"Strategy and Execution "

Change and Innovation are becoming a way of life for most people. Technology is part of daily lives, changing the way we cook, communicate and work.

The CIO (Chief Information officer) is responsible for overseeing the preparation and dissemination of policies and procedures for new and existing systems. The CIO also acts as a change agent, who is responsible for the introduction of technologies such as telecommunications, office automation, MISs, DSSs (Decision support systems), expert systems and related activities. The data processing manager, who focus on day-to-day operations. The CIO focuses on planning and development, creative and innovative ways to meet information needs for business growth.

For example: Management Information System.

MIS is the accurate and timely information necessary to facilitate the decision-making process and enable the organizations planning, control and operational functions to be carried out effectively.

The Management Information Systems are rapidly becoming indispensable for planning, decision making, and control. How quickly and accurately managers receive information about what is going right and what is going wrong, largely determines how effective the control system will be. With information systems playing such an important role in managing organizations, it has become crucial for managers to understand how these systems should be designed, implemented and managed. For example: The small-scale manufacturer of automobile replacement parts unit with annual sales of $10 million. Every year, the firm’s 350 employees service 20,000 customer orders. These orders must be processed, billed, assembled, packed and shipped¬¬¬¬-adding up to some 400,000 transactions that must be controlled.

MIS must provide information to managers with three levels of responsibilities: Operational control, Strategic planning and Management control.

An MIS for Operational control must provide highly accurate and detailed information daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis. For example: In the transport operation management, the manager must track on a daily basis - trips, routes and fleets occupancy level for cost control purpose.

For Strategic planning, the external sources of information on economic conditions, technological developments, the actions of competitors assume paramount importance. For example, having external data on sources of information workers helped Texas Instruments plan its global operations. In the 1980’s unable to find enough software designers in Europe. Texas Instruments found that India had more skilled and trained engineers in Bangalore. As a result, the company established a successful operation center in Bangalore.

For the Management control functions needed by top-level managers, the sources of information must be both internal and external. Top Management are typically concerned with the overall financial performance of their organizations. They need information on quarterly sales and profits, financial performance (stock value), on quality levels, customer satisfaction and on the performance of competitors. For example: One major company designed the manufacturing component of its MIS this way. Supervisors receive daily reports on direct or indirect labor, materials usage, scrap, production counts and machine down time. Superintendents and department heads receive weekly department wise cost summaries and product cost reports. Plant manager receive weekly and monthly financial statement and analysis, analysis of important costs and summarized product cost reports. Divisional managers receive monthly plant comparisons, financial planning reports, product cost summaries and plant cost control reports.

Finally top management receives over all monthly and quarterly financial reviews, financial analysis and summary wise comparisons of performance.