What is MIS

Short for management information system or management information services, and pronounced as separate letters, MIS refers broadly to a computer-based system that provides managers with the tools for organizing, evaluating and efficiently running their departments. In order to provide past, present and prediction information, an MIS can include software that helps in decision making, data resources such as databases, the hardware resources of a system, decision support systems, people management and project management applications, and any computerized processes that enable the department to run efficiently.

Others define information system is an organised combination of people, hardware, software, communication networks and data resources that collects, transforms and disseminates information in an organization. People have relied on information systems to communicate with each other using a variety of physical devices (hardware), software, communication channels (network), and stored datas (data resources) since the drawn of civilisation. So, MIS may be defined as the combination of men, machine, and procedures for collecting pertinent information from the internal and external source of a firm, and processing these information for the purpose of fasilitating the process of decision making. (Kumar, pp. 1-2)

Within companies and large organizations, the department responsible for computer systems is sometimes called the MIS department. Other names for MIS include IS (Information Services) and IT (Information Technology).