Under the viewpoint of strategic information systems data and information plays a vital role in effective decision making as it requires timely, accurate and relevant information. Where the relevant information required are not available at the appropriate time, there is bound to be poor planning, inappropriate decision making, poor priority of needs, defective programming or scheduling of activities. Information is supposed to be created through the discipline of enquiry and research with peer moderation to ensure validity and societal influence.
http://informationr.net/ir/7-1/paper114.html
Till the end of 20th century the businesses are becoming more complex, global and knowledge driven therefore managers need to ensure that their company is continuously improved and innovated by latest information in order to give other firms a competitive edge. The use of strategic information is a critical success factor for successful management while relevant and timely information helps the managers in making accurate decisions. Irrelevant facts and information makes decision making ineffective and hence affects the overall performance of the organization.
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Managing-Business-1088/2010/1/Information-Systems-Managers-4.htm
In short, information can be utilized:
In making policies
In meeting legislative and regulatory requirements
To support development and research.
To support strategic decision making
For the utilization of resources effectively and efficiently
For managing risks.
For evaluating and documenting the performance, quality and achievements of the organization.
Determine the criteria to be applied when selecting data and information to support decision making.
http://www.sorach.com/decision.html
The general criteria to be applied when selecting data and information to support decision making is to select the best possible options which are determined by the context and objectives of the organization. There exist two types of criteria for selecting data and information
Hard Criteria
Soft Criteria
Hard criteria are the requirements or conditions which must be attained for a successful decision for e.g. time limit or budget. However, soft criteria are the requirement or conditions which seek some subjective assessment and are more complex to implement for e.g. employee satisfaction.
Fruitful decisions are based on true facts, reliable information, verifiable data and sufficient time is required to review various kinds of options and their implications. Decisions based on intuition are not usually defended and face many hurdles in the long run when implemented.
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Managing-Business-1088/2009/1/Management-Information-System-1.htm
Few of the most significant criteria are as follows:
Information must be sufficient and relevant to the decision maker
Precise information (regarding factors important for decision making) must be provided.
Information to be extracted from an up-to-date, validated and contextually relevant database.
Information to be provided at the right place and at the right time.
Evaluate the impact of management information to an organization
http://www.ehow.com/about_5673049_impact-management-information-system.html
Information management can be referred to as managing of and collecting of information from one or more than one sources and distributing it to one or more audiences. Over the years, majority of the organizations have taken decisions which involved the acquisition of latest technologies and techniques that had a direct impact on the information systems of the organizations on the basis of their beliefs and recommendations from other stakeholders of the organization. The end result of this approach has surely increased the significance of strategic information systems.
http://m.sybase.com/detail?id=1018908
Let us take an example of Unilever, an international producer of home, food and personal care products. To enable faster access to market information processing and acquisition, it turned towards Sybase (an enterprise software and services company) and applied a handheld solution, powered by SQL Anywhere, in collecting and assessing information related to market. The business advantage, after implementing this solution, which Unilever had over other organizations, was the elimination of human error while doing manual processing of files and documents. It saved time of the sales representatives which they spent in making business cases and dramatically increased management`s efficiency and effectiveness. The key benefits to the company were the lowering in cost of document processing, more effective decision making as a result of more updated information and tremendous increase in the productivity of sales officers.
Effective information management and use of relevant information is recognized as a key national priority to many developed countries as it helps its organizations to enable and link employees. Management information has impacted the organizations in several significant ways. Firstly it has the capability to share information between all levels and divisions of the organization. Secondly it enables the employees to empower themselves and play a greater role in serving the end consumer which consequently results in the profitable operations of the organization as a whole. Finally, it eliminates unnecessary redundancy and repetition of effort.
If management information systems are implemented and used in a correct manner, they can give a great deal of throughput and accuracy to an organization and surely provide it with a competitive advantage. When the employees of an organization are served with accurate information they feel more empowered which results in more efficient service to its consumers. Finally, the more appropriate the usage of a company`s information management system the more it results in more beneficial and more productive decisions that have astounding positive impact on organization`s bottom line.
