ROUNAK KHANDELWAL

1408019475

ASSINGMNET
DRIVE
PROGRAM
SEMESTER
SUBJECT CODE &NAME
BK ID
CREDIT & MARKS

SPRING DRIVE 2015

MBA/ MBADS/ MBAFLEX/ MBAHCSN3/ PGDBAN2
II
MB0047 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
B1968
4Credits, 60 marks

Q 1) In todays life, Individuals rely on information systems, generally Internet-based,

for conducting much of their personal lives: for socializing, study, shopping, banking,
and entertainment. Information technology refers to anything related to computing
technology, such as networking, hardware, software, the Internet, or the people that
work with these technologies. How do you differentiate between information system and
information technology? Explain using an example
Answer: Differentiation between information system and information technology
Information system are collections of computers, networks, software, and people who
create, store, modify, and distribute data and information in any organisation. Computers and
information technology (IT) are key ingredients of modern information systems (IS).
Information technology includes computing devices such as personal computers, notebook
computers, personal digital assistants, mobile phones, and various types of networks that
allow the computing devices to connect and to communicate.
Let us distinguish between information technology (IT) and information systems (IS):IT is understood as the artefacts such as computing devices, software and network devices
that constitute the material aspects of IS. However, information systems are constituted by the
artefacts of technology as well as the people and organizations that use them. This distinction
between IT and IS important and has to be emphasized IT is what people buy and configure

and use, whereas IS the manner in which we understand, conceptually, the use of IT in
organizations and by people.
An organisation is defined as a collection of people engaged in interactions that serve a
common broader goal. An essential component of an organisation is its information systems
(IS) that bind the organisation internally as well as enables its interactions with the outside
world through the Internet.
Information systems are a collection of computers, software, networks and people that creates
stores, modifies, and distributes data and information in an organisation Information
Technology (IT) are the artefacts such as computers, software, and networks that constitute
the IS. Information system (IS) that binds the organisation internally as well as enables its
interactions with the outside world through the Internet. Information systems originated with
the invention of computers, software, and networks.
Example for Information technology: Any organisation may buy IT components such as printers that are provided to offices
for their printing needs. The printer it is an artefact of IT, which is a tangible object or
a tool.
Its function is well defined and limited: it has to print text or images on paper in a
manner defined by the user of the printer.
Example for Information system: Printer is part of the IS of the organisation and plays a role in preparing reports and
memos. It becomes relevant and useful for the organisation when it prints properly
and in the manner required by the users (and becomes a problem when it cannot print
due to some malfunction).
In other words, the role and relevance of the printer are determined by the needs of
the organisation, the people who are using the IS and the purpose for which they are
using it. In this larger context, the printer is a component of the IS of the organisation
and helps to serve its goal.

Q 2) Explain decision making with MIS using Travelling salesman problem?

Answer: Meaning of decision making with MIS

1) Tactical decisions: An important task of all employees within the organisation is to
make decisions about various things. At the lowest level of the organisation, the
workers have to decide how to go about their work. Although their work is usually
quite structured, they have to make choices and evaluate consequences, using the
given details. For example, a sales person may have a fixed route to travel to meet
several clients during the day, but he still has to decide the manner in which to
proceed given the actual conditions on the ground and also how many appointments
he already has and how many are pending. These are called tactical decisions. The
sales person has clear objectives to attain and has to make minute, low-level decisions
to achieve those objectives.
2) Operational decisions: Operations managers can decide on inventory levels to be
maintained to meet the production targets for the firm and also control the amount of
working capital locked into inventory. Decision support tools allow managers to use
mathematical models that rely on current and past inventory and production levels to
predict, quite precisely, the quantities of materials to be in inventory. Finance
managers can use decision support tools to arrive at the best allocations for
investment in various types of market opportunities. Finance managers have to
balance the available liquidity against the market risk of investment and the best
returns possible. The tools help answer the question of how much to invest in what
and also the possible scenarios that might result from the decisions.
3) Software project managers have to make decisions regarding:
How well projects are progressing.
Whether they will complete on time.
Whether they will be completed within the allocated budget.
Whether the projects will meet the objectives of the customers.
Project managers control the number of people on a project, the money
allocated to the project, and the deliverables of the project.
4) Decision support tools: Are used in the strategy function of various organisations.
The tools enable managers to visualize future trends in the economy, competitors
responses, and industry trends. The tools can also help in simulating the impacts of
strategies formulated by the organisation. For example, marketing managers can use
decision support tools to find the most cost-effective routes for the sales persons to

