Information System Management (ISM) can be defined as the managing of a computer system that processes data of an organization and generates meaningful information that helps managers to make decisions. Before the development of computer, business people had to write every transaction on a piece of paper; rewrote them into a ledger for accounting purpose then transferred to inventory notebooks for record keeping and future purchase. These data had to be processed and analyzed into useful information and documented into reports to managers. Such a manual system often took several weeks and it is easy to make mistakes at different points. However, with computers, everything could be processed, analyzed, and generate reports in a matter of hours.
Information System Management (ISM) can be defined as the managing of a computer system that processes data of an organization and generates meaningful information that helps managers to make decisions. Before the development of computer, business people had to write every transaction on a piece of paper; rewrote them into a ledger for accounting purpose then transferred to inventory notebooks for record keeping and future purchase. These data had to be processed and analyzed into useful information and documented into reports to managers. Such a manual system often took several weeks and it is easy to make mistakes at different points. However, with computers, everything could be processed, analyzed, and generate reports in a matter of hours.
Today information system has become a powerful tool for every large and small business. It is difficult to imagine that any business can operate without some degrees of automation. Typical information systems consist of hardware, software, connected to users by a network and managed by technology professionals. Hardware or the computer system processes business data as directed by software or the application programs. The program instructs the computer to collect, analyze, and organize data into several types of reports. Different managers get the data analyzed in different ways to meet their roles and responsibility requirements. Today with computing technology and telecommunication, a global company’s information system can capture and process data from all over the world and generate reports for almost everything management needs to make decision.
Information System needs workers with different skill levels to operate it efficiently. For example, Software Developers write programs that collect business data and store them into the databases. Database Administrators define the structure of the data to be stored, organized, extracted, and updated in the database. They organize these data into different kinds of reports to meet certain requirements set by users. The System Analysts review these reports, analyze the contents and extract them into useful information for managers to make decision. The Business Analysts review these reports to check whether actual performance is meeting the company’s business goals or whether certain project targets are likely to be achieved or not. They also identify problem areas that may need to be investigated in further detail, or immediate remedial actions can be taken. The Business Intelligent specialists analyze both internal reports and external market news to identify unexpected patterns, problems and trends that may give management certain business advantages. They organize these data into easily understood formats called Executive Dashboard to present a total picture of the current state of the business to top managers. These dashboard reports also contain special market information and limited industry data to help top managers look on emerging market trends.
By having Information Systems, managers always have up-to-date status reports as well as information about problem areas. In this fast changing world, every level of management needs certain information to make decision as speed is the rule of this competitive market. With advanced network technology, some Information Systems has been transformed into the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems that help global companies manage their operations from many locations that spread all over the world.