Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. Introduction
2. Role and Importance Of Management
3. Process of Management
4. Organisation Structure and Theory
5. Strategic Management of Business
Exercises
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CHAPTER-1
Introduction
The concept of the MIS has evolved over a period of time comprising many different
facets of the organizational function. MIS is a necessity of all the organizations.
The initial concept of MIS was to process data from the organization and present it in the
for of reports at regular intervals. The system was largely capable of handling the data
from collection to processing. It was more impersonal, requiring each individual to pick
and choose the processed data and use it for his requirements. This concept was further
modified when a distinction was made between data and information. The information is
a product of an analysis of data. This concept is similar to a raw material and the finished
product. What are needed are information and not a mass of data. However, the data can
be analyzed in a number of ways, producing different shades and specifications of the
information as a product. It was, therefore, demanded that the system concept be an
individual- oriented, as each individual may have a different orientation. Towards the
information. This concept was further modified, that the system should present
information in such a form and format that it creates an impact on its user, provoking a
decision or an investigation. It was later realized then even though such an impact was a
welcome modification, some sort of selective approach was necessary in the analysis and
reporting. Hence, the concept of exception reporting was imbibed in MIS. The norm for
an exception.
Was necessary to evolve in the organization. The concept remained valid till and to the
extent that the norm for an exception remained true and effective. Since the environment
turns competitive and is ever changing, fixation of the norm for an exception becomes ka
futile exercise at least for the people in the higher echelons of the organization. The
concept was then evolved that the system should be capable of handling a need based
exception reporting. This need maybe either of an individual or a group of people. This
called for keeping all data together in such a form that it can be accessed by anybody and
can be processed to suit his needs. The concept is that the data is one but it can be viewed
by different individuals in different ways. This gave rise to the concept of DA ‘ABASE,
and the MIS based on the DATABASE proved much more effective.
Over a period of time, when these conceptual developments were taking place, the
concept of the end user computing using multiple databases emerged. This concept
brought a fundamental charge in MIS. The change was decentralization of the system and
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the user of the in formation becoming independent of computer professionals. When this
becomes a reality, the concept of MIS changed to a decision making system. The job in a
computer department is to manage the information resource and leave the task of
information processing to the user. The concept of MIS in today’s world is a system
which handles the databases, databases, provides com-putting facilities to the end user
and gives a variety of decision making tools to the user of the system.
The concept of MIS gives high regard to the individual and his ability to use
information. An MIS gives information through data analysis. While analyzing the data,
it relies on many academic disciplines. These include the theories, principles and
concepts from the Management Science, Psychology and Human Behavior, making the
MID more effective and useful. These academic disciplines are used in designing the
MIS, evolving the decision support tools for modeling and decision - making.
The foundation of MIS is the principles of management and if its practices. MIS
uses the concept of management Information System can be evolved for a specific
objective if it is evolved after systematic planning and design. It calls for an analysis of a
business, management views and policies, organization culture and the culture and the
management style. The information should be generated in this setting and must be useful
in managing the business. This is possible only when it in conceptualized as system with
an appropriate design. The MIS, therefore, relies heavily on the systems theory offers
solutions to handle the complex situations of the input and output flows. It uses theories
of communication which helps to evolve a system design capable of handling data inputs,
process, and outputs with the lest possible noise or distortion in transmitting the
information form a source to a destination. It uses the principles of system Design, Viz.,
an ability of continuous adjustment or correction in the system in line with the
environmental change in which the MIS operates. Such a design help to keep the MIS
tuned with the business managements needs of the organization.
The concept, therefore, is a blend of principle, theories and practices of the
Management, Information and System giving rise to single product known as
Management Information System (MIS). The conceptual view of the MIS is shown as a
pyramid in Fig.1.1.
The Physical view of the MIS can be seen as assembly of several subsystems
based on the databases in the organization. These subsystems range from data collection,
transaction processing and validating, processing, analyzing and storing the information
in databases. The subsystem could be at a functional level or a corporate level. The
information is evolved through them for a functional or a department management and it
provides the information for the management of business at the corporate level. The
physical view of the MIS can be shown as in Fig.1.2.
The MIS is a product of a multi- disciplinary approach to the business
management. It is a product which needs to be kept under a constant review and
modification to meet the corporate needs of the information. It is prescribed product
design for the organization. The MIS differs since the people in two organizations
involved in the same business. The MIS is for the people in the organization. The MIS
model may be the same but it differs greatly in the contents.
The MIS, therefore, is a dynamic concept subject to change, time and again, with
a change in the business management process. It continuously interacts with the internal
and the external environment of the business and provides a corrective mechanism in the
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system so that the change needs of information are with effectively. The MIS, therefore,
is a dynamic design, the primary objectively. The MIS, therefore, is a dynamic design the
primary objective of which is to the information the information for decision making and
it is developed considering the organizational fabric, giving due regard to the people in
the organizational the management functions and the managerial and the managerial
control.
The MIS model of the organization changes over a time as the business passes
through several phases of developmental growth cycle. It supports the management of the
business in each phase by giving the information which is crucial in that phase. Every has
critical success factors in each phase of growth cycle and the MIS model gives more
information on the critical success factors for decision making.
The MIS has more than one definition, some of which are give below.
1. The MIS is defined as a system which provides information support for decision
making in the organization.
2. 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.
3. The MIS is defined as a system based on the database of the organization evolved
for the purpose of providing information to the people in the organization.
4. The MIS is defined as a Computer – based Information System.
Thought there are a number of definitions, all of them converge on one single
point, i.e., the MIS is a system to support the decision making function in the
organization. The difference lies in defining the elements of the MIS. However, in
today’s world MIS a computerized .business processing system generating
information for the people in the organization to meet the information needs decision
making to achieve the corporate objective of the organization.
In any organization, small or big, a major portion of the time goes in data
collection, processing, documenting it to the people. Hence, a major portion of the
overheads goes into this kind of unproductive work in the organization. Every
individual in an organization is continuously looking for some information which is
needed to perform his/her task. Hence, the information is people-oriented and it varies
with the nature of the people in the organization.
The difficulty in handling this multiple requirement of the people is due to a
couple of reasons. The information is a processed product to fulfill an imprecise need
of the people. It takes time to search the data and may require a difficult processing
path. It has a time value and unless processed on time and communicated, it has no
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value. The scope and the quantum of information is individual-dependent and it is
difficult to conceive the information as a well-defined product for the entire
organization. Since the people are instrumental in any business transaction, a human
error is possible in conducting the same. Since a human error is difficult to control,
the difficulty arises in ensuring a hundred per cent quality assurance of information in
terms of completeness, accuracy, validity, timeliness and meeting the decision
making needs.
The role of the MIS in an organization can be compared to the role of heart in the
body. The information is the blood and MIS is the heart. In the body the heart plays
the role of supplying pure blood to all the elements of the body including the brain.
The heart works faster and supplies more blood when needed. It regulates and
controls the incoming impure blood, processes it and sends it to the destination in the
quantity needed. It fulfills the needs of blood supply to human body in normal course
and also in crisis.
The MIS plays exactly the same role in the organization. The system ensures that an
appropriate data is collected from the various sources, processed, and sent further to
all the needy destinations. The system is expected to fulfill the information needs of
an individual, a group of individuals, the management functionaries: the managers
and the top management.
The MIS satisfies the diverse needs through a variety of systems such as Query
Systems, Analysis Systems, Modeling Systems and Decision Support Systems the
MIS helps in Strategic Planning, Management Control, Operational Control and
Transaction Processing.
The MIS helps the clerical personnel in the transaction processing and answers their
queries on the data pertaining to the transaction, the status of a particular record and
references on a variety of documents. The MIS helps the junior management
personnel by providing the operational data for planning, scheduling and control, and
helps them further in decision making at the operations level to correct an out of
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control situation. The MIS helps the middle management in short them planning,
target setting and controlling the business functions. It is supported by the use of the
management tools of planning and control. The MIS helps the top management in
goal setting, strategic planning and evolving the business plans and their
implementation.
The MIS plays the role of information generation, communication, problem
identification and helps in the process of decision making. The MIS, therefore, plays
a vita role in the management, administration and operations of an organization.
Since the MIS plays a very important role in the organization, it creates an impact
on the organization’s functions, performance and productivity.
The impact of MIS on the functions is in its management. With a good support,
the management of marking, finance, production and personnel become more
efficient. The tracking and monitoring of the functional targets becomes easy. The
functional, managers are informed about the progress, achievements and shortfalls in
the probable trends in the various aspects of business. This helps in forecasting and
long- term perspective planning. The manager’s attention is brought to a situation
which is exceptional in nature, inducing him to take an action or a decision in the
matter. A disciplined information reporting system creates a structured data and a
knowledge base for all the people in the organization. The information is available in
such a form that it can be used straight away or by blending analysis, saving the
manager’s valuable time.
The MIS creates another impact in the organization which relates to the
understanding of the business itself. The MIS begins with the definition of a data
entity and its attributes. It uses a dictionary if data, entity and attributes, respectively,
designed for information generation in the organization. Since all the information
system use the dictionary, there is common understanding of terms and terminology
in the organization brining clarity in the communication and a similar understanding
an even of the organization.
The MIS calls for a systemization of the business operation for an affective
system design.
A well designed system with a focus on the manger makes an impact on the
managerial efficiency. The fund of information motivates an enlightened manger to
use a variety of tools of the management. It helps him to resort to such exercises as
experimentation and modeling. The use of computers enables him to use the tools
techniques which are impossible to use manually. The ready-made packages make
this task simpler. The impact is on the managerial ability to perform. It improves the
decision making ability considerably.
Since the MIS works on the basic systems such as transaction processing and
databases, the drudgery of the clerical work is transferred to the computerized system,
relieving the human mind for better work. It will be observed that a lot of manpower
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is engaged in this activity in the organization. It you study the individual’s time
utilization and its application; you will find that seventy per cent of the time is spent
in recording, searching, processing and communication. This is a large overhead in
the organization. The MIS has a direct impact on this overhead. It creates an
information- based work culture in the organization.
1.5 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM AND COMPTER
Translating the real concept of the MIS into reality is technically, an infeasible
proposition unless computers are used. The MIS relies heavily on the hardware and
software capacity of the computer and its ability to process, retrieve communicate
with no serious limitations.
The variety of the hardware having distinct capabilities makes it possible to
design the MIS for a specific situation. For example, if the organization needs a large
database and very little processing, a computer system is available for such a
requirement. Suppose the organization has multiple business location at long
distances and if the need is to bring the data at one place, process, and then send the
information to various location, it is possible to have a computer system with a
distributed data processing capability. If the distance is too long, then the computer
system can be hooked through a satellite communication system. The ability of the
hardware to store data and process it at a very fast rate helps to deal with the data
volumes, its storage and access effectively. The ability of the computer to sort and
merge helps to organize the data in a particular manner and process it for complex
lengthy computations. Since the computer is capable of digital, graphic, word image,
voice and text processing, it is exploited to generate information and present it in the
form which is easy to understand for the information user.
The ability of a computer system to provide security of data brings a confidence
in the management in the storage o data on a magnetic media in an impersonal mode.
The computer system provides the facilities such as READ ONLY where you cannot
delete to UPDATE. It provides an access to the selected information through a
password and layered access facilities. The confidence nature of the data and
information can be maintained in a computer system. With this ability, the MIS
become a safe application in the organization.
The software, an integral part of a computer system, further enhances the
hardware capability. The software is available to handle the procedural and
nonprocedural data processing. For example, if you want to use a formula to calculate
a certain result, an efficient language is available to handle the situation. If you are
not use a formula but have to resort every time to a new procedure, the nonprocedural
languages are available.
The software is available to transfer the data from one computer system to
another. Hence, you can compute the results at one place and transfer them to a
computer located at another place for some other use. The computer system being
able to configure to the specific needs helps to design a flexible MIS.
The advancement in computers and the communication technology has the
distance, speed, volume and complex computing an easy task. Hence, designing the
MIS for a specific need and simultaneously designing a flexible and open system
becomes possible, thereby saving a lot of drudgery of development and maintenance
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and maintenance of the system. The concept of user – friendly systems and the end
user computing is possible, making information processing a personalized function.
However, the application of the management principles and practices in today’s
complex business world is possible only when the MIS is based on computer system
support.
1.6 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ACADEMICS
In the area of accounting application, it uses the accounting principles to ensure that
the data is correct and valid. It uses the principles of double entry bookkeeping for
balancing the accounts. It uses the accounting methodology for generating a trial
balance sheet and other books of accounts.
The MIS uses the communication theory in a significant manner. The principle of
feedback is used while designing analysis. Systems. While designing the report
format, attention is paid to avoid noise and distortions in the communication process.
The MIS further relies heavily on the decision methodology. It uses different
mathematical techniques to handle the situation of decision making uses the method
of decision- making under certainty for decision- making and action.
The MIS is based on database structures, viz .hierarchical, network and relational
database have roots in the mathematics and the set theory.
The MIS becomes rich in content and more useful when it becomes more and more a
decision- making or decision- support system. The is possible when it builds decision
making systems in MIS which in turn is possible if it draws tools, techniques,
methods, rules and principles from pure and application science, and use them as an
integral part of the system. The MIS draws data from its own source and uses it in the
application of a variety of tools and techniques to solve the management,
mathematics, and accounting. Psychology, communication theory, operations
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research and probability theory for building processes, methods, and decision –
support systems in designing business application.
Every person in the organization is a user of the MIS. The people in the organization
operate at all levels in the hierarchy. A typical user is a clerk, an assistant, an officer,
an executive or a manager. Each of them has a specific task and a role to play in the
management of business. The MIS caters to the needs of all persons.
The main task of a clerk is to search the data, make a statement and submit it to the
higher level. A clerk can use the MIS for a quick search and reporting the same to
higher level. An assistant has the task of collecting and organizing the data, and
conducting a rudimentary analysis of integrating the data from different and
disciplines to analyze it and make a critical comment if anything adverse is found.
The MIS offers the methods and facilities to integrate the data and report the same in
a proper format. An executive plays the role of a decision maker. He is in of
responsibility and accountability a position of a planner and a decision maker. He is
responsible for achieving the target and goals of the organization. The MIS provides
facilities to analyze the data and offers the decision support systems to perform the
task of execution. The MIS provides an action – oriented information.
The manager has a position of responsibility and accountability for the business
results. His management role expands beyond his management function. He is a
strategist and a long-term planner. He is a person with a foresight, an analytical
ability and is expected to use these abilities in the functions of top management. The
MIS provides information in a structured or unstructured format for him to react. The
MIS caters to his constant changing needs of information. The user of the MIS is
expected to be a rational person and the design of the MIS is based on this
assumption.
It is observed that at lower level, is a sense of insecurity. As the MIS takes away the
drudgery of search, collection, writing and reporting the data, the work vacuum, so
created is not easily filled, thus creating a sense of insecurity. To some extent the
importance of the person is also lost, giving rise to a fear of non-recognition in the
organization.
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At the level of an officer and an executive, the MIS does the job the of data
manipulation and integration. It analyses the data in a predetermined manner. This
means that the knowledge of business is transferred from an individual to the MIS
and is made available to all in the organization. This change arising out of the MIS
creates a sense of being neglected for knowledge, information and advice. The
psychological impact is larger if the person is not able to cope up with this change by
expanding or enriching the job and the position held by him.
The manager holding a position in the top or middle management suffers from fear of
challenge and exposure. The MIS makes these competitors more effective as they
have access to the information and have an ability to interpret. This leads to a
situation where he is afraid that that his position, decision and defense will be
challenged and may be proved wrong sometime. The risk of adverse exposure to the
higher management also increases. The effects so far pointed out are all negative and
they are seen only in few cases.
The positive effects on the individuals at all levels are that they have become more
effective operators. The time and energy which was spent earlier in unproductive
work is now applied for a productive work. Some are able to use their analytical skills
and knowledge with the in formation support for improving their position in the
organization. Managers, having improved their decision – making ability, are able to
handle the complex situations with relative ease. Some are benefited by improving
their performance and being held in high esteem by the higher management.
The enterprising managers are able to use the systems and the models for trying out a
Number of alternatives in a given problem situation. The impact of the MIS on
people
Of the organization is phenomenal as it has made the same body of people
collectively more effective and productive.
Through the MIS, the information can be used as a strategic weapon to counter the threats
to business, make business more competitive, and bring about the organizational
transformation through integration. A good MIS also makes an organization seamless by
removing all the communication barriers.
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REVIEV QUESTIONS
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CHAPTER-2
Role and Importance of Management
2.1 INRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Management as defined by Mary Follett is “the art of getting things done through
people” A manger is defined as a person who achieves the organization’s goals by
motivating others to perform – not by performing himself. Whether management is an
art or a science is a very subjective question. But it can be said without doubt that
modern management in the environment of technology is becoming more of a science
than an art. We define management for the purpose of Management information
Systems as the process of planning, organizing, staffing, coordinating and controlling
the efforts of the members of the organization to achieve common stated goals of the
organization.
In the process of management, a manager uses human skills, material resources and
scientific methods to perform all the activities leading to the achievement of goals.
The management process involves a continuous resolution of conflicts of one kind or
the other which affects the achievement of goals. In the management of any activity, a
manager comes across human conflict, conflict of goals, between alternative
resources, conflict of time, conflict of approach or method and the conflict of choice.
The manager uses a variety of tools, techniques and skills while executing the
management process of planning, organizing, staffing, coordinating and controlling.
An effective way of handling this process is to treat the organization as a system. The
result – oriented management approaches the problem of management through the
system view of the organization.
The key concepts of the system theory used in the management are as follows:
1. A system is a comprehensive assembly of parts becoming an organization to
achieve the stated goals.
2. A system is called OPEN if it has interaction with the environment and
CLOSED if it not have an interaction with the environment.
3. A system is defined, described and understood by the boundaries within
which it performs.
4. The system are subject to entropy, i..e., the tendency to “ run down”. Closed
systems suffer from entropy as they are cut off from the environment, while
open systems interact with the environment and draw upon the support of
resources to maintain a given condition.
5. Systems try to remain in an equilibrium or a steady state by taking recourse to
corrective action. This is possible when the system has its own feedback, i.e.,
an informational input about the state of the system.
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the manager to look at the situation in such a way that due regard is given to the
consequences arising out of interaction with the related element or subjects. The
process of management explained earlier consists of steps which are relationally
linked and locked with each other.
In the context of the MIS, the systems approach to management is the most
efficient one. The understanding of the basic principle of management theory
evolved the scholars Henri Fayol, Chester Barnard and Alvin Brown is very much
essential. The application of management principles in an environment,
recognizing the specific situation, is the accepted practice of management.
Deviating from the principle to honour the situation and at the same time not
diluting the management principle is the managerial skill. The manager must have
a knowledge of management theory and principle as the skill to use them in a
particular environment.
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Table 2.1 Principles of Operational Management
Principle Comments
Division of work Efficient handling of work.
Authority and responsibility Pinpoints accountability.
Discipline Adherence to rules, regulations, norms and priorities.
Unity of command Single source directed towards one objective.
Unity of direction Efforts should be directed towards one objective.
Robert Owen, Rountree, Lyndall Urwick are credited to evolve the management
with a focus on the personal management. Max Weber, Vilfredo Pareto, Mayo Elton are
the scholars who thought that productivity can be improved through the social factors as
morale and satisfactory relation between the members of work group, and an effective
management is possible only if human behavior and group behavior is managed through
the interpersonal skills, viz, motivating, counseling, leading and communication.
Hawthorne’s studies brought out the theory that man is a “Social Animal” operating
in the socio – technical system and, therefore, the emphasis in effective management is
on behavioral sciences. Chester Barnard advocated the theory od system as an approach
to the management. Barnard said that due to the physical and biological limitations of
individuals, they cooperate in the work environment. The cooperation increases with
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effective and efficient incentives. He further said that the cooperation is more effective if
the members of the group communicate with one another, are willing to contribute to
group’s action, and have a conscious common Purpose. He father said that a groups of
peoples in the system work as an organization is looked upon as a system of factions, a
system of in a system of incentives, a system of authority and a direction and a system of
logical decision making. The emergence of the modern management thought is credited
to the social scientists, the behavioral scientists, the systems scientists and the practicing
managers.
Planning is a process of determining the goals and objectives and evolving strategies
policies, programmers and procedures for the achievement of these goals. The
essence of the process is decision making as there are a number of alternatives in each
of these factors.
Organisation involves evolving the structure of the people working in the
organization and their roles. It specifies an authority structure and assigns activities to
the people backed by the delegation of authority. Building a meaningful effective
structure of authority and the relationship is known as organizing.
Staffing involves manning the positions in the organization structure. It requires
defining the manpower needs per position or centre of activity. It requires appropriate
selection of the person or persons ensuring that they together will achieve the goals
and objectives of the organization.
Directing is a complex task of implementing the process of management. In the
process, the manger is required to guide, clarify and solve the problems of the people
and their activities. It is necessary to motivate the people to work for the goal with an
interest and a confidence.
Coordinating is the function which brings a harmony and smoothness in the various
group activities and individual efforts directed towards the accomplishment of goals.
It is a process of synchronizing individual actions and the efforts which may differ
because of the differences in the personal goals and the common goals, the
differences in the interpretation of methods and directions. It is, therefore, necessary
to undertake centrally a process of coordinating and reconciling the differences in the
approach, timing, efforts and interests towards a common goal. This task is to be
carried out by the authority placed at a higher level in the organization structure.
Controlling is a process of measurement of an output, comparing it with the goals, the
objectives and the target, and taking corrective actions, if the output is falling short of
the stated norms. Controlling ensures an achievement of the plan. The essence of the
control lies in good planning. It helps to evaluate the performance, highlights
abnormal deviations, and guides a manager to take specific corrective actions. This
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may call for a change of plan, a reallocation of resources, a modification of methods,
procedures and even the organization structure. The control is central to the
managerial function.
The manager’s main function, therefore, is planning and control of the business
functions and operations. While performing these functions, he resorts to the
scientific approach to the management.
Economic Environment
Capital
It is required to run the organization. The enterprise needs a long-term and a short-
term capital. The capital required can be either from the internal sources or borrowed
from the financial institutions. When a capital is borrowed, it is borrowed at an
interest. The organization is forced to borrow for various reasons and the interest
charged by the lending financial institutions forms the cost of the capital. Hence
management of the capital is an important aspect of the business.
Labor
The next important cost of a business is the cost of labor. The cost of labor is
determined every two three years by a union agreement. The settlement of an
agreement is based on the cost of living index, the industry wage standards, the
availability of labor, etc. These aspects are external to the organization and a manager
has no control on them.
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Price Changes
Price changes occur in the economy for various reasons. The changes occur because
of decrease in the demand and supply, the changes in the consumer behavior, in the
consumption pattern and the money supply, and so on. The price changes affect the
cost of raw material and labor and on these changes a manager has no control.
Productivity
The Government announces fiscal policies and controls them. The organization’s
profit position is affected by these policies. These policies affect the credit terms, the
price of the inputs and the money supply affecting the cash position of the
organization. A manager has a very little leverage to deal with these policy changes.
Customers
The customers rule the business, especially when the business operates in a buyer’s
market. In a competitive world, it is very difficult to predict the customer behavior.
The changes in the demands occur with growth and technology. The customer does
not show consistent preference to the product. The change in the business orientation
to suit the changes in the consumer demand is a difficult task for the manager. It is
not always possible to predict these changes well in advance in order to take any
managerial action to meet the changed situation.
Technological Environment
The technology has a major impact on the business. It affects the business prospects,
cuts down the profits and forces the management to change the course of the business
operations. It requires changes in the product design and promotes new concepts. It
generates new business opportunities. Any change in technology changes the work
culture, the methods and the systems. It affects the speed of the operations and gives a
boost to the productivity of the production systems. Examples of technological
changes are seen in aviation, electronics, energy, communication, consumer goods
industry, optics, medicines and manufacturing.
Social Environment
The social environment is built around the attitudes, the desires, the expectations, the
degree of intelligence and education, the beliefs and customs, the religion, the caste
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and creed of the people. The social environments are built in centuries and hence it is
deeply rooted in the society. The social environment has an important impact on the
business and the organizational productivity.
Social factors create an attitude towards the work, generate the product choices,
and manipulate the consumer behavior. It is well known that it took a lot of time to
convince the farmers in India about the use of fertilizers. It is recognized that rural
marketing is different from the urban marketing. In spite of the technological
advances, frozen foods are not finding consumer preferences. Introduction of
computers in the service industry is still a difficult proposition. A number of such
examples can be cited to prove that the social environment affects business and
makes the manager’s task very difficult and challenging.
Political Environment
The political factor is the most important factor which affects the business in Indian
environment. The unstable political environment brings stagnancy in the business
development. The changes in ruling party bring economic policy changes, affecting
the business. The sect oral preferences, such as an agricultural versus an industrial, an
educational versus a basic research, an investment in the service sector versus a core
sector come about with change in the ruling political party and its policies. Such
changes have a long-term impact on business performance. The manager has to deal
with such changes effectively.
Some business problems arise due to failing on the ethical grounds. The government
has enacted many laws and regulations to bring about harmonious operations in
business. However, some aspects of the business operations are left as ethics, called
the business ethics. The business ethics emerge from the professional conduct, the
business norms and codes on confidentiality, the payment and documentation, the
adherence to generally accepted standards of accounting and auditing. Business ethics
is a set of norms which are universally accepted as a business behavior.
All these factors discussed so far, are beyond the control of the manager. At best
he can predict, assess, evaluate and take such actions which will help him to control
the situation.
Planning, organizing, staffing, coordinating, directing and controlling are the various
Steps in a management process. All the steps prior to a control are necessary but are
not necessarily self-assuring the results unless it is followed by a strong control
mechanism. The management experts have viewed these steps as Management
Control System. They postulate the hypothesis that unless a control is exercised on
the process, the goals will not be achieved. They advocate a system of effective
control to ensure the achievement of the business objectives.
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A definition of control is the process through which managers assure that actual
activities conform to the planned activities, leading to the achievement of the stated
common goals. The control process measures a progress towards those goals, and
enables the manager to detect the deviations from the original plan in time to take
corrective actions before it is too late. Robert J Mockler defines and points out the
essential elements of the control process. The basic steps of the control process are
given in Fig. 2.1.
The management is a systematic effort to set the performance standards in line
with the performance objectives, to design the information feedback systems, to
compare the actual performance with these predetermined standards, to identify the
deviations from the standards, to measure its significance and to take corrective
actions in case of significant deviations. This systematic effort is undertaken through
the management control system.
Estabilsh Actual
Standards of Measure vs. Not O.K. Corrective
Performance Performance STD. Action
The control system is essential to meet the environmental changes discussed earlier,
to meet the complexity of today’s business, to correct the mistakes made by the
people, and to effectively monitor the delegation process. A reliable and effective
control system has the following features.
Early Warning Mechanism.
This is a mechanism of predicting the possibility of achieving the goals and the
standards before it is too late and allowing the manager to take corrective actions.
Performance Standard
The performance standard must be measurable and acceptable to all the organization.
The system should have meaningful standards relating to the work areas,
responsibility, and managerial functions and so on. Fro example, the management
would have standards relating to the business performance, such as production, sales,
inventory, quality, etc. The operational management would have standards relating to
the shift production, rejections, down time, utilization of resources, sale in a typical
market segment and so. On. The chain of standards, when achieved, will ensure an
achievement of the goals of the organization.
Strategic Controls
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In every business there are strategic areas of control knows as the critical success
factors. The system should recognize them and have controls instituted on them.
Feedback
The control system would be effective; it continuously monitors the performance and
sends the information to the control centre for action. It should not only highlight the
progress but also the deviations.
Realistic
The system should be realistic so that the cost of control is far less than the benefits.
The standers are realistic and are believed as achievable. Sufficient incentive and
rewards are to be provided to motivate the people.
The system should have the information flow aligned with the organization structure
and the decision makers should ensure that the right people get the right information
for action and decision making.
Exception Principle
The system should selectively approve some significant deviations from the
performance standards on the principle of management by exception.
A standard is control system has a set of objectives, standards to measure, a
feedback mechanism and an action centre as elements of the system. They need to be
properly evolved and instituted in the organization with due recognition to the
internal and the external environment. The system as a whole should be flexible to be
change with ease so that the impact of changed environment is handled effectively.
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If all the situations are considered in a routine manner, it consumes time and tends to
be neglected over a period of time. An efficient manager tries for selective attention
to manage within the available time resource. The principle evolved, therefore, is of
the management by exception. The exception is decided the impact a situation would
make on the performance, the process and the standards set in the management
control system.
The exception is defined as a significant deviation from the performance, or the
process and the standard. The deviation could be abnormal on a positive or on a
negative side of the standard. The deviation could be predictive or could be arising
out of random causes in the business operations. IT is, therefore, necessary to assess
whether the deviation is sporadic or consistently coming in, calling for managerial
attention. The manager is interested in knowing the significant deviation by the
yardsticks of consistency and not out of random causes. The significant deviations are
exceptional in nature and require to be attended to immediately. A manager is further
interested in knowing the reasons behind the exceptional nature of the situation. It is
possible to trace the reasons of deviation, and it is possible to take a corrective action.
The significant deviation can occur on account of wrong performance standards
and wrong management process. Many times standards are set very low and they
need to be looked in to avoid the misuse of resources. If the standards are set too
high, then the people fail to achieve them on account of de motivating factor of the
high standards.