2.1) Determine the legal responsibilities in sharing, sourcing and storing information
http://www.bbbonline.org/UnderstandingPrivacy/library/whitepapers/valueofinfosharing.pdf
Information-sharing: Sharing information should basically support business decision making or propel innovation. It allows businesses to understand the needs of the customers correctly and fulfill them rapidly and effectively. It also provides customers to access a wide range of affordable products and services, brings a lot of efficiency in the functionalities of the organization and facilitates the detection and prevention of frauds and other crimes.
The legal responsibilities in sharing, sourcing and storing information by an organization include the collecting of information from various sources which may consist of information regarding research and development, problems and its solutions. Then storing the collected information in libraries and classifying it according to its types and attributes. Organization and standardizing of the stored information must be done based on the importance and usage of that particular piece of information and finally retrieval of information from a library in response to a retrieval request so as to provide the required information to the user who requested for it.
http://choo.fis.utoronto.ca/fis/respub/dlc95.html
Mobilizing the various kinds of knowledge information within an organization enhances its performance and functionalities and makes it an intelligent organization. The basic functionalities of acquiring, organizing, storing, sharing and sourcing information must increase an organizations capacity to harness its information resources and energize organizational growth. Identification of information needs, acquisition of information, organization and storage of information, distribution of information, and usage of information assists in providing new strategies to maximize the significance of information and for the reinvention of information professionals whether they are information prodders, librarians, information scientists or information technologists.
As the basic goal of every organization is to harness the information resources and information capabilities of an organization so that it can learn and adapt to its dynamic environment, the acquisition, storage, analysis and usage of information plays a vital role in achieving this goal for an organization. These factors must support the growth and development of an organization and become a source of solving problems and help its participants in making the ambiguous situations clear.
Conceptually, information management may be thought of as a set of processes that support and are symmetrical with the organization's learning activities. "Six distinct but related information management processes may be: identifying information needs, acquiring information, organizing and storing information, developing information products and services, distributing information, and using information" (Davenport 1993, McGee and Prusak 1993).
http://choo.fis.utoronto.ca/fis/respub/DLC.IM.gif
2.2) Describe when information should be offered and access allowed
Completing a task effectively, facing new and unfamiliar situations, and solving problem situations arising within an organization are the most important scenarios in which information must be offered and allowed to access. What type of information, why is the information needed and how it will be used are some of the conditions which must be set by an organization before granting access to any piece of information as it is directly linked up with major data security issues in which leakage of personal information, unauthorized access and loss of data is involved. More sensitive and confidential information requires higher security levels so every intelligent organization must ensure authorized access to information and discourage the misuse of any kind of information.
Information being shared between organization is quite complex to gain access of, by its stakeholders, so it's a good practice to provide a single point of contact to the users so that they can go there when they want to access information. Information necessary to achieve an objective must be shared. Reviewing arrangement on regular basis must be done in order to prevent sharing of information that is not relevant to achieving an organization objective. For example if we are sharing information internally between certain departments that only those departments, which are involved in providing the service, should have access to information.
2.3) Evaluate the formats in which information can be offered.
There are numerous formats of offering information between two or more organization or within an organization. Few of them are mentioned below:
Paper-Based formats which includes textbooks, lecture notes, journals, manuals, course guides, research articles, letters, diaries, speeches, autobiographies, and booklets.
Computer-Based formats which may consist of online tutorials, network study programs, and online objective testing and computer references.
Multi-media format such as CD, DVD, audio and video tapes, slides and transparencies.
3.1) Analyze information to identify patterns and trends.
Requirement of relevant and accurate information is mandatory in strategic decision making process in order to analyze a particular process and further implement it. Organizations that follow the trend of using the information properly are only successful in making proper decisions. Relevancy and accuracy of data plays a vital role in taking a decision but "an organization must reach for a balance between the importance of information required and cost of collecting such data" (Haag and Cummings, 2009).
