COVER PAGE

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT ON MIS/ICT MANAGEMENT

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTERS IN BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA

COURSE CODE: BUAD 822

NAME: ONWUBUYA, CHUKWUEBUKA PHILIP

REG NO: P19DLBA80076
TUTOR: IBRAHIM OTUKOYA
QUESTION ONE

How can MIS assist the following levels of management in discharging their core duties and responsibilities
considering the below:

i) Strategic managers.

Strategic-level systems are designed to help senior management address strategic issues which usually
are visionary projects that span long periods of 5 to 10 years, both in the firm and in the external
environment. Strategic activities and decisions deal with situations that significantly change the way and
manner in which business is done. They significantly modify a business’s competitive strategy. Strategic
plans include such ideas like: purchase of new machinery, building new plants and other expansion plans.
Companies derive their shorter-range planning, budgeting, and resource allocation from these plans. They
are also used to hasten the reaction time of the environmental changes and aid the organization to achieve
a competitive advantage over its competitors.

ii) Tactical/functional managers.

Management-level systems are broader in scope than operational-level systems, they use mainly internal
sources of data. MIS serve the monitoring, controlling, decision-making, and administrative activities of
middle managers. The principal question addressed by such systems is this: Are things working well?
Management-level systems typically provide periodic reports rather than instant information on operations.
These systems also answer “what-if” questions: What could occur to expenses in the short term if a new
Generator is purchased for the factory? What would happen to our return on investment if a factory
schedule were delayed for two months? Answers to these questions frequently require new data from
outside the organisation, as well as data from inside that cannot be easily drawn from existing operational-
level systems.

iii) Operational managers

MIS designed for Operational managers support operational activities by keeping track of the elementary
activities and transactions of the organisation, such as assigning labor to employees and recording the
number of hours they work, or placing a purchase order. Operational activities are short-term in nature. The
information systems that support them are mainly are mainly obtained from within the organisation.
Operational systems are used by supervisors (first-line managers), operators, and clerical employees. The
principal purpose of systems at this level is to answer routine questions and to track the flow of transactions
through the organisation. Information generally must be easily available, current, and accurate. A typical
example of such information could be: How many bags of cement were used by a laborer in making bricks
in a construction site; how many hours did laborers in a farm till the land; etc.
QUESTION TWO

You have just developed a new system for BASSOLE COMPANY LIMITED after improving on the later
one. What advice would you give to the management on either to use the new system only or use the two
systems concurrently?

ANSWER TO QUESTION TWO

This situation normally occurs in company in use of ERP software. I will advice the management to
gradually transit from the old software to the new software. This is because if there was a sudden change
to new software a number of problems could arise. Such as:

A number of the employees are still largely unfamiliar with the new software and will need extensive
training to adapt.

A number of the company previous records or data were prepared with the old software and as such a
gradual transfer of these records and data will done gradually to prevent data loss and mix-up

There is also need to test run the new software to detect and fix if there a problems and incompatibilities
between the software as it is currently configured and the company operations or procedure.

QUESTION THREE

Experience and Research shows that good Information has numerous qualities, List and explain five (5) of
its qualities.

ANSWER TO QUESTION THREE

Five characteristics of high quality information are:

 Accuracy
 Completeness
 Consistency
 Uniqueness
 Timeliness

1. Accuracy: Information needs to be of high quality to be useful and accurate. The information that is input
into a data base is presumed to be perfect as well as accurate. The information should also be
reliable/trustworthy.

2. Completeness: Partial information may as well be incomplete information because it is only a small part
of the picture. Completeness is as necessary as accuracy when inputting data into a database.
3. Consistency: Consistency in database systems refers to the requirement that any given database
transaction must change affected data only in allowed ways. Thus any data written to the database must be
valid according to all defined rules, including constraints. Consistency means data across all systems
reflects the same information and are in synch with each other all through.

4. Uniqueness: In order to add value to any organization, information must be unique and distinctive.
Information is a very essential part of any organization and if used properly can make a company
competitive or can keep a company competitive

5. Timeliness: New and current data is more valuable to organizations than old outdated information.
Especially now, in this era of high technological advances, out-of-date information can keep a company
from achieving their goals or from surviving in a competitive arena.

QUESTION FOUR

Businesses use information systems at all levels of operation to collect, process and store data.
Management aggregates and disseminates this data in the form of information needed to carry out the daily
operations of business.” In the 21st century business world, what are the challenges facing MIS
professionals in the development and management of organizations’ MIS?

ANSWER TO QUESTION FOUR

MIS provides organisations with a lot of power and control, but there are limitations to what an organisation
can do within the confines of the law and capital available to the organisation. The development of
Information technology will produce benefits for many and costs for others. Some of the challenges facing
MIS professionals in the development and management of organizations’ MIS are:

 maximizing the value of information within the organization by facilitating its use and integrating it
into the business process;

 ethical issues in information management, collection, control, monitoring and data privacy;

 sharing of information along supply chains and the discipline to ensure the integrity of the data
collected;

 information services with a strategic, rather than a functional, focus;

 attracting and retaining highly qualified employees (data programmers and software developers)
 an understanding of and emphasis on the implications of information (i.e., the interdependence
between information support and organizational performance);

 keeping up with the rapid technological changes and development through upgrades, occasioned
by the current rapid technological advancements and also continuously incorporating new
technology;

 increased educational and advisory responsibilities in the process of offering services;

 Outsourcing and the potential loss of control of data during the process;

 High cost of new technology and upgrade software which will be required to be up to date with
current trends in information management;

 Provision of services to higher levels of management.