The Bhopal School of Social Sciences

Department of Computer Applications

Subject: Management Information System (MIS)
BCA – III year
CCE – II
Note: Attempt all questions and upload the PDF on LMS before 10th March 2022.
1. Explain the types of systems in MIS?
Types of Systems in MIS are as follows:
a. Open or Closed Systems:  An open system continually interacts with its environment. It permits interaction
across its boundary; It receives input from the outside and delivers output to outside. A closed system is isolated
from environment influences. In reality, a completely closed system is rare.
b. Physical and Abstract Systems: Physical systems are tangible entities that may be static or dynamic in
operation. For e.g.: The physical parts of the computer center are the offices, desks, and chairs that
facilitate operation of the computer. Abstract systems are conceptual or nonphysical entities. They may
be as straightforward as formula of relationships among sets of variables or models – the abstract
conceptualization of physical situations.
c. Decision Support System: DSS supports the MIS by overcoming the drawback of it by providing a good
support to its top management for decision making. It advances the capabilities of MIS by assists management in
making decisions. Its actually a continually evolving model that relies heavily on operations research.
d. Formal Information System: A formal information system is based on the organization represented by the
organization chart. The chart is a map of positions and their authority relationships, indicated by boxes and
concerned by straight lines. It is concerned with the pattern of authority, communication, and work flow.
e. Informal Information System: The formal information system is a power structure designed to achieve
company goals. An organization’s emphasis on control to ensure performance tends to restrict the communication
flow among employees, however. As a result, an informal information system develops. It is an employee-based
system designed to meet personnel and vocational needs and to help solve, work related problems.
f. Computer Based Information System: A third class of information system relies on the computer for
handling business applications. The computer is now a required source of information. System analysis
relies heavily on computers for problem solving.
g. Interpersonal Communicational systems: Interpersonal communication is the sending and receiving of
information between two or more people. Interpersonal communication in the workplace also involves this
interaction in varying relational situations, such as between co-workers and between superior and subordinates.
Interpersonal communication is a process of exchange.
2. Describe different phases of SDLC?
 SDLC is a systematic process for building software that ensures the quality and correctness
of the software built. SDLC process aims to produce high-quality software that meets
customer expectations. The system development should be complete in the pre-defined time
frame and cost. SDLC consists of a detailed plan which explains how to plan, build, and
maintain specific software.
The entire SDLC process divided into the following SDLC steps:

SDLC Phases
Phase 1: Requirement collection and analysis: This stage gives a clearer picture of the scope of the
entire project and the anticipated issues, opportunities, and directives which triggered the project.
Requirements Gathering stage need teams to get detailed and precise requirements. This helps
companies to finalize the necessary timeline to finish the work of that system.
 Phase 2: Feasibility study: Feasibility Study stage includes everything which should be
designed and developed during the project life cycle.
 Phase 3: Design: In this Design phase, the system and software design documents are
prepared as per the requirement specification document.
 Phase 4: Coding: In the coding phase, developers start build the entire system by writing
code using the chosen programming language
 Phase 5: Testing: Testing is the next phase which is conducted to verify that the entire
application works according to the customer requirement.
 Phase 6: Installation/Deployment: nce the software testing phase is over and no bugs or
errors left in the system then the final deployment process starts. Based on the feedback
given by the project manager, the final software is released and checked for deployment
issues if any.
Phase 7: Maintenance: Bug fixing, upgrade, and engagement actions covered in the maintenance
face. The main focus of this SDLC phase is to ensure that needs continue to be met and that the
system continues to perform as per the specification mentioned in the first phase.
3. Who is analyst? Explain the role of analyst?
A System analyst is a person who carries the responsibilities of researching problems, finding solutions,
recommending courses of actions and coordinating with stakeholders in order to meet specified
 requirements. Systems analysts is an individual who selects and configures computer-based systems for
an organization or business. This means the analyst must understand the general objectives of the
business.
Role of an Analyst:
a. Change Agent – The analyst may be viewed as an agent of change. In the role of a change
agent, the systems analyst may select various styles to introduce change to the user organization.
b. Investigator and Monitor – An investigator extracts the real problems from existing systems
and creating information structures that uncover previously unknown trends that may have a
direct impact on the organization.
c. Architect – As architect, the analyst also creates a detailed physical design of candidate systems.
He/she aids users in formalizing abstract ideas and provides details to build the end product – the
candidate system.
d. Psychologist – The analyst plays the role of a psychologist in the way he/she reaches people,
interprets their thoughts, assesses their behavior, and draws conclusions from these interactions.
e. Salesperson – Selling the system actually takes place at each step in the system life cycle,
however. Sales skills and persuasiveness, then, are crucial to the success of the system.
4. What are the various tools used to gather information? Explain briefly.
1. Review Literature, Procedures and Forms
• Search of literature through professional references, textbooks, case studies, etc. is time consuming,
expensive and difficult.
• So, Procedure’s manual and forms are useful sources for the analyst. They describe the format and
functions of the present system.
• Up-to-date manuals save hours of information-gathering time but it found rarely.
2. On-site Observations
• It is the process of recognizing and noting, people, objects, and occurrences to obtain information.
• The role of analyst’s is like an information seeker who is expected to be detached from the system.
• This role permits participation with the user staff openly and freely.
• The major objective of on-site observation is to get as close as possible to the “real” system being
studied.
3. Interviews and Questionnaires

