Management Programme

ASSIGNMENT

FIRST SEMESTER

2013

MS - 54: Management Information Systems

School of Management Studies

INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY

MAIDAN GARHI, NEW DELHI 110 068

MS-54

ASSIGNMENT

Course Code : MS - 54

Course Title : Management Information Systems

Assignment Code : MS-54/TMA/SEM - I /2013

Coverage : All Blocks

Note : Attempt all the questions and submit this assignment on or before 30th April,

2013 to the coordinator of your study center.

1) Define Management Information Systems (MIS) and discuss various characteristics

expected of a good MIS.

2) Evaluate critical success factor method for the purpose of Information Requirement

Analysis.

3) What are the various system analysis tools and why do we need more than one tool at a

time?

4) Discuss the main function of data communication software.

5) Define DBMS and outline the basic sequence of steps for acquiring of DBMS.

6) Computer virus is a major threat to computer security Justify the statement.

Q1.Define Management Information Systems (MIS) and discuss various characteristics

expected of a good MIS.

Ans: A management information system has been defined by Davis & Olson as " a n

integrated user-machine system designed for providing information to support

operational control, management control and decision making functions in an

organisation. The information systems make use of resources such as hardware,

software. men, procedures as well as supplies." As the above given definition

indicates, the Information systems are meant for supplying, and not generating, the

information to various managers involved in the decision making process. The

information systems are expected to provide processed information to the decision

makers at various management levels in different functional areas throughout the

organisation. To understand the management information systems, it is possible to

define it into three constituent components:

Management: Management has been defined as a process, a function, a profession

dealing with the activity of getting the work done with and through people. The

various functions of managers include directing, controlling, staffing, leading and

motivating.

Information: Information could be defined as sets of facts, figures and symbols

processed for the current decision making situation. The information is considered to

be of significance in a particular situation.

System: A system is defined as a set of related components, activities, processes,

and human beings interacting together so as to accomplish some common

objective.

Putting all these three components together, it could be seen that Management

Information Systems are sets of related processes, activities, individuals or entities

interacting together to provide processed data to the individual managers at various

levels in different functional areas.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD MIS

a) The Management Information Systems are primarily meant for providing

information from the data after processing them, The information systems do not

generate data. The data is generated, collected, recorded, stored, processed and retrieved

after it has been generated by business operations in an organisation. The information

systems follow the procedures designed for processing this data which has been

generated within the organisation,

b) The information systems are designed for the job positions rather than for

individuals. Regardless of who is the individual holding the job position, the information

systems are designed keeping in mind the job responsibilities that the individual is

supposed to perform and depends upon the information needs of the individual in the

organisational hierarchy.

c) The information systems are designed for different levels of management they are

supposed to cater to the information needs of decision makers at top, middle and

junior.levels of management.

d) The information systems are designed. for supplying information to managers

in different functional areas. The information is supplied to managers in the areas of

marketing, finance, production, personnel, materials, logistics, etc.

e) The information systems should be integrated by way of database's. The redundancy in

storage of data, processing of data and generation of reports is avoided by way of

integration of information systems. Single point data entry and updation of master data

files should be ensured to minimise chances of discrepancies in the data integrity.

f) The information systems are facilitated with electronic equipment such as computers.

Q2.Evaluate critical success factor method for the purpose of Information Requirement

Analysis.

Ans: John F. Rockart, while advocating the "CSF" approach, evaluated. the existing four-

methods of determining executive information needs, viz., the by-product technique,

the null approach; the key indicator system and the total study process..

These four techniques have their relative merits and demerits, and to overcome the-

disadvantages, the Research Team at Sloan School of Management, suggested a

creative approach termed as CSF approach for information requirement_ analysis. Its

application was found effective and response-provoking amongst the executives. As a

part of the exercise, the executive goals and the CSFs are identified and reviewed to

the satisfaction of both the executives and the system analysts.

The CSFs for any business are the limited number of areas in which results, if they.

are satisfactory, will ensure successful competitive performance for the organisation.

These are a few areas where the things "must go right", for the business to flourish.