The management process is executed through a variety of decisions taken at each step
of planning organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating and control. As discussed in
Chapter 1, the MIS aids decision making. If the management is able to spell out the
decisions required to taken in these steps are tabulated in Table 2.2.
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Organization A selection of a combination out of several
combinations of the goals, people, resources, method,
and authority.
Staffing Providing a proper manpower complement.
Directing Choosing a method from the various methods of
directing the efforts in the organization.
Coordinating Choice of the tools and the techniques for coordinating
the efforts for optimum results.
Controlling A selection of the exceptional conditions and the
decision guidelines.
The objective of the MIS is to provide information for a decision support in the
process of management. It should help in such a way that the business goals are
achieved in the most efficient manner. Since the decision making is not restricted to a
particular level, the MIS is expected to support all the levels of the management in
conducting the business operations. Unless the MIS becomes a management aid, it is
not useful to the organization. Figure 2.2 illustrates the process discussed here.
Environment
Management
Goal Setting
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Trace the shift in management focus, starting from Frederick W Taylor to peter
Drucker.
2. Take a task which you often do, and map the processes in the task against the
processes involved in management process cycle. Are you following all the steps
in management process cycle?
3. MIS supports a manager in his functional responsibilities. Explain.
4. List the external environment in which a manager operates. How many of tem
have a direct impact on the management process and hence should be considered
in the MIS design?
5. Explain the importance of management by exception. Can it be the only approach
in managing the business?
6. List the decision involved in each phase of management process, starting from
planning to control.
7. Explain the role of performance standard and “feedback” in effective management
of business.
8. The word management is often used with other words is such as Management of
resource, Management of capacity. Etc. Explain with example three applications
in Resource Materials and capacity management.
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CHAPTER-3
Process of Management
‘ Negandhi Estafen’ provides a good model ( Fig. 3.1) for the analysis of management
effectiveness which generates enterprise effectiveness in achieving the goals and
objectives. The model puts a lot of emphasis on the management philosophy and the
environment factors on which the effectiveness is dependent. The environment factors
provide the opportunities to survive and grow with certain constraints, while the
management philosophy sets the guidelines for deciding the management practices to run
the enterprise.
While the environment factors are difficult to control, it is left for the management to
change its philosophy towards the various players in the business, viz. the employees, the
consumers the suppliers, the government, the community and the shareholders. Basically,
It is a change in attitude towards these players. For example, how to look at the
employees?
If the attitude is to treat them as business partners, you will empower them and create a
sense of belonging to the organization. Such an attitude will have impact on the
management practices, where the employee will play a decisive critical role. It will affect
the organization structure by reducing its size and the reporting levels.
If the attitude towards the consumer is changed to fulfill the expectations giving rise to a
higher satisfaction, then the management practices in the product design, manufacturing
and marketing will undergo a significant change. The product life cycle will then be
short, and more features and functions will be added to the product fulfilling not only the
functional needs but also the service needs of the consumer.
The management practices therefore emerge out of the management’s philosophy and the
environment, in which it operates. The management effectiveness would largely depend
on both these factors. The MIS design would therefore, be different depending upon the
management practices followed by several organization in the same industry. Such design
improves the management effectiveness leading to an improvement in the enterprise
effectiveness.
The process of management begins with setting of goals, objectives and targets The
goals are long- term aims to be achieved by the organization objective are relatively short
– term milestones to be accomplished, while the targets generally refer to physical
achievements in the organization’s business. The goals, objectives and targets are so set
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they are consistent with each other and help to achieve each other and help to achieve
each other. The are to be achieved within a stipulated time and failing to achieve the
same, means loss of business profit and image. The difference between these entities can
be best understood by examples in the three types of organizations given in Table
The setting of goals, objectives and targets is a top management function. It has its
implications on the business operations and profits. These are set considering the
environment and changes expected to occur in about five to six years. The organization is
expected to consider and cater for these changes and translate them into business
operations. The setting of goals objective and targets helps to pull the resources of the
organization in one direction and solve. It help to build the strategies, frame the polices
and set the rules of conducting the business. It provides an efficient measure to monitor
the managerial process. The people in the organization can have common understanding
of the purpose of the business operations.
If further helps the management to identify key areas of business and key areas of
management attention. It helps appropriates and consistent business review. The
performance appraisal of the manager becomes impersonal and unbiased as it is done
with reference to achievement of goals, objective and targets. McGreor saw appraisal
against the goals and objective are necessary in every area where performance and results
directly and vitally affect the survival growth and prosperity of business”.
3.2 PLANNING
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It helps to handle the change occurring in the environment and affecting the plan itself.
Planning helps to make operations economical as it continuously evaluates the costs and
outputs and forces optimum use resources. It further helps to control business operations
at all levels with
Common reference to goals, objectives and targets.
Planning is a process and hence it has a methodology. The first step in planning
forecasting the environment, in which the plan is to be made and operated. Forecasting
provides information on population, growth price trends, market changes, and new
opportunities, changes in technology the plan will be developed and implemented.
As mentioned earlier, the organization has a network of goals, objectives and targets. It is
necessary to develop the network of plans corresponding to this network. The process
leads to the development of corporate plans, investment plans, marketing plans, and
advertising plans. Normally, the corporate plans are for a longer period and the derived
plans are for shorter periods. Since the plan has a commitment to time, it is necessary to
build a flexible plan capable of undergoing a suitable change to alter the goals and
objectives within the same time. The flexibility, as possible, should be built in, so that the
cost of changes is not very high and the implementation is still possible without loss of
time. The implementation of plans is made through developing the strategies, policies,
systems, rules, procedures, programmers and the budgets. The strategy shows the
direction, focus, emphasis and development of resources. Many a time’s good plans fail
because of strategic failure. The purpose of the strategy is not to outline a precise method
of implementation; but to provide a boost or thrust to the plans of implementation. An
appropriate strategy helps to cut down the use of resources and accelerates the process of
achieving the goals.
The policy is a statement of management which stands on the top of all plans or courses
of action. A rational plan or a decision can be rejected on the premise of policy .The
policies are evolved in the wider frame of strategies and are generally not questionable;
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but these can be changed. For example, the organization can have a policy of recruiting
personnel only with the qualification of MBA or it may have a policy of changing the
prices once a year and not too frequently. The policy, therefore, is a general guideline and
is to be followed by all.
The system is a vehicle for the implementation of a plan. The system provides pathways,
gates and structures for communication and control. The strategies and policies are
important for successful implementation of the plans. Depending upon the plans, systems
will be built as closed or open systems. The rules, procedures and programmers help to
implement the operational plans. They provide a common basis and an understanding of
conducting business operations. A strict adherence to the rules and the procedures builds
discipline in the organization. A smooth implementation of the plan calls for the rules,
procedures and programmers to be observed properly. When the organization becomes
bigger, the adherence to rules procedures and systems brings a higher degree of
formalization in the process of implementation.
An effective planning should begin at the top and flow down the line. The effectiveness is
brought in by taking a series of decisions, committing resources, giving directions, and
executing controls to achieve the goals and objectives. The process planning, therefore, is
to develop the alternatives based on some choice about goals. It the situation is that of
uncertainty, then the evaluation is done through risk analysis ad preference theory using
utility as criteria.
3.3 ORGANISING
Organizing is an important step in the managerial process and relates to the people in an
enterprise. It deals with a quantitative and a qualitative aspect of manpower in terms of
placement, the roles they and the relations amongst them, with the aim that they work
together effectively towards accomplishing the goals, objectives and the targets of the
organization. In essence, it deals with organizing the manpower resources for a given
plan of execution.
The organization could be formal or informal. The organization is formal when the roles,
the relations of the people and the objectives they should achieve well defined. In an
informal organization, it is left to the people to understand and evolve suitable roles and
relationships to achieve the objectives.
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While creating the organization is given to an appropriate splitting of the enterprise
activities, by way of function, and grouping them in such a way that they form a division,
a department, a section or a formal group. The people heading these entities should have
enough authority to decide, and should exercise a discretion in using the authority. The
people should and the members of the structure of roles and relationships that it is
designed to work effectively and the members of the structure are able to contribute
substantially towards the achievement of goals. The structure would be productive, if it is
manned properly. The process of manning involves selecting people in right number and
placing them at appropriate levels.
This factor deals with grouping the people in hierarchical form, determining the levels in
the organization. The levels get determined by the spa of control, i.e., in the organization
how many subordinates a superior can mange. This number can vary anywhere between
four to eight in higher levels of management and eight to fifteen in lower levels of
management to be taken, and the strengths and weaknesses of the people and the degree
of the delegation of the responsibilities that a superior is willing to attain. The span of
control can be increased and the number the levels can be brought down by training the
subordinates, precise planning, use of objective standards, effective communications and
formalizing the administration by way of rules, programmers and policies.
Departmentation
The third method to department is by way of the product or the services the organization
is providing. The department of the organization brings operational convenience, creates
appropriate responsibility centers, facilitates a formal and an informal communication,
permits an evaluation of activities by a smaller group, and provides control and decision
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points for the top management. Each method of a departmentalizing has advantages and
disadvantages and, therefore, it is to be chosen based on the needs of the management.
The function of a department can be as a line or a staff. The functions which have a direct
responsibility of achieving the targets for production or sales are line functions. The staff
functions are those which do not participate directly in the activity but aid line functions
to achieve the targets. Production Planning, Marketing, Purchasing, etc, are staff
functions. The distinction is more clear and precise at higher levels. The staff function is
advisory but owns the responsibility for the results and is accountable for non-
performance.
The relationship between the line and the staff functions is always strained. The
performance of the line function depends upon how the staff function has planned the
activities. Deficient planning leads to an initialization of line capacity and non attainment
of targets. A line function does not have resources, leverages and powers to overcome the
problems arising out of the staff functions.
Delegation of Authority
The function either is a line function a staff function; but still it requires decision making.
As one person cannot plan, execute and control all the tasks in the functions, owing to the
limitations of time and capacity, it is necessary that the decision making is not centralized
at one point.
The failures in delegation occur not because of the lack of understanding of the principle
of delegation, but because of the inability to implement it into practice. A lot depends
upon the ability of the manager to delegate and upon the capabilities of the subordinates
to use the authority. The manager is not able to delegate, if he does not have a positive
attitude towards delegation, if e is not receptive to the subordinates’ ideas and is not
welling to accept the risk of failure or mistake of his subordinates. A failure to use the
delegated authority emanates from a lack communication, guidance, training and
motivation.
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Towards Effective Organisation
3.4 STAFFING
The function of staffing deals with manning the enterprise as per the organization
structure so that they together implement the process of the management. Staffing
involves not only selection of a person but also appraisal and development so that they
perform their designated roles. The selection of a person is a difficult task. However, the
chances of selecting a wrong person are very less if a proper method is used. Since
people cannot be easily replaced because of socio-political and legal reasons, their
selection, in terms of quality and, is of paramount importance.
Staffing of enterprise should be for todays as well as that of the future. The requirement
of the future is difficult to predict in precise and this requirement needs to be forecasted
for more than five to six years. So the purpose of staffing is not manning for the current
plan of business but to create a manpower potential capable of undergoing development,
so that the same manpower is able to perform the changed roles in the future.
Hence the selection of a person in terms of age, qualification and potential becomes an
important task in human resource development.
The selection of individuals for line functions is not that difficult because the role and the
asks are well defined and do not undergo any significant change over a period of time.
The difficult lies in the selection of management positions. The manager is a multi-
faceted personality. A person is said to have good managerial potential, if he has the
following qualities apart from the function knowledge.
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The person must be able to perform effectively. This is possible only if he has the
ability to communicate effectively. If not properly communicated, his ideas and
management plans cannot take off. For good communication skills, the person
must have a good command but due to the psychological barriers he cannot
communicate. These barriers come on account of personality conflicts, power
game and dissatisfaction on rewards and promotion.
The manager must be a person of integrity.
He should be honest, trustworthy and high achiever. This can be judged by the
track record of the person and his work experience and the extra curricular
activities he may be performing.
The staffing, therefore, deals with creation of human resource in the enterprise to achieve
goals, objectives and targets set by the top management.
After organizing the resources and staffing the planned activities, the business plan is
launched. The process of implementing the plan is dynamic. It calls upon the manager to
perform a number of things in a coordinated manner so that the plan remains valid and
the development takes place as per the plan.
The process meets with a number of difficulties and the manager is supposed to resolve
them. There will be a lag and lead in many activities. There could be shortfalls and
overruns. There could be sudden developments which may disturb the plans and the
process of implementation. The manager’s role, in this situation, is to coordinate all the
activities and provide leadership to the group to keep the plan moving. Directing and
leading are the methods, whereby the subordinates are lead to understand the purpose of
the activity, and by way of guidance, a direction is given to them to march towards the
goals. Their difficult and conflicts are resolved, bottlenecks removed and a clear path is
created to progress on plan achievement.
The task of directing and leading becomes more effective if the human side of the
enterprise is taken care of by motivating the people. The manager is required to create an
environment in which everybody can perform their best. The work environment becomes
conducive to good performance if work becomes satisfying and provides an opportunity
to expand the scope of work and his influence.
The manager is a leader if he possesses the art of influencing the subordinates in such a
way that they willingly perform towards the achievement of the goals, objectives and
targets. The process of coordinating and directing takes place through communication.
Good communication has been defined by the American Society of Training Directives
as an interchange of thought or information to bring about mutual understanding and
confidence or good human relations. The coordinating and directing effect is more
effective if the manger is able to motivate the subordinates and provide leadership by way
of an affective communication.
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3.6 CONTROLLING
The last but the most important step in the process of management is controlling, the
successful execution of management plan. Without control, the process becomes
unproductive. The purpose of control is to regulate the process in such a way that the
management process continuously strives for the achievement of the goals, objectives and
targets.
The control is exercised through a system. The system measures the performance of the
management in terms of some predefined measures of output. It compares the output with
the standard, identifies the deviations from the standard, and corrects the management
process to ensure that the plan continues to be effective in terms of achieving goals,
objectives and targets.
The control system work on the principle of feedback. The feedback on the performance
should be quick without any loss of time, that corrective action can be taken immediately.
The process of correction involves change in the plan, reallocation of resources,
application of new system, procedures and rules. The best control is the one which brings
the process back into operation on the main track without outside intervention. The
control system must get into action automatically to correct the midstream adverse
development.
Time is the essence of control. If the corrective action is taken late on account of delayed
feedback, it is ineffective and may result in heavy losses. Most of the managers look for
real time control system, a system which provides an instant negative feedback from the
standard and an instantaneous corrective action without any time delay.
Since the management control systems are not physical system, where one can desire real
time control mechanism, the managers look for feed forward control. The feed forward
control gives an advance warning, an indication that the deviations are likely to occur in
near future calling for a corrective action. The techniques used in the feed forward
control are forecasting, trend analysis and judging the performance from the standpoint of
input versus output.
Auditing is also a tool of control. There are several types of audits possible in a business
organization. Managerial audit deals with how effectively the plans are made and
implemented. It is addressed to the managerial performance to judge whether it was up to
the mark, and whether there are any lapses, failures or weaknesses. The operational audit
deals with an adherence to the rules and the policies of the management. It identifies
whether the operations of the organization are being carried out as per the managerial
directives, rules and policies. The financial audit addresses the business and financial
transactions to find out whether they are carried out with due regard to the accounting
principle and statutes. It also examines whether all the transactions are covered
completely and for the year.
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With the advancement of information technology and computers, a variety of planning
and control tools have been developed. Planning and budget models, financial models,
risk analysis models, PERT/ CPM, operations research models are some of the examples
of the control tools.
The process of management requires a lot of data and information for execution of the
plan. This requirement arises on account of that in each step of management, a variety of
decisions are taken to correct the course of development. The decisions or actions are
prompted due to the feedback given by the control system incorporated in the
management system. The control of overall performance is made possible by way of
budget summaries and reports. The summary showing sales, costs, profit and return on
investment throws light on the direction the organization is moving to. The exception
reports identify the weaknesses in the system of management.
The MIS should provide the support to act and decisively. It should support management
in terms of basic business information at the corporate level and meet the specific needs
of the managers. It should highlight on the critical success factors and support key areas
of management. MIS should have, wherever possible, support systems to help the
manager in decision making.
Modern management systems rely on MIS. The complexity of business operations with
skill and foresight to avert the crisis. Modern business management requires shift from
the traditional controls to managerial control. The shift requires the manager to become
more efficient in handling the he is entrusted with. The manager becomes more efficient
if he is well informed, made richer in knowledge, experience and analytical skills and is
able to face the uncertainties and the risk of business. This is possible only if he is
supported by MIS in his specific task of management of business.
Modern business has business has become more technology- oriented wherein the
manager is required to be up- to- date on technological advancement not only in his field
of operations but also in the other technologies . The emerging new technologies are
posing threats to current business and are opening new opportunities for new business
ventures. The manager has to keep himself abreast on the information of how these
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technologies affect his business prospects. A good MIS designed for such a support is
absolutely essential. MIS therefore, is a tool for effective execution of the management
process.
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CHAPTER-4
Organisation Structure and Theory
The word organization means two things. The first meaning of the word
organization is an institution or a functional group. A business organization a hospital, a
school a university is some such institution keeping in view the concept of division of
labor, authority, responsibility and decision making so that the institution as a stable
system, works coherently towards the achievement of goals.
.the level at which a person is holding position. The authority is measured on the basis of
command on control of resources, the risk of business, and the decision making power to
manage the risk and reward. When the authority. Is distributed in a vertical order in terms
of levels, the organization is built on the principle of hierarchy of authority. The
effectiveness of the authority is based on the span of control, i.e., the number of person
being managed and controlled by a person. Depending on the organization, and business,
the span may differ from four to seven. The span outside this range has proved to be
unproductive and inefficient.
Hierarchy of Authority
The authority rests with the individual in the organization. The degree and strength of
authority depends on the level at which a person is holding position. The authority is
measured on the basis of command on control of resources, the risk of business, and the
decision making power to manage the risk and rewards. When the authority is distributed
in a vertical order in terms of levels, the organization is built on the principle of hierarchy
of authority. The effectiveness of the authority is based on the span of control, i.e., the
number of persons being managed and controlled by a person. Depending on the
organization, and business, the span may differ from four to seven. The span outside this
range has proved to be unproductive and inefficient.
Speciallsation
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The second principal of building organization structure is specialization. Specialization
can be decided in a number of ways, arranging all similar and associated tasks under one
head. For example, a business organization can be structured on the specialization such as
Manufacturing, Marketing, Accounting and Personal. A hospital can be structured on the
basis of specialization such as General Medicine, Surgery, function, helps to select right
people and group them properly, aids in functional planning and control of the activities
of the organization.
Standardisation (Formalization)
Centralization
The organization is structured on the basis of the above four principles. The blend of
these principal is decided on the nature of business, risk of business, size of business,
management style and the environment of business. The blending of these principles
would undergo a charge as the business grows. The organization is under a continuous
process of change to meet the changing needs of business, the organization will have a
different structure in its various business stages namely, inception, growth, maturity, and
decline. The structure of organization affects organizational productivity, individual
performance, growth of human resource, and the manpower itself. A considerable amount
of saving in manpower and overhead expenses is possible, if the organization is property
structured to the business needs and towards fulfilling the objectives.
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Independent of the blend of these principles, the effectiveness of the structure largely
depends on the quality of people – ability, skills, knowledge attitude and motivation. The
basic model of the organization structure is shown in Fig. 4.1 it shows the arrangement of
the people in a reverse tree structure.
The basic model will have more levels if the size of the organization is very large. The
number of levels will be determined on the basis of the span of control and the nature of
work. The appropriateness of the structure can be decided based on the factors like
responsibility and authority, economy in conducting the business, the ability to achieve
the goals and objectives, a smooth flow of information exchange and communication.
There are four variations of the basic model which are widely used in real life.
Functional Organisation
The functional organization (Fig. 4.2) is most suitable where the organization business
can be split into clear divisions of activity and all of them are equally important. For
example, the business organization can be functionally organized into four or five
functions such as marketing manufacturing, finance, personnel, and materials.
The strength of the people and the hierarchy in each of the functional organizations
would vary depending upon the size and the number of activities. Decision making in any
functional organization is at the level of the functional head with accountability to the
chief of the organization. The implications of the decisions are largely on the functions
themselves. A decision affecting other functions of the business, however, is referred to
the top management. The in formation flow is from the top to the bottom and in the
reverse order. The information flow across the functions is not expected. Accumulation
of information is at the chief executives level and is shared by the others.
The functional organization is most suited where each function is a specialty and calls for
an expertise in the field; and where coordination is of a very low order and can be
handled easily through the management process. The organization works efficiently when
the business is stable and is expected to grow in a steady manner. When the business
becomes competitive and develops threats to its growth, the functional structure
undergoes a change. The development of people is on the specialized functions and hence
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they are not equipped to handle other functions if required. The people in a functional
organization develop a narrow outlook restricted to their own functions and
responsibilities. The corporate culture is difficult to imbibe in a functional set- up. Most
of the manufacturing, selling organisanisations in their initial period are structured on the
functional lines. The government departments and agencies are organized on the
functional principle.
When the organization grows large in turnover and strength, and when the decision-
making relates to either the product or the market or the service the organizing structure
is built around one of these factors. In this structure (Fig.4.3), the total responsibility rests
with the product / market / service head. He is expected to take all the decisions regarding
finance material, etc. The people in the organization report to the product head.
MANAGING
DIRECTOR
A B C
A project organization (Fig. 4.4) is a special case of product organization where the
common service like finance, purchase etc. are organized at the functional level. But
project resources are allocated to the project manager. Since the business resources. This
type of organization structure helps in making quick decisions for project control in terms
of cost resource and time. In a project organization some of the functions are of corporate
responsibility and some of them are the project manager’s responsibility.
MANAGING
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DIRECTOR
ERECTION PERSONNEL
In a project business, the activity is one at a time and has implications on the
subsequent activities in the project. Therefore, any problem or conflict relating to
the activity needs to be resolved immediately. This calls for quick decisions. This
is possible by organizing all the functional resources under one command of the
project manager.
Matrix Organisation
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change, the structure should undergo a suitable change. The structural change
does not limit them from one type to the other but many other qualitative changes
are also desirable.
MANAGING
DIRECTOR
There has to be a change in the people in terms of strengths, skills and abilities. A
functional head in the functional organization may not be suitable to shoulder the
responsibility of the Product Manager in a product organization structure, because
of inherent limitations of narrow specialized experience as a functional head.
With the standardization and formalization drive in the organization, the span of
control can be enlarged than before. With the delegation of authority, backed by
the rules and policies the junior level personnel become more knowledgeable,
experienced and capable of shouldering higher responsibility. This would affect
the levels in hierarchy.
4.3 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
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The cultural is a set of attitudes, beliefs, values, norms and understandings; the people
have in the organization. The culture is a collective behavioral result of the people who
man the organization. Depending upon the person, whether he is a manager, an officer or
a worker, the cultural pattern emerges and it is known as a managerial culture and a work
culture, etc. Long-term performance and managerial actions depend on the managerial
culture and the achievement of the targets depends on the work culture.
Above all, the organization must have norms of quality set in all its activities and they
must be understood by all the employees. When the organization has these factors set at a
high level, we say that the organization has a quality culture. Such a culture will be
reflected in the behavior of the organization.
The culture may be reflected in the philosophy, policy, strategy, goals and managerial
style of the organization. If the organization culture is generating a behavior which
affects the performance adversely, it can be changed by management actions such as
training, education, creating awareness, transferring people, encouraging young
recruitments and talent in the organization.
ORGANISATIONAL POWER
The organizational power is the ability of the organization structure to use human and
material resources to achieve the stated goals and objectives of the organization. The
power of the organization is distributed uniformly all over the organization but it may be
concentrated in small groups representing a function, a department or a section. It might
be localized with the individuals.
Some individuals by virtue of their position, responsibility and seniority, enjoy more
power than others. Some individuals by virtue of their nearness to the management and a
strong personality derive power in the organization structure. If what is meant to be the
organization structure in terms of authority, information flow, and responsibility, and
what actually emerges organization structure due to the power play, is at variance, then it
will reflect in the organizational behavior affecting the performance of the organization.
If the effect is adverse, it is better to make suitable changes in terms of positions and their
placement in the organization.
ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
Even though the organization is structured properly, over the period of time it starts
failing slowly due to the change in the environment, the people and the business. Like a
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living organization, an organization undergoes a process of birth and death. The process
of organization outlives the purpose for which it is established moves much faster, if
proper corrective action is not taken. The organization structure in its life cycle, starting
from the introduction, growth, maturity and decline should change suitably in the
respective phases. The behavioral change through the organizational change is achieved
by creating a climate for change, deciding designing and implementing the change,
watching and institutionalizing the change.
ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING
The organizational behavior improves with the experience it gathers from all business
fronts. With experience, people are in a position to identify the cause and effect
relationship. It is possible to predict the errors and probable mistakes in the business
operations. The rules, systems and procedures are streamlined over a period of time. With
this learning experience, some changes in the organization structure are inevitable and
they should be carried out.
The individuals in the organization are able to assess the strength and weaknesses within
them and are able to take steps to improve. As organizational learning increase, the
organization’s behavior shows maturity. With increased learning the organization moves
towards high degree of formalization affecting itself. The organizational learning is faster
if people and the management are dynamic and progressive.
Organizational Motivation
There are two leadership styles, autocratic and supportive. In an autocratic style, the
leader determines everything and dictates decisions. The decisions are enforced by the
power of authority. Under such a leadership style people are not trained to shoulder
higher responsibilities. The enterprising ones are frustrated under such a leadership style.
The supportive leadership style calls for participation consultation and respects the
opinion of the subordinates. The process evokes initiative amongst the subordinates and
gives them a feeling of importance and satisfaction.
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The organizational behavior is an independent phenomenon in relation to the
organization
Structure. Having selected a proper type of structure the management of the organization
Should take the requisite steps to regulate the behavior of the group towards the achieve
Mint of goals and objectives of the organization.
The management theorists however have seen organization in different views and
perspectives. They have identified more elements in the systems in the system besides the
people. The choice of technology and structure as additional three elements of the
organization system. He says that the task technology and people structure are dependent
on each other and their signification cannot be ignored as elements of the system.
The arrangement of task in terms of process and work design is dependent on the people.
The choice of technology of handling the task is dependent on the people. You may
choose the best technology and well designed task, but they have to be suited for the
people. Over and above these are to be arranged in proper structure. Further a fourth
Element has been added as culture. According to Leavitt an organization should be
viewed as a socio- technical system consisting of people task technology culture and
structure. The modified Leavitt’s model is shown in Fig. 4.6.
TASKS
PEOPLE STRUCTURE
GOALS
TECHNOLOGY CULTURE
Fig. 4.6 Modified Model of the Organisation System.
In view of the nature of the task the organization is supposed to carry out it has to be
designed as an open system capable of adjusting itself to the changing environment. The
organization continuously exchanges the information with the environment and is
influenced by the changes in it. The origination therefore has to be built in such a fashion
that it adjusts with the changes in the environment and that the goals and objectives are
achieved.
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MATURITY
GROWTH DECLINE
PROCESS
PHASE
INTRODUCTION TIME
Fig. 4.7
Hence the organization is a socio- technical system whose sub- systems are task people
technology culture and structure each having its own input and output satisfying at first
its own objective and eventually the corporate organization goals and objectives If the
sub-system’s goals and objectives are not congruent with the goals and objectives of the
corporate organization poor performance resistance to change and non- attainment of
corporate goals will be the consequences.
The systems and their goals are not stable. The goals change in response to the changes
in the business focus the environment and in the people in the organization. A significant
change calls for change in the organization structure A goals displacement is said to have
occurred when the system goals significantly. Another reason for goals change is due to
the
Natural process of growth and decline. This phenomenon is best described by a sigmoid
or S curve (Fig, 4.7).
All organizations and their business go through the different phases of growth cycle in
stages as Introduction Growth Maturity and Decline. Each phase generates new goals to
be served if the changed or displaced goals are not reflected in the organization as a
system the organization is bound to suffer from decay.
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organization which can be ascertained very easily. But culture and people are very
difficult to assess from the design point of view. The structure of the five sub-systems
should be considered while designing the MIS. MIS design should give reports in line
with the organization structure. This means that the main decision makers and the power
centers must be recognized in the MIS. Let us discuss these aspects of the organization
structure and their implications.
In a tall hierarchy with a high degree of centralization, the MIS should give control
information to the higher management where decision making in concentrated. If the
system is structured on the functional basis where the functional head is a key decision
maker and all the functions have equally important role to play, then the MIS will have a
functional design with the information support to the functional head. Further, in such a
set-up, an integrated MIS would be necessary, reporting the corporate status of the
business to the top management.
If the organization works on a standardized system where rules, policies, systems and
procedures have been laid down, then these become part of the MIS. The processing
routines in the MIS incorporate these features as an integral part. This is safe as it has
already been approved by the management of the organization. Along with the
information, if the decision making responsibilities are also clearly defied and allocated,
then the MIS can produce information reports by processing the data and summarizing
the results in line with the decision maker’s position in the structure.
In the organization culture provides sufficient incentive for efficiency and results, the
MIS should support this culture by providing such information which will aid the
promotion of efficiency. If the culture encourages delegation of power and authority, then
the MIS should incorporate the decision making rules in the system.