To identify patterns and trends an organization must follow a set of processes. Firstly, before taking any kind of decision, the organization must identify the goals to be achieved and on the basis of those goals decision must be identified. Then collect as much data as possible for proper analysis of the case. Alternatives must be developed in the next stage followed by an evaluation of the alternative chosen. Assigning weights to different modules of an alternative can prove to be a helping hand in proper evaluation which covers all the positive and negative aspects of that particular alternative. In the end, decision must be taken and implemented. Evaluation of implementation must take place and whole process must be reconsidered if the problem remains unsolved.
Let's take example of Uni Levers. If the company wants to launch a new detergent in the market then before launching this product a proper evaluation of this launch must be done beforehand and must follow the trend as identified above. If they follow this trend then company will have complete information about their new product regarding the investments, market cost, market demand, quality, raw material etc. It will surely provide a perfect base to Uni Levers for future decision making.
3.2) Evaluate a range of decision making tools and techniques available to support a strategic decision.
Decision making and problem-solving is the most integral part of an organization and various tools and techniques are used in order to support a strategic decision. Few of them are discussed in the following matter.
http://www.problem-solving-techniques.com/Problem-Solving-Tools.html
The method which is recently growing in popularity with consideration to organizational decision, by business or government, is the "Scientific Method". This method uses hypothesis, observation, predictions, experiments and conclusions in form of possible solutions. We generally use this method when solving various kinds of business problems or developing new products.
The Scientific Method
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_support_system
Another tool which is considered to be the most effective one in decision making and solving business problems is the "Decision Support System" (DSS). DSS is an automated information system that supports activities of organization or business decision making. It serves the operations, planning levels and management of an organization and assists in making effective decisions which may be changing dynamically and not known in advance. Example can be of "Canadian National Railway" system which regularly tests its equipments using DSS. The major problem which was faced was of defective rails or worn-out railroad which resulted in numerous amounts of derailments every year. When DSS was introduced Canadian Railway was able to decrease the derailments at an increasing rate whereas others continued to experience the same problem. Few advantages that DSS have over other methods are speeding up of the decision making process, increased control of organization and improved personal efficiency.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participative_decision_making
"Predictive Decision Making" (PDM) is an another renowned technique of decision making in which the executive heads of an organization allows or encourages employees to take part in organizational decision making (Probst, 2005). According to Cotton et.al (1988) "The format of PDM could be formal or informal. In addition, the degree of participation could range from zero to 100% in different PM stages" (Cotton et al., 1988; Black & Gregersen, 1997; Brenda, 2001). PDM is one of the most effective methods in decision making in the sense that here large number of stake holders, from different fields of profession, are involved in making decision which can beneficial for everyone associated with the organization. The leaders are supposed to think and derive the best possible style that will produce best results for the organization. Examples of PDM involve making decisions for healthcare, environment and many other similar scenarios. In these situations people from different fields can be involved from NGOs, experts, government, to members of public and volunteers.
3.3) Determine the source available to assist in analyzing data information.
http://managementhelp.org/evaluatn/fnl_eval.htm
Analysis of data information can be performed through various sources. Few of them are Surveys, Questionnaires, Checklists, Interviews, Observation, and case-studies which support strategic decision making in the righteous manner. When there is need of getting lots of information quickly from people in a non-threatening manner then questionnaires, checklists and surveys play their role for the organization .They have the benefit of being completed anonymously, relatively easy to compare and analyze and are inexpensive from administrative viewpoint. Interviews help in completely understanding one`s impressions and experiences. Advantage of using this technique is that we can get complete information and develop a good relationship with the client. Observations assist in gathering accurate data about how a business or organization actually operates. Through observations we can actually view operations of the organization as they are actually taking place and simply adapt to situations as they occur. Finally case studies come into play when fully depicting or understanding client`s experiences in an organization and conducting extensive examination by cross comparing the cases. It is a strong means in depicting client`s experience in organization`s program input, processing and output.
4.1) Identify Methods of evaluating management information within an organization.
The evaluation experts within an organization assist in determining what evaluation methods to be used and how the overall data will be analyzed and reported to organization. No perfect method of evaluation is present, rather "you must make an inference from a collection of clues or indicators, based on the use you plan to make of your source." ( Harris, R. ).
http://knol.google.com/k/methods-and-analysis-techniques-for-information-collection#
Methods of evaluating management information within an organization used by an evaluator may be, for example, "stakeholder consultation", in which some kind of consultation with the stakeholder is involved. Participant stakeholder may be involved in the process of evaluation (e.g. being interviewed or handing out questionnaires) and audience stakeholder being interested in the overall output of the evaluation. This consultation process may focus on the design of a particular program, support from stakeholder and processing protocols with stakeholders for different aspects of the program. Another method of evaluation may be "document analysis" in which analysis of various documents is done to extract information regarding the current issue. This may include documents like reports, memos, short meetings, print media or electronic media reports. More methods of evaluating information may include using combination of methods, for e.g. questionnaires, surveys, interviews and case studies. Questionnaires are mainly used to extract numerous amount of information from different people and then surveys and interviews are conducted to collect more in-depth information. Perhaps the case studies focus on at least one object or case within an evaluation and perform a more in-depth analysis of all aspects of the studied object or case.
Combining methods of evaluation gives a path to validate your research and build a more effective evaluation. Using different methods provides more validity and cross-checks.
4.2) Discuss process for analyzing impact of information on strategic decision made.
Taking a strategic decision without information is like a car without fuel and is of zero value. Information sharing and its proper usage is an important part in different phases of a business or an organization. Let us take an example of software applications which are very much dependent on the understanding of the changing environment. An out dated version of an application is hardly touched or never used where as on the other hand if it is regularly updated, considering the advanced requirements of the user and more number of features, then only it can have higher number of sales. Software applications must be aligned with future changes and that they are updated accordingly.
For any enterprise, successful implementation of strategic information system is ensured by monitoring of processing time of information. Effective sharing and usage of information will result in less processing time as there will be less complexities regarding the case. Authorized access to information will provide the required level of security and privacy to information resources of any organization and will therefore affect its efficiency positively. Effective communication practices must be adapted with different levels of employees in the organization by eliminating the communication gap between the executives and the staff of information system. Negotiations and understanding play a significant role in doing so. A central body of executives must play its role in the organization as leaders, innovators and provide information to different parts of the organization that is required for system development and establishment. These people must be responsible for acquiring, storing, updating and organizing the information resources in order to build up a pool of information for all the users of the systems. Maintenance of information system must be done appropriately by updating and modifying its modules as per the requirements. Training programs for newly appointed employees must be held in order to polish their skills for better maintenance of the system.
4.3) Determine methods of developing information capture to inform and support strategic decision making.
http://www.biztechreport.com/story/1015-data-mining-and-data-warehousing-strategic-decision-support-system
With the advancement of information technology in capturing information, the automation of strategic decision making is also advancing. Capturing information with the help of Data warehousing has proved to be the most effective and efficient method to support strategic decision making. In this method there is a data warehouse which is a database utilized for the purpose of reporting. Staging, integration and access are three functional layers maintained by a data warehouse. To store raw data, used by developers, staging is used. Integration of data, to maintain a particular level of abstraction from the user, is done in the integration part. Access layer provides data to the users. Data warehousing basically focuses on storage of data. "The main source of the data is cleaned, transformed, catalogued and made available for use by managers and other business professionals for data mining, online analytical processing, market research and decision support" (Marakas & OBrien 2009).However, there are other essential components of data warehousing such as retrieving and analyzing data, extracting, transforming and loading data. Data warehousing technique extends its definition to providing accurate, updated reports and information from various systems of the organization in order to augment strategic decision making power. Numerous amounts of data, which is generated by different subsystems of the organization are stored and organized through data warehousing, in order to make optimized strategic decisions and improve organization`s performance.