cover the market. Travel entails costs and hence managers want to follow the least
cost routes that also allow sales personnel to meet all their customers. This decision is
often complicated with customers making sudden calls on the salesperson, or weather
or traffic conditions not permitting some routes.
5) Strategic decisions: For a firm manufacturing pharmaceuticals, strategic decisions
will revolve around what markets to enter, what type of population segments to target,
and how to survive the competition. Information systems can provide data and inputs
on the current operations of the organisation, the market response of various
segments, and industry data on the competition. These can be used with models that
forecast trends of pharmaceutical sales, show potential changes in market segments,
highlight potential untapped and niche areas, and help in predicting economic factors
that will affect the organisation.
Information systems support tools can be used to understand the demographics of the
revenue population, the segments that are most underserved, and identify trends in
revenue collection. The Indian Railways uses information on ticket and freight
transport sales to decide on which routes to further enhance its services and in which
regions to start train services. The strategic decisions involve long-term infrastructure
growth and planning for future demand for services.
Travelling Salesman problem: - The salesman has to cover all the cities in one tour at the
lowest possible cost. Travelling salesman problem shows the distances between seven cities
in India The salesman can start from Bangalore and then follow any sequence, such as
ChennaiMumbaiBhopalNew DelhiKolkataRanchi or KolkataRanchi New Delhi
MumbaiBhopalChennai.
If all the combinations of cities are counted, there are 720 ways in which the salesman can
cover all the cities after starting from Bangalore. Each of these is called a tour. For the lowest
cost tour the salesman would have to calculate the distance covered for each possible tour and
take the shortest one. If the salesman starts the tour from any of the other six cities, the
problem increases to 5040 possible tours! It is very difficult to compute the lowest cost for
such a large number of tours. Hence it is a wise step to rely on a decision support system that
can do the job efficiently. The travelling salesman problem is a very well-known and wellresearched problem. When the number of cities increases to about 20, the possible tours

increase to more than 2 1018 tours which are about 2 million trillion tours. Such a large
number of calculations become hard to complete, even for computers.
Q 3) How to use information system to support competitive strategy? Explain with an
example for each strategy?
Answer: Strategy and its use of information system with example: The promise of
information systems is that they enable the competitive strategy of commercial firms. The
competitive strategy of a commercial firm is its long-term competitive position, such as of
being a low-cost player or a differentiator, which the firm adopts. A firms strategy is the set
of activities it engages in as part of its long-term competitive goals. Strategies lead to
operational goals and to tactics that the firm undertakes. Long-term goals are of value to noncommercial organizations too. For example: - Government departments may adopt a goal of
reaching out to all citizens to provide services, for which they can evolve a strategy based on
information systems. Government departments do not face competition as such, and their
main concerns are of service delivery and efficiency.

Create barriers to entry of new competition: - Firms may lock-in existing

customers with loyalty programmers and free access accounts created with
information systems. Data from such loyalty programmes can also be used to identify
customer tastes and patterns of buying to further provide them with goods and service.
Example: Yatra.com is an online travel portal that enables customers to buy airline
and railway tickets from its site. It maintains a loyalty programme by providing
discount coupons to customers who purchase frequently.

Reduce bargaining power of suppliers: - The bargaining power of suppliers is

reduced by creating customized logistics channels with suppliers that enables an
exclusive access, thus increasing costs for suppliers if they want to seek other
customers. Example: - Deutsche Post DHL has information systems to link all its
partners in its logistics chain. This not only creates barriers to entry to competition,
but also prevents its suppliers from seeking other partner.