The CSFs must receive constant and consistent attention from the management as

well as individual managers. CSFs differ from company to company and from

manager to manager and like organisations may have differing CSFs. There are four

prime sources for identifying the CS' Fs as listed below:

- Structure of the particular industry,- Competitive strategy, industry

position and geographical location of the company,

- Environmental factors,

- Temporal organisational factors needing immediate attention.

The CSFs, are generally not meant for strategic planning, since the data requirements

are impossible to pre-plan. The CSF method centres around information needs for

management control where data requirements could be defined and pre-planned.

Most executives have four to eight CSFs.

Q3.What are the various system analysis tools and why do we need more than one tool at a

time?

Ans: The fundamental activities involved in the system analysis are :

--- definition of the overall system

--- separation of the system into smaller and manageable parts

--- understanding the nature, function and interrelationships of various

subsystems.

The analysis of the information systems could be done with the help of various tools

of system analysis.

Some of the tools which are available with the system analysts-are :

Review of Documentation : Documentation on the existing system could be' reviewed

and analysed to study the objectives, reports, procedures being followed and

equipment being used. The only limitation with this technique is that the

documentation on any existing system is never complete and up-to-date,

Observation of the Situation : The system under study can always be observed by

getting involved in the system. The system analyst can work in the system or can be a

mere observer. The exercise is time consuming and costly. Also it has an inherent

limitation of the fact that the analyst may never be able to observe the intricacies of

the system.

Conducting Interviews The system analyst can conduct interviews with the user

managers and ask questions related to their job responsibilities. The interviews could

be formal or informal ones and may span over a period of time. The limitation of this

tool is that the user manager may not be able to explain the problem in detail.

Questionnaire Administration: A printed structured or unstructured questionnaire

may be administered to find out the_, information needs of individual managers. The

questionnaire survey does help In,sttving time os compared to interviews as well as

gets more committed data, but It is impossible to Osign an exhaustive questionnaire to

cover varfuus aspects of the system under study.

The analysts use a'combination of all these tools to analyse an existing system. The

analysis phase is a time consuming phase and yet a very crucial phase. The final

output of this phase i s ' a functional specification report of the existing system.

Q4) Discuss the main function of data communication software.

Ans: Data communication software is the software that is required on the tern equipment

(computer) to bridge the gaps and interpret the bits/bytes that a transmitted via the

communication media through the interface. This is illustrated Coneep a by the

following example:

When people use a telephone they follow a particular procedure or a protocol. First,

the desired telephone number is dialled,rThen the establishment of the physical link

to the desired number is confirmed with telephone bell sound. The receiver

acknowledges the call by saying `Hello', This is confirmed with a return `Hello'

from the speaker. Subsequently, the parties identify each other. Only after this

identification process, the information is exchanged, During the conversation,

whenever the information is not audible, the listeners request repetition of

information by a series of `Hellos'. Then the speaker on the other side repeats the

information and this process is continued till the end of the conversation. At the end

of the conversation the terminating process is initiated by saying `bye'; and it is

terminated only after the receipt of the acknowledgement from the other, side by a

reciprocating `bye', otherwise the conversation is continued.

This procedure, the telephone protocol, is used irrespective of the language

communication. Similarly, the computers which have to exchange information with

each other have to follow similar procedures. This collection of rules for physical

establishment of the calls, identification, and transmission of the data, no

acknowledgement and termination is called communication protocol. The

communication protocol covers a ,wide spectrum and range from single character

by character transmission with no error checking to complex rules about moving of

large amount of data involving many devices.

The requirements of the software will very much depend upon the piece of

equipment that would be connected. It would depend upon whether the terminating

equipment is a terminal controller, concentrator, a switch or a host computer. The

main functions of the software are:

--- transmission initiation and termination,

--- establishment of logical connections over physical line;

--- message assembly and deassembly,

--- data transmission and receipt,

--- code- conversion,

--- error detection, - data editing,

--- control character recognition,

--- data delivery, - data output,

--- transmi.ion monitoring and maintenance.

In addition to these the system also has to schedule and monitor the resources.

The software that fulfils these functions may completely reside on the central

computer or part of it may be located on the front end communication computers, a

concentrator or remote concentrators or in the intelligent terminals.

