FIN3228/HRM3200 : Management Information Systems

Lesson 02
Business Processes and Information Systems

Learning Objectives
 Define business processes and describe their relationship to information systems.
 Evaluate the role played by systems serving the various levels of management in a business.
 Describe the interrelationship between different types of information systems.
 Explain how enterprise applications improve organizational performance.
 Describe types of enterprise applications.

Business Processes and Information Systems

Business processes refer to the way in which work is organized, coordinated and focused to produce a valuable
product or service. They are the collection of activities required to produce a product or service in an
organization. These activities are supported by flows of material, information, and knowledge among the
participants in business processes. Many business processes are tied to a specific functional area and some cross
many different functional areas and require coordination across departments.

Types of Information Systems

Since there are different interests, specialties, and levels in an organization, there are different kinds of
information systems. No single system can provide all the information an organization needs. A typical business
organization has systems supporting processes for each of the major business functions and also different
systems to support the decision-making needs of different levels of management.

Information Systems for different management groups

Operational level employees, middle management, and senior management each use systems to support the
decisions they must make to run the company. These systems include;

Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)

 Serve operational levels
 Perform and record daily routine transactions necessary to conduct business
 Serve predefined, structured goals and decision making
 Allow managers to monitor status of operations and relations with external environment.
 Major producers of information for the other systems and business functions.

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Lesson 02: Business Processes and Information Systems

Business Intelligence Systems for Decision Support

All the management systems that are used to support decision making of middle level management and senior
management are known as systems for business intelligence. Business Intelligence is a contemporary term for
data and software tools for organizing, analyzing, and providing access to data to help managers and other
enterprise users make more informed decisions.

Management Information Systems (MIS)

 Serve middle management
 Provide reports on firm’s current performance, based on data from TPS
 Provide answers to routine questions with predefined procedure for answering them
 Typically have little analytic capability

Decision Support Systems (DSS)

 Serve middle management
 Support non-routine decision making
Example: What is the impact on production schedule if December input prices doubled?
 Often use internal information from TPS and MIS, as well as external information

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Lesson 02: Business Processes and Information Systems

Executive Support Systems (ESS)

Senior managers need systems that address strategic issues and long-term trends, both in the firm and in the
external environment. Executive support systems (ESS) help senior management to address non-routine decisions
requiring judgment, evaluation, and insight. They filter, compress, and track critical data, displaying the data of
greatest importance to senior managers.
The information is normally presented in the form of a digital dashboard, which displays on a single screen graphs
and charts of key performance indicators for managing a company.

Enterprise Applications
Enterprise applications, which are systems that span functional areas, focus on executing business processes
across the business firm, and include all levels of management. They are systems for linking the enterprise.
Enterprise applications help businesses become more flexible and productive by coordinating their business
processes more closely and integrating groups of processes.
Enterprise applications are used to ensure that TPS, MIS, DSS, and ESS work together smoothly.

Enterprise Application Architecture

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Lesson 02: Business Processes and Information Systems

Four major enterprise applications:

Enterprise Systems / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems

 Integrates business processes of firm’s different functions in to a single software system.
 Collects data from different firm functions and stores data in single central data repository.
 Resolves problem of fragmented, redundant data sets and systems.
 Enable: - Coordination of daily activities
- Efficient response to customer orders
- Provide valuable information for improving management decision making

Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems

Supply chain management (SCM) systems help the firm to manage their relationships with suppliers. These
systems help suppliers, purchasing firms, distributors, and logistics companies to share information about orders,
production, inventory levels, and delivery of products and services so that they can source, produce, and deliver
goods and services efficiently.
The ultimate objective is to get the right amount of the products from their source to their point of consumption
in the least amount of time and at the lowest cost. SCM systems are one type of inter-organizational system
because they automate the flow of information across organizational boundaries.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems help the firm to manage their relationships with customers.
CRM systems provide information to coordinate all the business processes that deal with customers in sales,
marketing, and service to optimize revenue, customer satisfaction, and customer retention. This information
helps firms identify, attract, and retain the most profitable customers; provide better service to existing
customers; and increase sales.

Knowledge Management Systems (KMS)

Some firms perform better than others due to the better knowledge they have about how to create, produce,
and deliver products and services. This firm knowledge is difficult to imitate, unique, and can be leveraged into
long-term strategic benefits.
Knowledge management systems (KMS) enable organizations to better manage processes for capturing and
applying knowledge and expertise. These systems collect all relevant knowledge and experience in the firm, and
make it available wherever and whenever it is needed to improve business processes and management decisions.
They also link the firm to external sources of knowledge.