as file structure and retrieval techniques and who views the objectives of a subsystem only in terms of its input to a larger system. Manager must define system objectives in terms of legitimacy of information demands and not in terms of the satisfaction of demands that are not related to an objective.System analysts (and computer sales representatives) tend to stress processing efficiency. Staff and functional supervisors commonly believe that their objective is “to complete the required report on time for management use.”

The value of systems lies in the benefits to their users, not in mere efficiency to transactions. Despite its difficulty, being specific is necessary. System objective must be expressed in terms of what managers can do after their information requirements have been met.

1. ESTABLISH SYSTEM CONSTRAINTS

Constraints enable the designer to stipulate the conditions under which objectives may be attained and to consider the limitations that restrict the design.

-: Establishing constraints is some times called problem boundaries or restriction.

-: limit freedom of action in designing a system to achieve the objectives.

Constraints are negative limitations, a positive benefit is that we can limit our desire to design sophisticated systems so that they don’t run away with reality or make promises that can not be kept. Establishing constraints will help to ensure that the design is realistic. Constraints may be classified as Internal or External to the organization

EXTERNAL CONSTRAINTS

INTERNAL CONSTRAINTS

(Constraints on Management Information System Design)

Internal Constraints

1. Top managementsupport

1. Organizational and policy considerations

1. Personnel needs and personal availability

1. Acceptance by people

1. Cost and resources

1. Self-imposed restrictions

External constraints

1. Customer
2. Government, Legal,Unions
3. Suppliers

4. DETERMINE INFORMATION NEEDS

A clear statement offer information needs is fundamental and necessary to good systems design. If the manager- user can define the objectives and spell out the items of information that are needed to reach the objective ,he or she is then at least half way home in systems design. If systems design begins without such clear-cut statements by the manager, systems analysts or technicians will provide their objectives and their information needs. Different situations illustrate that the managers must be specific about the information needs.

1---- is to get top management to require in writing from subordinate managers, a statement containing

1. a list of four or five major responsibilities for which the manager believes himself or herself to be accountable and
2. The four or five specific items of information those are required to carry out the responsibilities.

2---- Avoid direct questions, “What information do you need?”

Instead the designer requests that the user describe what occurs in the decision making process

3---- One way of determining what managers do not need in the way of information is to cease issuing selected periodic reports or reduce their circulation list

Information needed depends largely upon two factors

1. Personal attributes

• Knowledge of information systems
• Managerial Style
• Manager’s perception of information needs

2. Organizational Environment

• Nature of the company
• Level of Management
• Structure Of organization

5. DETERMINE INFORMATION SOURCES

The step of determining information needs is hardly completed before it is necessary to consider the information sources. Indeed these two steps are overlapping and, as we stated before, iterative. It starts with analyzing the present system. One school of thought maintains that detailed analysis of the existing system should be a preliminary step to determine information requirements. This approach is justified on 4 grounds

1. A minor modification in the existing system may satisfy the information requirements without a major redesign effort.
2. A look at the existing system is required to determine the specific areas that need improvement.
3. Because most system utilizes some common sources of input, a study of existing systems is required to determine these.
4. A study of existing systems is required to determine the data volume and costs associated with new designs.

The second theory of systems design, sometimes called the “fresh approach” or the “logical approach” holds that the detailed analysis of the existing system is not required because the new system will be substantially changed and should not be predicted on the restraints of the existing one. The choice of one or more combination of these approaches is better.

Analysis and Integration

Information sources should not only fit into subsystems but also into overall systems

Sources of information may be categorized as follows:

1. Internal and External records.

1. Interviewing managers and operating personnel

1. Sampling and estimating methods may become necessary when the accumulation of data is so large that only a portion of it can be examined.

A number of techniques of analysis and synthesis have been published and are in widespread use. Input output analysis and multidimensional flows are important.

Input Output chart is used for visual portrayal of information inputs to a system and the information output that results. Input along lefts side and outputs across the top and the relationship can be established by the dot at the point of intersection.

Multidimensional flow: A flow chart can be constructed to trace the routing or the flow of information from origin to destination and to arrange this flow in a chronological sequence that shows the progression of information through the organization. The factors of frequency, volume time, cost and physical distance can be shown on such a chart.

6. DEVELOP ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS AND SELECT ONE

The development of a concept of a system is a creative process that involves synthesizing knowledge into some particular pattern. If conceptual design is the skeleton then detailed design n the flesh. It is obvious that each alternative concept of a system has advantages and disadvantages. The basis for evaluation that appears to most practical are: