Selection of Information System to Business Strategic.
One of the most critical factors causing failure in implementation of management information system (MIS) is poor selection of information system to the business strategic. There are many type of MIS with various type of functions, when an organization wants to select a suitable MIS for their organization, they need to study and understand the ability and capability of the MIS system to fulfill their organizational need.
Type of Information System Available in Market.
There are various types of MIS with their own special features in the market. Among them are enterprise resource planning (ERP), inter-organizational system (IOS), electronic data interchange (EDI), electronic trading gateway (ETG), Internet e-commerce, Material resource planning (MRP), just in time (JIT), .etc. All these type of MIS are design and developed by some suppliers in order to fulfill their customer expectation. There are some organizations even instead of buying the standard system they employ some Information Technology Engineers to develop their own MIS system as per their needs. Where else some organization even out source, out-side professionals to develop MIS system as per their needs.
Management Information System and Their Ability and Capabilities.
There are many different type of management information system in market. Individually they have their own special features and capability. Below are some commonly used MIS system with their own special features and function:-
Enterprise resource planning known as ERP is one of the most commonly used MIS system. This system is widely used by mostly big companies and some SME’s. The reason is that it is very costly and time consuming to Implementing an ERP system in any organization (Li-Ling.Hsu, 2004). This system is now becoming a crucial indicator for e-business success (Chian-Son.Y, 2005). There are customized and standard ERP systems in market. The standard ERP system in market often consist of many modules that support business functions such as, manufacturing process system, inventory management system, marketing process system, Order processing system, and…. etc. (Li-Ling.Hsu, 2004).
Electronic data interchange system also known as EDI represent a kind of inter-organizational system (IOS) that traverses legal enterprise boundaries by linking two or more organizations (Gurpreet.D, 2000). This system generally uses telecommunication links in a business relationship. This system also being supported by independent applications (Gurpreet.D, 2000). Normally the integrity of the exchanged data is guaranteed by agreements and rules about data coding and data formats (Gurpreet.D, 2000).
Electronic trading gateway is known as ETG and bar-coding (Gurpreet.D, 2000). This is a major e-commerce project, which brought EDI and e-commerce efforts. There are some components still being continued to be developed further (Gurpreet.D, 2000). This system is not in favor to most customers (Gurpreet.D, 2000). They are not willing to take part in this ETG the project is slow down (Gurpreet.D, 2000).
There are many organizations made their correct choice of MIS based on their organizational requirement and special features of MIS to gain very high level of benefits. In contradict to the above statement not all organizations gain benefit by implementing MIS. Some organizations have even lost a lot of money and the other even gone bankrupt.
Factors Influencing Selection of MIS
In order to make the right selection of the MIS there are several factors needed to be consider. Among them are the ability of the MIS to provide correct and sufficient information on time to the management for decision making, the limitation of the MIS features or function in order to fulfill the organization requirement, the ability of the organization to cope up with very fast development currently faced in MIS, the supplier ability on technical knowledge and support, the understanding of the technology by the organization, and, .etc.
The Technical Ability of the MIS to Provide Correct and Sufficient Information on Time to the Management for Decision Making
An efficient and effective organization need to make decision very fast in order for them to be competitive (Pierre.M, 2001). It is vital for an organization to have the necessary and sufficient information and the required management skills to manipulate such information into implementation of action (Pierre.M, 2001). Having that in mind, it is very important to understand what type of data is currently available in the organization and to what extend this data need to be manipulated or converted into useful information and to check if the proposed MIS is capable of delivering the required information on time for decision making. It is obvious that technology have been a significant driver for an organization to speed up appropriate action (Pierre.M, 2001). If the organization failed to study and make decision based on the technical ability of the MIS to fulfill the organization need. Such decision will fail the organization objective to make the right decision fast and precise. Therefore when choose the type of MIS to be used in any organization it is the best practice that, the organization need to study the ability and capability of the MIS to meet the organization need on time and precise.
The Limitation of the MIS Features or Functions in order to fulfill the Organization Requirement.
In order to avoid unwanted surprises or breakdown after installation it is very much important for an organization to be clear with what is needed for their organization. Studies show that in Taiwan they faced a lot of problem during trying to implement an ERP system in that country. In Taiwan one of the organization have choose ERP system as their MIS. During the implementation they discovered that, there are many factors influencing the smooth implementation of the system. Among the factors are language barriers, difference in culture, nation, and politics (Chian-Son.Y, 2005). Such situation have caused the organization to spend more then what they have budget for the implementation as well the delay in the implementation process. Therefore it is important for the organization to really study and analyze the limitation of MIS features before make their choice to choose the system.
Based on the similar study carried at Taiwan, it is also shows that many countries have problem with the business models. This is due to most ERP software packages are developed In European and US, their software were reflecting more European or US industry practices then international practices (Chian-Son.Y, 2005). This means the difference in culture, nation and politics does not fit this software package to fit all countries and organization (Chian-Son.Y, 2005).
The Ability of the Organization to cope up with Very Fast Development Currently Faced in MIS.
It is also very important for the organization to understand, the complexity of the MIS technology (Caroline.C, 2000). Normally different technology has different level of complexity (Caroline.C, 2000). The more complex the system the higher the requirement for structural agreement from computer to computer message mapping (Caroline.C, 2000). In such case the organization may need to learn and adopt the new technology, this means more cost is needed for upgrade to the new technology (Caroline.C, 2000). In such condition it’s become very high cost for the organization. Then the question is, does the organization is able to cope up with the increase in cost? Does this organization require such complex MIS? Is there any other simple MIS in market which can perform to the need of the organization without incurring high cost? Such consideration will help the organization will help to choose the right MIS.
The next issue is the compatibility, this problem arise when the existing hardware and software system could not support or interface with the newly developed MIS in market (Caroline.C, 2000). The compatibility problem can also come from external source, such as suppliers or customers MIS. Such situation will create the need for new interfaces, as well as for translation from internal file formats to international standard documents meant a significant cost to the company, which must be explicitly recognized before involvement in the project (Caroline.C, 2000).
The MIS Supplier Technical Knowledge and Ability to Support.
There are many suppliers in the market who is providing MIS system. Some of them are very establish and experienced companies, some are newly formed and still in their learning stage. The one with the most experience make less mistake where else the one with the less experience normally try to compete with lower pricing.
It is not like just buying MIS software, implement it and start using them. In normal situation after implement MIS software, there will be some minor problem here and there. There will be some need to make alignments and software interface. Before selection it will be more appropriate to have some service contract with the supplier to keep the software up to date. The organization is also need to have a long term relationship with the supplier to overcome unexpected breakdown or modification need to fit the future technological advancement.
During the selection of MIS is also highly important to choose the right supplier with right knowledge and their existence in long run. If such consideration is not being considered, there is a high chance for the implementation project will be failed or escalate. The escalation normally appends when the project manager decides to continues a project after receiving negative information about it (Dmitriy.V.C, 2008). In this case the manager who handle this project will continuing the project even when he knows the suppliers is not reliable, hoping of showing to themselves the rationality of their original decision. This is value-reducing for the firm (Dmitriy.V.C, 2008).
The Organization’s Ability to educate their Organization and adopt the New Technology.
Most organization invested a lot of money to implement sophisticated MIS system without understanding the implication of cost of implementation and time taken. If we take a ERP system for example, this system often consist of many modules that support business functions such as manufacturing process, inventory management system, marketing, order processing system, etc (Li-Ling.H, 2004). For ERP system, knowledge of the system and the process is mandatory. Without the knowledge of the system it seems it is no going to be very helpful. In order for an organization to be able to use such system it is important to know if the end users in the organization able to adopt this system or technology without any problem. It is necessary for organization to choose the type of MIS which can be easily understand by their employees and user friendly.
How Organization can Overcome Poor Selection of MIS.
There are several ways an organization can overcome poor selection of MIS. One of them is prior to the selection; the organization should study the ability of the end user to adopt this system without any problem. If the end user have problem to understand the MIS system, a detail training will help the user get clear idea on how the system linked and works. The other method is to get Information technology consultant or to employ one with such knowledge to monitor closely and support the organization when ever there is a problem or breakdown in the system. The best way of all is study and analyses then make the selection.
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