FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

INTRODUCTION
Financial Management Information Systems accumulate and analyze financial data in order to make
good financial management decisions in running the business. FMIS is the acronym for the term
Financial Management Information Systems.

The basic objective of the financial information system is to meet the firm's financial obligations as they
come due, using the minimal amount of financial resources consistent with an established margin of
safety. Outputs generated by the system include accounting reports, operating and capital budgets,
working capital reports, cash flow forecast, and various What-If Analysis reports. The evaluation of
financial data may be performed through ratio analysis, trend evaluation, and financial planning
modeling. Financial planning and forecasting are facilitated if used in conjunction with a Decision
Support System (DSS).

What is Financial Management Information Systems?
Financial management information system is:
Information system that tracks financial events and summarizes information
Supports adequate management reporting, policy decisions, fiduciary responsibilities, and preparation
of auditable financial statements
Should be designed with good relationships between software, hardware, personnel, procedures,
controls and data
Generally, financial management information system refers to automating financial operations.

The Ideal FMIS Systems
An ideal or well-designed system should:
Collect accurate, timely, complete, reliable, consistent information
Provide adequate management reporting
Support government-wide and agency policy decisions
Support budget preparation and execution
Facilitate financial statement preparation
Provide information for central agency budgeting, analysis and government-wide reporting
Provide complete audit trail to facilitate audits.

FMIS Building Blocks
An FMIS will consist of several elements with different functions. In the description that follows, the
term module will imply that the system is a sub-element in a FMIS. The core of an FMIS could be
expected to include the following modules and systems:
General ledger
Budgetary accounting
Accounts payable
Accounts receivable

The noncore or other modules are, inter alia:
Payroll system
Budget development
Procurement
Project ledger
Asset module.

Advantages of FMIS
There are many advantages of implementing an FMIS. A few of them are listed below:
Flexibility of reporting and additional control over expenditure
Less administration required within the business
Tighter views of budgets versus actual.
HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (HRMS)

A Human Resources Management System (HRMS) or Human Resources Information System (HRIS),
refers to the systems and processes at the intersection between human resource management (HRM)
and information technology. It merges HRM as a discipline and in particular its basic HR activities and
processes with the information technology field, whereas the programming of data processing systems evolved
into standardized routines and packages of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. On the whole, these
ERP systems have their origin from software that integrates information from different applications into one
universal database. The linkage of its financial and human resource modules through one database is the most
important distinction to the individually and proprietary developed predecessors, which makes this software
application both rigid and flexible.
A Human Capital Management Solution, Human Resources Management System (HRMS) or Human
Resources Information System (HRIS), as it is commonly called is the crossing of HR systems and processes
with information technology. The wave of technological advancement has revolutionized each and every space
of life today, and HR in its entirety was not left untouched by it. What started off with a simple software to help
improve the payroll processing of an organization, or a software to track the employee work timings has grown
to become the Human Resources systems that helps improve the process efficiency, reduces the cost and time
spent on mundane tasks and at the same time improved the overall experience of the employees and the HR
professionals. In short, as the role of Human Resources function evolved, HR technology systems also
changed the role they were playing.
The function of human resources (HR) departments is administrative and common to all organizations.
Organizations may have formalized selection, evaluation, and payroll processes. Management of "human
capital" progressed to an imperative and complex process. The HR function consists of tracking existing
employee data which traditionally includes personal histories, skills, capabilities, accomplishments and salary.
To reduce the manual workload of these administrative activities, organizations began to electronically
automate many of these processes by introducing specialized human resource management systems. HR
executives rely on internal or external IT professionals to develop and maintain an integrated
HRMS. Before clientserver architectures evolved in the late 1980s, many HR automation processes were
relegated to mainframe computers that could handle large amounts of data transactions. In consequence of the
high capital investment necessary to buy or program proprietary software, these internally developed HRMS
were limited to organizations that possessed a large amount of capital. The advent of clientserver, application
service provider, and software as a service (SaaS) or human resource management systems enabled higher
administrative control of such systems. Currently human resource management systems encompass:
1. Payroll
2. Time and attendance
3. Performance appraisal
4. Benefits administration
5. HR management information system
6. Recruiting/Learning management
7. Performance record
8. Employee self-service
9. Scheduling
10. Absence management
11. Analytics
The payroll module automates the pay process by gathering data on employee time and attendance,
calculating various deductions and taxes, and generating periodic pay cheques and employee tax reports. Data
is generally fed from the human resources and time keeping modules to calculate automatic deposit and
manual cheque writing capabilities. This module can encompass all employee-related transactions as well as
integrate with existing financial management systems.
The time and attendance module gathers standardized time and work related efforts. The most advanced
modules provide broad flexibility in data collection methods, labor distribution capabilities and data analysis
features. Cost analysis and efficiency metrics are the primary functions.
The benefits administration module provides a system for organizations to administer and track employee
participation in benefits programs. These typically encompass insurance, compensation, profit sharing and
retirement.
The HR management module is a component covering many other HR aspects from application to retirement.
The system records basic demographic and address data, selection, training and development, capabilities and
skills management, compensation planning records and other related activities. Leading edge systems provide
the ability to "read" applications and enter relevant data to applicable database fields, notify employers and
provide position management and position control. Human resource management function involves the
recruitment, placement, evaluation, compensation and development of the employees of an organization.
Initially, businesses used computer based information systems to:
produce pay checks and payroll reports;
maintain personnel records;
Pursue talent management.
Online recruiting has become one of the primary methods employed by HR departments to garner potential
candidates for available positions within an organization. Talent management systems typically encompass:
analyzing personnel usage within an organization;
identifying potential applicants;
recruiting through company-facing listings;
recruiting through online recruiting sites or publications that market to both recruiters and applicants.
The significant cost incurred in maintaining an organized recruitment effort, cross-posting within and across
general or industry-specific job boards and maintaining a competitive exposure of availabilities has given rise to
the development of a dedicated applicant tracking system, or 'ATS', module.
The training module provides a system for organizations to administer and track employee training and
development efforts. The system, normally called a "learning management system" (LMS) if a standalone
product, allows HR to track education, qualifications and skills of the employees, as well as outlining what
training courses, books, CDs, web based learning or materials are available to develop which skills. Courses
can then be offered in date specific sessions, with delegates and training resources being mapped and
managed within the same system. Sophisticated LMS allow managers to approve training, budgets and
calendars alongside performance management and appraisal metrics.
The employee self-service module allows employees to query HR related data and perform some HR
transactions over the system. Employees may query their attendance record from the system without asking
the information from HR personnel. The module also lets supervisors approve O.T. requests from their
subordinates through the system without overloading the task on HR department.
Many organizations have gone beyond the traditional functions and developed human resource management
information systems, which support recruitment, selection; hiring, job placement, performance appraisals,
employee benefit analysis, health, safety and security, while others integrate an outsourced applicant tracking
system that encompasses a subset of the above.
The Analytics module enables organizations to extend the value of an HRMS implementation by extracting HR
related data for use with other business intelligence platforms. For example, organizations combine HR metrics
with other business data to identify trends and anomalies in headcount in order to better predict the impact of
employee turnover on future output.