• INTERVIEW is a face-to-face interpersonal role situation in which a person called the interviewer asks
a person being interviewed questions designed to gather information about a problem area. Interview can
be used for two main purposes: a. As an exploratory device to identify relations or verify information. b. To
capture information as it exists.
 • QUESTIONNAIRES is a tool that has questions to which individuals respond. It is usually associated with self-
administered tools with items of the closed or fixed alternative type.

5. Describe the types of system design?

Logical Design
Logical design pertains to an abstract representation of the data flow, inputs, and outputs of the system. It
describes the inputs (sources), outputs (destinations), databases (data stores), procedures (data flows) all in a
format that meets the user requirements.

While preparing the logical design of a system, the system analyst specifies the user needs at level of detail that
virtually determines the information flow into and out of the system and the required data sources. Data flow
diagram, E-R diagram modelling are used.

Physical Design
Physical design relates to the actual input and output processes of the system. It focuses on how data is entered
into a system, verified, processed, and displayed as output.

It produces the working system by defining the design specification that specifies exactly what the candidate
system does. It is concerned with user interface design, process design, and data design.

6. What do you mean by design methodology? Explain its types?

Methodologies that fundamentally attempt to do the following:
A. Improve productivity of analysts and programmers.
B. Improve documentation and subsequent maintenance and enhancements.
C. Cut down drastically on cost overruns and delays.
D. Improve communication among the user, analyst, designer, and programmer.
E. Standardize the approach to analysis and design.
Types of design methodologies
Structured Design:
 Structured design is a data-flow-based methodology. The approach begins with a system specification
that identifies inputs and outputs and describes the functional aspects of the system.
Input Design
 Input design is the process of converting user-originated inputs to a computer-based format.
3. Output design
 Computer Output is the most important and direct source of information to the user.
 Efficient, intelligible output design should improve the system’s relationships with the user and help in
decision making.
Form Design

forms are the product of input and output design and are business document consisting of specified
data. Forms provide fields for data input. For example, order forms, employment and credit
application, etc.

 During form designing, the designers should know −

o who will use them

o where would they be delivered

o the purpose of the form or report

 During form design, automated design tools enhance the developer’s ability to prototype forms
and reports and present them to end users for evaluation.

5. Screen Design

 Many online data entry devices are CRT screens that provide instant visual verifications of
input data and a means of prompting the operator. The operator can make any changes
desired before the data go to the system for processing.

7. What are data flow diagrams? Explain the different levels of DFD?
• Data-flow diagrams provide a graphical representation of the system that aims to be accessible to
computer specialist and non-specialist users alike.

• The models enable software engineers, customers and users to work together effectively during the
analysis and specification of requirements.
• Although this means that our customers are required to understand the modeling techniques and
constructs, in data-flow modeling only a limited set of constructs are used, and the rules applied are
designed to be simple and easy to follow.
Level of DFDs
Although all data-flow diagrams are composed of the same types of symbols, and the validation rules are the
same for all DFDs, there are three main types of data-flow diagram:
• Context diagrams — context diagram DFDs are diagrams that present an overview of the system and
its interaction with the rest of the “world”.
• Level 1 data-flow diagrams — Level 1 DFDs present a more detailed view of the system than context
diagrams, by showing the main sub-processes and stores of data that make up the system as a whole.
 • Level 2 (and lower) data-flow diagrams — a major advantage of the data-flow modeling technique is
that, through a technique called “leveling”, the detailed complexity of real world systems can be
managed and modeled in a hierarchy of abstractions. Certain elements of any dataflow diagram can be
decomposed (“exploded”) into a more detailed model a level lower in the hierarchy.
8. Differentiate between system validation and testing method?

Verification process includes checking of documents, design, code and program

whereas Validation process includes testing and validation of the actual product.

→Verification does not involve code execution while Validation involves code
execution.

→Verification uses methods like reviews, walkthroughs, inspections and desk-checking

whereas Validation uses methods like black box testing, white box testing and non-
functional testing.

→Verification checks whether the software confirms a specification whereas Validation

checks whether the software meets the requirements and expectations.

→Verification finds the bugs early in the development cycle whereas Validation finds
the bugs that verification can not catch.

→Comparing validation and verification in software testing, Verification process targets

on software architecture, design, database, etc. while Validation process targets the
actual software product.→

→Verification is done by the QA team while Validation is done by the involvement of

testing team with QA team.

