Author : neeraj sharma classification of mis
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| PGDCA Paper : PGDCA-6 59 Other Information System Categories The field of IT moves so rapidly that terminology often fails to keep pace with innovation. This maybe why the stiff 3.5 inch diskettes used with personal computers today are still called floppy disks. The 5.25 inch diskettes from an earlier generation were called floppies because they came inflexible casings. The physical characteristics changed but the name stuck. Similarly strange examples include “writeable CD-ROMs” and wireless cable (which means using wireless transmission to accomplish the function previously performed by cable television). The same problem occurs with information system classifications. People identify anew type of system, such as DSS or ESS and describe its characteristics. Ten years later, the name still exists but some of the original characteristics are no longer as important or have become commonplace. Eventually many information systems contain characteristics from several system categories. Furthermore, a system that fits in a category today may not fit once new features are added. Information systems that contain characteristics of several different categories can be called hybrid information systems. Atone level, it maybe a TPS that collects and uses information about individual sales transactions. At another level, it maybe a communication system. It could also bean executive system that supports a manufacturing process. But surely in the background can be MIS or EIS that help managers and executives monitor the market and DSS that helps in deciding what the price should be and in evaluating the effectiveness of advertising. In the mid-1990s the widespread adoption of a form of hybrid information system called an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system became highly visible and somewhat controversial. Resource planning actually describes only a small part of why ERP systems exist. As with many IT terms, the term ERP evolved out of an early form of DSS called Material Requirements Planning (MRP). These systems provide an integrated view necessary to coordinate purchasing and production scheduling activities. They start with a firm’s output requirement by week or other period and work backward to calculate a schedule of how many units must be started, when the units must be started and when the necessary materials must be ordered. They also permit user adjustments in case lead times are inadequate or in case capacity is insufficient. The need for an integrated view of different activities led to MRP II systems that were broader in scope and eventually led to the name ERP even though ERP systems focus elsewhere. ERP systems try to create an integrated database that spans the major activities in a company. Ideally, having production, sales, human resources and finance data in the same database should make it easier to analyse the business and to coordinate decision-making. But in spite of the shortcomings of information system classification schemes, |