Evaluation and Comparison of Information Systems

Question: Compare the difference between several forms of information systems. A discussion and comparison of: Executive information systems (EIS), Decision support systems (DSS) Management information systems (MIS)? Answer: Evaluation and Comparison of Information Systems Executive Information System (EIS): It is a time of intelligent management support system that provides the business managers the capability to make critical business decisions by facilitating heavy data storage. EIS is most commonly utilized as a tool of proficient guidance by senior level mangers for making important business related decisions. The decision making facilities provided by EIS is mostly unstructured (Ada, Karaman Ghaffarzadeh, 2015). However, it gives guidance to make high level strategic decisions about the major functionalities of the particular organization. EIS extracts summary of the important information from internal systems and combines with external data to take intelligent senior level decisions. Decision Support System (DSS): As the name suggests, it guides a business organizations to make the right decisions (Asemi, Safari Zavareh, 2011). The intelligent support system automatically considers the major operations of the organizations, forecasts, management and planning activities and other functions. DSS focuses on information processing that helps taking semi-structured or unstructured decisions that are beyond the scope of describing in accurate detail. Most of the problems resolved by DSS are often based on qualitative information and uncertain knowledge. Numerous organizations widely use DSS for the purpose of making the major investment decisions. DSS uses data sources comprising of variety of information such as accounting, production, inventory, analytical tools and statistical analysis activities. Management Information System (MIS): It focuses on the major internal operations of a business for managing the functions by the middle level managers. Both MIS and DSS implementation is necessary to a business as MIS suggests the basic theories for decision making while DSS guides the actual process of practical analysis. MIS is utilized for making the operational decisions by staff managers and management professionals (Downing, 2014). On the contrary, DSS can be used my managers and individual at various hierarchical levels of the organization. MIS generates performance reports based on the existing transaction processing systems (TPS) and supports structured decision making. MIS is used in product pricing and stock management decision making activities. EIS best practices: Executive decision making can be used for making last minute major and crucial decisions by analyzing operation data from different departmental sources (Zeng Duan, 2012). EIS can be utilized to access the databases to gather data and efficiently converts them into reports and charts so that executives can make decisions quickly. EIS can gather relevant information from different organizational and departmental levels and converts them into performance charts and reports to provide specialized support in senior level decision making. Therefore, EIS is very useful for company CEOs, executives and senior managers for formulating strategic decisions to strengthen the companys long term performance. Benefits and role of systems to improve competitive advantage: Executive information systems extract data from organizational sources for providing accurate measure of performance using graphs, charts and reports so that the executives of the business can take proper decisions accordingly (Joshi, 2013). MIS and DSS helps in making quicker and more accurate decisions that can improve the operational and functional attributes of the companys business. These information systems assess the market value and the firms competitive position so as to assist the managers and executives to take the next steps based on correct information. References Ada, S., Karaman, E., Ghaffarzadeh, M. (2015). Decision Making Based on Management Information System and Decision Support System. Journal for Studies in Management and Planning, 1(3), 206-217. Asemi, A., Safari, A., Zavareh, A. A. (2011). The role of management information system (MIS) and Decision support system (DSS) for managers decision making process. International Journal of Business and Management, 6(7), p164. Downing, C. E. (2014). Examining the Present and Looking to the Future of DSS and Intelligent Systems. Communications of the IIMA, 3(2), 3. Joshi, G. (2013). Management Information Systems. Oxford University Press. Zeng, L., Li, L., Duan, L. (2012). Business intelligence in enterprise computing environment. Information Technology and Management, 13(4), 297-310