TYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS MIS 205 LECTURE 4 TYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

TPS – Transaction Processing Systems Is a computerized system that performs and records the daily routine transactions necessary to conduct business. Generally used by operational management to keep track of the elementary activities and transactions within the organization – sales receipts, cash deposits, payroll, credit decisions, reservations, employee record keeping, supplies etc. Generally used by management to monitor the status of internal operations. TPS tasks are pre-defined and HIGHLY STRUCTURED TPS systems are major producers of information for the other types of systems – GENERALLY THE FIRST LAYER OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS in an organization. MOST CENTRAL TO BUSINESS – TPS failure for even a few hours can completely SHUT DOWN a firm – e.g. the reservation system failing for British Airways.

MIS – Management Information Systems Is a specific category of information system that generally serves middle management. Provide middle management with reports on the organizations current performance – this information is used to monitor and control the business and predict future performance. MIS systems summarize and report on the company’s basic operations using data SUPPLIED BY THE TPS. The basic transactions data from TPS are compressed and usually presented in reports that are produced on a regular schedule. MIS systems provide answers to pre defined questions and have a predefined procedure. E.g. comparing total annual sales figures for specific products to planned targets. MIS systems are generally NOT FLEXIBLE and have VERY LITTLE ANALYTICAL CAPABILITY – the generally use simple routines such as summaries and comparisons and NOT sophisticated mathematical models or statistical techniques.

DSS – Decision Support Systems – Business Intelligence Systems Information systems that generally support NON-ROUTINE decision making for middle management. They focus on problems that are unique and rapidly changing – i.e. problems for which the arriving to a solution might not be pre-defined in advance. E.g. what would e the impact on production schedules if we were to double sales in the middle of a certain month ; what would happen to our return on investments if the factory schedule was delayed for six months ; hartals DSS systems use data from TPS and MIS systems – THEY ALSO rely on external sources for information – e.g. stock prices, competitors prices etc DSS systems focus on extracting useful information to support decision making from LARGE amounts of data – they are analytical and also model driven

ESS – Executive Support Systems Information system that is used to answer NON-ROUTINE decision making for SENIOR MANAGEMENT requiring judgment, evaluation, and insight – there is NO agreed on procedure for arriving at a solution through ESS systems. Examples of ESS questions – what will employment levels be in five years? What are the long-term industry cost trends? Where does OUR organization fit into that trend? How well are our competitors performing? ESS are designed to primarily incorporate data from external sources such as new tax laws from the government, or information for competitors – they also draw SUMMARIZED information from MIS and DSS systems. THEY FILTER< COMPRESS, & TRACK critical data from these sources and displays the data of greatest importance to senior managers. USES statistical models, and is very user friendly