The organization system is an open system and MIS should be so designed that it
highlights the critical business, operational, technological and environmental changes to
the concerned level in the organization, so that the action can be taken to correct the
situation. The principle of the feed forward control should be extensively used as a design
feature to provide a prior warning to the decision maker.
Since the organization system has a dynamic role to play to meet the changing needs of a
business, the MIS becomes a common support system for playing the dynamic role.
When an organization is moving through the business phases of introduction, growth,
maturity and decline, MIS should provide an information support, relevant to that phase
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of the business cycle. This means the designer of MIS should foresee such requirements
and make the design flexible enough to support such requirements.
The organizational learning helps to tone up the behavior of the organization. The MIS
should support the learning mechanism by identifying the cause and effect in a given
situation. It should keep the records of action and provide help to analyze the best action
in a given situation. It should be help to build various decision models for use by the
managers. The information support should be such that the group of enterprising manager
should be able to improve their capabilities to perform batter.
The design of the MIS, in isolation from organizational factors, is destined to fall as it
just does not fit into the structure. Since organization systems in the same business differ
for various reasons such as the leadership style, the management style, culture and group
of people as a body and so on, it is difficult to evolve a standard model of the MIS for a
business and/or an industry.
MIS plays a very important role in creating organization behavior which in turn sets the
goals for achievement. Technology and people decide the organization structure and style
of the management. Figure 4.8 explains the impact and relationship of MIS on the
organization behavior.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
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8. Explain how is organization a system where inputs are processed to gat a
desired output?
9. What is a goal displacement? Why does it occur? How does the organization
handle goal displacement?
10. Why does the organization structure differ from company to company even
though they are in same business and industry?
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CHAPTER-5
Planning means taking a deep look into the future and assessing the likely events in the
total business environment and taking a suitable action to meet any eventuality. It further
means generating the courses of action to meet the most likely eventuality. Planning is a
dynamic process. As the future becomes the present reality, the course of action decided
earlier may require a change. Planning, therefore, calls for a continuous assessment of the
predetermined course of action versus the current requirements of the environment. The
essence of planning is to see the opportunities and the threats in the future and
predetermine the course of action to convert the opportunity into a business gain, and to
meet the threat to avoid any business loss.
Planning involves a chain of decisions, one dependent on the other, since it deals with
along term period. A successful implementation of a plan means the execution of these
decisions in a right manner one after another.
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Long-range planning deals with resource selection, its acquisition and allocation. It deals
with the technology and not with the methods or the procedures. It talks about the
strategy of achieving the goals. The right strategy improves the chance of success
tremendously. At the same time, a wrong strategy means a failure in achieving the goals.
Corporate business planning deals with the corporate business goals and objectives. The
business may be a manufacturing or a service; it may deal with the industry or trade; may
operate in a public or a private sector; may be a national or an international business.
Corporate business planning is a necessity in all cases. Though the corporate business
planning deals with a company, its universe is beyond the company. The corporate
business plan considers the world trends in the business, the industry, the technology, the
international markets, the national priorities, the competitors, the business plans, the
corporate strengths and the weaknesses for preparing a corporate plan. Planning
therefore, is a complex exercise of steering the company through the complexities, the
difficulties, the inhibitions and the uncertainties towards the attainment of goals and
objective.
Dimensions of Planning.
The corporate business plan has five dimensions. These are time, entity, organization,
elements and characteristics.
Time
The plan may either be long-range or short-range, but the execution of the plan is, year
after year. The plan is made on a rolling basis where every year it is extended by one
year, keeping the plan period as the next five years. The rolling plan provides an
opportunity to correct or revise the plan in the light of any new information the planner
may receive.
Entity
The plan entity is the thing on which the plan is focused. The entity could be the
production in terms of quantity or it could be a new product. It could be about the
finance, the marketing, the capacity, the manpower or the research and development. The
goals and the objectives would be stated in terms of these entities. A corporate plan may
have several entities.
Organisation
The corporate plan would deal with the company as a whole, but it has to be broken down
for its subsidiaries, if any, such as the functional groups, the divisions, the product groups
and the projects. The breaking of the corporate business plan into smaller organizational
units helps to fix the responsibility for execution. The corporate plan, therefore, would be
a master plan and it would comprise several subsidiary plans.
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Elements
The plan is made out of several elements. The plan begins with the mission and goal
which the organization would like to achieve. It may provide a vision statement for all to
understand as also the purpose, focus, and direction the organization would like to move
towards. It would at the outset, place certain policy statements emerging out of
management’s business philosophy, culture and style of functioning followed by policy
statements. Next it would declare the strategies in various business functions, which
would enable the organization to achieve the business objectives and targets. It would
spell out a program of execution of plan and achievements. It provides support on rules,
procedures and methods of plan implementation, wherever necessary. One important
element of the plan is a budget stipulated for achieving certain goals and business targets.
The budgets are provided for sales, production, stocks, resources, expenses which are
monitored against the time in execution period. The budgets and performance provide
meaningful measure about success and failure of the plan designed to achieve certain
goals.
Characteristics
There are some compelling reasons which force all the organizations to resort to strategic
business planning. The following reasons make planning an essential management
process to keep the business in a good shape and condition:
1. Market forces
2. Technological change
3. Complex diversity of business
4. Competition
5. Environment (Threats, Challenges, and Opportunities)
MARKET FORCES
It is very difficult to predict the market forces such as the demand and supply, the trend
of the market growth, the consumer behavior and the choices, the emergence of new
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product and the new product concepts. The ability of the organization to predict these
forces and plan the strategies is limited for the various reasons. The market forces affect
the sales, the growth and the profitability. With the problems arising out of market forces,
it is difficult to reorient the organization quickly to meet the eventualities adversely
affecting the business unless the business is managed through a proper business plan.
Technological Change
There are a number of illustrative cases throughout the world on the technological
breakthroughs and changes which have threatened the current business creating new
business opportunities. The emergence of the microchip, plastic, laser technology, fiber
optics technology, unclear energy, wireless communication, audio-visual transmission,
turbo engines, thermal conductivity and many more, are the examples which have made
some products obsolete, threatening the current business, but at the same time, have
created new business opportunities. The technological changes have affected not only the
business prospects but the managerial and operational styles of the organizations.
In the absence to any corporate plan, such a technological change can bring the
organization into some difficult problems and, in some cases, can pose a threat to its
survival. The corporate plan is expected to ensure the recovery of the business investment
before such a technological change takes over.
The scope of business is wide, touching many fronts. The variety of products, the
different market segments, the various methods of manufacturing the multiple locations,
the dependence on the external factors, such as the transport, the communications and the
manufacturing resources brings complexity in the management of business. Many factors
are uncontrollable and unless there is a plan, prepared with due consideration to the
diverse and complex nature of business, handling these factors is not possible. This might
lead to the loss of business opportunity.
As the business grows, it reaches a stage where the strategies such as the expansion
vertical or horizontal, integration-forward or backward, diversification-in the same line or
in the diverse line of business, are the issues which the management is required to handle.
These issues are investment-oriented and have a far-reaching effect on the business
growth, direction and profitability.
Competition
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Competition is a natural phenomenon in business, and it has to be dealt with in a proper
manner to protect business interests. This means that the management has to continuously
evolve new strategies to deal with the competition. Evolving strategies and their
implementation, calls for forward thinking and planning, without which it is not possible
to handle competition.
Competition forces the management to look for new products, new markets, and new
technologies to keep the market share intact, the process controlled and the quality
improved. Strategies also have to be implemented in a proper sequence as business
competition demands an intricate planning, testing and implementation of the strategies.
The competition should never be underestimated and has to be met squarely through
corporate planning.
Environment
The environment is beyond the control of the management. Depending upon the
organizations business and its purpose, different environments have bearing on the
fortunes of business. It could be one of the social, businesses, economic, industrial,
technological environments affecting the business. Many a times, it could be a mix of
different environments. The environmental changes are difficult to predict and are
generally slow. Therefore, many times the managements are caught unaware by the
environmental changes. To illustrate the environment’s impact on business, some
examples of recent origin are mentioned as follows.
Values and attitudes make the penetration in the market difficult. The difference in the
values and attitudes of the rural and urban consumers calls for separate products with
different advertising strategies for them. The attitude of the consumer towards fast food
or frozen food decides its spread and popularity. Similarly continuous increase in the cost
of transport affects the tourism and hotel industry but promotes the home entertainment
industry. The policies of the Government also affect the business and the industry. The
international laws and agreement create new opportunities and threats to the business.
Forecasting the probable environment changes like the change in population population
mix consumer preferences and their behavior government policies new opportunities and
so on and forth is a major task.
Business planning therefore is absolutely essential for the survival of the business Peter
Drucker defines long-range planning as the process of making the present managerial
(risk taking) decisions systematically and with the best possible knowledge of their
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futurity organizing systematically the efforts needed to carry out these decisions and
measuring the results of these decisions against the expectations through organized
through systematic feedback. Planning is neither forecasting nor making future decisions
today it is making current decisions in the light of future.
Planning does not eliminate the risk but provides an effective tool to face it.
Comprehensive corporate planning is not an aggregate of the functional plans but it is a
systematic approach aiming to maneuver the enterprise direction over a period of time
through an uncertain environment to achieve the stated goals and the objective of the
organization.
Like any other business activity planning also has a process and methodology. It goes
without any extra emphasis that the corporate planning is a top management
responsibility. It begins with deciding the social responsibility and proceeds to spell out
the business mission and goals and the strategies to achieve them.
The task after deciding the mission or the aim is to set the goal (s) for the organization.
The goal is more specific and has a time scale of three to five years. It is described in the
quantitative terms in the form of a ratio a norm or a level of certain business aspect such
as the largest share leader in the industry dominant in certain product quality reach and
distribution etc. The goals become a reference for the top management in planning the
business activities.
After determining the mission and the goals the next task is to set various objectives for
the organization The objectives are described in terms of business results to be achieved
in a short duration of a year or two The objectives are measurable and can be monitored
with the help of business tools and technologies Objective may be the profitability the
sales the quality standard the capacity utilization etc. When achieved the objectives will
contribute to the accomplishment of the goals and subsequently the mission.
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The next step in the planning process is to set targets for more detailed working and
reference The objective of the business is to be translated in terms of functional and
operational units for easy communication and decision making The targets may be
monthly for the sales production inventory and on The targets will be the direct
descendants of the objective(s)
The success in achieving the goals and objective is directly dependent on the
managements business strategies business is like a war where two or more business
competitors are set against each other to win and are constantly in search of a strategy
manner in which the resources, such as the men, the material, the money and the know-
how will be put to use over a period to achieve the goals. The resources of an
organization being faced by it the game is of evolving strategies and counter strategies to
win.
The development of the strategy also considers the environmental factors such as the
tech nology, the markets, the life style, the work culture, and the attitudes. The policies of
the Government and so on a strategy helps to meet the external forces affecting the
business development effectively and further ensures that the goals and the objectives are
achieved. The development of the strategy considers the strength of the organization in
deploying the resources and unstructured exercise of a complex nature riddled with the
uncertainties (see Fig. 5.1) it sets the guidelines for use of the resources in kind and
manner during the planning period.
FACTORS FOR
STRATEGY FORMULATION
STRENGT AND
WEAKNESS OF
The ORGANISATION BUSINESS COMPETITION
FIG. 5.1
A strategy means a specific decision (S) usually but not always regarding the deployment
of the resources to achieve the mission or goals of the organization The right strategy
beats competition and ensures the attainment of goals while a wrong strategy fails to
achieve the goals Correction and improvement in case of a wrong strategy is possible at a
very high cost .such a situation is described as a strategic failure.
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If a strategy considers a single point of attack by a specific method .it is a mixed strategy.
If a strategy acts on many fronts by different means then it is a mixed strategy the
business strategy could be series of pure strategies handling several external forces
simultaneously.
Hence the strategy may fall in any area of the business and may deal with any aspects of
the business It could be aspects like price market product technology process quality
service finance management strength and so on when the management decides to fight
the external forces of a single area by choice it becomes a pure strategy if it uses or
operates in more then one area then it becomes a mixed strategy.
The success of an organization in spite of its strength depends on the strategic moves or
planning the management pursues. The strategy may be pure or mixed It can be classified
into four broad classes 1. Overall Company Strategy 2. Growth Strategy 3.Product
Strategy and 4. Marketing Strategy.
These strategies are applicable to all the types of businesses and industries.
This strategy a very long- term business perspective deals with the overall strength of the
entire company and evolves those policies of the business which will dominate the course
of the business movement it is the most productive strategy if chosen correctly and fatal
if chosen wrongfully the other strategies act under the overall company strategy. To
illustrate the overall company strategy following examples is given:
THE overall company strategy is broad- based having a far reaching effect on the
different facets of business and forming the basis for generating strategies in the other
areas of business.
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5.6 TOOLS OF PLANNING
Creativity
Creativity comes out of an experience, a judgment, an intuition of an individual or a
group of individuals. When decision making is called for a situation which has no
precedent then creativity is the only tool to resolve the problem of decision making.
Creativity is the result of the conceptual skills of an individual. The concept ional skills
comprise the following skills.
1. The ability to generate a number of ideas rapidly.
2. The ability to change quickly from one frame of reference to another.
3. Originality in interpreting an event and generating different views on the
situation.
4. The ability to handle with clarity and ease a complex relationship of various
factors in a given situation.
A person who possesses these skills in said to have a conceptual fluency. If an
organization has a number of people, at least at key positions, with conceptual
fluency, then it becomes a creative organization. Such an organization creates new
ideas and new strategies for development of business. The plans are made on the
strength of experience and conceptual fluency.
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Systems Approach
Systems approach to planning considers all the factors and their inter-relationship
relevant to the subject. It takes a course to an analytical study of the total system,
generates alternative courses of action and helps to select the best in the given
circumstances. It is uses in situation of risk or uncertainty, and examines the various
alternative courses of action. I help to find solutions to problems.
The systems approach helps to understand the situation with clarity. It helps to
sort out the factors on the principles of critical and non-critical, significant and
insignificant, relevant and irrelevant, and finally controllable and uncontrollable. It tests
the solutions for feasibility-technical, operational and economic. It further studies the
problems of implementation of the solution.
Broadly, the systems approach has the following characteristic:
1. It uses all the areas and the branches of knowledge.
2. It follows a scientific analysis to identify the problem.
3. It uses a model of a complex situation to handle the problem.
4. It weighs cost against benefit for assessment of the alternatives.
5. It deals with the problems where time context is futuristic.
6. It considers the environment and its impact on the problem situation.
7. Every solution is tested on the grounds of rationality and feasibility, and
accepts a given criterion for selection of the most preferred alternative.
8. It uses operations research models if the problem is well defined. Alternately,
it uses a simulation approach to solve the problem. It uses tools such a Gantt
chart, PERT/CPM, Network analysis for scheduling and coordinating the
activities.
The systems approach is a way of looking at a problem in a systematic manner
using the scientific methods and applying the principles of a rational decision making to
solve the problem.
Sensitivity Analysis
The sensitivity analysis helps to test the validity of the solution in variable conditions.
The problem situation is handled with certain assumptions and conditions. Based on these
considerations, a rational solution is found. Sensitivity analysis requires to know whether
the solution will still remain valid if the assumptions changed, constraints were relaxed
and new condones emerged. It helps to assess the impact of change on the solution in
economic terms. If various factors are involved, the sensitivity analysis helps to assess
the criticality of the factor against the impact it makes on the solution. Some factors will
be highly sensitive and some will not be so. Most of the decision making problems are
resolved on the principle of optimality, where you are trying to balance the two aspects of
the problems, such as, inventory carrying cost versus ordering cost, waiting time cost
versus idle time cost, costs, verses benefits, opportunity loss versus investment cost and
so on. The sensitivity analysis helps to test the validity of the optimal solution under
changed conditions.
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Sensitivity analysis helps to test the solutions on the principle of utility. A solution
which is economically rational and is based on sound business principles may be rejected
on the principle of utility. The utility profiles of all the people in the organization are not
the same. The utility profile, alternately known as a preference curve, shows the attitude
and preference of the decision maker towards the gains and the losses against a time
scale. The profile shows indirectly the risk-taking ability of the decision maker. It uses
techniques such as the decision tree analysis, methods of discounting, payoff matrix,
simulation, and the modeling.
Modeling
A model is a meaningful representation of a real situation on a mini scale, where only the
significant factors of the situation are highlighted. The purpose of a model is to
understand the complex situation based on only the significant factors.
There are several types of models. The model could be a physical model, like a model
of a house, a park, a sports complex, etc. The model could be a scale model reducing a
large body to a small one. The model could be mathematical model like break even
analysis model, linear programming model, queuing model, network model, etc. Here a
situation is represented in a mathematical form such as equations, matrices graphs and
polynomials.
A complex situation is represented using variables, constants and parameters which
play a significant role in that situation. The model is based on the relations the variables
have. The relation among the variables may be linear or non-linear. The model only
considers the relation of high significance. The model, when a situation is complex, tries
to simplify the complexity by ignoring minor factors and emphasizing only minor
important factors.
A model could be static or dynamic. The physical models are static models. Some
business models like the break even analysis model, the statistical regression models and
some of the O.R.programming models are static models. The static model does not
change over a time period.
All the planning models and all the forecasting models are dynamic models. In a
dynamic model, in addition to the variables considered, time is a dimension of the
variables. The values of these variables change with the change in time. Such variables
are called the stochastic variables.
A model, physical or mathematical, static or dynamic, needs to be tested for its utility
or effectiveness. The model can be tested by using the control results already obtained.
This would show the difference between the result given by the model and the actual
result in a real life situation. If the difference is not significant, then one can say that the
model represents the real situation. Once the model is proved useful, it is used for testing
the various solution alternatives. The selection of a solution, from many alternative
solutions, depends on the objective chosen. In a linear programming model, a solution is
selected on the principle of maximization of the profit or minimization of the cost. In the
queuing model a solution is selected, when the cost of the waiting time of a customer is
less than the cost of the idle time of facility. The selection of a solution is based on the
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attainment of certain value of some aspect of the business, such as the turnover, the cost
and the profit and so on.
The planning model considers those business variables which affect the business
prospects and which show a significant impact on the business results. The long-range
strategic models are, generally, dynamic models and the short-range management and
operations models are mostly static models.
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one aspect to another. In the introductory phase, the focus would be on a product design
and manufacturing. When the business matures and requires and requires to sustain or to
consolidate, the focus would be on the post sales services and support. The MIS should
provide early warning to change the focus of the management from one aspect to the
other.
Evolving the strategies is not the only task the top management has to perform. It also
has to provide the necessary resources to implement the strategies. The assessment of
resource need, and its selection becomes a major decision for the top management. The
MIS should provide information on resources, costs, quality and availability, for deciding
the cost effective resource mix.
When the strategies are being implemented, it is necessary that the management gets
a continuous feedback on its effectiveness in relation to the objective which they are
supposed to achieve. MIS is supposed to give a critical feedback on the strategy
performance. According to the nature of the feedback, the management may or may not
make a change in the strategy mix, the focus and the resource allocation.
MIS has certain other characteristics for the top management. It contains forecasting
models to probe into the future-the business model for evaluation of the strategy
performance by simulation business conditions. It contains functional models such as the
model for a new product launching, budgeting, scheduling and the models using PERT /
CPM technique for planning.
MIS for the top management relies heavily on databases which are external to the
organization. The management also relies heavily on the internal data which is evolved
out of transaction processing. Management uses the standards, the norms, the rations and
the yardsticks while planning and controlling the business activities. They are also used
for designing strategies and their mix. The MIS is supposed to provide correct, precise
and unbiased standards to the top management for planning.
We can summaries the role of the MIS in the top management function as follows.
MIS supports by way of information, to
1. decide the goals and objectives,
2. determine the correct status of the future business and projects,
3. provide the correct focus for the attention and action of the management,
4. evolve, decide and determine the mix of the strategies,
5. evaluate the performance and give a critical feedback on the strategic failures,
6. Provide cost-benefit evaluation to decide on the choice of resources, the
mobilization of resources, and the mix of resources.
7. Generate the standards, the norms, the ratios and the yardsticks for measurement
and control.
Success of a business depends on the quality of support the MIS gives to the
management. The quality is assured only through an appropriate design of the MIS
integrating the business plan with the MIS plan. Figure 5.3 explains the role of the MIS in
strategic planning and its support in the execution and control of the management
processes.
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
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Basics of
Management Information Systems
CHAPTER-6
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Decision Making g
The word decision is derived from the Latin root decido, meaning to cut off. The concept of
decision, therefore, is settlement, a fixed intention bringing to a conclusive result, a judgment,
and a resolution. A decision is the choice out of several options made by the decision maker to
achieve some objective in a given situation.
Business decisions are those, which are made in the process of conducting business to
achieve its objectives in a given environment. In concept, whether we are talking about
business decisions or any other decision, we assume that the decision maker is a rational
person who would decide, with due regard to the rationality in decision making.
The business decision making is sequential in nature. In business, the decisions are not
isolated events. Each of them has a relation to some other decision or situation. The decision may
appear as a “snap” decision but it is made only after a long chain of developments and a series of
related earlier decision.
The decision making process is a complex process in the higher hierarchy of management.
The complexity is the result of many factors, such as the inter-relationship among the experts or
decision makers, a job responsibility, a question of feasibility, the codes of morals and ethics, and
a probable impact on business.
The personal values of the decision maker play a major role in decision making. A decision
otherwise being very sound on the business principle and economic rationality may be rejected on
the basis of the personal values, which are defeated if such a decision is implemented. The
culture, the discipline and the individual’s commitment to the goals will decide the process and
success of the decision.
Whatever may be the situation, if one analyses the factors underlying the decision making
process, it would be observed that there are common characteristics in each of them. There is a
definite method of arriving at a decision: and it can be put in the form of decision process model.
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The decision making process requires creativity, imagination and a deep understanding of
human behavior. The process covers a number of tangible and intangible factors affecting the
decision process. It also requires a foresight to predict the post-decision implications and a
willingness to face those implications. All decisions solve a problem but over a period of time
they give rise to a number of other problems.
A rational decision is the one which, effectively and efficiently, ensures the achievement of the
goal for which the decision is made. If it is raining, it is rational to look for a cover so that you do
not get wet. If you are in business and want to make profit, then you must produce goods and sell
them at a price higher than the cost of production. In reality, there is no right or wrong decision
but a rational or an irrational decision. The quality of decision making is to be judged on the
rationality and not necessarily on the result it produces.
The rationality of the decision made is not the same in every situation. It will vary with the
organization, the situation and the individual’s view of the business situation. The rationality,
therefore, is a multi-dimensional concept. For example, the business decisions in a private
organization and a Public Sector Undertaking differ under the head of rationality. The reason for
this difference in rationality is the different objectives of the decision makers. Any business
decision if asked to be reviewed by a share-holder, a consumer, an employee, a supplier and a
social scientist, will result in a different criticism with reference to their individual rationality.
This is because each one of them will view the situation in different contexts and the motive with
the different objectives. Hence, whether a decision is right or wrong depends on a specific
rational view.
The question which further arises: Is a decision “rationales”? If it turns out to be wrong in
terms of the results it produces, can we cast doubts on the rationality?
In other words, so long as the decision maker can explain with logic and reason, the
objectivity and the circumstances in which the decision is made, it can be termed as a rational
decision. Whether the rationality applied is appropriate or not could be a point for debate. Gross
Bertram M* suggests three dimensions of rationality. First, the degree of satisfaction of human
interest. Second, the degree of feasibility in achieving the objectives. Third, a consistency in
decision making. If a decision maker shows a consistent behavior in the process of decision
making, then one can say that he meets the test of the rationality.
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The Problems in Making Rational Decisions
How do we then ensure rationality? It is ensured, if the process of decision making is carried
out systematically, whereby all the aspects of the decision making discussed above are taken care
of. Herbert Simon said that a decision maker follows the process of decision making disregarding
the decision or the type of decision and the motive behind the decision. This process is followed
consciously or without knowing it. We can put this process in the Decision Making Model.
Decision making is a process which the decision maker uses to arrive at a decision. The core of
this process is described by Herbert Simon in a model. He describes the model in three phases as
INTELLIGENCE
DESIGN
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CHOICE
shown in Fig. 6.1 viz.: (a) Intelligence; (b) Design; and (c) Choice. MIS follows this model in its
development state.
Choice
Select one alternative as a decision, based on the selection criteria.
In the intelligence phase, the MIS collects the data. The data is scanned, examined, checked
and edited. Further, the data is sorted and merged with other data and computations are made,
summarized and presented. In this process, the attention of the manager is drawn to all the
problem situations by highlighting the significant differences between the actual and the
expected, the budgeted or the targeted.
In the design phase, the manager develops a model of the problem situation on which he can
generate and test the different decisions to facilitate its implementation. If the model developed is
useful in generating the decision alternatives, he then further moves into phase of selection called
as choice.
In the phase of choose, the manager evolves a selection criterion such as maximum profit,
least cost, minimum waste, least time taken, and highest utility. The criterion is applied to the
various decision alternatives and the one which satisfies the most is selected.
In these three phases, if the manager fails to reach a decision, he starts the process all over
again from the intelligence phase where additional data and information is collected, the decision
making model is refined, the selection criteria is changed and a decision is arrived at.
The MIS achieves this in an efficient manner without repeated use of the Simon Model
again and again. An ideal MIS is supposed to make a decision for the manager.
An example of the Simon Model would illustrate further its use in the MIS. For example, a
manager finds on collection and through the analysis of the data that the manufacturing plant is
under-utilized and the products which are being sold are not contributing to the profits as desired.
The problem identified, therefore, is to find a product mix for the plant, whereby the plant is fully
utilized within the raw material and the market constraints, and the profit is maximized. The
manager having identified this as the problem of optimization, now examines the use of Linear
Programming (LP) Model. The model used to evolves various decision alternatives. However,
selection is made first on the basis of feasibility, and then on the basis of maximum profit.
The product mix so given is examined by the management committee. It is observed that the
market constraints were not realistic in some cases, and the present plant capacity can be
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enhanced to improve the profit. The same model is used again to test the revised position.
Therefore, additional data is collected and an analysis is made to find out whether the average 20
per cent utilization of the capacity can be increased. A market research for some products is made
and it is found that some constraints need to be removed and some reduced. Based on the revised
data, LP Model is used, and the optimum solution obtained.
(a) The manager has a known set of decision alternatives and knows their outcomes fully in
terms of value, if implemented.
(b) The manager has a model, a method or a rule whereby the decision alternatives can be
generated, tested, and ranked.
(c) The manager can choose one of them, based on some goal or objective.
A few examples are a product mix problem, an examination system to declare pass or fail, or
an acceptance of the fixed deposits.
If the manager operates in an environment not known to him, then the decision making
system is termed as an open decision making system. The conditions of this system are:
(a) The manager does not know all the decision alternatives.
(b) The outcome of the decision is also not known fully. The knowledge of the outcome
may be a probabilistic one.
(c) No method, rule or model is available to study and finalize one decision among the set
of decision alternatives.
(d) It is difficult to decide an objective or a goal and, therefore, the manager resorts to that
decision, where his aspirations or desires are met best.
Deciding on the possible product diversification lines, the pricing of a new product, and the
plant location, are some decision making situations which fall in the category of the open decision
making systems.
The MIS tries to convert every open system to a closed decision making system by
providing information support for the best decision. The MIS gives the information support,
whereby the manager knows more and more about the environment and the outcomes, he is able
to generate the decision alternatives, test them and select one of them. A good MIS achieves this.
Types of Decisions
The types of decisions are based on the degree of knowledge about the outcomes or the events yet
to take place. If the manager has full and precise knowledge of the event or outcome which is to
occur, then his problem of the decision making is not a problem. If the manager has full
knowledge, then it is a situation of certainty. If he has partial knowledge or a probabilistic
knowledge, then it is decision making under risk. If the manager does not have any knowledge
whatsoever, then it is decision making under uncertainty.
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A good MIS tries to convert a decision making situation under uncertainty to the situation
under risk and further to certainty. Decision making in the operations management, is a situation
of certainty. This is mainly because the manager in this field has fairly good knowledge about the
events which are to take place, has full knowledge of environment, and has predetermined
decision alternatives for choice or for selection.
Decision making at the middle management level is of the risk type. This is because of the
difficulty in forecasting an event with hundred per cent accuracy and the limited scope of
generating the decision alternatives.
A good MIS design gives adequate support to all the three levees of management.
Nature of Decision
Decision making is a complex situation. To resolve the complexity, the decisions are classified as
programmed and non-programmed decisions.
If a decision can be based on a rule, method or even guidelines, it is called the programmed
decision. If the stock level of an item is 200 numbers, then the decision to raise a purchase
requisition for 400 numbers is a programmed-decision-making situation. The decision maker here
is told to make a decision based on the instructions or on the rule of ordering a quantity of 400
items when its stock level reaches 200.
If such rules can be developed wherever possible, then the MIS itself can be designed to make
a decision and even execute. The system in such cases plays the role of a decision maker based on
a given rule or a method. Since the programmed decision is made through MIS, the effectiveness
of the rule can be analyzed and the rule can be revived and modified from time to time for an
improvement. The programmed decision making can be delegated to a lower level in the
management cadre.
A decision which cannot be made by using a rule or a model is the non-programmed decision.
