Management Information Systems
Management is both pre-emptive and reactive, and for the right decisions to be taken the appropriate information must be made available an effective decision maker would be best placed to take the correct view of the situation given the appropriate level of operational intelligence - which implies a data gathering, collating and presentation process. Improvements to performance cannot be identified and initiated without the base position being understood.
This in turn leads to a decision making process that is established on sound principles. This in our opinion is the spur to the provision of improved management information systems that are flexible to deal with the changing environment.
The on-going management infrastructure also has to deal with external initiatives introduced by legislation (e.g. Best Value). Whilst initially the provision of management information systems may seem to be part of an inherently defensive strategy, the statistical analysis of service provision that such software can provide can be a powerful weapon in offence, too.
Among the many impacts to organisations in recent times some of the biggest are the improvements in information handling and their importance to the management process:
ease of data collection
consistent approach
rapid turn round of data
ease of analysis by reports
forward planning facilities
In particular the major strands of management activity and interest (Finance, Personnel, Project management) can be pulled together by the integration of the appropriate data:
costs & income
events and achievements
resource contribution and usage
A good management information system thus becomes the business tool of collation and co-ordination that facilitates the decision making process.
We feel that the strengthening of management information systems will increasingly feature in public service management strategy. We have designed the LAMP system as the solution in this area of interest.