MIS Assignment The Guidelines for the Assignment in MIS are as follows: This is an individual assignment.

Each student has to identify a local firm (organized sector) in your home town and visit the firm and try and understand how they are utilizing information support systems for their business.

The Characteristics to be studied: 1. What are the main uses of computer-based systems in this particular organization? You can then work out if they are best described as transaction processing systems, management information systems, decision support systems, etc. The main uses can be classified as transaction processing and management information system in this particular organization. 2. For each system identified, what is the main type of data stored on the computer? The data stored can be listed as inventory masters, client masters, account masters and the transaction details like sales, purchase and so on. 3. How is the data stored (in a file, a local database, or a shared database, on disc or on tape)? The data is stored in a relational database locally in the servers hard disk. 4. For each system, who are the main users, who puts data into the systems and who makes use of it subsequently? The main users can be classified as data entry operators who keys in the data like the masters into the system and who manages the transactions like billing, daily accounting information etc. It is used by the management to generate the necessary reports like stock on hand, critical stock items, financial statements, VAT register and so on. 5. Has the advent of new systems had a significant impact on the organization have jobs been lost or gained, have the required skills altered, has the management structure changed? The impact of introduction of new systems has been minimal in the organization because the Information Management System deployed has been used mainly to augment the existing work force and to provide services more effectively and efficiently to the customers. Therefore no change in skill set or management structure was warranted. 6. Does the system support the organizations overall strategy in a substantial way? Are there possibilities to envisage new systems that would have a significant strategic role? The system supports the organization strategy to the extent that service and support to the clients have been streamlined and made more responsive. Thus the possibility of new

systems having any significant strategic role is limited in scope for the present. However if the organization grows to provide more services in more areas, this scenario can change in future.

7. Who designed the systems, wrote the programs, designed the reports and determined what data should be stored in the system? Was it done within the organization, by consultants or were software packages bought from outside vendors? The system and its data structure as well as the programs and reports were designed by professional consultants in association with the management representatives to suit the complete needs of the organization in line with their objectives and strategies for future growth.

8. Are there any external constraints on how the system operates? For example, an accounting system may have to meet certain legal requirements. There may be government reporting requirements. A system that stores information about people may have to conform to data protection legislation. Yes definitely the system has to meet the constraints of the business environment like the tax structure, billing structure and so on. In addition the financial data and reports has to conform to the accepted legal and financial practices as stipulated by the Government.

9. Does the system require any particular security measures? Are there only a limited number of authorized users? How are others kept away? The system is not exposed to the outside environment and is deployed only for internal applications. Within the organization, the users are authorized with username and encrypted passwords for security. In addition, several layers of security are built in for carrying out different activities to ensure adequate protection of the data entry and modification process as well as report generation. For eg: only authorized and management level users can generate the credit statement, financial reports and so on.

10. What would happen if the system were to fail? Is there a back-up procedure? Are safety copies made of the stored data? Could the organization function without the particular system? If so, for how long minutes, hours, days or months? Any system can potentially fail at any time that is the basic philosophy. To protect against this eventuality, a backup of the complete data is taken on a daily basis and saved on to a remote system. Since this is not a time critical application as such, failure up to a few hours or even a maximum of 24 hours can be tolerated.

The name of the organization and contact person Mr.Sudip, Core Image Technologies, EM Sons Complex, Opp.Town Railway station, Palakkad 1. Based on the study, you need to prepare a report (8-10 Pages) and submit it on or before 27th of May. The Project requires you to visit the firm in person and study the details as mentioned. You need to provide the details of the organization as well as the contact person at the firm. Wish you all the very best!