ypes of information system

For most businesses, there are a variety of requirements for information. Senior managers need
information to help with their business planning. Middle management need more detailed information
to help them monitor and control business activities. Employees with operational roles need
information to help them carry out their duties.

As a result, businesses tend to have several "information systems" operating at the same time. This
revision note highlights the main categories of information system and provides some examples to help
you distinguish between them.

The main kinds of information systems in business are described briefly below:

Information Description
System

Executive Support An Executive Support System ("ESS") is designed to help senior management make
Systems strategic decisions. It gathers, analyses and summarises the key internal and external
information used in the business.

A good way to think about an ESS is to imagine the senior management team in an
aircraft cockpit - with the instrument panel showing them the status of all the key
business activities. ESS typically involve lots of data analysis and modelling tools such
as "what-if" analysis to help strategic decision-making.

Management A management information system ("MIS") is mainly concerned with internal

Information sources of information. MIS usually take data from the transaction processing
Systems systems (see below) and summarise it into a series of management reports.

MIS reports tend to be used by middle management and operational supervisors.

Decision-Support Decision-support systems ("DSS") are specifically designed to help management

Systems make decisions in situations where there is uncertainty about the possible outcomes
of those decisions. DSS comprise tools and techniques to help gather relevant
information and analyse the options and alternatives. DSS often involves use of
complex spreadsheet and databases to create "what-if" models.

Knowledge Knowledge Management Systems ("KMS") exist to help businesses create and share
Management information. These are typically used in a business where employees create new
Systems knowledge and expertise - which can then be shared by other people in the
organisation to create further commercial opportunities. Good examples include
firms of lawyers, accountants and management consultants.

KMS are built around systems which allow efficient categorisation and distribution of
 knowledge. For example, the knowledge itself might be contained in word processing
documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations. internet pages or whatever. To
share the knowledge, a KMS would use group collaboration systems such as an
intranet.

Transaction As the name implies, Transaction Processing Systems ("TPS") are designed to process
Processing routine transactions efficiently and accurately. A business will have several
Systems (sometimes many) TPS; for example:

- Billing systems to send invoices to customers

- Systems to calculate the weekly and monthly payroll and tax payments
- Production and purchasing systems to calculate raw material requirements
- Stock control systems to process all movements into, within and out of the business

Office Automation Office Automation Systems are systems that try to improve the productivity of
Systems employees who need to process data and information. Perhaps the best example is
the wide range of software systems that exist to improve the productivity of
employees working in an office (e.g. Microsoft Office XP) or systems that allow
employees to work from home or whilst on the move.

Human Resources Management (HRM) is the attraction, selection, retention, development, and
utilization of labor resource in order to achieve both individual and organizational objectives. Human
Resources Information Systems (HRIS) is an integration of HRM and Information Systems (IS). HRIS or
Human resource Information system helps HR managers perform HR functions in a more effective and
systematic way using technology. It is the system used to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze, retrieve,
and distribute pertinent information regarding an organization's human resources. A human resource
information system (HRIS) is a system used to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze, retrieve, and
distribute pertinent information about an organization's human resources (Tannenbaum, 1990). The
HRIS system is usually a part of the organization's larger management information system (MIS) which
would include accounting, production, and marketing functions, to name just a few. Human resource
and line managers require good human resource information to facilitate decision-making. An extensive
study by Towers Perrin study revealed the following benefits of

Application of HRIS

HRIS can be applied in the following areas of HRM

 HR planning
  Succession planning

 Work force planning

 Work force dynamics analysis

 Staffing

 Applicant recruitment and tracking

 Employee data base development

 Performance management

 Learning and development

 Compensation and benefits

 Pay roll

 Job evaluation

 Salary survey

 Salary planning

 International compensation

 Benefits management

 Develop innovative Org. Structure

 Develop IT

HRIS Benefits:

HRIS has showed many benefits to the HR operations. A few of them can be detailed as;

o Faster information process,

o Greater information accuracy,

o Improved planning and program development, and

o Enhanced employee communications (Overman, 1992).

Barriers to the success of an HRIS:

o Lack of management commitment

 o Satisfaction with the status quo

o No or poorly done needs analysis

o Failure to include key people

o Failure to keep project team intact

o Politics / hidden agendas

o Failure to involve / consult significant groups

o Lack of communication

o Bad timing (time of year and duration

HRIS software:

 Abra Suite: for human resources and payroll management

 ABS (Atlas Business Solutions): General Information, Wages information,

emergency information, Reminders, Evaluators, Notes customer information,
Documents and photos, Separation information.

 CORT: HRMS: applicant tracking, Attendance tracking and calendars, Wage

information, Skills tracking, Reports-to information, Status tracking, Job history
tracking, Cost center tracking, Reviews and tracking, Mass update and change
tools etc.

 HRSOFT: Identify and track senior managers, Assess management skills and
talents, Generate a wide range of reports, resumes, employee profiles,
replacement tables and succession analysis reports, Identify individuals for
promotion, skills shortages, unexpected vacancy, Discover talent deep,
Competency Management, career development,  align succession plans etc.

 Human Resource MicroSystems: sophisticated data collection and reporting,

flexible spending accounts, compensation, employment history, time off, EEO,
qualifications, Applicant/Requisition Tracking, Position Control/Succession
Planning, Training Administration, Organization Charts, HRIS-Pro Net
(employee/managerial self-service), HR Automation (eNotification and
eScheduler), and Performance Pro (performance management)

 ORACLE- HRMS: Oracle iRecruitment, Oracle Self-Service Human Resources,

Payroll, HR Intelligence, Oracle Learning Management, Oracle Time and Labor

 PEOPLESOFT: Enterprise eRecruit, Enterprise Resume Processing, Enterprise

Services Procurement, Workforce Planning, Warehouse
  SAP HR: Human Capital Management (HCM) for Business, All-in-One: Rapid HR,

 SPECTRUM HR: iVantage® and HRVantage®. iVantage is a Web-based HRIS

product designed for organizations with up to 10,000 employees.

 VANTAGE: HRA: 'Point-and-Click' report writing, internal Messaging System for

leaving reminders to yourself, to someone else or to everyone using HRA - very
useful for Benefit Applications, Disciplinary Actions, Special Events, Employee
Summary Screen for Basic, Leave (Absenteeism) and Salary/Position History,
skills & training module, Leave Tracking Module

Critical Analysis

Although almost all HR managers understand the importance of HRIS, the general perception is that the
organization can do without its implantation. Hence only large companies have started using HRIS to
complement its HR activities.

But HRIS would be very critical for organizations in the near future. This is because of a number of
reasons.

 Large amount of data and information to be processed.

 Project based work environment.

 Employee empowerment.

 Increase of knowledge workers & associated information.

 Learning organization

The primary reason for delay in HRIS implementation in organizations is because of the fear psychosis
created by "technology" and "IT" in the minds of senior management. They may not be very tech savvy
and fear being left out.

But trends are changing for the better as more and more organizations realize the importance of IT and
technology. Major HRIS providers are concentrating on the small and middle range organizations as well
as large organizations for their products. They are also coming up with very specific software modules,
which would cater to any of their HR needs. SAP and Peoplesoft provide HR modules within their
business intelligence software. Hence HRIS would soon be an integral part of HR activities in all
organization.

Bibliography

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3.  http://www.hrms.com
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