Such decisions are infrequent but the stakes are usually larger. Therefore, they cannot be
delegated to the lower level. The MIS in the non-programmed-decision situation can help to some
extent, in identifying the problem, giving the relevant information to handle the specific decision
making situation. The MIS, in other words, can develop decision support systems in the non-
programmed-decision-making situations.
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The requisite variety of situations means that for efficient programmed decision making, it is
necessary for the manager to provide.
(a) All the decision alternatives and the choices in each state’
(b) The decision rules to handle the situation; and
(c) The system or the method to generate a decision choice.
Three methods for selection of decision alternatives with the goals in view are: (a)
Optimization Techniques; (b) Payoff Analysis; and (c) Decision Tree Analysis.
All the operational research models use optimization techniques, to decide on the decision
alternatives. When a decision making situation can be expressed, in terms of decision versus the
probable event, and its pay-off value, then it is possible to construct a matrix of the decision
versus the events described by a value for each combination. The manager can then apply the
criteria such as the maximum expected value, the maximum profit and the minimum loss or the
minimum regrets.
The method of decision tree can be adopted, if the decision making situation can be described
as a chain of decisions. The process of the decision making is sequential and a chain of decisions
achieves the end regrets.
The use of both pay-off matrix and the decision tree requires a probabilistic knowledge of
the occurrence of events. In many situations this knowledge is not available and the MIS has to
provide the information support in this endeavor.
Optimization techniques
Linear Programming, Integer Programming, Dynamic Programming, Queuing Models, Inventory
Models, Capital Budgeting Models and so on are the examples of optimization methods. These
methods are used in cases where decision making situation is closed, deterministic and requires
optimizing the use of resources under conditions of constraints. To handle these situations,
software packages are available. These methods are termed operational research (OR) methods.
All the OR methods attempt to balance the two aspects of business under conditions of
constraint. In the linear programming models, the use of resources versus demand is balanced to
maximize the profit. In the Inventory Model, the cost of holding inventory versus the cost of
procuring the inventory is balanced under the constraint of capital and meeting the demand
requirement. In the Queuing Model, the cost of waiting time of the customer versus the cost of an
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idle time of the facility is balanced under the constraint of investment in the facility and the
permissible waiting time for the customer. In the capital budgeting model, the return on
investment is maximized under the capital constraint versus the utility of the investment. The
MIS supports the formulation of a model, and then using it for the decision making.
For example, if the decision chosen is no change in the price and the competition also
does not change the price, then your gain is ‘4’. The decision is taken by choosing that
decision alternative which has the maximum expected value of outcome. Since, the
expected value in case of the third alternative is the highest; the decision would be to
decrease the price.
The concept of utility relates to the money value considered by the decision maker.
Utility is measured in terms of utile. Money has a value of a different degree to different
decision makers depending upon the amount, and also the manner in which it is received.
If rupee one is equal to one utile, then Rs 100 million is not 100 million utile but could be
much more. The utile value will be different if the money is received in one lot as against
in parts in several years. The utility function is different for different decision makers.
The utile value of utility has an influence on the risk taking ability of the decision maker.
A well placed manager with a sound business will tend to gamble or take more risk, than
a manager not so well placed in the business. In such decision making situations, the
monetary values of the outcomes are replaced by the utile values, suitable to the decision
maker’s utility function. In our example of pricing, if we replace the values by utiles, the
matrix would be as given below in Table 6.2.
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probability 0.50 0.20 0.30
Since the highest value of utility is 220.80 utiles, the decision would be to increase
the price.
When a decision maker must make a sequence of decisions, the decision tree analysis is
useful in selecting the set of the sequence decisions.
The method of analysis can be explained by an example. The decision tree is drawn in
Fig. 6.2 with the help of symbols.
Let us take an example of investment in production capacity for a planning period of five years.
B No collaboration
Large
Capacity
Collaboration 9.2
A E
9.2
Small 8.2
C
Capacity No collaboration
Ist Phase F
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In this decision situation there are two decision points and six paths as given below.
The path which given maximum cash flow is the right decision path. The cash flow
values are the under.
The problem is whether to expand now with a large capacity or to invest now in small
capacity and make a decision of expansion after one year with the help of collaboration
or without collaboration under certain demand conditions.
Since, the highest expected cash flow path is ACEH, the decision is to invest in a
small capacity in the Ist phase and invest in the remaining capacity in the second phase
with the assistance of the collaboration.
The decision tree approach is useful when you visualize a series of decisions having
alternative paths with the associated probabilities and the cash flows for each path for
more than one year.
A manager, being a human being, behaves in a peculiar way in a given situation. The
response of one manager may not be the same as that of the two other managers, as they
differ on the behavioral platform. Even thought tools, methods and procedures are
evolved, the decision is many a times influenced by personal factors such as behavior.
The manager differ in their approach towards decision making in the organization,
and, therefore, they can be classified into two categories, viz., the achievement-oriented,
i.e., looking for excellence and the task-oriented, i.e., looking for the completion of the
task some-how. The achievement-oriented manager will always opt for the best and,
therefore, will be enterprising in every aspect of the decision making. He will endeavor to
develop all the possible alternatives. He would be scientific, and, therefore, more rational.
He would weigh all the pros and then conclude.
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The manager’s personal values will definitely influence ultimately. Some of the
managers show a nature of risk avoidance. Their behavior shows a distinct pattern
indicating a conservative approach to decision making a path of low risk or no risk.
Further, even thought decision making tools are available, the choice of the tools may
differ depending on the motives of the manager. The motives are not apparent, and hence,
are difficult to understand. A rational decision in the normal course may turn out to be
different on account of the motives of the manager.
The behaviors of the manager are also influenced by the position he holds in the
organization. The behaviors are influenced by a fear and an anxiety that the personal
image may be tarnished and the career prospects in the organization may be spoiled due
to defeat or a failure. The managerial behavior, therefore, is a complex mix of the
personal values, the atmosphere in the organization, the motives and the motivation, and
the resistance to change. Such a behavior sometimes overrides normal rational decisions
based on business and economic principles.
The interplay of different decision making of all the managers in the organization
shapes up the organizational decision making. The rationale of the business decision will
largely depend upon the individuals, their positions in the organization and their inter-
relationship with other managers.
If two managers are placed in two decision making situations, and if their objectives
are in conflict, the managers will arrive at a decision objectively, satisfying individual
goals. Many a times, they may make a conscious decision, disregarding rationality
required in a business decision to meet their personal goals and to satisfy their personal
values. If the manager is enterprising, he will make objectively rational decisions. But if
the manager is averse to taking risk, he will make a decision which will be subjectively
rational as he would act with limited knowledge and also be influenced by the risk
averseness. Thus, it is clear that if the attitudes and the motives are not consistent across
the organization, the decision making process slows down in the organization.
The corporate goals and the goals of the departments/divisions or the functional
goals, may a time, are in conflict. If the organization is a system, and its departments /
divisions or functions are its subsystems, then unless the system’s objective and the
subsystem’s objectives are aligned and consistent to each other, the corporate goals are
not achieved.
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In case of inconsistent goals, the conflict in the organization increases, affecting the
organization’s overall performance. The organizational decision making should help in
the resolution of such conflicts. Otherwise, the organization suffers from indecision. The
organizational behavior theory provides different methods for resolution of avoiding such
conflicting goals as explained in Table 6.3
Allowing local rationality in Where the functional interdependence Security, Time office functions, Legal,
the setting of goals. is minimum and the goals /objectives Commercial, Administrative functions.
/ targets do not significantly influence
the corporate goals
Permission to set goals which Where there is functional dependence, Production versus Sales versus
can be achieved with an to set local goals which will not Materials functions can evolve
acceptable decision making adversely affect the goals of decision rules to meet the local goals
rule and systems. dependent functions. and affect the goals of the dependent
functions, or the corporate goals.
Permission to achieve the If the goals are conflicting, they are Maximization of profit, quality, level,
goals in a sequential manner. resolved in a sequential manner one at customer satisfaction, leadership
a time. It is a deliberate decision to image, etc.
ignore the conflicting goals within a
bounded rationality.
The organization will vote for a decision which has 90 per cent chance of earning Rs 1
million as against a decision which has 10 per cent chance of earning Rs 10 million. The
organizational behavior in decision making tends to avoid risk and minimize cost. The
methods for dealing with uncertainty are given in Table 6.4.
Decide for a limited short If the environment is reviewed at Purchasing of smaller quantity more
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period, and make a provision short intervals, the uncertainty can be frequently. Adopting the policy of
to correct the decision.. reduced providing a chance to correct enhancement in place replacement by
the previous decision. new plants and equipment.
Negotiated decision making To reduce the impact of the risk, the International price agreements, supply
with limited liability. uncertainty is converted to certainty assurances and sharing the risks.
by making decisions binding, through
the negotiated contracts.
Organisational Learning
The organizational decision making improves with learning by acquiring an additional
knowledge and experience, the training and development, the experience of implementation
and so on. Learning provides strength to review the goals and the objectives, and allows
setting them more correctly. It also helps to revise and improve the decision rules. The
improvements are carried out by adopting the policy of modernization, rationalization and
the application of the management science.
The process begins with small changes in the existing policy and guidelines. Then it
slowly comes to the changes in the strategic decision and planning. Further, it revamps the
decision rules and also provides a systems approach to decision making. As the time
progresses, the organization may have a new set of goals and objectives. It may go through a
process of rationalization of goals and objectives across the company. The organization may
take a fresh look at the alternatives, outcomes, implementation, methods, procedures and
systems.
Adopting such methods, the organization builds skills and capabilities in the
management. It creates the infrastructure to make all the decisions rational, which can be
implemented effectively and efficiently, to achieve the objectives.
It is necessary to understand the concepts of decision making as they are relevant to the
design of the MIS. The Simon Model provides a conceptual design of the MIS and decision
making, wherein the designer has to design the system in such a way that the problem is
identified in precise terms. That means the data gathered for data analysis should be such that
it provides diagnostics and also provides a path to bring the problem to surface.
In the design phase of the model, the designer is to ensure that the system provides
models for decision making. These models should provide for the generation of decision
alternatives, test them and pave way for the selection of one of them. In a choice phase, the
designer must help to select the criteria to select one alternative amongst the many.
The concept of programmed decision making is the finest tool available to the MIS
designer, whereby he can transfer decision making from a decision maker to the MIS and
still retain the responsibility and accountability with the decision maker or the manager. In
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case of non-programmed decisions, the MIS should provide the decision support systems to
handle the variability in the decision making conditions. The decision support systems
provide a generalized model of decision making.
The concept of decision making systems, such as the closed and the open systems helps
the designer in providing design flexibility. The closed systems are deterministic and rule
based; therefore, the design needs to have limited flexibility, while in an open system, the
design should be flexible to cope up with the changes required from time to time.
The methods of decision making can be used directly in the MIS provided the method to
be applied has been decided. A number of decision making problems call for optimization,
and OR models are available which can be made a part of the system. The optimization
models are static and dynamic, and both can be used in the MIS. Some of the problems call
for a competitive analysis, such as a payoff analysis. In these problems, the MIS can provide
the analysis based on the gains, the regrets and the utility.
The concepts of the organizational and behavioral aspects of decision making provide an
insight to the designer to handle the organizational culture and the constraints in the MIS.
The concepts of the rationality of a business decision, the risk averseness of the managers
and the tendency to avoid an uncertainty, makes the designer conscious about the human
limitations, and prompts him to provide a support in the MIS to handle these limitations. The
reliance on organizational learning makes the designer aware of the strength of the MIS and
makes him provide the channels in the MIS to make the learning process more efficient.
The relevance of the decision making concepts is significant in the MIS design. The
significance arises out of the complexity of decision making, the human factors in the
decision making, the organizational and behavior aspects, and the uncertain environments.
The MIS design addressing these significant factors turns out to be the best design.
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__________ REVIEW QUESTIONS
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CHAPTER-7
Information
7.1 INFORMATION CONCEPTS
The word ‘information’ is used commonly in our day to day working. In MIS, information
has a precise meaning and it is different from data. The information has a value in decision
making while data does not have. Information brings clarity and creates an intelligent human
response in the mind.
In MIS a clear distinction is made between data and information. Data is like raw
materials while the information is equivalent to the finished goods produced after processing
the raw material. Information has certain characteristics. These are: Information
Improves representation of an entity
Updates the level of knowledge.
Has a surprise value.
Reduces uncertainty.
Aids in decision making.
The quality of information could be called good or bad depending on the mix of these
characteristics. A sales report shows in Table 7.1 will highlight this point.
It can be noted in the above example that sales data is processed with the budget data and
further some results are computed, providing information of an exceptional nature that is the
sale of new product in the total sales. The sales data progressively becomes information
when processed with other data such as the budget and the new product sales.
Devis and Olson defines information as a data that has been processed into a form that is
meaningful to the recipient and is of real or perceived value in the current or the prospective
actions or decisions of the recipient. Data is defined as groups of non-random symbols in the
form of text, images or voice representing quantities, actions and objects.
Cumulative sales 510 / 60 days Updates the knowledge about sales as on date.
Sales of new products 80 / 60 days Reduces the uncertainty of sales of new product
as expected sales were only Rs 70 lakhs.
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Whether an entity is a data or information, it must be transferred through communication
from the ‘Source’ to the ‘Destination’ without loss of content. The general model for such
communication is given in Fig. 7.1.
TRANSMITTER RECEIVER
SOURCE CHANNEL DESTINATION
ENCODER DECODER
NOISE AND
DISTORTION
The above model of communication is used in the MIS. The MIS is equivalent to the
transmitter which provides information and sends through reports (channel) to the various
receivers, which is decoded or interpreted by the receiver at the destination. The poor quality
of information due to various factors would create confusion and misunderstanding, which is
equivalent to a ‘Noise’ and a ‘Destortion’ in the communication model. A good MIS
communicates the information without a noise and a distortion to the user.
Information Presentation
Presentation of the information is an art. The data may be collected in the best possible
manner and processed analytically, bringing lot of value in the information; however, if it is
not presented properly, it may fail to communicate anything of value to the receiver. The
degree of communication is affected by the methods of transmission, the manner of
information handling and the limitations and constraints of a receiver as the information
processor and the organization as the information user.
The methods used for improving communication are summarization and message
routing. The concept of summarization is used to provide information which is needed in the
form and content. The information can be summarized in a number of ways as shown in
Table 7.2.
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in the organization Selective Relevance to the level Middle Operations.
on condition. Exceptions Only those products,
Where sale is below the budget..
The principle behind summarization is that too much information causes noises and
distortions, i.e., confusion, misunderstanding and missing the purpose. The summarization
suppresses the noise and the distortions.
Knowledge is a power and an intelligent person in the organization can misuse this
power to achieve personal goals undermining the functional and organizational goals. This
tendency should be curbed. Further, the decision maker may call for the information on the
grounds that, just in case required, he should readily have it. Apart from the misuse of
information, it has an impact on the cost of information processing.
Bias in information
While choosing the appropriate method of communicating information a care has to be taken
to see that is not biased. For example, while using the techniques of classification or filtering
the information, it should not happen that certain information gets eliminated or does not get
classified. That is, a deliberate bias in covering certain information is to be avoided. This
bias enters because people try to block sensitive information which affects them. To
overcome this problem, a formal structure of organization should be adopted and the type of
information and its receiver should be decided by the top management.
Many a times the data and the information are suppressed but the inferences are informed,
with no or little possibility of verification or rethinking. In this case one who draws
inferences may have a bias in the process of collection, processing and presentation of data
and information. Though the deliberate enforcement of the inference on the receiver avoids a
possibility of the multiple inferences, but in this case processor’s bias is forced on the
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receiver. For example, organizations have departments like Corporate Planning, Market
Research, R and D, HRD and so on, which collect the data and analyze it for the company
and communicate the inferences. In all these cases personal bias, organizational bias and
management bias may be reflected in the entire process of collection processing, and
communication inference.
Delayed delivery of information A possibility of immediate action Sales report to the sales representative
or decision is reduced. It will or a copy of invoice to the sales
have only a knowledge value representative.
Change in the format and content Provide only that information Sales information to operations
of the report which may be needed, hence the managements, sales versus target for
misuse is averted. the middle management sales with a
trend analysis to the top management.
Suppression and filtering of the To avoid the risk of exposure and The price, the cost information.
information of confidential and the misuse of information for Drawing and design information.
sensitive nature achieving the undesirable goals.
Suppress the details and references Make it difficult to collect, and Statistical reports with no references.
of data and information process the data at the user end to
meet the personal needs of
information.
Truncated or lopsided presentation Make it difficult to read through A focus on high value sales and
the information and avoid its production and suppress the details.
probable misuse.
The presentation of the information will generate a bias and may influence the user. For
example, if the information is presented in an alphabetical order and if it is lengthy, the first
few information entities will get more attention. If the information is presented with a criteria
of exception, the choice of exception and deviation from the exception creates a bias by
design itself. For a quick grasp, the information is presented in a graphical form. The choice
of scale, the graphic size and the colour introduced a bias in the reader’s mind.
The base, which may creep in inadvertently because of the information system
design, can be tackled by making the design flexible, so far as reporting is concerned. Allow
the manager or the decision maker to choose his classification or filtering criteria, the scope
of information, the method of analysis and the presentation of inference. However,
somewhere balance needs to be maintained between the flexibility of the design and the cost,
and its benefits to the managers. Disregarding the bias in information, it must have certain
attributes to increase its utility as shown in Table 7.4
The frequency of reporting How often the information is needed? How often it
needs to be updated.
The time scale It may relate to the past, the current and the future and
can cover the entire time span.
The relevance to decision making The information has relevance to a situation and also
to a decision making. The irrelevant information is a
data.
Complete for the decision considerations The information which covers all the aspects of the
decision situation by way of the scope, transactions
and period is a complete.
Information is a product of data processing. Even if we take care of the aspects discussed in
the above section, the manager will determine the quality of the information based on the
degree of motivation it provided for action, and the contribution it provided for effective
decision making. The quality of information is high, if it creates managerial impact leading
to attention, decision and action. The quality of information can be measured on the four
dimensions, viz., utility, satisfaction, error and bias.
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The utility dimension has four facets- the form, the time, the access and the
possession. If the information is presented in the form the manager requires, then its utility
increases. If it is available when needed, the utility is optimized. If the information is easily
and quickly accessible through the Online Access System, its utility gets an added boost.
Lastly, if the information is possessed by the manager who needs it, then its utility is the
highest. Many of the organizations suffer from the possessive nature of the managers an
access difficult for the other users of the information. Improving the quality through
increasing a utility means an increase in the cost. The balance, therefore, is to be maintained
between the cost and the utility.
The concept of the utility of the information is subjective to the individual manager,
at least in terms of the form, time and access. Since in the organization there are many users
of the same information, the subjective ness would vary. Therefore, the one common key for
measuring the quality could be the satisfaction of the decision maker. The degree of
satisfaction would determine the quality of the information. If the organization has a high
degree of satisfaction, then one can be safe in saying that information systems are designed
properly to meet the information needs of the managers at all the levels.
An error is the third dimension of the information. The errors creep in on account of
various reasons, namely:
The processing of data for the information processing should be allowed only
after a thorough validation of the transactions and the contents, as a whole, on a
logical plane. Care should be taken that the information is processed after ensuring
the correctness of the data in terms of the time and the number of document, and the
transactions in the period. The data should be checked against the master data
wherever possible and balance should be controlled through logical processing by
using rules, formulae, the principles, etc., which will ascertain the correctness of the
contents.
If the information is processed out of a biased data it will have a bias. The
procedure of communicating the information should be such that the system is able to
detect the degree and the nature of the bias and correct the information accordingly.
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The computer system and programmers are prone to errors because of the
corrections, modifications and changes required by the decision makers. These errors
lead to wrong processing. A systematic effort should be made to keep the computer
system document up-to-date, for guidance to the user of the system.
The measures of auditing, the use of test data and conducting a physical audit
of the record versus the reality would help considerably to control the errors arising
out of wrong processing.
Parameters of Quality
The parameters of a good quality are difficult to determine, however, the information
can be termed as of a good quality if it meets the norms of impartiality, validity, reliability,
consistency and age. The quality of information has another dimension of utility from the
user’s point of view. The users being many, this is difficult to control. Therefore, if one can
develop information with due regards to these parameters, one can easily control the
outgoing quality of the information with the probable exception of the satisfaction at the
user’s end.
Impartiality
Impartial information contains no bias and has been collected without any distorted view of
the situation. The partiality creeps in, if the data is collected with a preconceived view, a
prejudice, and a pre-determined objective or a certain motive.
Validity
The validity of the information relates to the purpose of the information. In other words, it is
the answer to the question-dose the information meet the purpose of decision making for
which it is being collected?
The validity also depends on how the information is used. Since the information and
the purpose need not have one to one correspondence, the tendency to use it in a particular
situation may make the information invalid. For example, if the quality of the manufactured
product is deteriorating and it is decided to select the causes of poor quality, then one must
collect all the possible causes which may affect the quality. Quality is a function of the raw
material, the process of manufacture, the tools applied, the measures of the quality
assessment, the attitude of the people towards the control of quality. However, if the
information collected talks only about raw materials and the process of manufacture, then
this information is not sufficient and hence it is not valid for all the decisions which are
required to control the quality.
Reliability
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It is connected to the representation and the accuracy of what is being described. For
example, if the organization collects the information on the product acceptance in the
selected market segment, the size of the sample and the method of selection of the sample
will decide the reliability. If the sample is small, the information may not give the correct
and a complete picture and hence it is not reliable. The reliability is also affected from the
right source.
Consistency
The information is termed as inconsistent if it is derived form a data which dose not have a
consistent pattern of period. Somewhere, the information must relate to a consistent base or a
pattern.
For example, you have collected the information on the quantity of production for the
last twelve months to fix the production norms. If in this twelve months period, the factory
has worked with variable shift production, the production statistics of the twelve months for
comparison is inconsistent due to per shift production. The consistency can be brought in by
rationalizing the data to per shift production per month. The regularity in providing the
information also helps in assessing the consistency in the information.
Age
If the information is old, it is not useful today. The currency of the information makes all the
difference to the users. If the information is old then it does not meet any characteristics of
the information viz., the update of knowledge, the element of surprise and the reduction of
uncertainty, and the representation.
The information which induces action is called action information. The information which
communicates only the status of a situation is no-action information. `No Stock’ report
calling a purchase action is an action information but the stock ledger showing the store
transactions and the stock balances is a No-action information.
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The information generated at regular intervals is recurring information. The monthly sales
reports, the stock statements, the trial balance, etc. are recurring information. The financial
analysis or the report on the market research study is non-recurring information.
The information generated through the internal sources of the organization is termed as
internal information, while the information generated through the Government reports, the
industry surveys, etc. is termed as external information, as the sources of the data are
outside the organization.
The timing information, the recurring information and the internal information are the
prime areas for computerization and they contribute qualitatively to the MIS.
The timing and accuracy of the action information is usually important. The mix of
the internal and the external information changes, depending on the level of the management
decision. At the top management level, the stress is more on the external information and at
the operational and the middle management level; the stress is more on the information.
Figure 7.2 shows the source and kind of information required vis-à-vis of management in the
organization.
ORGANISATION STRUCTURE
Certain standards, norms and specifications are used in the planning of any activity. Hence,
such information is called the planning information. The time standards, the operational
standards, the design standards are the examples of the planning Information.
Control information
Reporting the status of an activity through a feedback mechanism is called the control
information. When such information shows a deviation from the goal or the objective, it
will induce a decision or an action leading to control.
Knowledge information
A collection of information through the library reports and the research studies to build up a
knowledge base as an information source for decision making is known as Knowledge
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information. Such a collection is not directly connected to decision making, but the need of
knowledge is perceived as a power or strength of the organization.
The information can also be classified based on its usage. When the information is
used by everybody in the organization, it is called the organization information. When the
information has a multiple use and application, it is called the database information. When
the information is used in the operations of a business it is called the functional or the
operational information.
Several methods are available for the collection of data. The choice of method will have an
impact on the quality of information. Similarly the design of data collection method also
decides the quality of data and information. The methods of data collection and processing
become a part of the MIS. The various methods of data collection are explained in Table 7.5.
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decision behavior then the value of the additional information is zero. The value of the
additional information making the existing information perfect (VPI) is:
VPI = (V2 – V1) – (C2 – C1)
Where V is the value of the information and C is the cost of obtaining the information. V1
And C1 relate to one set of information and V2, C2 relate to the new set. If the VIP is very
high, then it is beneficial to serve the additional information need.
Table 7.5 The Methods of Data and information Collection
Method Example Comment
Observation The first hand knowledge avoids a Visit to the customer for assessing the
response bias. An accuracy of observation customer complaints. A visit to assess
will decide the response. It is dependent the accidental damage...
on the observer and is influenced by the
bias.
Experiment The information on a specific parameter Assessing the yield of a new fertilizer
can be obtained through a control over by a design of the control experiment.
variables. The quality of information Assessing the market response to a
depends on the design of the experiment. new packaging through test marketing.
One time. Enables to cover the interested Market survey, opinion polls, and
Survey population on specific aspects. The quality cencus.
of questionnaire will decide the quality of
information.
In the absence of all the three above, the
Subjective estimation expert opinions may be called to collect Data pertaining to future like the
the information. alternate source of energy, the life
The data exists but needs a processing and style in the 21st century.
Transaction integration for reporting. Ledgers, payroll, stock statements,
Processing sales reports.
Easily available at a price. May be
Purchased from outside expensive and may have a bias depending Databases on the specific subject,
on the source. research studies. Market and
Low cost but may project or emphasis one technology studies.
Publications view or the other. Information may be The government publications, the
lopsided. industry publications, the institutional
publications such as NCL, NCACER,
BANKS, UNO, the various public
Government agencies Available but may not be directly useful forums
not knowing the details of collection The Reserve Bank of India
analysis and is usually not the latest. publications. The Tax publications, the
reports and findings.
A manager is faced with the problem of decision making under uncertainty or risk
conditions, if he does not know the perfect information about the decision situation.
Further his ability to generate decision alternatives owing to the imperfect information of
the situation and also the expected events in the future is limited. In other words, given a
set of possible decisions, a decision maker will select one on the basis of the available
information. If the new information causes a change in the decision, then the value of the
new information is the difference in the value between the outcome of the old decision
and that of new decision, less the cost of obtaining the new information.
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It may be noted that the information has a value only to those who have the
background knowledge to use it in a decision. The experienced manager generally uses
the information most effectively but he may need less information as experience has
already reduced uncertainty for him, when compared to a less experienced manager.
In MIS, the concept of the value of information is used to find out the benefit of
perfect information and if the value is significantly high, the system should prove it. If
the value is insignificant, it would not be worth collecting the additional information. The
decisions at the operational and the middle management level are such that the value of
the additional or new information is low, while at the higher levels of the management,
the decision being mainly strategic and tactical in nature, the value of additional
information is very high.
Apart from the monetary value of information, it has a value which is to be measured
as strength in promoting the functions of the management. Some information has the
strength of motivating the manager to think in futuristic terms. Some information has the
strength of confirming the beliefs or understanding the business process. It also reinforces
the right and wrong of a decision making process that the manager is following.
A manager or a decision maker uses his sensory receptors, normally eyes and ears, to
pick up information and transmit them to brain for processing and storage. The result of
this processing will be a response which may be a decision, an action or at least
recognition of the event for future use. Hence, a manager can be said to be an information
processor.
While processing the information for a managerial response, the manager also uses
accumulated knowledge from memory. The capacity of a manager to accept and process
inputs to produce output is variable and limited. That is why it is observed that all the
managers of the same level do not accept or absorb all the inputs which the information
may provide. The limitation arises sometimes on account of the information overload
which is external to the manager. This is a case of too much information or extra
information creating a problem for the user of the information to sort out the relevant
from the irrelevant or the appropriate from the inappropriate. The manager in such a
situation adopts the method of filtering the information.
Filtering is a process whereby a manager selectively accepts that much input, which his
mental ability can manage to process. The methods of filtering, which the information
processor adopts, are mentioned in the Table 7.6
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The frame of reference by using Period, products, market segments, Ignore the past data, consider only
knowledge and experience. decision rules or procedures. some products. Select only the relevant
market segments. Select that data
whereby a specific decision rule can be
applied.
Universally acclaimed normal Break even analysis, methods of Ignore the intangible factors.
decision procedure. fixing inventory levels. Ignore the demand variation based on
experience.
Select data babes on proven Pricing, introduction of a new Consider only the important factors
methods. product, selection of technology. affecting the decision. Use the known
Critical decisions. decision models.
The filtering process blocks the unwanted or the inconsistent data or the data which
does not match the frame of reference. An inexperienced manager or a less
knowledgeable manager through filtering may omit data, distort data responses and,
therefore, may draw incorrect inferences.
The information processor establishes the filters based on experience, knowledge and
know-how. The choice of filters may be changed due to stress, urgency of decision
making and the confidence in a particular method of decision making. Many a times a
processor is required to perceive process and evaluate probabilistic information. The
processor may be deficient in the intuitive understanding of the information, in the ability
to identify the correlation and the causality, and in the capability for integrating the
information.