Reduce bargaining power of buyers: - The bargaining power of buyers is reduced

by providing low cost, bundled services from a single source that is highly customized
to their needs. They would not be prone to seek alternative sources if a sufficient lock-

in is created. Example: - By creating an online facility for buying tickets, the Indian
Railways has reduced the need for its customers to seek alternatives.

Provide low cost products: - Transactions costs are reduced by having information
systems that increase the volume and speed of transactions. When scaled up, this
gives a significant competitive advantage. Example: - The ICICI Bank initiated a
network of automated teller machines (ATMs) across India to reduce costs of banking
for clients. Clients could access their accounts any time and easily.

Provide niche products: - A differentiation strategy is possible by reaching out to

new markets and customers using the Internet. Information systems help customize
offerings and also provide high efficiency levels for implementing the strategy.
Example: - The United Parcel Service (UPS) created a special information system
that kept track of parcels as they were shipped. This was a unique offering,
differentiating it from its rival.

Q 4) Describe Herbert Simon model on Decision making?

Answer: Herbert Simon, the Nobel Prize winning researcher, showed that humans went
through three essential stages in the act of problem solving. He called these the Intelligence,
Design, and Choice stages. Decision making can also be considered as a type of problem
solving. When making a decision, humans tend to follow Simons Intelligence-DesignChoice Model.
Following depicts this model. In the first stage, that of intelligence, they collect information
about the issue from the environment and the surrounding context. For example: If a person
is faced with the problem of travelling from Bangalore to New Delhi, a distance of about
2000 km, then in the intelligence stage the person will seek all possible information of how to
travel by air, by train, by bus, or by a personal vehicle. This inquiry is open-ended and will
involve searching for all possible avenues by which the problem can be solved.
Phases of problem solving in the Intelligence-Design-Choice Model: Once the intelligence
information is available, the decision maker moves on to the next stage which is the design
stage. The question addressed at this stage is as follows: What criteria should be used to
decide between the alternative possible solutions to the problem? This question requires the
decision maker to settle on the criteria that are important, and then select or rank-order them.

For example: The choice of cost and time may be the most important criteria for the
decision-making process. The Bangalore New Delhi journey, it may also be specified that no
more than a certain amount of money may be spent and no more than a certain amount of
time can be used for the journey. At the next stage, that of choice, the criteria are applied to
select the best answer from the available choices. Based on the criteria of cost and time
available, it may be best to travel to Delhi from Bangalore by train.
The criteria may be weighted and these weights are applied in a formal manner, often with
the help of a mathematical model. Once a solution is available, the decision maker may be
satisfied with the answer or may return to earlier stages to redo the process.
At the choice stage, the criteria and parameters for the decision help curtail the amount of
search required to arrive at a decision. If the criteria are not specified sharply then the number
of alternatives to be considered to arrive at a decision may be very large. This stage may also
require returning to the intelligence gathering activity, and then to the design stage to change
or modify the criteria and the weights used to apply them. In his seminal work,
Herbert Simon also showed that decision makers have bounded rationality, implying that
they are restricted in the number of choices and criteria they can actually bring to bear in a
decision-making situation.
These limitations exist, in part, because of the limits on the cognitive abilities of humans or,
in other words, the limits on the number of things that people can think about at a time. Most
people are content with a satisfactory answer, not necessarily one that is the best or optimal.
DSS are designed to process. support mainly the choice stage of the decision-making
Managers can enter the relevant data into the system, select or priorities their criteria and let
the system decide on the final solution. Mathematical models are usually built into the system
to help analyze the data and arrive at solutions. Some modern software also assists decision
makers in the intelligence stage, where they seek out pertinent information from
organizational databases or from the Internet.
Q 5) Write short notes on:
a) Data administration: Data administration entails deciding who can create, read,
update, or delete data. Many organizations have strict controls over who can create or