MARKETING INFORMATION SYSTEM (MKIS)

A marketing information system (MkIS) is a management information system (MIS) designed to
support marketing decision making. Jobber (2007) defines it as a "system in which marketing data is formally
gathered, stored, analyzed and distributed to managers in accordance with their informational needs on a
regular basis." In addition, the online business dictionary defines Marketing Information System (MkIS) as a
system that analyzes and assesses marketing information, gathered continuously from sources inside and
outside an organization. Furthermore, an overall Marketing Information System can be defined as a set
structure of procedures and methods for the regular, planned collection, analysis and presentation of
information for use in making marketing decisions. (Kotler, at al, 2006) Developing a MkIS system is becoming
extremely important as the strength of economies rely on services and to better understand the specific needs
of customers. Kotler, et al. (2006) defined it more broadly as "people, equipment, and procedures to gather,
sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision makers.
As our economy focuses on services, marketing is becoming extremely important to monitor the marketing
environment for changes in buyer behavior competition, technology, economic conditions, and government
policies. In this sense, the role of marketing is becoming pivotal for an organization to adapt to changes in the
market environment.
Furthermore, as our economy relies heavily on the acquisition of knowledge, MkIS systems are necessary to
be able to define and differentiate the value proposition that one organization provides with respect to another,
as well as to define their competitive advantage.
The main benefit of MkIS systems is to integrate market-monitoring systems with strategy development and the
strategic implementation of policies and processes that help capture and act on customer management
applications with marketing decision support systems. This area constitute Marketing intelligence that supports
the analysis and market based activities that support customer relations and customer service with real time
information with real time applications that support market based approaches.
According to Robert Harmon (2003), MkIS systems are composed on four components: (1) user interfaces, (2)
applications software, (3) databases, and (4) systems support. The following is a description of each one of
these components.
1. User interfaces. The essential element of the MkIS is the managers who will use the system and the
interface they need to effectively analyze and use marketing information. The design of the system will depend
on what type of decision managers need to make.
2. Application Software. These are the programs that marketing decision makers use to collect, analyze, and
manage data for the purpose of developing the information necessary for marketing decisions.
3. Database Marketing. A marketing database is a system in which marketing data files are organized and
stored.
4. System support. This component consists of system managers who manage and maintain the system assets
including software and hardware network, monitor its activities and ensure compliance with organizational
policies.
Along with these components, MkIS systems include Marketing Decision Support Systems (MDSS), which in
turn rely on simple systems such as Microsoft Excel, SPSS, and on-line analytical tools that help collect data.
Data compiled for analysis is stored and processed from a data warehouse, which is simply a data
repository system that helps store and further process data collected internally and externally.


MANUFACTURING INFORMATION SYSTEM


A management information system that is targeted for use anywhere production is taking
place. Modern management information systems are generally computerized and
are designed to collect and present the data which managers need in order to plan and
direct operations within the company.
Manufacturing information Systems is computerized systems used in manufacturing. It can
provide the right information at the right time and show the manufacturing decision maker
"how the current conditions on the plant floor can be optimized to improve production
output. it work in real time to enable the control of multiple elements of the production
process (e.g. inputs, personnel, machines and support services).
Manufacturing information Systems might operate across multiple function areas, for
example: management of product definitions across the product life-cycle, resource scheduling,
order execution and dispatch, production analysis for Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE),
and materials track and trace.
The idea of Manufacturing information Systems might be seen as an intermediate step
between, on the one hand, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, and a Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) or process control system on the other; although
historically, exact boundaries have fluctuated.

Manufacturing information Systems create flawless manufacturing processes and provide real-
time feedback of requirement changes, and provide information at a single source. Other
benefits from successful MES implementation might include:
1. Reduced waste, re-work and scrap, including quicker setup times
2. More accurate capture of cost-information (e.g. labor, scrap, downtime, and tooling)
3. Increased uptime
4. Incorporate Paperless Workflow Activities
5. Reduced inventory, through the eradication of just-in-case inventory