The designer of data-communication software faces some unique problems. The

most. basic of these is time dimension. In a normal batch processing system the

software may be designed so as not to` accept any inputs until all the

stipulations/conditions are met. Whereas, in a data-communication environment

data/users arrives in time and sequence beyond the control of the designer. It also

has to face the errors that may be caused by the''media or' the equipment connected

to it, for example, major breakdowns like line failures, or interruptions lasting as

long as one or more message. Because of these and other reasons the

communication software is different from other software.

For this reason while developing the communication software the principles of

software design and development namely: modularity, hierarchy and generality-are

comprehensively and completely followed.

The software of advanced computers is always developed in layers. Different layers

perform different functions and provide services. This applies to any major

software like operating system or database. Similar technique is also applied to,

data-communication software. These layers of software have to ensure that the data

is physically transmitted and the user receives it with no errors. Whatever...

necessary storage, error correction, monitoring and security that have to be

provided will have to' be embedded between various layers of communication

software. For advanced computer systems separate computers are made to

perform these tasks, By these processes the activities are made transparent to

the user while accessing or delivering the services, It is evident that computers of

different vendors, having different operating systems, should have a common

communication protocol to facilitate their communication with each other. Towards

establishment of standards the International Standard Organisation (ISO) has defined a

seven layer architecture called Reference Model of Open System International (OSI).

Q5)Define DBMS and outline the basic sequence of steps for acquiring of DBMS.

Ans:

A database collectively refers to one or more files that are maintained, accessed and manipulated

by one or more users. A database management system (DBMS) is a set of software programs

that control the relationship, storage and retrieval of data (fields, records and files) in a

database. It enables individuals to define, manipulate and extract information from database.

What is Database Management System(DBMS)?

A database system involves four major components:

o Data (facts, figures & statistics)

o Hardware (circuits, memory, devices etc.)

o Software (application programs)

o Users (programmers, end-users & DBA)

Aim of Database Management System

The main aim behind a database management system is to handle data collectively. This enables

us to access information easily, quickly, economically and accurately.

Various drawbacks of the conventional data file processing environment are discussed in the

next few slides.

Data Redundancy

Data elements like employee_name, employee_code, address, etc. are used in various

applications. Since data is required by multiple applications, it is stored in different data files

resulting in repetition of data. This may lead to inconsistency across different files. In DBMS,

data is stored only at one place practically eliminating redundancy and resulting in improvement

of the system performance.

Interactive Data Entry and Updating

DBMS provides a way to interactively update (modify) data in a database, as well as interrogate

it. This capability allows even a beginner to work with a database very effectively.

Ease of Learning and Use

A major feature of a database management software package is its user friendliness. In other

words documentation is adequate and clearly presented. Structural Query language and Report

Writers allow users to interactively interrogate the database and analyze it.

Data Independence

Data independence is a primary concept of database management. In DBMS package, data is

stored in a such a way so as to allow changes to the database structure without affecting the

programs that access data. Data independence in DBMS separates data entry from data

processing.

Data Security and Integrity

Data security is provided by using passwords. This prevents unauthorized users from accessing

the database. Users are allowed access to the whole of database or subsets of database, called

Subchema.

Increased Productivity

In organizations when the same database is used by several departments, DBMS provides an

easy-to-use query language that enables users to get instant answers to their questions. This

reduces the requirement of specially written programs and their frequent modifications

according to the changing needs.

Recovery from Failure

DBMS have a provision to recover database in the event of hardware / software failure. A

backup utility of database is used to obtain backup at regular intervals. Such a utility forms an

integral part of a Database Management System.

Performance

This objective emphasizes on the reduction of response time to the inquiries made by the users

of data. The satisfactory response time is governed by the nature of the user database dialogue.

basic sequences of steps to acquiring a DBMS.

Sharing data among functions by making the data global

Sharing data by passing arguments

Creating numerous special-purpose functions

Creating fewer functions

Using GOTO statements

Using structured control flow statements

Writing redundant code sequentially

Using functions for code sequences that are used repeatedly

Introduction to flowcharts

A flowchart is a graphical representation of the sequence of operations in an information system

or program. Program flowcharts show the sequence of instructions in a single program or

subroutine.

Since a flowchart shows the flow of operations in pictorial form, any error in the logic of the

procedure can be detected easily

Flowchart Symbols

Processing

A processing symbol is used in a flowchart to represent arithmetic and data movement

instructions.

Flow lines

Flow lines with arrowheads are used to indicate the flow of operation, that is, the exact

sequence in which the instructions are to be executed.

Decision

The decision symbol is used in a flowchart to indicate a point at which a decision has to be

made and a branch to one of two or more alternative points is possible.

Terminal (begin / end)

This symbol is used to start or end a flowchart.

Input / Output

This symbol is used to denote any kind of input or output.

Connector

If a flowchart becomes very long, the flow lines start crisscrossing at many places that causes

confusion and reduces the clarity of the flowchart.

Rules for Writing Flowcharts

First formulate the main line of logic, then incorporate the details in the flowchart.

Maintain a consistent level of detail for a given flowchart.

Do not give every detail on the flowchart. A reader who is interested in greater details can refer

to the program itself.

Words in the flowchart symbols should be common statements and easy to understand.

Be consistent in using names and variables in the flowchart.

Go from left to right and top to bottom in constructing the flowchart.

Keep the flowchart as simple as possible. The crossing of flow lines should be avoided as far

as possible.

If a new flowcharting page is needed, it is recommended that the flowchart be broken at an

input or output point. Moreover, properly labeled connectors should be used to link the portions

of the flowchart on different pages.

Advantages of Flowcharts

Conveys Better Meaning

Since a flowchart is a pictorial representation of a program, it is easier for a programmer to

understand and explain the logic of the program to some other programmer.

Analyses the Problem Effectively

A macro flowchart that charts the main line of logic of a software system becomes a system

model that can be broken down into detailed parts for study and further analysis of the system.

Effective joining the part of a System

A group of programmers are normally associated with the design of large software systems.

Each programmer is responsible for designing only a part of the entire system. So initially, if

each programmer draws a flowchart for his part of design, the flowcharts of all the programmers

can be placed together to visualize the overall system design. Any problem in linking the

various parts of the system can be easily detected at this stage and the design can be accordingly

modified. Flowcharts can thus be used as working models in the design of new programs and

software systems.

Efficient Coding

Once a flowchart is ready, programmers find it very easy to write the concerned program

because the flowchart acts as a roadmap for them. It guides them in proceeding from the

starting point of the program to the final point ensuring that no steps are omitted. The ultimate

result is an error free program developed at a faster rate.

Systematic Debugging

Even after taking full care in program design, some errors may remain in the program because

the designer might have thought about a particular case. These errors are detected only when we

start executing the program on a computer. Such type of program errors are called bugs and the

process of removing these errors is known as debugging. A flowchart is very helpful in

detecting, locating and removing mistakes (bugs) in a program in a systematic manner.

Systematic Testing

Testing is the process of confirming whether a program will successfully do all the jobs for

which it has been designed under the specified constraints. For testing a program, different sets

of data are fed as input to that program to test the different paths in the program logic. Flow

charts help in selecting tests data for confirming the proper working of the logic.

Limitations of Flowcharts

Takes More Time to Draw

Flowcharts are very time consuming and laborious to draw with proper symbols and spacing,

especially for large complex programs.

Difficult to Make Changes

Owing to the symbol-string nature of flowcharting, any changes or modifications in the program

logic will usually require a completely new flowchart. Redrawing a flowchart is tedious and

many companies either do not change them or produce the flow chart by using a special package

designed.

Non-standardization

There are no standards determining the amount of detail that should be included in a flowchart.

Q6)Computer virus is a major threat to computer security Justify the statement.

Ans: The computer virusis a chronological successor of worm programs. The

computer virus was termed by Davis and Gantenbein (1987) as: "A Trojan horse

program with the capability of auto-relocation (same as in worms) and it can attack

other programs." Thus, a computer virus can cause a malicious activity as bombs or

Trojans but in addition can do something more. A computer virus is the most

dangerous perverse software which can reproduce itself within a computer system.

Due to its replicating nature it can attach itself to a regularly used program and make

you feel that the host file is benign although it intends to do much more. Computer

viruses are highly contagious in nature and may cause considerable damage through

an information disorder/destruction. Computer virus can get the better of the

operating system which you work on, thereby taking control of the system which

may sometimes lead to the destruction of all the data and programs on your hard disk.

Generally, a computer virus acts like a parasite. It draws on the resources of the

computer to monitor its activities, but otherwise does not immediately change the

functioning of the boot system. This is done to evade early detection. If the virus has

destructive effects, the reaction must be delayed somehow, because if it immediately

destroys the host software, it will never be able to reproduce and spread.

The main characteristics of computer virus are

i) Making replicas : A virus can copy itself into another place, file or another

disk. Typically, if a disk carrying a virus is put into a computer, the virus can

get loaded into the machine through Random Access Memory (RAM) and

copies itself onto every other disk that is used thereafter. The virus can also

propagate a copy of itself through the telephone lines or via network

connections. Sometimes a mutated version of the virus may be copied which

may be difficult to recognise.

ii) Autonomous in nature : A virus may run without being explicitly called by

the user of the computer. This is possible because the virus may c1iange iT a

starting up procedure on computer such that the code of the virus is executed

prior to execution of the code of operating system. Thus, it has a degree of

autonomy.

iii) Malicious activity A virus can cause lot of damage to the computer system

in terms of software and data.

--- it may cause loss of data;

--- it may overwrite some of the important'files with unrecognised characters; ---

--- it may modify programs or software making them unusable;

--- it may scramble your database or Word Processor file resulting in incorrect

information;

--- it may not allow the system to start at all;

--- some special effects on screen like falling of characters or bouncing balls

may be produced;

it may display messages graphics on the screen such as Happy Birthday, Give me a

Cookie, your PC is stoned etc.

It is usually believed that viruses cannot damage the hardware. However, there could

be situations when it can damage the moving parts. If a virus can produce a sequence

of sector Read/Write instruction which can be thrust on one's terminal causing a hard

disk motor and IC working for very long duration with a lot of head movement.

Similarly, in the case of monitor it may result in rapid changes in frequency

oscillations or by creating a high intensity beam (if proper protective hardware had

not been used), the beam may destroy the phosphorous, coating on the screen.

Although no such incidents have been reported, yet one thing is for certain, that is,

because of over-working of the hard disk or low level formatting or very high speed

rotation for a very long time may reduce the overall life of these hardware

components.

iv) Avoid detection: A virus may take steps to avoid detection. An active virus

is difficult to recognize as it can hide itself from the scanning program

through showing a mutated version of itself.

Computer virus normally infect the following areas :

i) The hard disk partition table : The partition table. of the hard disk consists

of information regarding the numbers and type of partition. This occupies the

absolute sector on the hard disk and is normally not accessible to an ordinary

user. This area is modified by the viruses by including its own code in the

partition table information, thus on switching on the system, the virus

becomes active. Some of the partition table viruses area Happy birthday,

Joshi, Stoned etc.

ii) Boot record of hard disk or floppies : The boot record contains a program

which is essential for starting up of computer system as it helps in locating

DOS files on the disk. FAT (File Allocation Table) contains the information

of what areas on the disk are, allocated to which file. Virus changes the boot

record by including . itself or a pointer to its code in the. disk. This, results in

execution of virus code prior to the Disk Operating System files. It may

reserve some space in FAT for itself, this space can be marked as bad sector.

Partition table and Boot Sector viruses are the most dangerous viruses

because : (i) it is difficult to visualise them as the partition table and boot

sectors are sensitive areas and normal users.are not allowed to handle these

areas and (ii) they get activated veryearly in the starting up procedure, thus,

they can take control of the system.

These viruses may go unnoticed till the time they strike and by that time irreversible

harm to data is already done.

iii) Operational files : Viruses can destroy data files yet normally' do not infect data

files which are, on-executable. Thus, a yours can overwrite wrong data on a data

file but normally does not copy or attach its code to the data files. User created

Word Processor data file, database file, ASCII files, source Program Code files

of BASIC, PASCAL are...normally not infected by virus. The files which have

following extensions often get infected by viruses :

.COM

.EXE

.OVR

.OVL

.SYS

.BIN

or any other files which can LT loaded into memory and executed.

Best Wishes

Maanas(maanas09@gmail.com)