→Comparing Verification vs Validation testing, Verification process comes before

validation whereas Validation process comes after verification.

9. What are the objectives of management information system?

Data Capturing
MIS capture data from various internal and external sources of the organization. Data capturing
may be manual or through computer terminals.

Processing of Data
The captured data is processed to convert into the required information. Processing of data is done
by such activities as calculating, sorting, classifying, and summarizing.
Storage of Information
MIS stores the processed or unprocessed data for future use. If any information is not immediately
required, it is saved as an organization record, for later use.

Retrieval of Information
MIS retrieves information from its stores as and when required by various users.

Dissemination of Information
Information, which is a finished product of MIS, is disseminated to the users in the organization. It
is periodic or online through a computer terminal.

10. Explain the types of decision making models.

1. The Rational/Classical Model:

The rational model is the first attempt to know the decision-making-process. It is considered by some as the
classical approach to understand the decision-making process. The classical model gave various steps in
decision-making process which have been discussed earlier.

2. Bounded Rationality Model or Administrative Man Model:

Decision-making involve the achievement of a goal. Rationality demands that the decision-maker should
properly understand the alternative courses of action for reaching the goals.

He should also have full information and the ability to analyze properly various alternative courses of action in
the light of goals sought. There should also be a desire to select the best solutions by selecting the alternative
which will satisfy the goal achievement.

3. Herbert Simon’s Model

Herbert Simon made key contributions to enhance our understanding of the decision-making process. In fact, he
pioneered the field of decision support systems. According to (Simon 1960) and his later work with (Newell
1972), decision-making is a process with distinct stages. He suggested for the first time the decision-making
model of human beings. His model of decision-making has three stages:

• Intelligence which deals with the problem identification and the data collection on the problem.
• Design which deals with the generation of alternative solutions to the problem at hand.
• Choice which is selecting the ‘best’ solution from amongst the alternative solutions using some criterion.

11. Write a note on – AI, KBS, ESS, EIS, and ES?

Artificial intelligence (AI), the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks
commonly associated with intelligent beings. The term is frequently applied to the project of developing
systems endowed with the intellectual processes characteristic of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover
meaning, generalize, or learn from past experience.
Knowledge based expert system
 Knowledge Based System or a KBS is a computer program that uses artificial intelligence to solve
problems within a specialized domain that ordinarily requires human expertise.
 Knowledge-based system is a more general than the expert system.
 Problem-solving power does not lie with smart reasoning techniques nor clever search algorithms but
domain dependent real-world knowledge.
 Real-world problems do not have well-defined solutions
 KBS allow this knowledge to be represented and creates an explained solution.
 A KBS draws upon the knowledge of human experts captured in a knowledge-base to solve problems
that normally require human expertise
Executive support system (ESS)
Executive support systems are intended to be used by the senior managers directly to provide support to non-
programmed decisions in strategic management.
These information are often external, unstructured and even uncertain. Exact scope and context of such
information is often not known beforehand.
Execution information system (EIS)
 An Executive Information System (EIS) is a kind of decision support system (DSS) used in
organizations to help executives in decision making. It does so by providing easy access to important
data needed in an organization to achieve strategic goals. An EIS usually has graphical displays on a
user-friendly interface.
 Executive information systems can be used for monitoring company performance in many different
types of organizations as well as for identifying opportunities and problems.
Expert system
Expert Systems (ES) can be considered as a subset of the AI. An Expert System is a system that uses human
knowledge obtained in a computer to solve problems that would normally be solved by expert humans. Well-
designed systems mimic the reasoning process that experts use to solve specific problems. These systems can
work better than any human expert making decisions individually in certain domains and can be used by non-
expert humans to improve their problem-solving skills.
12. Define the concept of DSS with its characteristics and advantages?
Decision support systems (DSS) are interactive software-based systems intended to help managers in
decision-making by accessing large volumes of information generated from various related information
 systems involved in organizational business processes, such as office automation system, transaction
processing system, etc.

Characteristics of a DSS
 Support for decision-makers in semi-structured and unstructured problems.
 Support for managers at various managerial levels, ranging from top executive to line
managers.
 Support for individuals and groups. Less structured problems often requires the involvement of
several individuals from different departments and organization level.
 Support for interdependent or sequential decisions.
 Support for intelligence, design, choice, and implementation.
 Support for variety of decision processes and styles.
 DSSs are adaptive over time.

Benefits of DSS
 Improves efficiency and speed of decision-making activities.
 Increases the control, competitiveness and capability of futuristic decision-making of the
organization.
 Facilitates interpersonal communication.
 Encourages learning or training.
 Since it is mostly used in non-programmed decisions, it reveals new approaches and sets up
new evidences for an unusual decision.
 Helps automate managerial processes.