BRAIN
USE OF STORED
KNOEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
INPUTS OUTPUTS
FILTERING
FROM AND MENTAL APPLICATION
SELECTION, DECISION,
BLOCKING PROCESSING
MANIPULATION ACTION,
EYES, EARS
REGISTRATION
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The managers’ may come to some decision in a given situation but they may not follow
the same decision process. This is because of the cognitive style of each manager. Each
manager has his own style, a method to perceive the data, organize and process the same
as per his frame of reference, confidence in the decision procedures and the time
available for the decision making. The managerial ability, skills and tools play a
considerable role in the cognitive style of the manager. These styles affect the
information system design and the satisfaction of the manager. An excellent review of a
research on the individual differences and the MIS can be found in Zmud, “Individual
differences and the MIS success” , Management Science, October 25, 1979. The reasons
of individual differences are given in Table 7.7.
7.7 SUMMARY OF INFORMATION CONCEPTS
AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
Understanding of information concepts is very important and relevant to the system
designer and the information user. The concepts are summarized as follows.
Filtering
The system designer should provide an appropriate filtering mechanism so that the
information is not suppressed and relates to the frame of reference of the user. Care
should be taken in the process that certain valid information does not get blocked or over
emphasized. A filtering process is used to select and suppress the information.
Simon model and its application
The designer should attempt to provide such information that it clearly defines the
problem space and also takes cognizance of the user’s knowledge. The design of the
system should be such that an appropriate mix of these two sources should yield a
decision, leading to a solution of the problem.
The system designer should evolve such coding system that is easy for the users of the
code to interpret. Secondly, the designer should report the data in such a manner that the
user can grasp it quickly.
Highlighting
The designer should the information in such a way that the significant differences
between the targets and the achievements, the standards and the performance, the budgets
and the actual, are highlighted, so that they become easily noticeable by the user without
search.
Statistical analysis
The designer should provide the information in such a way that the information not only
represents something meaningfully but also aids in the statistical analysis by the user. The
information should provide the additional results such as variance, correlation,
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coefficients, and futuristic estimates and give a measure of statistical significance for the
user to consider while decision making.
Locus of control internal or The degree of More information The production decisions,
external to the situation. perception in assessing gathering and analysis, if selection of tools and
the control which is internal. materials etc.
internal to the
organization.
Personal dogmatism. The degree of faith in Low dogmatism, then The pricing, advertising in
beliefs, opinions and more information a competitive
past experience. collection and processing. environment.
Risk propensity. The ability to take the Higher, then more The top management
risk. information gathering and decision making in a
analysis. strategic planning.
Tolerance for ambiguity. Level of clarity Tight tolerance then more Manager constantly
required in the information collection and asking for more
information. The ability analysis. information.
to read through the
information.
Manipulative intelligence. The ability to High ability, then less Experienced and skill full
manipulate the data and information and more self managers rely on the
information vis-à-vis analysis. manipulative intelligence.
the stored information
and knowledge.
Experience in decision Extent of experience at High, then correct The managers with a wide
making. particular level of filtering of data and experience in the different
decision making. appropriate choice of fields of management call
decision making process. for precise and less but
pertinent information.
Knowledge of the task, tools The extent of Higher, then less The Technocrats scientists
and technology. knowledge in the information relevant to and managers of
application of the tools and tools correct analysis. technology have definite
and technology. information needs based
on tools, models, methods
The management level from The nature of Higher, then the used for decision making.
lower to higher. management decisions unstructured information
differ from lower to different analysis, and the The top management
higher level use of the new decision decisions regarding
models. Factual expansion, and
information at lower diversification and the
level. strategic business
decisions.
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(Source: MIS by Gordon B Davis and Margrethe H. Olson by McGraw-Hill duly modified)
Format
The designer should present the information in the form or format which is complete in
all respects and in which all data is processed as per the frame of reference of the user.
The user should not be required to do additional processing with other data set through
the computer systems or mentally by using the data set from the memory.
Cognitive style
Each user has his own style of resolving or reconciling his internal view and an
understanding of the problems or environment versus the actually perceived or seen or as
it exists. In line with his individual style, he also evolves a process of the decision making
which is personal to him. The designer of the system should provide the information in
such a manner that these individual styles are accommodated fully.
Learning theory
The designer should appreciate that the user inadvertently is learning through the
information and is building his knowledge set. Hence the information should be such that
the user is nit overloaded with the supply of information which is already known to him.
Feedback loop
The designer should provide the information feedback loop, so that user understands that
the process of decision implementation is smooth and the result is evaluated with
reference to the norms or the expectations, giving the user a sufficient motivation to
change, amend or act.
Information absorption
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The designer should provide only that amount of information which the user is able to
grasp and use. Any additional information, beyond the ability of the user’s absorption,
will be ignored or go unnoticed without any response.
Individual differences
The information needs of different managers will differ based on individual human
processing ability and cognitive style. The designer should support all such needs
effectively by making the separate information reports.
The concept discussed here are very important and the system designer should
take care of them while designing the data gathering and processing systems. The proper
incorporation of this concept while designing the MIS would call for a thorough
understanding of the business environment, the management process, the strengths and
weakness of the organization structure and the individual differences of the managers and
their cognitive styles of solving the problem.
The system designer’s managerial ability of the MIS development and a higher
relationship with the users of the information will help him steer though the system
development task. Since the MIS is a blueprint for the information supply, if he can work
on a plan with a vision and a foresight and provide continuous training to the users, the
designer will succeed in developing a near perfect MIS for an organization.
Management through decision making is a common feature to all the organizations. The
management consists of a group of people who are organization at various levels with an
assigned task, job and responsibility to achieve the goals. Depending upon the levels in
the organization, the nature and the complexity of the job is determined. These features
are common to all the organizations whether they are in the field of business, education,
health or social services, banks, Central Government bodies and so on.
Since information has a role to play in all the organizations, the concepts are
applicable to all of them. The people organization model may be designed on the basis of
the functions, the products, the projects and the communication matrix and the
information needs that are typical to each of them. The organization may be large or
small, performing at one or multi locations and the information need is typical to all of
them. It is, therefore, necessary to understand the use of the information, the nature of the
information, the value of the information, the media and the structure of reporting with
reference to the type and the level in the organization.
The MIS should acknowledge the problems and difficulties in various methods of
the data gathering and their sources in the organization. Each of these methods has a
bearing on the quality of the input data which will be processed by the MIS. The
necessary checks and controls should be introduced to control the quality of the input
data. The people organization, the business organization and the infrastructure of the
organization has an influence on the nature, the type and the quality of information.
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Also while attempting to achieve the best design of the MIS; the conflict between
the cost and the benefits arises. This can be resolved by applying the concept of a value
of the information. The information has a value if it causes changes in the decisions, the
actions or the behavior of the decision maker. With an additional cost of information, if
the value of information is not changing substantially then, it may not be worthwhile to
spend more money on the additional data and it’s processing.
The perfect information which helps in converting a situation of uncertainty or
risk to certainty is a myth and difficult to achieve. Since the information is related to the
decision maker, it is not possible to determine the exact nature and quantum of perfect
information. The MIS design should find an optimum point where the cost and the
benefits are balanced.
The goal of the MIS should be to provide the information which has a surprise value and
which reduces the uncertainty. It should simultaneously build the knowledge base in the
organization by processing the data obtained from different sources in different ways.
The designer of the MIS should take care of the data problems knowing that it may
contain bias and error by introduction of high level validations, checking and controlling
the procedures in the manual and computerized systems. While designing the MIS, due
regard should be given to the communication theory of transmitting the information from
the source to the destination.
A special care should be taken to handle a noise and a distortion on the way to
destination. The presentation of information plays a significant role in controlling the
noise and distortion which might interrupt, while communicating information to the
various destinations. The principles of summarization and classification should be
carefully applied giving regard to the levels of management. Care should be taken in the
process that no information is suppressed or overemphasized.
The utility of information increases if the MIS ensures that the information possesses
the necessary attributes. The redundancy of the data and the information is inevitable ob a
limited scale. MIS should use the redundancy as a measure to control the error in
communication.
The information is a quality product for the organization. The quality of information as
an outgoing product can be measured on four dimensions, viz., the utility, the
satisfaction, the error and the bias. The MIS should provide specific attention to these
quality parameters. A failure to do so would result in a wasteful expenditure in the
development of the MIS and poor usage of investment in the hardware and software.
The quality can be ensured if the inputs to the MIS are controlled on the factors of
impartiality, validity, reliability, consistency and age.
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MIS should make a distinction between the different kinds of information for the
purpose of communication. An action, a decision-oriented information should be
distinguished from a no-action/knowledge-oriented information. The information could
be of recurring type or an ad hoc type. The MIS also needs to give regard to the
information used for planning, performance control, and knowledge database. A
distinction between these factors will help make the decisions of communications,
storage and also the frequency of reporting.
Since the decision maker is a human, it requires recognizing some aspects of human
capabilities in the MIS design. These human capabilities differ from manager to manager
and the designer has to skillfully deal with them. The differences in the capabilities arise
on account of the perception in assessing the locus of the management control, the faith
and the confidence in the information versus knowledge, the risk propensity, the
tolerance for ambiguity, the manipulative intelligence, the experience in decision making
and the management style.
The MIS design should be such that it meets the needs of the total organization. For
design considerations and for the operational convenience, the organization is divided
into four levels, viz., the top, the middle, the supervisory and the operational. The top
management uses the MIS for goal-setting and strategic planning, deals with key
information of a higher degree of accuracy where the perceived value of the information
is very high. As against this, the lowest level management and the operational
management uses the MIS to know the status by calling information of the current period
in detail where the perceived value of information is the lowest and it usually insists on
getting the information in a fixed format.
The MIS design, therefore, should ensure the input data quality by controlling the data
for the factors, viz. impartiality, validity, reliability, consistency and age. The data
processing and the decision making routines should be developed in such a manner that
the data is processed after thorough validation and checking, and the analysis thereof is
further reported to the various levels and individuals with due regard to the differences in
the individual management style and human capabilities.
Recognizing that the information may be misused if it falls into wrong hands, the MIS
design should have the features of filtering, blocking, suppressions and delayed delivery.
Since, the MIS satisfies the information needs of the people in a particular
organization, the design of the MIS cannot be common or universal for all the
organizations. The principles of design and the use of the information concepts in design
does not change but when it comes to the applications, the design has to give a regard to
the organization structure, the culture, the attitudes and the beliefs of the people and the
strengths and the weaknesses of the organization.
The information concepts are shown in relation to the organization pyramid in the Fig.
7.4. It explains, with reference to the level of management, the use of the MIS, the value
of information the nature of information and its reporting.
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__________ REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Since your school days, you have purchased number of books and your home library has
over two hundred books. Would you call this awareness of your as a data or information?
How would you call convert this awareness into information?
2. Explain why information has no specification but it has a character and value.
3. Can value of information be improved? Can information have a value which is person
independent?
4. Explain the difference between data processing and information processing.
5. What is information overload? How does it occur? And how would you control it?
6. The trend now is to improve data quality, increase storage and offer distributed access; and
leave the processing of data to the user of the information. Why?
7. The character and value of information is linked to the people in the organization and to
the management process in the organization. Explain.
8. Explain how quality of information improves the knowledge and decision making
capability of the people.
9. Is it worth to invest for obtaining perfect information? Is it possible to specify the perfect
information?
10. Take up a project in a known organization and identify the information in following
classes:
● Organizational,
● Strategic,
● Knowledge,
● Planning, and
● Control.
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CHAPTER-8
Development of MIS
8.1 DEVELOPMENT OF LONG RANGE PLANS OF THE MIS
Introduction
Any kind of business activity calls for long range plans for success, the same being true
for MIS. The plan for development and its implementation is a basic necessity for MIS.
In MIS the information is recognized as a major resource like capital, time and capacity.
And if this resource is to be managed well, it calls upon the management to plan for it
and control it for the appropriate use in the organization. Most of the organization does
not recognize ‘Information’ as a resource. They have looked at information as one of the
many necessities for conducting the business activity. Hence, due regard is often not
given for its planned development and use. Many organizations have spent financial
resources on computers purely to expedite the activity of data collection and processing.
Many organizations have purchased computers data processing and for meeting
the statutory requirement of filing the return and reports to the Government. Computers
are used mainly for computing and accounting the business transactions and have not
been considered as a tool for information processing.
The organizations have invested in computers and expanded its use by adding
more or bigger computers to take care of the numerous transactions in the business. In
this approach, the information processing function of the computers in the organization
never got its due regard as an important asset to the organization. In fact, this function is
misinterpreted as data processing for expeditious generation of reports and returns, and
not as information processing for management actions and decisions.
However, the scene has been changing since late eighties when the computers
became more versatile, in the function of Storage, Communications, Intelligence and
Language. The computer technology is so advanced that the barriers of storage, distance,
understanding of language and speed are broken.
The computers have become user-friendly. They can communicate to any distance
and share data, information and physical resources of other computers. Computers can
now be used as a tool for information processing and communication. It can be used for
storing large database or knowledge base. It can be used for knowing the current status of
any aspect of the business due to its on-line real time processing capability.
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system. This system should deal with management information and not with data
processing alone. It should provide support for management planning, decision making
and action. It should support the needs of the lower management as well as that of the top
management. It should satisfy the needs of different people in the organization at
different levels having varying managerial capabilities. It should provide support to the
changing needs of business management.
The plan of MIS is concurrent to the business plan of the organization. The
information needs for the implementation of the business plan should find place in the
MIS. To ensure such an alignment possibility, it is necessary that the business plan-
strategic or otherwise, states the information needs. The information needs are then traced
to the source data and the systems in the organization which generate such a data. The
plan of development of the MIS is linked with the steps of the implementation in a
business development plan. The system of information generation is so planned that
strategic information is provided for the strategic planning, control information is
provided for a short term planning and execution. The details of information are provided
to the operations management to assess the status of an activity and to find ways to make
up, if necessary. Once the management needs are translated into information needs, it is
left for the designer to evolve a plan of development and implementation.
A long range MIS plan provides direction for the development of the systems, and
provides a basis for achieving the specific targets or tasks against a time frame. The plan
would have the following contents which will be dealt by the designer under a support
from the top management. Table 10.1 shows equivalence of Business Plan and MIS plan.
It is necessary to develop the goals and objectives for the MIS which will support the
business goals. The MIS goals and objectives will consider management philosophy,
policy constraints, business risks, internal and external environment of the organization
and the business.
The goals and the objectives of the MIS would be so stated the they can be measured.
The typical statements of the goals are as under.
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Provide online information on the stocks, markets and the accounts balances.
The query processing should not exceed more than three seconds.
The focus of the system will be on the end user computing and access facilities.
Information support will be the first in the strategic areas of management such as
marketing or service or technology.
Business plan and strategy. Information strategy for the business plan
implementation playing a supportive role.
Management plan for execution and control. System development schedule, matching the plan
execution.
Operation plan for the execution. Hardware and software plan for the procurement and
the implementation.
Such statements of the goals and objectives enable the designer to set the direction
and design implementation strategies for the MIS plan.
The designer has to take a number of strategic decisions for the achievement of the MIS
goals and objectives. They are:
The architecture of the MIS plan provides a system structure and their input, output and
linkages. It also provides a way to handle the systems or subsystems by way of
simplification, coupling and decoupling of subsystems by way of simplification, coupling
and decoupling of subsystems. It spells out in detail the subsystems from the data entry to
processing, analysis to modeling, and storage to printing.
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The system development schedule
A schedule is made for the development of the system. While preparing the schedule due
consideration is given to the importance of the system in the overall information
requirement. Due regard is also given to logical system development. For example, it is
necessary to develop the accounting system first and then the analysis.
Further, unless the systems are fully developed their integration is not possible.
This development schedule is to be weighed against the time scale for achieving a certain
information requirement linked to a business plan. If these are not fully met, it is
necessary to revise the time schedule and also the development schedule, whenever
necessary.
Hardware and software plan
Giving due regard to the technical and operational feasibility, the economics of
investment is worked out. Then the plan of procurement is made after selecting the
hardware and software. One can take the phased approach of investment starting from the
lower configuration of hardware going over to higher as development takes place. The
process is to match the technical decision with the financial decision. The system
development schedule is linked with the information requirement which in turn, is linked
with the goals and objectives of the business.
The selection of the architecture, the approach to the information system
development and the choice of hardware and software are the strategic decision in the
design and development of the MIS in the organization. The organizations which do not
care to take proper decisions in these areas suffer from over-investment, under-utilization
and are not able to meet the critical information requirement.
It is important to note the following points:
1. The organization’s strategic plan should be the basis for the MIS strategic plan
2. The information system development schedule should match with the
implementation schedule of the business plan.
3. The choice of information technology is a strategic business decision and not a
financial decision.
A model of MIS plan is giving in table 10.2
Table 8.2 A Model of the MIS Plan
Contents Particulars Focus
Corporate information Business environment and current Where are we ?
operation.
What is the foundation of
Corporate philosophy Policy, guidelines, culture.
business ?
Corporate mission/goals/objectives Current and new mission/goals/objectives. Where do we want to reach ?
Business risk and rewards Clear quantitative statements on these What is the risk ? is it worth
factors showing a trade off between the risk the risk ?
and rewards.
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Business policy and strategy Details of the strategic and policy decisions How do we achieve the goals
affecting the business. and objectives ?
Information needs Strategic/planning, operational. What is the key in formation ?
Architecture of the plan Information Technology details. What are the tools for
achievement ?
Schedule of development Details of the systems and subsystems and When and how will it be
their linkages charted against the time achieved ?
scales.
Organisation of the plan
Manpower and delegation details. Internal Who will achieve it ?
and external resources.
Budge Details on the investment schedule and How much will it cost ?
benefits.
8.2 ASCERTAINING THE CLASS OF INFORMATION
Ascertaining the information needs of the management for the business execution is
a complex task. The complexity can be handled if the information is classified on the
basis of its application and the user, which becomes the basis for the ascertainment.
The classification could be as shown in Table 10.3.
The design of the MIS should consider the class of information as a whole and
provide suitable information system architecture to generate the information for
various users in the organization. Let us now proceed to ascertain to the information
needs of each class.
Organizational Information
One can define the organizational information as a whole and provide suitable
information system architecture to generate the information for various users in the
organization. Such information can be determined by constructing a matrix of
information versus as shown in Table 10.4
It can be observed from the table that the information entity is one, but its usages are
different. For example, the employee attendance information would be used by the personnel
Table 8.3 Classes of information
Information Class Example of information User
Organizational The number of employees, products, services. Many users at all the levels.
Locations, the type of business, turnover and variety of
the details of each one of these entities.
Functional Purchases, sales, production, stocks receivables, Functional heads.
payables, outstanding, budgets, statutory information.
The trends in sales, production technology. The Middle and the Top
Knowledge
deviations from the budgets, targets, norms etc. Management.
competitors’ information, industry and target; and its
analysis.
Middle management and
Decision support Status information on a particular aspect, such as
operations management.
utilization, profitability standard. requirement versus
availability. Information for problem solving and
modeling. Quantitative information on the business
status. Non-moving inventory, overdue payments and
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receivables.
Operational Information on the production, sales, purchase, Operational and management
dispatches consumptions, etc. in the form of planned Supervisor, Section Officers.
versus actual. The information for monitoring of
execution schedules.
Since the usage of the organizational information is at different levels for different
purposes, it is advisable to store the data in the form of the database which will be
used by the users for generating their respective information needs. The determination
of the information can be done by taking each business function, such as Personnel,
Sales, Marketing, Production, Commercial, etc. and develop the information versus
the user matrix.
Functional Information
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The functional information is normally generated at equal time intervals; say
monthly, quarterly, etc. for understanding the trend and making comparisons against
the time scale. Such information is used for planning, budgeting and controlling the
operations of the function.
Work design
For example, for the customer order scrutiny the available stock, the price, the terms
of payment and the probable delivery is an information set evolved out of the work
design of customer order processing. The procedure of the order processing requires
this information.
Responsibility
The managers in the functional areas of management are responsible for achieving the
targets and accomplishing the goals and objectives. It is, therefore, necessary to
inform and update the information on targets at regular intervals to enable him to
make or change decisions in his domain of operations. Most of these targets are
business targets such as the turnover, production, utilization, stocks and so on.
For example, the marketing manager has a monthly targets of Rs 1 million order
booking, half a million invoicing, and not more than two months receivables. Since,
he is responsible for achieving the targets, it would be necessary to inform him on
these aspects at regular intervals. This information is used for the responsibility
accounting and decision making for achieving the targets. The manager would be
assessed on the basis of responsibility he discharges in conducting the business.
Functional objectives
Each function has its own objectives which are derived out of the corporate goals.
For example, the overall business plan objectives give rise to the objectives for
each business function. Some of the business plan objectives are given below based
on which each function in the organization derives its objectives.
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■ The finished goods inventory, not to exceed Rs 1 million.
■ The outstanding more than six months not to exceed Rs 0.2 million.
The functional goals and objectives are necessary to achieve overall corporate
achievements. Most of such goals and objectives are potentially achievable within the
managerial and physical resources that the manager has at his disposal. It is,
therefore, necessary to inform the manager on the achievements of these targets on a
continuous basis.
In summary, the functional information would emanate from the work design and
procedures, the managerial responsibility accounting, and with reference to the
functional goals and objectives. It would be determined by studying the work design
and procedures and the responsibility accounting, and with reference to the functional
goals and objectives. It would be determined by studying the work design and
procedures and the responsibility which the manager holds for the business
performance. That information, which measures the business activity and evaluates
the performance on the key target areas, is the functional information. The source of
such information is the managers and their functional heads who together execute the
business activity.
Knowledge Information
The knowledge information creates an awareness of those aspects of business where
the manager is forced to think, decided and act. Such information shows the trend of
the activity or a result against the time scale.
For example, whether the sales are declining and the trend is likely to continue in
the next quarter. The product is failing continuously on one aspect and the reason of
failure is the process of manufacturing. Such information pin-points the area or entity
and forces the manager to act. It highlights the deviations from the norm or standard
and also any abnormal development which are not in congruence with the forecasts or
expectations. Such information gives rise to business decisions, which will affect the
process of business significantly. In some situations the strategic decisions may be
necessary to solve the problem.
The knowledge information may cut across the functional boundaries of the
organization. The action or decision may fall in other functional areas of business
operations. The decision may fall in the domain of top management or the middle
management. The knowledge information is required by the middle and top
management as they are the ones who have conceived, planned and implemented the
business plan. Hence, the knowledge information supports the functions of the middle
and the top management. Knowledge information is tracked continuously and
reported in a fixed format, for consistency and at fixed intervals for updating the
knowledge base. The nature of this information is analytical and relates to the past,
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the current and the future. The knowledge information is reported in graphic formats
for a quick grasp and managerial response. It contains business result and
comparative analysis of the performance.
Decision Support Information
Most of the information required by the middle and the top management is for
decision making. The information does not act as a direct input to the decision
making procedure or formula but supports the manager in the efforts of decision
marking.
Information is used in a decision support system for model building and problem
solving. The support may act in two ways, in two ways, one for justifying the need of
a decision, and the other as an aid to decision making.
For example, the information on the non-moving inventory justifies the decision
of its disposal at throwaway prices. The demand forecasts information aids in the
decision on determining the economic order quantity for production or a sale.
The decision support information can be determined for the company at the entity
level leaving its use to the decision makers in a suitable manner. The source of this
information could be internal or external to the organization. It can be determined by
identifying the tools, techniques, models and procedures, used by the managers in the
decision making.
Operational Information
This information is required by the operational and the lower level of the
management. The main purpose of this information is fact finding and taking such
actions or decisions which will affect the operations at a micro level. The decisions
may be to stay on overtime, draw additional material, change the job from one
machine to the other, and send a reminder to the supplier for the supply of material.
These decisions are such that they make the routine administration of the business
smooth and efficient. These decisions do not fall in the category of the managerial
decisions.
The sole purpose of the MIS is to produce such information which will reduce
uncertainty in a given situation. The moment what is unknown becomes known, the
decision maker’s problem simple. Methods have been evolved to handle the degree of
uncertainty the management is expected to deal with.
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2. The nature and the variety of information.
3. Reluctance of decision makers to spell out the information for the political and the
behavioral reasons.
4. The ability of the decision makers to specify the information.
In spite of these difficulties, methods are evolved based on the uncertainty scale,
starting from the low to the high level of uncertainty. If the uncertainty is low,
seeking information requirement or needs is easy as against a very high level of
uncertainty. Based on the uncertainty scale the following methods, shown in
Table 10.5, have been suggested.
Not able to determine in Middle and top management. Determine through the critical
probabilistic terms precisely success factors, decision
(Very risky) parameters and decision
methodology.
Determine through
High (Total uncertainty) Top management. experimentation, modeling and
sensitivity analysis.
There are four methods of determining the information requirements. They are:
1. Asking or interviewing
2. Determining from the existing system
3. Analysing the critical success factors
4. Experimentation and modeling.
Asking or Interviewing
In this method a designer of the MIS puts questions or converses with the user of
information and determines the information requirements. Putting the questions is an art
and it should be used properly to seek information.
When the user has to select one answer from finite set of answer a closed question
should be asked. For example, “Which are the raw materials used for making a product?”
But an open question is put, when the user has no precise knowledge but has an ability to
determine all answer and to select one out of them? For example, “Which are the raw
materials which can be used in a product?” In open questions, the answers may not be
immediate but can be obtained by surveying the domain of knowledge of the user.
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When multiple users or several decision makers in similar functions or positions
are involved, a brain storming session is performed to cover all possible answer to the
questions. When several users are involved, group consensus can be sought to get the
most feasible set of answer.
The experts or experienced users are asked to give their best answer- this
approach is called the Delphi method. In all these methods, the systems designer has to
test the validity of all the answer independently. An experienced designer is able to
analyze critically the answers given to the questions and to determine the correct
information requirement.
In a number of cases the existing system, which has been evolved after a number of
years, and has been designed out of experience given straightaway the requirement of
information. In many situations, system from other companies can give additional
information requirements.
The fund of knowledge is available from the textbooks, handbooks, research
studies which can determine the information requirement. For example, systems such as
the accounts receivables, the accounts payables, the pay roll, the inventory control, the
financial accounting, etc., have well determined information requirements.
Irrespective of the type of organization and business, ninety per cent of the
information requirement is common and the balance ten per cent may be typical to the
organization or the business, which needs to be determined separately. The managers in
the operations and the middle management use the existing system as a reference for
determining the information requirement.
This method is adopted when the rules and decision methods are outside the
purview of the decision maker. They are determined or imposed by external sources such
as the Government, the Authority, the principles, etc. for example, the information
required to manager shares of the company are determined through the rules and
regulations laid down by the Company Law Board. The manager of the shares
department has very little additional information need.
In all such functions, the manager determines the information needs and the
designer of the MIS can always fall back on the prescribed law books, manuals, theory
and textbooks, hand books, etc. to confirm the informational needs
Every business organization performs successfully on the basis of certain critical factors.
Other factors are important and play a support role in the functioning of the organization.
Many times a function is singularly critical to the successful functioning of a business
organization.
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becomes a critical factor. In a consumer industry, marketing and service become the
critical functions. The information requirements of such organizations largely relate to
these critical factors. The analysis of these functions or factors will determine the
information requirements.
When there is total uncertainty, the designer and the user of the information resort to this
method for determining the information requirement. The experimentation would decide
the methodology for handling the complex situation. If the method is finalized, the
information needs are determined as they have been evolved through the
experimentation. Test marketing of a product is an approach of the experimentation to
decide the correct marketing strategy.
Sometimes models are used for deciding the initial information needs and they are
modified during the implementation stage. The information requirements determined
through such methods undergo a qualitative change as the users get the benefit of
learning and experience and the needs may undergo a change or get replaced completely.
Having made the plan of the MIS, the development of the MIS calls for determining the
strategy of development. As discussed earlier the plan consists of various systems and
subsystems. The development strategy determines where to begin and in what sequence
the development can take place with the sole objective of assuring the information
support.
The choice of the system or the subsystem depends on its position in the total MIS
plan, the size of the system, the user understands of the system and the complexity and its
interface with other systems. The designer first develops systems independently and starts
integrating them with other systems, enlarging the system scope and meeting the varying
information needs.
Determining the position of the system in the MIS is easy. The real problem is the
degree of structure, and formalization in the system and procedures which determine the
timing and duration of development of the system. Higher the degree of structured ness
and formalization, greater is the stabilization of the rules, the procedures, decision
making and the understanding of the overall business activity. Here, it is observed that
the user’s and the designer’s interaction is smooth, and each other’s needs are clearly
understood and respected mutually. The development becomes approach with certainty in
inputs process and outputs.
Prototype Approach
When the system is complex, the development strategy is Prototyping of the system.
Prototyping is a process of progressively ascertaining the information needs, developing
methodology, trying it out on a smaller scale with respect to the data and the complexity,
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ensuring that it satisfies the needs of the users, and assess the problems of development
and implementation.
This process, therefore, identifies the problem areas, inadequacies in the prototype vis-à-
vis fulfillment of the information needs. The designer then takes steps to remove the
inadequacies. This may call upon changing the prototype of the system, questioning the
information needs, streamlining the operational systems and procedures and more user
interaction. A typical process of the system development through prototyping is given in
fig. 8.1.
MISSION,
GOALS
IDENTIFY MODIFY
INFORMATION REFINE PROTOTYPE REVIEW
NEEDS THE NEEDS SPECIFICATION
IS
DEFINE SYSTEM INITIAL THE USER NO TRAINING
OBJECTIVE RPOTOTYPE SATISFIED ?