delete data fields or tables. This is determined by the needs of the organization and the
roles defined for database administrators and users. Read access is usually provided to
those who need to only see and use the data, but not modify or change it in any way.
Update access is also carefully restricted to those who have the rights and privileges
to do so. Modern database systems enable sophisticated ways in which these four
functions can be enabled or disabled for users and administrators.
b) Managing concurrency: A serious challenge for modern databases, especially those
used for e-commerce applications, is that of managing concurrency. Data is often
maintained on many servers, distributed across a wide geography. Concurrency entails
ensuring that changes or updates to a particular element in a table are reflected across
all the distributed servers where users access the data. This is an element of managing
consistency, particularly for distributed databases.
c) Reduced data redundancy: One goal of databases is to reduce data redundancy. Data
redundancy refers to the duplication of data in different tables. If data on students is
maintained in two or three different databases in the college then for one change, say
in a students mobile phone number, all the databases have to be changed. Reduced
data redundancy ensures that minimal storage is used for the data. With the rapid
increase in data over time, conserving space is an important management challenge.
d) Recovery from crashes: Databases are crucial to the internal working of an
organization they are both a resource and an asset. With the high levels of transactions
happening within the IS of organizations, it is imperative that the data is secured
against failure. Modern database systems provide a sophisticated system of backup,
mirroring and recovery that allows rapid recovery from crashed servers.
e) Data access: Data stored in databases must be accessible efficiently. Very large
databases, such as those maintained by eBay, have to be managed in a way that when
users search within them, their results should be available within a matter of seconds.
A search in eBay results in a response within a few seconds, even though the system
has to search through billions of records. Furthermore, the response from the database
has to be presented to the user in a manner that is easy to read and understand which
requires further processing.
Q 6) Write short notes on

a) Role of workplace monitoring: The rationale for monitoring draws from the fact that
information about activities is useful. For commercial organizations, the security
aspect of information is paramount. Information entering the organization through email and websites represents security threats owing to the massive presence of
viruses, worms and other malicious software. Management concerns of privacy are
often overridden by the concern for security all activity related to data and files
being brought into the organization are thus monitored. Another concern of
organizations is that of abusive and threatening software and data that may be brought
in from outside and that may harm employees. For example: Organizations monitor
computers and networks for pornographic or hateful literature or videos that
employees will be wary of the materials are not owned by the organization but if
found on its digital networks the organization could face serious charges of
discrimination, harassment, or abuse from its own employees. Many courts around the
world have upheld such charges, and have forced organizations to adopt very stringent
monitoring policies.
Firms are also wary of employees using their electronic networks to either work for
some other agency during their off hours or provide information about them to seek
alternative jobs. For many commercial firms, monitoring is a competitive necessity.
There are many examples of employees leaking out company secrets to rivals to the
detriment of their own organizations. The employees may do this for monetary gain or
to extract revenge on their own organization for not gaining a promotion or a salary
increase. The firms therefore maintain strict control over their employees computers,
desktops, and laptops, and monitor all file exchanges. Employees are also not
permitted to use removable media such as flash storage drives, and in case they have
to, these are carefully monitored during entry and exit.
b) Power of Users: Every organization that uses information systems also hires
information systems professionals who are responsible for ensuring that the systems
are managed and run properly. In modern organizations, the role of such professionals
has increased considerably owing to the heavy dependence of the organizations on
information systems. Due to the important role the systems professionals play, they
come to have power over others in the organization.
An individual is said to have power over a person when the individual can influence
the thinking or behaviour of that person. For the information systems professionals,

this power is their ability to make IT users listens to and agrees to what they say. For
example, if a user wants to send an e-mail with an attached file, he/she may ask the
systems professional how to do this. The professional may answer that the file can
only be attached in a zipped format (a format that allows a file to be compressed to a
smaller size). The user may not be persuaded by this answer as he/she knows that files
can also be attached in the uncompressed format, provided they are not larger than the
size permitted by the e-mail system. However, the user listens to the professional and
sends the file in a zipped form.
There is a subtle difference between having power and exercising power. Exercising
power implies that the individuals who have power actually enforce it and have their
way over the thinking and behaviour of others. The exercise of power is a deliberate
act that ensues in a particular situation. Power in an organization is associated with a
position in the hierarchy or with the assumption of superior knowledge. A systems
professional is more powerful in some situations owing to his superior knowledge of
information technology.