YES
DEVELOP
EXAMINE DEVELOP INITIAL
APPLICATION DOCUMEN-
FEASIBILITY PROTOTYPE WITH FINAL
SPECIFICATIONS TATION
SPECIFICATIONS
In the prototyping approach, the designer’s task becomes difficult, when there are
multiple users of the same system and the inputs they use are used by some other users
well. For example, a lot of input data comes from the purchase department, which is used
in accounts and inventory management.
The attitudes of the various users and their role as the originators of the data needs to be
developed with a high degree of positivism. It requires, of all the personnel, to appreciate
that the information is a corporate resource, and all have to contribute as per the
designated role by the designer to fulfill the corporate information needs. When it comes
to information the functional, the departmental, the personal boundaries do not exist.
These calls upon each individual to comply with the design needs and provide without
fail the necessary data inputs whenever required as per the specification discussed and
finalized by the designer.
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Brining the multiple users on the same platform and changing their attitudes
towards information, as a corporate resource, is the managerial task of the system
designer. The qualification, experience, knowledge, the state of art, and an understanding
of the corporate business, helps considerably, in overcoming the problem of changing the
attitudes of the multiple users and the originators of the data.
There are many systems or subsystems in the MIS which have a life cycle, that is, they
have birth and death. Their emergence may be a sudden or may be a part of the business
need, and they are very much structured and rule-based. They have hundred per cent
clarity of inputs and their sources, a definite set of outputs in terms of the contents and
formats. These details more or less remain static from the day the system emerges and
remains in that static mode for a long time. Minor modifications or changes do occur but
they are not significant in terms of handling either by the designer or the users of the
system. Such system, therefore, have a life and they can be developed in a systematic
manner, and can be reviewed after a year or two, for significant modification, if any.
Examples of such systems are pay roll, share accounting, basis financial
accounting, finished goods accounting and dispatching, order processing, and so on.
These systems have a fairly long duration of survival and they contribute in a big way as
sources of data to the Corporate MIS. Therefore, their role is important and needs to be
designed from the view point as an interface to the Corporate MIS. The life cycle
approach, therefore, has a method of its own as explained in the fig. 10.2.
Apart from the core systems, some decision support systems can be developed
through the life cycle approach. The choice of system design in the prototype and Life
Cycle approach is decided on the basis of the nature of the system or application. For
example, you have a choice of the database approach versus the conventional system
approach, the online real time versus the batch processing approach. You may also have
choice of hardware and software. All these technical decisions are more situation
dependent, requiring judicious application of and information technology.
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Fig. 8.2 Life Cycle Approach to the Development of MIS
Table 8.6 shows the difference between the two approaches helping the designer select an
approach.
Open system with a high degree of uncertainty about Closed systems with little or no uncertainty about the
the information needs. information needs. The system remains valid for a long
time with no significant change. The design would
remain stable.
Necessary to try out the ideas, application and No need to try out the application of the information as it
efficiency of the information as a decision support. is already proven.
Necessary to control the cost of the design and Scope of the design and the application is fully
development before the scope of the system and its determined with clarity and experimentation is not
application is fully determined. Experimentation is necessary.
necessary.
User of the system wants to tryout the system before he The user is confident and confirms the specifications and
commits the specification and the information the information needs.
requirements.
The system and application is highly custom oriented. The system and application is universal and governed by
the principles and practices.
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There are certain guidelines for the systems designer for successful
implementation of the system. The system designer should;
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Implementation of the MIS in an organization is a process where organizational
transformation takes place. This change can occur in a number of ways.
The Lewin’s model suggests three steps in this process. The first step is
unfreezing the organization to make the people more receptive and interested in the
change. The second step is Choosing a course of action where the process begins and
reaches the desired level, and the third step is Refreezing, where the change is
consolidated and equilibrium is reinforced. Many a times, this process is implemented
through an external change agent, such as a consultant, playing the role of a catalyst.
The significant problem in this task is the resistance to change. The resistance can
occur due to three reasons, viz., the factors internal to the user of information, the factors
inherent in the design of the system and the factors arising out of the interaction between
the system and its users. The problem of resistance can be handled through education,
persuasion, and participation. This itself can be achieved by improving the human
factors, and providing incentives to the users, and eliminating the organizational
problems before implementing the system.
Valid transacation and Only correct transaction types are permitted Ensures the validity of the data and in
input data in the system. Only that data which meet the turn, assures valid information.
design specifications can be used.
Accuracy and precision Correct use of the formula or procedure and Assures that the results are accurate and
relevant data. precisely correct based on rule, act or
law using complete data.
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It should be relevant to the user for a If the relevance is appropriate, the
Relevance to the user decision making. quality required is high.
Proper people organization is basic to the management of any activity or function. The
same thing is true for the development of the MIS. The principles of the organization and
structuring the organization to the specific needs of the function are a prime necessity.
When we talk with reference to the MIS a number of issues come up and they are not the
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same in all the organizations. Hence, the organization structure of the MIS would differ
from one organization to the other.
The type, the size and the structure of corporate organization becomes the basis
for the MIS organization for handling the MIS function and management alternatives.
The major is sues involved are:
Depending upon the situation, hardware and software solutions are available. In a
decentralized set-up the allocation of hardware is a centralized decision but the collection
of data and its processing becomes the user’s responsibility. Training, problem solving
and system development, however, is a centralized function. In all such situations, the
information processing is based on the database management system. Therefore, the
management of the database becomes the centralized responsibility and its use becomes
the responsibility of users.
In a real life situation, the variations of these two approaches are found, mainly on
account of the variety of hardware, software solutions. One can develop two models of
the MIS organization (as shown in Fig. 8.3 and Fig. 8.4), and its variations can be further
developed suitable to the corporate culture, the management style and philosophy of the
management.
The MIS functions in any organization would vary on account of the issues
mentioned earlier and to that extent the variations of these two models would be the
organization of the MIS.
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8.7 MIS: THE FACTORS OF SUCCESS AND FAILURE
Many organizations use MIS successfully, others do not. Though the hardware and the
software is the latest and has appropriate technology, its use is more for the collection and
storage of data and its elementary processing. There are some factors which make the
MIS a success and some others, which make it a failure. These factors can be
summarized as follow.
If a MIS is to be a success then it should have all the features listed as follows.
The MIS is integrated into the managerial functions. It sets clear objectives to
ensure that the MIS focuses on the major issues of the business. Also adequate
development resources are provided and the human and organizational barriers to
progress are removed.
An appropriate information processing technology required to meet the data
processing and analysis needs of the users of the MIS is selected.
The MIS is oriented, defined and designed in terms of the user’s requirements and
its operational viability is ensured.
The MIS is kept under continuous surveillance, so that its open system design is
modified according to the changing information needs.
MIS focuses on the results and goals, and highlights the factors and reasons for
non-achievement.
MIS is not allowed to end up into an information generation mill avoiding the
noise in the information and the communication system.
The MIS recognizes that a manager is a human being and therefore, the systems
must consider all the human behavioral factors in the process of the management.
The MIS recognizes that the different information needs for different objectives
must be met with. The globalization of information in isolation from the different
objectives leads to too much information and its non-use.
The MIS is easy to operate and, therefore, the design of the MIS has such features
which make up a user-friendly design.
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SELECTION, UPGRADE,
EXPANSION DECISIONS
HARDWARE AND
SOFTWARE
TECHNOLOGY
MANAGING UPGRADE DECISIONS
DIRECTOR
INFORMATION SYSTEM
PLANNING
MANAGEMENT AND
DEVELOPMENT
MANAGING MAINTENANCE OF
DIRECTOR HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
SELECTION OF
HARDWARE SOLUTION
ADVISE ON HARD-
HEAD OF WARE AND SOFTWARE
MIS TECHNOLOGY SELECTION OF
LANGUAGE, OS.
MIS recognizes that the information needs become obsolete and new needs
emerge. The MIS design, therefore, has a basic potential capability to quickly
meet new needs of information.
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The MIS concentrates on developing the information support to manager critical
success factors. It concentrates on the mission critical applications serving the
needs of top management.
Many a times MIS is a failure. The common factors which are responsible for this are
listed as follows.
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1. Why is a long range plan of MIS necessary? How it linked with the business plan
of the organization?
2. What are the content of the MIS plan? What is the purpose of each of them?
3. Draw a matrix of the class of information versus users, and explain the nature of
use in each case.
4. What problems does the system analyst face in ascertaining the information
requirement at the various levels of management? How are these problems
tackled?
5. When should the analyst resort to prototype experimentation for judging the
requirement? How is modeling used in this approach?
6. When would you resort to prototype approach and when would you resort to the
life cycle approach in the development of the MIS?
7. In the guideline given for implementation identify the guidelines where user is
involved.
8. Before a full scale MIS development plan is undertaken, it is better to study and
improve rules, policies, procedures and practices. Explain.
9. A good MIS is an integral part of the management system. Why so? What would
happen if it is not?
10. User acceptance and dependence on MIS is a test of a good MIS. How would you
ensure that the user related issues are taken care of while designing the system?
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CHAPTER-9
CHOICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
11.1 NATURE OF IT DECISION
Just as the MIS handles the decision support applications, the choice of the
Information Technology makes a qualitative difference in the decision making
process. Hence, a wrong choice of the IT would kill a good MIS design as the
information technology would not support the user on the aspects and the
requirements such as speed, response, access, security, autonomy and integration of
the information processing on the different hardware software platforms.
A wrong choice of the information technology would also kill the MIS designer’s
ability to develop a user-friendly end user computer system, providing all capabilities
of the data and the information handling with flexibility and speed.
The third reason is the different operating systems for the different platforms, i.e.,
the DOS, Windows NT, the UNIX, the OSF, the MOTIF, the OS2, the VMS and their
proprietary versions such as the Ultrix, the HP UNIX, and the ORG UNIX, etc.
For example, the warehouse may need just a PC or a PCLAN, the nearby factory
may need a mini computer system and the corporate office would need a large
Superman computer with special software suitable for its functioning. Each of these
platforms may have different operating systems, and the MIS of such an organization
requires data and information sharing between all these resources at various locations.
The information technology decision must consider the communication problem and
the interface between the two hardware options so that the data sharing is
operationally feasible. Many a times, the operational feasibility problems are solved
by writing the system utilities, the drivers, and the programmers so that these two
platforms become ready to share each others resources effectively.
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Though training the personnel to become computer literates is a solution to such
problems it may not be always possible and operationally feasible to solve such
problems and give a high-tech information technology solution which is uniform
across the organization. The work culture and the people culture become the critical
decision inputs for any information technology decision.
The information technology decision is made for the current needs as well as for
the futuristic needs of the organization. Hence, the decision is influenced by the
technology forecast and the business forecast. It requires some valid assumptions
about the growth of the business, the manner in which it will be conducted and the
information needs of the organization to conduct the business. Such a probing in the
futuristic needs helps to size up the various options and to weigh them critically on
the various criteria.
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11.2 STRATEGIC DECISION
The information needs of the people in the organization arise from the process or the
style by which the management ‘runs’ the business. The quality of management
process depends on the people culture and the culture predominantly affects the
decision making process.
If the decision processes are centralized at a higher level and the delegation of
responsibilities and authorities is not proper, then the information technology choice
will weigh heavily in favor of the distributed data acquisition systems and the
centralized high end information processing systems for decision support.
If the decision processes are decentralized, the information technology choice will
weigh in favor of those systems, where the acquisition, processing, analysis and
decision making will be at distributed nodal points. The organization which operates
through a number of locations and on the basis of the Strategic Business Units (SBU)
will opt for such an option. In such cases the typical nature of the concerned SBU will
decide the hardware-software platform for the particular location.
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If the decisions in the organization are of the following types, then the
information technology option would differ. These types are:
(a) The decisions affecting the operations management.
(b) The decisions affecting the execution and control of the business.
(c) The strategic business decisions.
In such cases, the information technology choice would be the Front End Processing
System connected to the Bank Office Central System. Hotels, hospitals and large
corporate bodies are the examples, where such a choice is desirable. The front end
systems take care of the operations management, while the back office systems take
care of the strategic and the operations planning and control of the business.
There is other business situation where due to sensitive nature of the business,
decision making is concentrated at one business location or in one of the business
functions such as marketing, research and development, manufacturing, etc. The
information technology choice is largely governed by the information needs of that
particular location or function. In other words, every business has one or more
mission critical applications serving the information needs of the critical strategic
decision. The entire management process revolves around this application. The
organizations’ information technology choice is, therefore, based on the requirement
of these applications serving the critical business functions.
Due to the organizations’ infrastructure and also due to the nature of the business
it so happens that there are data centers, where a large umber of transactions take
place and these are the decision centers. In such cases the information technology
choice will be in favor of the distributed high end data processing systems and the
dedicated information processing system at the decision centre using the distributed
data bases. Many service oriented business like the banks, the insurance companies,
etc. fall into this category.
It is, therefore, important to note that the information technology choice considers
the management process, the business organization, the decision making style and the
mission critical applications as the important dominating factors. The choice of
hardware details and the software mix will be decided on these factors.
Business Operations
There are many organizations, where the business operations are typical, voluminous
and their information needs are largely transaction processed. The typical example is
that of the banks where the banking operations are uniformly standard at almost all
branch locations. The transactions are large in number and need to be processed very
fast. The decision making process is rule based governed by the policy and the
guidelines issued by the statutory bodies in the banking industry. The information
technology choice in such cases would be the one which satisfies this need the best.
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In a Hospital, where the transaction processing is very low, the decision making
need is satisfied by query type applications. The information needs here are largely
the patient and doctor-oriented. The information technology choice, in such case, will
be of the front end processing system supported by the back office mini or main
frame system with a strong database system which is very powerful in data
management and the query processing.
A number of such possibilities emerge and unless these factors are properly
considered, the information technology choice may go wrong. The information
technology choice therefore is strategic to the business performance.
In all the business twenty per cent information set is critical and eighty per cent is
not so critical. If the information technology choice does not satisfy the critical
twenty percent need, then it can be said that the information technology choice is a
strategic mistake with concurrent business and financial implications.
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MIS. These details are carefully worked out for effective implementation of the
information technology. The details are worked out based on the following features:
Data type
Words, Numeric, Image and Voice. The hardware and software should be capable of
handling these data types.
Data volume
The online storage capacity would be decided based on the processing needs. It will
be further increased due to the disk mirroring.
I/O operations
These would decide the controllers and the speed of I/O processing.
Data sharing
If the data is to be shared across the databases, then the storage capacity will be
decided based on the size of the databases.
Process speed
The speed needed for processing will decide the CPU, memory and the processing
architecture.
These will be chosen on the basis of the volume, special handling of the data, and the
level of security and the integrity required. All RDBMS are not same and are not
equally efficient on all the platforms.
Query processing
Communication protocols
If different platforms need to be connected, then the software such as the TCP/ IP
needs to be considered.
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Interface and gateways
These will be decided on the basis of data transfer needs between the locations and
between the hardware-software platforms.
The level of security and integrity required will decide the hardware, the software and
the operating system. All the hardware and software do not satisfy these needs fully.
The requirement, often, is of a special language and packages besides the main
software. The hardware and operating system will be decided based on this need.
11.4 EVALUTION
1. Technical Evaluation
2. Operational Feasibility
3. Financial Consideration
Technical evolution deals with the testing parameters, such as data transfer needs, the
response level, the successful connectivity of the different hardware platforms, and the
degree of meeting the overall system performance standards.
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Technical evaluation can be carried out first by studying the literature of the
product in detail and then by conducting brain storming sessions with the vendors’
specialists. In this phase a number of doubts are clarified and the vendors’ claims in the
areas of the system performance are confirmed. Technical evaluation can then be planned
by scheduling the activities such as the bench marking for a couple of key parameters.
The bench marking studies could be at a ‘raw’ level where you test the vendors’
specifications. Once these are confirmed, the specifications are put to test on a live
platform, i.e., the technical specification are tested by running live data in a particular
format. Such an experiment would be a prototype model of your information processing
need related to the mission critical applications. You may develop a mini representative
processing application and run it on a model configuration of the system. Such
experiment would confirm the vendors’ claims and your expectations and needs. This
would develop certain norms which can be used to configure the hardware details and
building the architecture. The bill of material of hardware and software can be worked
out with the help of these norms.
Following hardware software details are configured and the quality of each item is
also decided using the norms developed in a live experiment. The decisions on the
following points would facilitate the system configuration for a given requirement.
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Having narrowed down the hardware configurations to two or three options, the
technical evaluation considers the performance related issues such as reliability,
dependability, performance on the volume scale, security, integrity and autonomy, etc.
All the option may not equally satisfy the evaluation standards set by the organization on
these factors. The performance related issues will help fine tune the configuration details
such as the memory, the number of ports, the specific input and output devices and the
hardware infrastructure. Technical evaluation also helps to break down the hardware on a
time scale, i.e., the minimum required in the initial stage and subsequent add-ons,
expansions and upgrades on a time scale.
Operational Feasibility
The options approved after the technical evaluation are tested on the operational
feasibility. What the technology offers may not be possible to operate at the practical
level and scale to obtain full benefits of the various inherent features. The operational
feasibility evaluation considers the people-related issues and whether the systems and the
procedures of the organization are complementary and conducive.
For example, the information technology offers a solution of fast data transfer and
processing between the two platforms at two locations, i.e., the data source is at one
location and its need is at two other locations. Due to the systems and the procedures
prevailing at the source location, the arrival of the data at the required location is late and
hence not useful. Hence, the information technology solution is operationally infeasible
to obtain the best of the solution.
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Most of the issues in the operational feasibility evaluation are related to the
people and business processes (system and procedure). The environment must support
proper implementation of a new information technology.
If the environment does not support the new technology, it will be managerially
prudent to choose next best option by obtaining full benefits in its successful
implementation and further at a later date to switch over to the original best option.
Financial Evaluation
All the option can be evaluated in terms of the invested it calls for. It is always possible
to rank the option on the basis of the basis of the investment. All business investment is
evaluated in terms of return on the investment (ROI) or certain payback period. They are
also judged from budget considerations.
The information technology investments are difficult to judge on the ROI basis as some
aspect of the investment are intangible and are difficult to quantity in monetary terms.
The best approach in such cases is to judge the investment in terms of the value of
information it gives on an incremental scale. If the value of information in relation to its
investment is not significant, then it could be advisable the consider the next best lower
investment option.
If may be possible to buy the requisite minimum in the first year and expand them
in the subsequent period. It may be possible to configure the hardware in terms of the
capabilities which are required now and which can be acquired later on. For example, one
can start on 32MB memory and over to 64MB. One need not buy all the software in the
first place. It can be phased out in terms of need, i.e., purchased the requisite software as
and when required.
The budget restrictions can handle by taking the benefit of the scalable and the
upgradeable technology. The scaling of the expansion can be done on two scales, viz.
horizontal and vertical expansion. The horizontal expansion relates to the quantity while
the vertical expansion relates to the quality and coverage.
Horizontal expansion
The memory, disk, terminals, peripheral equipment, etc. can be configured for the present
needs and then expanded as the coverage increased.
Vertical expansion
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The system integration, backward or forward, concentrates on the mission critical
applications, covering only the main key business functionalities.
However, in all these matters the total decision is to be taken first and then broken
down into components and in terms of the budget provisions for the next two years or
more.
Many a times, the packages cannot run on all the platforms because of the chip
and the architecture of the hardware platform. The open system architecture is not always
that ‘open’ to accept all the software. These issues should be discussed squarely so that
the investment though good at a point of time is not wasted at a later date.
The implementation of the information technology is a complex task and needs a detailed
and careful planning for successful implementation. It is necessary to prepare a plan of
implementation covering the following features. These features are:
1. Site preparation
2. System development plan
3. Information technology installation schedule
4. Recruitment and training of computer personnel
5. Training of the users
6. Investment plan
Site Preparation
This is a major activity, wherein you prepare the site for the physical installation of the
hardware i.e., the main computer system, the peripherals, the electrical and
communication cabling, the air conditioning system, the tape-disk consumable storage,
and the office layout for the professionals. The space allocation for each of these items is
based on present need with some allowance for the future.
The modern information technology needs site preparation at the user’s end as
well for the convenience and the ease of operations. Most of the information technology
installations need infrastructural facilities, such as a conference room, and training-cum-
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demonstration room with the modern aids of training. This process of site preparation
takes away 10 to 12 per cent of investment. In all these matters, guidance is available
from the hardware vendors. A committee consisting of the vendors’ representatives,
architect and interior designer, and in-change of the information technology
implementation would be ideal for a planned site preparation activity.
This is generally prepared while assessing the hardware and software needs. Such a plan
gives the indication of the various locations of hardware in terms of quality and time
when needed. System development plan priorities the various steps in the site
preparation. One can make a site preparation plan for an immediate need and also for a
later date. This would help to make a long-term financing plan.
A system development plan also helps you in planning the other activities such as
recruitment and training. It also helps in deciding the procurement plan of the hardware
and software. A broad system development plan would go a long way preparing the
operational and implementation plans of the information technology in the organization.
This schedule gives the item-wise details of the hardware arrival and its installation,
testing and acceptance. It also needs to be linked with the information system
development plan to synchronise the installation with the user of the hardware and the
software.
Many times the schedule also considers key issues like data conversion,
switching over from an old system to a new system, rewriting programmer for new
software environment and so on. Such schedule also helps in the smooth transition from
old to the new. It may be from one information technology to another information
technology environment or from the manual system to the computerized system.
The implementation of the information technology needs specific skills in the manpower
responsible for effective implementation. The skills may fall in the area of languages,
tools of development and also acquiring the precise know-how on the emerging
technologies and its application in the information systems.
The technology is changing at a very fast pace and it is necessary to upgrade the
skills of the existing manpower by providing a need-based training. There are occasions
where the skills are not available and a specific recruitment is called for. Such a
recruitment and training then calls for restructuring of the information technology
organization.
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Training of Users
The latest development in the information technology requires its users to be well trained
for its effective use. The training may range from awareness to learning of the specific
tools. The users should be trained to accept the concept of end user computing. The users
should be trained to use the various information technology facilities.
The users should be trained to blend the information support in their day-to-day
activities. It is a change in work culture and an appropriate attitude needs to be developed
for the absorption of the new information technology solutions. Many software packages
are available which need to be learnt for its appropriate use to become IT literate.
Investment Plan
When all the facets of the information technology implementation are ready, it is possible
to work out the monetary implications such an implementation. Summarizing the
estimates on the time scale would generate an investment plan. One can fit the investment
in the budget provisions by suitable modifications in the implementation plan of the
information technology. Since, the investment in the information technology is strategic;
at the most it can be deferred but cannot be curtailed. It is important to note that the
intermediate information technology solution to save on the investment is not effective. If
there are any bud-getary limitations, it is better to postpone the implementation.
A carefully worked out investment plan should be submitted for approval with the
implementation plan of the information technology. A presentation of an hour and a half
to the top management highlighting the investment, the productivity gains and the
competitive edge that the business of the organization acquires through the information
technology, would help in obtaining the approval, its involvement and support in
implementation of the information technology.
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The success of the MIS lies in how the information technology is implemented in
the organization. A lot depends on the people and their ability to accept the new work
style and the new work culture. All the implementation of the information technology
leads to organizational transformation in the content and structure.
If the human face of the organization is not properly aligned to the information
technology, the best information technology would fail in its implementation, adversely
affecting effective development of the MIS. There is a risk in manipulating the
information technology beyond a limit to suit the personnel of the organization or the
budget limitation. Hence, the implementation of the information technology could be
slow on the time scale to accommodate a certain critical constraint, but it should not be
allowed to adversely influence the information technology decision itself.
The information technology changes are very rapid. To protect the investment in
the information technology, the selection criteria should include features such as scalable
architecture, upgradeable software, an open system environment, communication
capability through gateways and interfaces and so on. A good management information
system design requires a matching support from the information technology.
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CHAPTER-10
Decision Support Systems-I
10.1 DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM (DSS):
CONCEPT AND PHILOSOHY
These systems are helpful where the decision maker calls for complex
manipulation of data and use of several methods to reach an acceptable solution using
different analysis approach.
The decision support system helps in making a decision and also in its
performance evaluation. These systems can be used to validate the decision by
performing sensitivity analysis on various parameter of the problem.
In decision making, we know that there are two types of decisions- Programmable
and Non-programmable. The programmable decision, because of its rule base
structure, can be computerized, as inputs, processing methodology; analysis and
choice of decision making are predetermined. Decision support system can be built
around the rule in case of programmable decision situation. While in Non-
programmable decisions, the rule are not fixed or predetermined, and requires every
time the user to go through the decision making cycle as indicated in the Herbert
Simon Model.
The decision support refers to a class of systems which support in the process of
decision making and does not always give a decision itself. The nature of the decision
is such that the decision makers need a variety of information, when same or similar
types of decisions are to be made. These needs are such that wider additional
demands on information would be made, the moment a piece of information is
received. The calls on the information are continuously made till the decision maker
is fully satisfied. The reason for changing the demands is also because the methods of
decision making undergo a change from time to time. The quantum and the scope of
information also changes depending upon the risk in decision making. The higher the
risk, more the information sought.
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Attributes of Decision Support System
1. flexibility
The systems are flexible so that any semi-structured or unstructured decision making
situation can be tackled with ease and speed.
2. Simple models
The systems use simple models of decision making. The only change is that a
different set of information is sought for the use of different models. The choice of a
model depends upon the complexity of decision making.
3. Database
The decision support system needs database(s). The system calls for several inputs
from database(s) for decision making. The use of information being common, input to
the system is from the database.
The number of decisions in the operational management and some at the middle
management are such that they are based on one or two aspects of a decision making
situation. It does not call any elaborate computations, analysis, choice etc. for
decision making. If the status is known, the decision is automatic, i.e., the status and
solution is unique relation.
These decision systems are based on comparative analysis, and use of a formula or a
logarithm. But, these processes are not structured and, therefore, vary. The cash flow
analysis, the inventory analysis and the personal inventory systems are examples of
the analysis systems. The use of simple data processing tools and business rules are
required to develop this system.
In this system, the data is analyzed and information reports are generated. The reports
might be having exceptions as a feature. The decision makers use these reports for
assessment of the situation for decision making. The sales analysis, the accounts
receivable systems, the market research analysis, the MRP systems are examples of
this system.
4. Accounting system
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These systems are not necessarily required for decision making but they are desirable
to keep track of the major aspects of the business or a function. The contents of these
systems are more data processing leading to formal reporting, with exceptions, if
necessary. These systems account items such as cash, inventory, and personnel and so
on and relate it to a norm or norms developed by the management, for control and
decision.
These systems are simulation models or optimization models for decision making.
These decisions, generally, are one time and infrequent and provide general
guidelines for operation or management. The product mix decision, the material mix,
the job scheduling rules, and the resources or asset or facilities planning systems are
the examples.
In order to illustrate these decision support systems, let us take the example of
Materials Management function and the variety of the decision and the type of
systems used therein to support and examine the decision
We can further analyze these systems in terms of the input source, the system, the
hardware and the type of user as shown in Table 10.1.
1. The decision support systems are developed by the users and System analysts
jointly.
2. The decision support system uses the principles of economics, science and
engineering, and also the tools and techniques of management.
3. The data used in the decision support system is drawn from the information
systems developed in the company.
4. The decision support systems are developed in isolation and from an independent
system subset of the management information system.
5. The most common use of the decision support system is to test the decision
alternatives and also to test the sensitivity of the result to the change in the system
and assumptions.
6. The data and information for the decision support system are used from the
internal sources such as the database and the conventional files, and from the
external sources.
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10.2 DSS: DETERMINISTIC SYSTEMS
There are a number of situations, where the management has to make a decision based
on the analysis of business statistic. Since, the organization would have the database
information, these decision situation draw data from the database(s). Most of these
decision situation are fairly structured and, therefore, can be put in the from of the
business models. A fair assumption is made that the model has business and decision
making validity.
If the management can design such models duly tested, they can be used by the
decision makers, whenever the need arises. All such tools and models act as the support
systems for decision making. The tools and the models are generally standard but have to
have a custom design to suit the organization’s specific needs in the specific situation.
The decision support systems based on such tools or models have found extensive use, as
a number of computer based software tools and packages are available at a very
reasonable price. These packages are hardware independent and have proven the
application areas. The range of packages is available from the PC main frame computer
systems. The packages are available on popular network systems, as well.
The origins of these tools and models lie in the Business Management, the
Management Science and the Operations Research. Some are universally known and
proven tools and have application in the Business Management. While designing the
models, a flexible approach is taken to solve varied decision making problems. They
undergo a change over a period of time. The most significant advantage of the decision
support system is its use in sensitizing the decision and assessing its implications on the
result or business performance. The second advantage of such system is in focusing on
the critical issues in business. The third advantage of the decision support system is that it
provides higher management ability to delegate decision making to the lower level once
the tools and the models are tested.
Type of Tools/Models
The decision support system can be based on the different types of tools and models.
They are as given in Fig. 10.1.
1. Behavioral models
These models are useful in understanding the behavior amongst the business variables.
The decision maker can then make decisions giving due regard to such behavioral
relationships.
The trend analysis, forecasting, and the statistical analysis models belong to this
category. The trend analysis indicates how different variable behave in trend setting in
the past and hence in the future. A regression models shows the correlation between one
or more variables. It also helps in identifying the influence of one variable on the other.
These types of models are largely used in process control, manufacturing, agricultural
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sciences, medicines, psychology and marketing. The behavioral analysis can be used to
set the points for alert, alarm and action for the decision maker.
These models are developed on the principles of business management, accounting and
econometrics. In many areas of management, the proven methods of management control
are available which can be used for the management decision. There are also several
management systems, which can be converted into the decision support system models.
For example, the budgetary systems, the cost accounting systems, the system of
capital budgeting for better return on the investment, the ABC analysis, the control of
inventory through the maximum-minimum levels, the MRP system, etc., are the
examples of the use of the management science in the materials management. Production
planning and control scheduling and loading systems are the examples in Production
Management. Manpower planning and forecasting is the example in Personnel
Management.
Some of these models can be used straight away in the design of the decision
support system. While some others require the use of management principles and
practices, most of the procedure based decision making models belong to this category.
One can develop a model for selection of vendor for procurement of an item, based on
the complex logical information scrutiny. Such models take away the personal bias of the
decision maker.
The Operations Research (OR) models are mathematical models. These models.
These models represent a real life problem situation in terms of the variables,
constants and parameters expressed in algebraic equations. Since, the models are
mathematical; there is solution to these problems. In arriving the solution,
methods of calculus, matrix algebra, probability, and set theory are used. These
models have clarity to the extent that each of them has a set of assumptions which
must be true in real life. Further, if the assumptions are valid, the solutions offered
are realistic and practical; the model represents the real life problem situation.
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The allocation of an inventory to the various destinations with the least
transportation costs is another well known problem. The minimization of capital
blocked in the inventory and simultaneously meeting the market demand or the
production requirement is also a problem constantly met with. The inventory
control models offer an optimum solution, where the cost of inventory and the
cost of ordering or set up are balanced.
In facility designing problem, the cost of facility, its running cost, the idel
time of the facility, and the waiting time of the customer are considered. These
problems are solved by application of the Queuing Theory. The theory considers
two costs, viz, the cost of waiting time of customer and the cost of idle time of the
facility and decide on the facility design with a predetermined service standard.
In the regression models, we are trying to find the relational impact of one
variable on the other*. For example, bodyweight can be estimated with the helps
of food in-take, since they show a strong relationship. Or the sale of two wheelers
can be forecasted with the following regression models:
________
The statistical packages are available for variety of regression models which can
be used for developing and testing the regression model.
It is possible a statistics for the next period demand with the help of a simple
average of two previous periods. However, the simple average of past two periods
to forecast the next period may not be correct. In such cases, exponential average
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is used; where more weight is given to the latest period and less weight to the
older period. If three period models are constructed, it would be as under:
Sales for period t + 1 = S t + 1
S t + 1 = aDt + (1 – a)aDt - 1 + (1-a)2 aD + (1-a)3 a Dt - 3
‘a’ is weight expressed in a fraction and D is the actual demand at period t . The
larger value of ‘a’ means the new average will be more influenced by the demand
of the latest period and less by the old period.
Several methods are available, whereby you can forecast or judge the behavior of
the consumer in respect of their buying decisions. The questionnaires are designed
and computerized to assess these aspects of the buying behavior.
For example, through a survey, the Marketing Manager can forecast the
response rate, the recall rate on the various advertising campaigns and its
influence on the buying decision. The survey methods are used to find the
influencing factors in the buying decisions.
The ratio analysis is a standard method of assessing the financial status of the
organization. A model of these ratios can be computerized and be readily used to
assess the status, if certain changes are expected. There are some ratio norms
prescribed by the financial condition of the organization. They are also used while
decision making for advancing loans to the companies. There are more than a
dozen ratios which deal with all aspects of business. They are the current ratio, the
quick ratio, the assets to liabilities, and the inventory turnover and so on.
Budgeting models
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Budget, the Expense Budget, and the Inventory Budget, etc. Using these budgets
the profits re estimated.
Budgets are also used for planning and control. The system is used to find
out whether the performance is under the budget or over the budget. This gives
the manager a self evaluation tools for these assessing the current status and also
provides some insight into the operations of the Company.
This model is simple but very useful for determining the volume of business
activity at which there is no loss or profit. The model is used to decide the
alternatives based on the cost, volume and price. The break-even model, as
expressed in the mathematical form, is as under:
This model can be built for the company, for the product groups or for any
activity, where you can identify the fixed cost, the variable cast and the revenue at
each activity level in terms of the units demanded. The advantages of this model
are that it tells you as to what the break-even point for the given level of costs and
revenue is. If there are possibilities of altering the costs, it would tell its impact on
the break-even point, i.e., if the price is reduced, the revenue will come down and
the break-even point will further go up.
The costs are generally not linear over the entire range of activity. The cost would
go up after a certain range and would remain steady till some level and further
increase is then expected. A break-even model can be built for the multiple
activities and for the non-linear costs. The computerized model helps in assessing
the various parameters of business and its sensitivity towards the profit/loss. The
model is very popular where the costs are known and are controllable. It is a very
handy tool for a quick decision on the price, cost considerations, etc. and can used
very effectively for commercial negotiations.
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Return on investment analysis
The investment decisions are very common in the business organizations and they
are of two types. First, one has to invest in one among the several alternatives
which are competing with each other. For example, you want to buy a machine
for which three alternatives are available, and each alternative has a different
investment amount and a different flow of gains or savings. Then, the second
decision the management has to take is how to allocate the total funds to the
various investment projects. For example, the organization may have Rs 100
million and the investment projects are worth Rs 150 million. The management,
therefore, has to take a decision as to how to allocate Rs 100 million to these
projects?
For example, you are going to receive one rupee next year. This flow of
money, if it is to be evaluated as on today and discount rate is say 10 per cent,
then this one rupee of the next year is worth Re 0.90 this year. The Re
0.90 is the net present value of one rupee expected in the year 1997.
If the system of cash inflow (savings or gains) are unequal each ‘S’ will be
evaluated separately to compute the NPV.
Using this concept of the present value of future cash flow a decision support
system model can be built considering the following factors.
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■ Different criterion for selection, i.e., the payback period, the rate of return and
the internal rate of return.
■ maximizing the return by allocating limited funds to the several investment
proposals.
This model is popularly known as Du-Pont model where the composition and the
analysis of the Return on investment are shown. This model is better than the
above discussed individual ratio model and its analysis as this model provides an
insight into the relationships of the various factors affecting the return on
investment. Du-Pont Model is shown in Fig. 14.3.
There are a number of decisions which are made on the basis of well defined rules
and procedures. Unless certain conditions are satisfied the decision rules will not
be applied.
The use of rules, formula or mathematical expressions is the basis for the model.
For example, the reordering procedure for an inventory items is as under. If the
stock level ≤ the Recorder level, then draw a purchase order of the quantity equal
to the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ).
This ordering rule is developed on the model of the Economic Order Quantity
(EOQ) - Required Order Level (ROL) system as shown in Fig. 10.5.
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EOQ
ROL
PERIOD
Fig. 14.5 EOQ Model
It is possible to control the inventory of some items based on such models. These
models can be computerized and be made a part of the Decision Support System.
The decision models can be developed by using the non-mathematical expression
or a formula. If the conditions are satisfied the decision is automatic.
NO
VENDOR CODE AP TAKE THE NEXT VENDOR.
YES
NO
PR>1 TAKE THE NEXT VENDOR.
YES
YES
ORD.PND TAKE THE NEXT VENDOR.
NO
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CHAPTER-11
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Network drawing rules : Activity, O = Event
A B
O 1 5 Activity, A must be completed before B starts.
O A
C Activity, C can start when A and B are completed.
2 6
B
When the network is completed, every event is assigned a number for reference and
identity. Then, the next step is to estimate the completion time of each activity. Two time
estimates are suggested.
The next step is to draw a network of the project from start to finish.
The critical path is that path which takes the longest time from start to end. Let us
take a sample project as under :
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Activity Most likely Immediate
Duration predecessors
(Days) to activity
A 5 -
B 8 D
C 6 A, D
D 11 -
E 7 A,C
3
A C
4
1
X
E
D
2 5
B
SLACK = LS - ES or LF - EF
Critical activities are those where the slack is zero. In the network D, X, C, E are
the critical activities : While A and B are non-critical. The slack is a time resource which
a project manager can use for manipulating the resource and start and finish of the
activity.
= D+X+C+E
= 6 + 0 + 11 + 7 = 24 days.
Probability of completing the project
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Suppose this project is scheduled for completion in 24 days. We can estimate the
probability of completion in 24 days in the following manner.
Optimistic Dessimible tp - to
activity Time tot Time tp a= a2
6
A - - - -
B - - - -
C 3 8 0.83 0.69
D 7 20 2.16 4.66
E 4 10 1.0 1.00
6.35
A normal probability curve table indicates against 0.43, that is, the project will be
completed in 24 days with 67% probability. (See these tables in any textbook of
statistics).
Activity crashing for control of time
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So if the project is to be completed in 20 days as against 24 days, it is economical
to crash the activity D and not E as the cost increase per day in case of D is Rs 100 and as
that of E is Rs. 500. MS Project and PRIMAVERA are the standard packages for Project
Management.
The cost data is an important data which is used in many business decisions, such as
pricing, make or buy, purchasing, allocation of overtheads, etc. Most of the companies
which are in competitive business, rely on the formal cost accounting systems used for
business decisions and also for the cost control. There are three cost accounting systems :
The companies install these systems as the case may be and build a cost database for
support in decision making.
In this system the costs are assigned to the jobs passing through the plant and are
accumulated by recording the basic job statistics on the job card. The order is broken into
three section materials, labor and overhead.
The direct materials are accounted through the material issues and the direct labor
through labor booking on the card. Direct overheads are also booked through
transactions. The indirect overheads are allocated, on some agreed basis such as man-
hours or machine- hours. All the costs are accumulated and the unit cost of the job is
computed.
These systems give due considerations to work in process (WIP) and the
rejections, etc. for costs for the three inputs mentioned above. Using these standards for
costs for the three inputs mentioned above are determined and the job cost is budgeted.
The costs are then used to find whether the actual cost is more than the budgeted cost. All
such over-runs are investigated with the purpose of cost control and in few cases the
standards may be modified.
In this system, the costs are accumulated by a department or an operation. In other words,
the emphasis is placed upon the department of manufacture. The number of units of
product completed in the department is used in the computation of a unit cost. The unit
costs are then applied to the number of units transferred in the manufacturing process and
ultimately identified with units completed and sold.
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3. Period cost system
In this system, no distinction is made between direct materials and indirect materials with
respect to product. Materials are not requisitioned for a particular order or a product.
Instead, the direct material and the indirect material are identified with the department or
the process. The material consumed is accounted over a period for cost considerations.
The labor costs are also accumulated by the department or process with no distinction
made between the direct and the indirect labor.
The wages paid to the employees in the department are fully accounted.
Manufacturing overheads are assigned to the department or the processes directly,
wherever possible, and if they cannot be directly identified with the department, they are
allocated by using the various methods of allocation. The costs so computed are then
transferred to the final product on unit basis giving due regard to the work in progress
(WIP).
The variation in the product cost is not caused by any basic change in the type of
product manufactured or by any change in the cost structure, it merely result from the
variations in the quantities produced at different times during the year and from the
variations in manufacturing overheads. When the product completion time is very large,
the application of the job costing or the process costing is not possible. In such cases the
cost data is accumulated on the basis of the period against the job and summed up to
arrive at the actual cost when the job is completed.
All the three systems can be computerized for cost control by using the cost
budgeting systems.
Linear programming is a special mathematical model. This model is applicable where the
decision variables assume the values which are non-zero, and the relationship among the
various variables is linear. There are limitations, called constraints to use the variables or
the combination thereof.
Suppose a company makes two products P1 and P2 from two types of raw
materials R1 and R2. The product P1 requires 2 units of R1 and 1 unit of R2 and the
product P2 requires 1 unit of R1 and 2 units of R2. The company has 500 units of R1 and
750 units of R2. the products P1 and P2 are to be produced to maximize the profit. The
contribution to overhead and profit is Rs 5 for the product P1 and Rs 4 for the product P2.
Let us define the decision variables for the products P1 and P2 and X1 and X2,
i.e. X1 and X2 are the quantities to be produced of P1 and P2 respectively. Then decision
problem can be expressed in the form given below.
This problem has a solution which is optimum. The problem is solved by the
Simplex Technique. The solution to this problem is :
X1 = 83.1/3 and X2 = 333.1/3, Profit = 1750
Computer based LP software packages are available almost on all the computer
systems. Besides solving, solving linear programming problems, the solution provides a
variety of management information through sensitivity analysis. For example, in this
problem, it would provide the information on the following.
(a) If profit of P2 is increased to Rs 6 what be the product mix of P1 and P2.
(b) If raw material constraint of R1 is improved to 800 and of R2 to 1000,
what would be the product mix and profit?
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(c) If instead of 2 units of R2 in P2 and 1 unit of R2 in P1, we succeed in
reducing this use by 20 per cent, what would be the product mix and the
profit?
(d) Suppose if only P2 is to what action should be taken?
A-B-C analysis
The inventory items are analysed in a number of ways by some aspects of the inventory.
One of the classification is the A-B-C analysis based on the capital blocked in the
inventory.
It means that when the inventory, it will be observed that 10% items of the
inventory contribute to 60% inventory capital, 20% contributed to 30% inventory capital,
and 70% items contributed only to 10% capital. This immediately suggests the
management control focus on ‘10%A’ category items. Figure 14.10 shows A-B-C
analysis In graphical form.
The system of control for these items is normally as shown in Table 14.4.
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100
%
Value 90
B
60 C
Table 11.4
Category of item Control system
A ROL system or ordering in smaller quantities on review of the inventory.
B Fixed period ordering system. Maximum-Minimum System.
C Annual review and ordering system.
All these items can be brought under a computerized system. Such system will compute
the inventory control parameters for each item and make suitable decisions. In all three
systems, the cost of order or manufacture is balanced with the inventory carrying cost.
The inventory can be classified in other ways also. For example, the inventory is
classified from the manufacturing point of view taking ease of procurement as a basis.
The classification could be critical, semi-critical, and not critical from the production
point of view. The inventory control system recommended for this classification is as
shown in Table 14.5.
Table 11.5
Category of item System of control based on ease of procurement
Critical (A) Bulk procurement and control on stock variations
Semi-critical (B) Periodic ordering
Not-critical (C) But very frequently, keep minimum stock.
Each item in the inventory is planned, monitored and controlled through one
system or the other, based on the category of the item.
Periodically the parameter of the control change; but by and large the system of
control remains the same because the objective is to control the capital blocked in the
inventory. The main issue is how to allocate the capital amongst thousands of items
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without affecting the demand of the items. In such cases the ordering cost, the inventory
carrying cost, and the cost of stock- out are considered in the system of control mentioned
above.
When the Company is following a fixed period production programming to maximize the
use of production capacity, the Material Requirement Planning systems are used to
minimize the inventory and simultaneously ensure the availability of the material. The
MRP system is feasible only when the company produces standard products for which
the Bill of Material or the Part List enumerating the items which go into the products, is
available.
The bill of material is exploded and summarized for the items disregarding where
it is used. Then it is compared with the stock available, the order placed and due for
delivery in the production period. The comparison will show the shortage which would
be faced in the execution of the production programme.
MRP system is also used when the production requirement is fluctuating from
period to period and also where the changes in the production programme are frequent. It
provides an excellent tool for planning, procurement, monitoring and control of the
inventory as well as the production programme.
All human beings have intelligence, which they use for problem solving. Intelligence
when supported by knowledge and reasoning abilities becomes an artificial intelligence.
When such an artificial intelligence is packed into a database as a system, then what we
have is AI system.
AI systems fall into three basic categories, viz., the Expert Systems (knowledge
based), the Natural Language (Native languages) Systems, and the Perception System
(vision, speech, touch). Figure 14.11 shows the structure of AI systems.
Artificial intelligence is a software technique applied to the non-numeric data
expressed in terms of symbols, statements and patterns. It uses the methods of symbolic
processing, social and scientific reasoning and conceptual modeling for solving the
problems. The AI systems are finding applications in configurations, design, diagnosis,
interpretation, analysis, planning, scheduling, training, testing and forecasting.
The AI systems do not replace people. They liberate experts from solving
common/simple problems, leaving the experts to solve complex problems. Artificial
intelligence systems help to avoid making same mistakes, and to respond quickly and
effectively to a new problem situation.
The knowledge-based Expert System is a special AI System. It has wide
applications in business and industry.
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM
Decision making or problem solving is a unique situation riddled with uncertainty and
complexity, dominated by the resource constraints and a possibility of several goals. In
such cases, flexible systems (open systems) are required to solve the problems. Most of
such situations, termed as the unstructured situations, adopt two methods of problem
solving, generalized or the knowledge based expert system (KBES).
The generalized problem solving approach considers the generally applicable
constraints, examines all possible alternatives and selects one by trial and error method
with reference to a goal. The knowledge based problem solving approach considers the
specific constraints within a domain, examines the limited problem alternatives within a
knowledge domain and selects the one with knowledge based reasoning with reference to
a goal.
In a generalized approach, all alternatives are considered and the resolution of the
problem is by trial and error, with no assurance, whether it is the best or the optimum,
while, in the knowledge based approach, only limited alternatives are considered and
resolution is made by a logical reasoning with the assurance of the local optimum. The
generalized approach is dominated by a procedure or method, while the knowledge based
approach is dominated by the reasoning process based on the knowledge.
Since, the KBES considers knowledge as the base; the question arises whose
knowledge is to be considered as a basis. It is generally agreed that an expert has
knowledge, and therefore, he becomes the source of knowledge. An expert is difficult to
find and the difficulty of no-knowledge or limited knowledge on the subject is always
expressed. Knowledge is with experienced people and experience, is wide and
distributed. Hence, a system is required which will hold the knowledge of experienced
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people and provide an application path to solve the problem. Such a system eliminates
the knowledge bottleneck.
To build a knowledge-based system certain prerequisites are required. The first
prerequisite is that a person with the ability to solve the problem with knowledge-based
reasoning should be available. The second prerequisite is that such an expert should be
able to articulate the knowledge to the specific problem characteristics.
Knowledge in the KBES is defined as a mix of theory of the subject, knowledge
of its application, organized information and the data of problems and its solution, and an
ability to generate new avenues to solve the problem.
The KBES has three basic components which are necessary to build the system as
shows in Fig. 11.12
USER CONTROL
MECHANISM
KNOWLEDGE INFERENCE
BASE MECHANISM
Knowledge base
Inference mechanism
Its is a tool applied to the inference mechanism to select, interpret and deduct or infer.
The user control mechanism user the knowledge base in guiding the inference process.
In the KBES, three components are independent of each other. This helps in modifying
the system without affecting all the components. Like in the database application, where
the data is independent of its application, in KBES, knowledge is independent from
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application, i.e., inference process. The KBES database, stores the data, the cause-and-
effect relation rules, and the probability information on event occurrences.
For example, the knowledge base of Health Care would have knowledge such as
“obesity leads to high blood pressure”; there are 60 per cent chances that smokers may
suffer from cancer”. The KBES, therefore, stores and uses knowledge, accepts
judgments, questions intelligently, draws inferences, provides explanation with reasons,
offers advice and prompts further queries for confirmation.
In the KBES, the knowledge data base uses certain methods of knowledge
representation. These methods are-Semantic Networks, Frames and Rules.
Semantic Networks
Knowledge is represented on the principle of predicate functions and the symbolic data
structures which have a meaning built into it are known as semantics. A semantic
network is a network of nodes and arcs connecting the nodes. The node represents and
entity and the arc represents association with a true and false meaning built into it. The
association and meaning uses the principle of inheritance. For example, all animals with
four legs have a tail and a dog has four legs, hence the dog has a tail. The system inherits
from the fact that the dog has four legs hence the dog is an animal and, therefore, a dog
has a tail or not.
DINING TABLE
MADE
KITCHEN BIG OF STEEL
IN
MADE
OF
LAMINATED
TABLE SMALL WOOD
IN APPLIES
DRAWING WRITING
ROOM TABLE
A knowledge database of the table is stored with the attributes like location,
function, size and shape. If a query is put on table through any of these attributes, one can
infer the specifications of table. The inference would be corret depending upon how the
knowledge is designed and structured into database. For example, if table in the room is
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big and made of wood with lamination and has elliptical shape, it would be inferred as
conference room table. This inference would be correct if the knowledge base has
elliptical shape as an attribute of the table.
The characteristics of a variety of tables are used to represent knowledge on table.
A table in a drawing room, inherits the characteristics of a table in a drawing room.
Frames
The second method of representing the knowledge is putting the same in frames (Fig.
14.14). The concept of frame is to put the related knowledge in one area called a frame.
The frame is an organized data structure of knowledge. The frames can be related to other
frames. A frame consists of the slots representing a part of the knowledge. Each slot has a
value which is expressed in the form of data, information, process and rules.
FRAME
ENGINE OVER HEATING
SLOT : SYMPTOMS VALUE
(TEMPERATURE MORE THAN 80 DEGREES)
(WATER BOILING)
(SPEED RETARDATION)
Rules
The third method of representing the knowledge is rule based. A rule is a conditional
statement of an action that is supposed to take place, under certain conditions. Some rules
can be constructed in the form of If Then statements. An example of If-Then
decision/action statement is given below:
Inference Mechanism
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is called Backward Chaining to goal and when it is data driven it is called Forward
Chaining to goal.
For example, if there is a breakdown in the plant, then looking backward for the
symptoms and causes, based on the knowledge data base, is backward changing.
However, it the data which is being collected in the process of plant operations is
interpreted with the knowledge base, it can be predirect whether the plant will stop or
work at low efficiency. The data here is used to infer the performance of the plant and
this is called forward chaining.
The choice between backward or forward chaining really depends on the kind of
situation. To resolve a problem after the event, one has to go from goal (breakdown,
stoppage, etc) to data, i.e., it is a case of backward chaining. But if the question is of
preventing a breakdown, then the data would be monitored in such a way that if it is
directing towards a goal (breakdown, stoppage,) then it is a case of forward chaining.
The KBES uses both the methods of reasoning. The success of the knowledge
based expert system depends on a degree of knowledge, the confidence in the knowledge
and the quality of inference mechanism.
The Decision Support System (DSS) is a special class of system which is used as a
support in decision making. Many of the decision making situations, at all levels of
management, are such that its occurrence is infrequent but the methodology of decision
making is known. Some of the methods are proven and are widely used. Such
applications are separated and are packed in the DSS.
These systems use data from the general MIS and they are used by a manager or a
decision maker for decision support. The basic characteristic of the decision support
system is that it is based on some tool, technique or model. These systems are used
sometimes for resting new alternatives, training and learning. They are also used for
sensitizing the various parameters of the model.
The DSS could be an internal part of the MIS. When the decision making need is
in real time dynamic mode, all such systems are designed to read, measure, monitor,
evaluate, analyze and act as per the decision guidance embedded in the system. For
example, in a simple case of order processing, the embedded DSS will accept or reject
the order based on the CRISIL, credit rating, availability of stock and so on. If the order
is accepted, the order acceptance is generated and the dispatch is scheduled for the
ordered quantity. The DSS, in all such cases, uses the data already present in the system
and gets it activated for action as per the guidelines.
The MIS designer has to look for all such situations and design the DSS for
integration in the system. The MIS would become more useful if the decision making is
made person-independent and executed with well-designed DSS. All such embedded
systems cover the normal variety of decision situations. If anything outside the
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considered variety crops up, DSS will bring to the notice of the decision makers that
action is called for in the situation.
When the decision situation requires multidimensional analysis using the internal
and external data, then such decision support systems are kept out of the main MIS
design scope. Most of this situation calls for the use of models and the nature of decision
is strategic, calling for planned activity.
Decisions like a new product launch, price revision, appointing new dealers,
change of product design or change in the manufacturing process are strategic decisions
which require critical analysis of data, careful evaluation of various alternatives and
selecting one of them for implementation on the given criteria.
The decision support system plays a dominant role in the management
information system, as a support to decision making.
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CHAPTER-12
Enterprise Management Systems
12.1 ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (EMS)
The word enterprise is chosen to convey that it encompasses the larger business
community covering all the players and their participation in the business. The system is
extended beyond the Corporate boundaries. In such a scenario, the system which you are
designing is an enterprise wide. It must catch an event, interpret it and trigger the action,
and communicate it across to the enterprise. Since, business is information hungry, it
must have an ability to sense the situation and act accordingly. When the business
requires online information to make the informed, knowledge based decisions and have
them executed in the business operations in acoordinated manner, it has to take support of
many other systems.
Take another simple example of employee management, where the arrival of the
persons or their absence raises a number of triggers in the Organisation. The well-known
attendance recording system monitors the employee movement from all angles-
availability, assigning, security, permissions, and salary7 and wages.
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communication are needed. These systems may be automated or mechanized interfaced
with the other system for data communication and processing. There should also be audio
video and imaging systems for bring realism in information and remote sensing system
for security and communication.
Thought the tools, the technologies, and the well designed solution and system are
available to support all such needs of the business, what is needed is an integrated
solution out of these technologies and the system offering an enterprise wide
management support. Such an integrated solution is called as the Enterprise Management
System(EMS). Figure 15.1 shows the following systems, which, when implemented in an
integrated manner for coordinated and cooperative function of the business, give rise to
the Enterprise Management System, i.e., EMS.
In the EMS, the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system plays the role of
front running system. The major decision making and its execution takes place through
the ERP. It is a system of managing all functions of the business with information support
coming through the ERP. It handles the operational systems to run the business and
provides the required inputs to planning and control system handled by the middle
management. With the internal sources of information and the use of information from
the external sources, it provides a decision support information for strategic planning and
control to the top management.
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DESIGN AND
ENGINEERING
AT C AP
ER IC
DA
CAD/CAM
CE
MM ON
TE
TA
CAE
ND TUR
CO CTR
AN
E
CE
EDI AMS
EL
M OC
A E
TY
D
NA UM
SMS DMS
RI
G EN
E
CU
ME T
SE
CMS
NT
COMMUNICATION
The AMS, i.e., Attendance Management System keeps track of the employee
related information for personnel planning, availability and scheduling. It provides static
information about an employee through the human resources management system and the
current dynamic information such as his or her presence, shift rotation, the kind of job
handled the cost and so on.
The DMS, i.e., the Document Management System is designed to keep important
documents in the database foe viewing, sending messaged, and for documenting support
in the transactions handled. The system provides text edit facility for document
manipulation for the purpose of transaction handling. In the ERP it is used for cross-
checking the key information and also to confirm the authenticity of the transaction. It
handles the document access, editing, copying and mixing the information and sending
the information to the various destinations for execution. It uses scanning, imaging, work
flow automation and Document Data Base Management System.
The CMS or the Communication Management Systems re used for tracking the
important resource for action. These resources are located, altered and advised to act
from the location where they are. Their attention is drawn to an event and advised to act
to handle the situation. The ERP uses the CMS, as a tool, for all its communication needs
of recording an event.
The SMS, i.e., Security Management System handles the security, entry access
requirement of the business operations. It may be a person, a vehicle, or material, its
movement, availability and access if tracked, monitored, and guarded for security and
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safety. It provides a support to the ERP by clearing the situation to act further. A truck
will not be allowed to enter unless it is an authorized one, and then it will be weighed and
its weight will be transferred to the ERP for processing further information. An employee
movement can be restricted or prohibited to select areas before his time is recorded and
sent to the ERP for further processing.
These six systems together act as the support systems to the ERP . All these
systems are extensively used for the main purpose for which they are installed. Each one
of them have a specific technology to handle the function and are equipped to capture,
store, process and transfer the data of the ERP. Each of these systems operate on their
native systems and are interfaced to the ERP through the gateway by using a specific
software. These systems are a part and parcel of the ERP System network.
The EMS therefore, can be defined as a Network System comprising the ERP, the
EDI, the CAD/ CAM/ CAE, the CMS, the SMS, and the DMS as shown in Fig. 15.2.
The ERP system deals with the planning and use of resources used in the business. The
resources are finance, materials, manufacturing capacity and human resource. The ERP
provides methodology of assessing the resource needs for a given business plan to
achieve certain business objectives. It also helps to execute the strategies, plan, decisions,
and actions in a time bound manner. The ERP provides a support system in the
transaction processing, updating, and reporting across the functions. The ERP is a
package encompassing all major functions of the business. The product is generic in
nature and is supposed to incorporate the best business practice, generally followed in
most of the companies.
The ERP packages build information base and provide knowledge base for
planning and control of the business through the business function management. The
ERP is the main system,
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Interfaced or assisted by the other systems in the organization. These systems may stand
alone or from a part of the manufacturing or commercial processing systems.
These systems provide the database to the ERP or support the ERP by the basic
data input directly or through the data transfer, for example, the manufacturing system
module of the ERP is interfaced with the Drawing, Engineering database for query,
viewing and usage of the drawings and it accepts the data of work order by process
operations, for costing and for building the standards for the future.
The architecture is client/server and uses object oriented technology for design
and development of the system. These packages are RDBMS based with the front end
tools. The key benefit of the ERP is that it provides an integrated solution for all the
requirement of the business. It addresses the issue of data integrity, information
transparency, seamless integration and information communication. Simultaneously it
respects the organizational hierarchy of authority, while conducting the business
transactions through the system.
The implementation of most of the ERP packages begin with the enterprise
modeling which defines the enterprise structure, the authority function, the processes and
the business rules. The enterprise model is the platform the ERP system implementation.
The ERP solutions are available on the Unix Plstform and also on Windows NT.
The solution is structured in the modular fashion to cover the entire business operation. A
typical ERP package solution has following modules:
These modules are designed for data capture, data transaction validation, it analysis,
accounting updating and reporting. All the ERP solutions provide report writer for the
use to create the reports. The standard reports like the trial balance, the stores ledger,
the employee attendance report, the income tax return, eyc. Are provided with the
solution at a generic level.
The ERP features are many. The important ones are security authorization,
referencing responsibility, and the implementation of the business rules. These are
provided to safeguard the business of the organization from illegal practice and also
to protect the valuable information from misuse. These features help to keep the
system, the information and the data integrity at the highest level. The ERP is
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activated by its users. The security is built for authorized usage and also for selective
access.
The ERP usage can be controlled at all levels, viz., the data, transaction,
information and analysis level. The security system of the ERP is built around the OS
security and the additional features are provided while designing the system. It
provides access and updating rights to the users as per the control requirement of the
management.
Referencing is a feature, provided for tracking the chain of events for monitoring,
progress cheking and control. For example, if one wants to check the status of
customer order, the referring feature helps to link the customer order to work order to
delivery note to Excise gate pass to bill. It is possible to establish the link through
cross reference of the transaction number or code of the previous transactions. For
example, a work order will give a reference of customer order, a delivery note would
give a reference of work order, a bill would give a reference to a delivery note and
customer order. The feature does not allow the transaction to proceed unless such
references are established.
The business organization runs through the rules and the responsibility allocation.
A strict adherence to them is essential for creation of the controlled environment. The
ERP satisfies this need of the business. It provides a facility to ensure that the user-
location (Department/Division) Transaction integrity is confirmed through check and
validation and then ERP allows to proceed. For example, a cash transaction is
allowed at the Finished Goods Store and in the Accounts Department by the
authorized users only. At any other place evolving cash transaction is prohibited.
The material indents are processable in the stores while the vouchers are
processable in the Account Department. The order entry is permissible in marketing.
The ERP provides such facilities to ensure that the business is operated on the rules
and the guidelines set by the management.
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to the concerned person as stipulated. Through the EID connectivity, it can transact
directly to the vendor or the customer in its own format.
ERP system provides an aid to create the transaction by a cut and paste
mechanism. It can raise a purchase order on the vendor by picking up and choosing
the old purchase orders, which saves the generation time. The ERP solutions are built
for a user friendly flexible approach to manage the business with the changing needs.
This requires processing in a different manner to assess the impact. The solution
provides facilities like the trial posting, the end of chosen period processing, the
posting by choice, the flexible valuation procedures, and the hold transaction, etc.
Through these facilities the management can conduct an impact analysis to judge the
financial results and makes the business decisions.
These events alerts are triggered by the database inserts or updates. Having raised
the alert, it also allows you to define the action to respond to the alert. The ERP sends
the electronic mail and executors the SQL statement. It is also capable of taking
multiple actions through the stored procedures.
Take an example of an item receipt in stores. The receipt would update the
database and the system will have an updated stock status. This database update is an
event for using the alert. The alert in this case can be defined as, on receipt of an item
send E-mail to the purchase Manager, the Production Planner and further, show the
work orders which are scheduled where this items is in use. If the receipt of this item
closes the Purchase Order then raise an automatic Purchase Order on the same vendor
with the same terms and conditions.
All the ERP solutions provide ‘Drill Down’ and ‘Context Sensitive’ helps to use
the system. The drill down helps to run through the system to locate the weak spot for
action and control. Suppose, the sales manager is viewing the sales by region by
product line. Then he wishes to see the sales revenue over a time, in order to better
understand the seasonality in the business. The drill down facility helps him to use the
information the way he wants, to form the judgments on the business happenings. The
drill down could be multi-dimensional to analyse the critical business information.
The context sensitive help provides an access to help library which can be used by
user by calling help. The help could be information, guidance and understanding of
the term or process or formats. The help facilities make the ERP user-friendly and
easy to learn.
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ERP Architecture
Any information system has three basic components, viz., the Data Management, the
Application Logic, and the Presentation. These components can be built with the
client server role definitions. The client is a user and the server provides the services
required by the user the to run the system. Since, the information needs are
dynamically changing, the architecture required is to separate the data and its
management from its application. The user requires the choice of using the data as it
suits him the most. Hence the application logic has to be separate from the data.
There is also a variability in the manner how the application logic is developed and
presented.
The architecture could be a two tier or three tier as shown in Fig. 12.3.
APPLICATION
APPLICATION LOGIC APPLICATION LOGIC
SERVER FUNCTION
PRESENTATION
Since, the ERP is a generic solution for the business operations, in each case of
implementation, customization should suit the specifics of the business or customer.
The architecture choice is influenced by this requirement.
In a two tier system architecture, there is a rigid division of roles. The data
management is by the server and its processing is through the application logic by
client. In this architecture all the requirements are sent to the server by all the users in
the network. This affects the load on the server and the response time to the user
increase. However, there could be an application which deals with high volume and
complex data structure and this approach is more efficient, if response issue is taken
care of by the high end multiple CPU and the parallel processing hardware platforms.
There could be a case where the user is dumb and is required to use the system in
a guided manner with the ‘help’ assistance. Then the three tier architecture is suitable.
The client uses the GUI (Graphical User Interface) tools for simplicity while the
application logic is processed on another machine. In this architecture three distinct
roles are defined and three hardware platforms and made responsible to perform.
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The servers play two distinct roles of handling the data and the application logic.
This logic which deals with the data more is attached to the server platform, where
the data is being managed. The logic which deals with the presentation and the
specific needs of the user is left to the client platform as shown in Fig. 12.4.
DATA NABAGENEBT
SERVER
APPLICATION LOGIC
APPLICATION LOGIC
PRESENTATION CLIENT
The ERP solutions are multi-users which are distributed over the organization,
spread over to any length. Two main solutions are available to the designer and the
implementor of the ERP. One is the Graphical User Interface (GUI) and the Network
Management. The GUI is chosen since it allows the customization for a particular
business entity. The GUI screens are so developed that the process running across the
organization is mapped to the business flows instead of the discrete business
functions.
The network is typically the bottleneck in any client/server system. With the
application logic, appropriately divided between client and server, it creates a reduced
traffic intensity due to GUI interface. Accompanying the network efficiency and the
GUI, the ERP solution uses a scalable architecture and a parallel processing
technology by installing the suitable server at the required locations. This ensure good
performance with a continuous increased load conditions.
For most of the customers, the ERP offers a basic business functionality.
However, some users have particular needs for which they want an additional support
through the tools or other modules. Most of these requirements are extensions to the
basic business functions. These customer specific needs are met through a popular
and a widely used, client/ server tool set.
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The business being complex requires a variety of systems to run efficiently. The
presence of existing systems is not challenged or minimized by the ERP solution. In
fact, most of the ERP solutions use open application programme interfaces that
enable easy coexistence and integration with the legacy and the third party systems.
The solutions also provides the gateways to the popular database which are used in
business.
The ERP solution are designed to make the office of the business paperless. It
keeps all the business information online. Then, the users use the Work Flow
Technology to move the process in a screen format from person to person for the
changes, the approvals and the execution. With the multi-media technology, the
servers can be configured to keep the business information online in any format,
including the text, the spreadsheet, the image audio and the network video.
The solution offers support for the electronic notifications, through the EDI, the
E-mail, or the internet to the business partners. For example, you can create a
purchase order, get it justified and approved by the authorized person sitting at the
other location, attach the engineering drawing to the purchase order by accesses to the
CAD system, assemble the documents of the purchase order, and have it sent through
the EDI to a vendor located at a distant location without creating any the paper
documents.
The Enterprise Resource Planning solution structure is built in three layers namely,
technology, business and implementation as shown in Fig. 12.5.
Business Operations
On the business side, it provides solution for the data entry, data capture, transaction
processing and data base updates. It then support an analysis of the processed result in
single or the multi-dimensions for one period or successive periods. It offers a support
on the comparative analysis,
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The budget versus the actual, the target versus the actual, the target versus the actual,
the standard versus the actual and so on. The analysis also throws light on the
exception conditions, for immediate attention and action.
The ERP solution provides the decision making capabilities either built-in or
through the decision support systems when it comes to implementation. It provides
the database functionalities for data and information management. It then has the
front end tools to develop the application in an exclusive manner.
The ERP solution then handles the interfacing requirement to the legancy or the
third party systems as a support to the main ERP solution. Using various information
technology tools and application development tools, the application logic is
developed to the business functionality. The tools are-report writers, interfacing tools,
query processing tools, application development tools, the object oriented tools, etc.
Technology
The technology side of the ERP solution is managed through the database
management technology for data acquisition to data base creation, updation, and
maintenance. The application development is done through the client/server
technology, where the servers handle the specific or the general functions as the case
may be and the client play the role of processing interactively and locally for meeting
the information needs. The client/server implementation could be two tier or three
tier, based on the design and the implementation strategy. To reduce the development
effort and for ease of maintenance, the development approach is an object-oriented
approach, where the class and the object libraries are built for reusability of the object
and its code.
Implementation
The ERP implementation is multi-user and calls for the network usage for the work
flow, communication and the access to the database (s) which may be at one location
or distributed. The successful implementation of the ERP calls for a strong
technology component appropriate to the environment.
The generic ERP package represents the commonly operated business model of the
organization. It is built with the function models like the Finance, Materials,
Marketing, Sales, and Personnel and their sub-modules. These modules are then
integrated to perform ensuring data and information consistency and concurrency.
The seamless integration of the modules allows the user at any level to take a
micro and a macro view of the function and process view of the transaction across the
function. A typical ERP solution has the following modules:
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■ Business forecasting, planning and control (Business)
■ Sales, distribution, invoicing (Sales)
■ Production planning and control (Production)
■ Material management (Material)
■ Finance and accounting (Finance)
■ Personnel management (Personnel)
Table 12.1 shows the sub-module details of each module.
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Business system
Sales
Production
Materials
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■ Goods receipt and issue system.
■ Stock management and valuation.
■ Inventory analysis.
■ Stores ledger, valuation, analysis, disposal.
■ Excise/customer interface.
■ Data integration with production, accounts systems.
■ Quotation/Enquiry processing.
■ Subcontracting, material accounting and bill passing.
Finance
Personnel
Fixed Assets
Maintenance
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■ Plant maintenance planning.
■ Breakdown, preventive, conditional maintenance.
■ Maintenance management: Initiation, planning, execution, control, and cost
accounting.
■ Monitoring performances for maintenance action as all kinds of productive assets.
■ Contract management.
Quality Control
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out newer versions of the product offering more facilities to the user to improve the
utility of the solution.
There are more than a dozen ERP solution available in the market each having its
own specialty. Though, they are characterized as described earlier, they differ in feel,
look presentation, processing efficiently and user-friendliness.
Some of these products are developed as an application in a particular
organization and then turned into a packaged solution. In view of this, some of ERP
solution is more useful and efficient in similar organization. The specific industry
features have been taken care of more efficiently as customized solutions. Since the
design / developer have a choice of RDBMS, front end tools, the interface tools, and
so on the package efficiency changes with the choice to tools. Some of these
packages run better, if installed on a particular hardware platform; and used by a
particular organization.
Though tools, technology and approach may be same or similar, the manner in
which they are used decides the efficiency of the solutions.
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13. Due to the client/server architecture, the application of object technology and use
of the front end tools, the process changes can be easily carried out in a short
duration of time. Hence, the user service can be maintained at higher level.
14. The ERP implementation automatically leads to the usage of the best business
procedures bringing the consistency of operation in the world of business.
15. With the use of the data warehousing and data reverse engineering, management
becomes knowledge’s driven and the organization becomes a learned one.
16. The ERP scope can be enlarged through the Internet/Intranet access, making the
ERP sensitive to the latest events in the business, market and technology.
17. The quality of decision making improve as the user decision maker is made alert
and he is made knowledgeable and better informed dynamically.
18. The tools available to the decision maker are friendly whereby he is equipped to
make decision and execute it simultaneously.
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CHAPTER-13
Enterprise Management Systems
Vendor Evaluation
Factors
1. Business strength of the vendor.
2. Product share in total business of the vendor.
3. R. & D investment in the product.
4. Business philosophy of the vendor.
5. Future plans of the vendor.
6. Market reach and resource strength of the vendor.
7. Ability to execute the ERP solution.
8. Strength in the other technology knowledge and the ability to use them
9. Perspective plan of the ERP improvement with technology development.
10. Image in the business and in the information technology world.
11. Financial strength of the vendor to sustain and handle the business and
technology risk.
12. Organisation for product development and support.
13. The global experience of the vendor and commitment to the product for long
term.
Technology Evaluation
Factors
1. Client server architecture and its implementation-two tier or three tier.
2. Object orientation in development t and methodology.
3. Handling of server and client based data and application logic.
4. Application and use of standards in all the phases of development and in the
product.
5. Front end tools and back end data based management system tools for the
data, process presentation management.
6. Interface mechanism; Data transfer, real time access, OLE/ODBC
compliance.
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7. Use of case tool, screen generators, report writers, screen painter and batch
processor.
8. Support system technologies like bar coding, EDI, imaging, communication
network.
9. Down loading to PC based packagers, MS-Office, lotus notes, etc.
10. Operating system and its level of usage in the system.
11. Hardware-software configuration management.
The methodology of selection will begin first with the study of organization in
terms of the business focus, critical application, sensitive business process, etc. Since,
the ERP solution is a tool to change the style of business management; it requires
thorough understanding of the business, the business issues, the management
criticalities, and the socio-cultural factors. Such a study will help find out if the ERP
is fit for the organization. It is a very important to find out that the ERP is fit or not,
as it is the most important and critical success factor.
The price of the ERP package is difficult to judge and often it is a negotiable point
in favor of the buyer in competitive scenario. Since the ERP implementation is a two
three years’s project, the ERP solution will sustain and be adequate for the current
and the future business needs for a period of five to seven years. After that, it would
become a platform for the future expansions and growth.
It is advisable for the organization to form a committee for selection of the ERP
SOLUTION. IT SHOULD HAVE IMPORTANT FUNCTIONAL HEAD, A
STRONG Information Technology person and a person from corporate planning
function. The committee should be headed by a CEO or his designated authority. This
committee should prepare a requirement document spelling out the business goals,
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and objectives, the futuristic scenario of business, the critical functions, processes,
business focus and customer deliverables. A note on the management philosophy,
procedures, practices and style will be a valuable input.
When such a document is ready, the selected ERP vendors should be called for
seeking the ERP offer. The document should be given to the vendors, and they should
be allowed to study the organization and its business. All the vendors should be asked
to submit a technical proposal explaining the fit of the ERP to the organization. The
submission of the vendors should be scrutinized by the committee for short-listing.
The short-listed vendors then should be asked to give the product presentation to the
selected group of decision makers to seek their opinion on the product.
1. Scope of supply.
2. Objectives
3. Modules and deliverables
4. Implementation methodology.
5. Plan and schedules of hardware and software implementation.
6. Resource allocation
7. Responsibility division between the organization and the vendor.
8. Process of implementation
9. Organisation of implementation.
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10. Progress monitoring and control of the important events
11. Process of resolving the issue all levels
12. The official product literature
13. Association with the other vendor its purpose
14. Commercial submission.
Price by module and number of users
Payment terms.
15. Process of acceptance of the ERP by stages and linking with the payments.
Once the ERP decision is made, the vendor and organization enter into a legal
contract. Such legal contract should list the obligations, duties, responsibilities,
deliverables and the value components. It should also include the clauses on issues
arising out of unforeseen circumstances and how to resolve them with the legal remedy
available to both the parties. Since, the ERP is a product of several technologies, there
should be clauses relating to safeguarding the interests of each other to cover the risk
arising out of the technology failure.
The ERP is a tool to manage the enterprise resources to achieve the business
objective. It is a supporting system and does not solve all the problems of business
management. The success of the ERP lies in its implementation with commitment. It
requires full participation of the organization. It is to be appreciated as a managerial tool
and not as a labor saving device. Since, potentially the ERP is designed for productivity
rise, the management must exploit it to its advantage by adopting the best practices or
changing the practices through the business process reengineering.
The ERP implementation, generally, follows the waterfall mode approach. Once a firm
order is received the implementation begins with kick-off meeting between the vendor
and the organization. In such meeting the organizational issues are taken care of. Since it
is a long term activity a preliminary planning is done to start the implementation.
Though, initially, the study has been carried out by the vendor, more in-depth study is
taken up jointly by the vendor and the project in-charge of the organization.
In this phase of study the user are contacted for their requirement specifications.
These requirements may be of the data, information, function, features, processes or
reports. It is necessary to understand them to evaluate the ability of the ERP solution to
satisfy these requirements.
Since, the ERP is designed as a standard package, it after requires changes and
modifications to suit the requirements of the business.
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All the ERP packages provide standard features, functions lists of the package
used. These lists are examined vis-à-vis the requirements and new document is prepared
called as the deviation RDD.
Once the deviation RDD is made, it should be approved by the authorized person
in the organization. The purpose of such a document is to freeze any requirement to carry
out further changes in the package.
In the evaluation of standard RDD, two kinds of changes emerge, one major,
where the ERP design needs to be changed. Such changes are time consuming and the
vendor may charge additionally for such requirement fulfillment. Other changes may be
minor and may not affect the design of ERP. The minor changes are cosmetic and / or in
presentation, and they are generally at the lower end of the process. The changes are like
the field change, the report format modifications, and the computing process and so on.
The advantage of preparing the RDD and a deviation there from in that the users of the
ERP get committed to the solution as they have thought the standard requirement
provision of the ERP and the deviation required in the provision. In this process, the
resistance to change is eliminated, due to direct involvement of the users and the decision
makers.
The another distinct advantage of the RDD and the deviation from the RDD, is
that it provides the revised specifications clearly to the designer and the developer to
bring out the changes required in the design of the ERP. It also further helps to assess the
work load arising out of the changed requirement.
As soon as the new RDD is prepared, the process design starts implementing the
changes. The moment the changes are required the processes of design coding; testing,
etc. come into picture for execution. The changes of made, are then tested on a sample
data and other steps of unit testing, module testing and system testing for complete
integration are taken. After establishing the requirement definition and description (RDD)
and mapping it with the standard RDD of the ERP solution, the DRDD (Deviation RDD)
is prepared for changes in the solution and implementation. The implementation steps are
given as follows:
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7. The solution is then demonstrated to the users for their understanding and
confirmation.
8. The users are trained to run the solution and resolve the difficulties in
operations of the system solution.
9. The change over from the manual system to the ERP solution are meticulously
planned, taking care of the cut off dates, the opening balances, the data
transfer etc.
10. A logbook of the system usage is kept to note down the problems, solutions
and modifications carried out to make the solution more efficient and
effective.
11. Standard reports like checklists, ledger, trial balance, and sales analysis are
taken to confirm the integrity of the ERP solution.
12. The standard documentation of the ERP solution is changed to the changed
version of the ERP.
13. The system performance is checked in terms of speed, response, etc. and the
ERP solution and / or the hardware is turned for improving the performance of
the solution.
14. After three to four months working, a review meeting with the user is
conducted, taking the support of the log system for the purpose of
improvement, confirmation and finalization of the ERP implementation.
The major hassles in the ERP implementation are due to:
1. The resistance of the users in the acceptance of standard ERP solution.
2. The limited awareness of the users and the appreciation of the Information
Technology applications.
3. The ability of the users to change over from the old conventional systems to the
technology based new systems.
4. The level of acceptance of the standard business processes incorporated in the
system. Lower the acceptance, longer the implementation time, resulting into a
loss of efficiency and effectiveness of the solution.
5. A lack of clarity on the business requirement, the customer focus and the strategy
of business and its impact on the ERP solution.
6. The ERP implementation is carried out without properly evaluating the business
processes and practices through business process reengineering and is preceded
by restructuring of the organization.
7. The choice of the ERP solution. Not all the ERP solutions are appropriate for the
organization. Each solution has its own peculiarities in terms of design,
architecture, and technology, coverage of business scope, functions and features.
Some solutions are good for certain type of business and industry and not for all
the businesses and industries.
Ideally, the choice should be based on the ERP fit for the organizations, functions
and features. Higher the fit, better is the solution from all angles. It the fit is higher,
the customization will be less and the user acceptance will be higher. In short, the
implementation cycle would be short.
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There is a qualitative change in the MIS design due to the complexity of the business
operations and the risk involved in handling the business.
The management focus is shifting from the function to the process, i.e., the
management requires the information support in the process management and not in
the function management.
The MIS is now required to maximize the process productivity and performance.
The decision making support is required for the process optimization. The decision
models are built across the business management functions. Besides the normal MIS
reports required for the top management, the Top Management also needs a set of the
additional reports, where the critical business processes and the critical success
factors are a focus area.
The ERP solution caters to this requirement very easily. The ERP solution is an
integrated solution. The solution operation is seamless, disregarding the hardware or
the software platform. The ERP solution takes care of data integrity and consistency
across the organization, which may have multiple locations.
The ERP design provides transparency to the users of information giving them an
access to the sensitive information to locate, define and resolve the problems. The
ERP enables the work group management efficiently and effectively. The effective
uses of the variety of tools, like the data replication, the work flow automation, the
EDI/D-mail, the data warehousing, the EIS, the bar coding, and the paging systems
are built in ERP. The effective use of these variety of tools also speeds up processing,
cuts down the operation cycle time and raises the ability of the management to take
decisions. Once the ERP is built in the organization, it takes care of the data, the
information and its storage and, therefore, provides the capability to modify the
Management Information System from time to time as per the changing information
needs.
All the solutions use the client-server architecture in the solution, where the data
processing, and the application level processing logic is taken care in the server level
giving freedom to the user, as a client, to define the problem and evolve the solution
using the front-end tools. The front-end hardware and the tools are so powerful that
an individual can develop his own MIS based on his decision making information
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needs beside the usual MIS like corporate, functional, etc. the decision maker can
operate as an individual in isolation from the others, if need be.
The ERP through such an MIS design improves the decision making skills of the
individuals very effectively. It provides autonomy in global system operations. With
the ERP, the MIS design is more flexible highly decision intensive and efficient.
ERP along with other systems becomes an EMS, MIS design uses ERP which in
turn uses other systems for inputs in terms of data capture, transaction processing and
data base creation, MIS in ERP environment is a sophisticated design serving the
needs of the organization.
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EXERCISES
1. Develop a system model for personnel situation, when Human Resource database
Is already available in the organization. The manager of the department should be
Able to select person(s) against a skill profile of his interest. He is also interested
In knowing the rejection of a number of persons against each skill factor in
Profile.
Assume that the Company maintains a human resource database in terms
Of the various skills, such as technical, mathematical, engineering, conceptual, etc.
and work experience of the candidated in each field.
2. Explain as to how you would use Bar Code Technology in the personnel function.
The organization has issued bar coded identity cards with photographs to every
employee.
Explain the use of this card in
(a) Shop floor control function.
(b) Work order control
(c) Personnel movement in the premises.
(d) Stores management.
3. The organization has a Credit Cooperative Society for the benefit of employees.
The society offers financial assistance by way of loan, towards housebuilding,
purchase of white goods, payment of education fees, and festival advances, etc.
The repayment of loan is through the salary paid to the employees every
month. Develop an application for loan management and build an interface to the
payroll system for loan installment deductions. In this regard, give a system
overview on the following lines:
What care would you take in both the systems, i.e., the loan management system
and the payroll system, so that the employee is not overburdened with the loan
obligation and every month after the instalment deduction seventy per cent of the
normal take home pay is maintained.
4. Develop an application for bank reconciliation. Assume that the bank gives a soft
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copy of the bank statements, specifying the cheque clearances against the
accounts opened by the Company.
5. In large commercial transactions, the normal payment terms are through the Letter
of Credit (L/C). Study the L/C documents and its processing from opening of the
L/C to the closure of the L/C Develop a small L/C Application to keep a track of
the L/C transactions and the L/C monitoring and its interface to the finance system.
6. A company has for strategic business units (SBUs) responsible for the assigned
performance. At the end of the financial year, four balance sheets are consolidated
for the Company. Each SBU has a chart of account created for its business
management. The company has its own chart of account different than those of
the SBUs charts of account.
While designing the consolidated systems for the Company, what, design
steps would you take so that the consolidated results are available by the third of
the month ?
The company6 would also like to build the MIS reports around sensitive
accounts of the company, and also of those of the SBU.
7. A production manager would like to have at the end of every shift, a production
report indicating the performance of the production shop. Design a report format
and the input sources for the production of such a report. What kind of technology
support is necessary to capture the data, and process the same at the end of the shift ?
The production shop is of the shop is of the following types:
(a) Job shop manufacturing
(b) Assembly line.
(c) Continuous process with by-products.
(d) Packaging shop after manufacturing a variety of medicines, in the form of
tables, capsules, strips, etc.
8. A manufacturing process is built in with the counter to compute the number of
bottles filled. The shop manager would like to use the counter for management of
the process.
At the end of the shift, the data of filled bottles should be sent to the main
system for the shift production report. At the end of 1,00,000 bottles, the process
should stop for a shift, the number of bottles broken are 20, an exception report
should be sent to the shop manager for resetting the process of bottle filling.
Draw a system flow chart for this application.
9. A gift shop prepares gift boxes for sale at the time of New Year, Diwali Festival,
Christmas, and for marriages. The shop has over 1000 gift articles which are
uniquely identified by a bar code.
A customer places an order for a gift box packed with the assorted gift
articles. A box may contain one or more item but not exceeding four. Since, the
business is a seasonal one, a quick response to the enquiry and order processing is
necessary. An order of less than 100 boxes is not accepted.
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Draw an application system flow chart starting from enquiry processing to
the order processing, including packaging, delivery and billing. All the orders are
accepted with 70 per cent advance from the customers. The gift shop has a
standard price list and a standard list of the gift items. The shop has a small
packaging unit in the same town from where the delivery and billing takes place.
The warehouse and packaging is at the same location.
Identify in the system the following.
(a) Masters
(b) Transactions
(c) Relations
(d) Processes
(e) Outputs
(f) MIS reports
Design the system in such a way that a least paper work is necessary, the
communication is faster and the execution of the customer order is efficient.
Break the application in tow parts-front end and back end support.
10. A company resorts to the subcontracting as an alternative to manufacturing in
house. It has a list of the approved subcontractors. Some are on a contract basis
and some are chosen against the specific order requirement. Since, the
subcontracting was not a major activity so far, it was not brought under main
materials production management system.
Identify the system issues in the subcontracting functionality and discuss
its interfacing with the other application systems. The commercial aspect of the
subcontracting is decided by the Purchase Division while the approval, choice,
and job to be subcontracted is decided by the Central Planning. Draw a system
hierarchy to handle the subcontract function with a specific focus on:
(a) Material accounting
(b) Job accounting
(c) Purchase accounting
(d) Interface to production planning
11. A large pharmaceutical company has four factory locations and eight warehouses
for distribution of products to the wholesalers. The total number of items are over
10,000 stock keeping units.
Suggest the analysis of inventory, which would throw light on the
movement, aging, holding and disposal of the items. What methods you would
suggest in the materials management system os that it helps the warehouse
management, distribution management and production management
12. A Super Shoppee Departmental Store wants to design a system whereby the
proper procurement, inventory and billing management would take place. The
systems manger of the Shoppee wants two systems, a front end and a back end, to
handle this requirement. The front end system should handle customer billing and
the updation of inventory and the back end system should handle the procurement
and the inventory management with the MIS reports to the management.
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Write a system write-up explaining the objectives, scope, requirement,
transactions processes and the reports the system should provide. Also provide the
queries which are ofter raised by the customers, buyers, and the front end desk
operators and the procurement and inventory manager.
13. Enquiry processing and the order processing thereafter, are common application
systems in all the manufacturing and trading businesses. The main factor in these
systems is to provide quick response to the customer on his requirements.
16. A company wants about 20 management trainees from the 1st of January for
supporting their growth plans of expansion and diversification. The programme of
recruiting the management trainees includes releasing the company advertisement,
application scrutiny, shortlisting, interviewing and appointing them. After the
appointments, they would undergo a Company induction programme and the general
management programme followed by a specific function management programme.
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The function management programme is in Personnel, Production, Materials
and finance. These programmes would run parallel. At the end of these programmes,
a four week programme of Strategic Management of business would be conducted,
before they are posted in various positions.
Draw a PERT network model of the Management Trainee recruitment using
the MS project package. For each activity in the network, firm up subactivities which
should be completed.
17. An automobile manufacturer has eight distribution and service centers for four new
models it has just introduced in the market. These models differ from each other in
body and features; while the engine, chassis, transmission system, suspension
electrical, etc. are the same. The company wishes to create a knowledge database on
the Vendor-Complaint performance and reasons of the failure, and the other reliable
data for evaluation of the vendor performance, design performance and also for
designing a knowledge based expert system for repairs and service during the
warranty period of the vehicle.
Design the system scope in terms of subsystems and their relation and linkage
to each other. Suggest a data model for the knowledge database for using it to
improve the design and the manufacturing processes in the company.
18. Design a Decision Support System for the vendor selection on the following basis.
The factors and the point weightages are given to use them effectively in the DSS.
The factors to be considered as follows.
100
Evolve your own decision rules to design the DSS for selection of the
vendors. How would you collect the data on the various factors for using the same in the
DSS ?
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19. Map the following technologies against the application and state its use in the
application :
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