The Management Information System (MIS) is a concept of the last decade or two. It has been understood and described in a number ways. It is also known as the Information System, the Information and Decision System, the Computer- based information System.

The MIS has more than one definition, some of which are give below-

1. The MIS is defined as a system which provides information support for decision making in the organization.
2. The MIS is defined as an integrated system of man and machine for providing the information to support the operations, the management and the decision making function in the organization.
3. The MIS is defined as a system based on the database of the organization evolved for the purpose of providing information to the people in the organization.
4. The MIS is defined as a Computer based Information System.

According to Jerome “A system that aids management in making, carrying out and controlling decisions”.

According to Kelley, “A combination of human and computer based resources which results in collection, storage, retrieval, communication and use of efficient management of operations and for business planning”.

Right Information -> To the right person -> At the right place -> At the right time -> In the right form ->At the right cost

Though there are a number of definitions, all of them converge on one single point, i.e., the MIS is a system to support the decision making function in the organization. The difference lies in defining the elements of the MIS. However, in today’s world MIS a computerized .business processing system generating information for the people in the organization to meet the information needs decision making to achieve the corporate objective of the organization. In any organization, small or big, a major portion of the time goes in data collection, processing, documenting it to the people.

Hence, a major portion of the overheads goes into this kind of unproductive work in the organization. Every individual in an organization is continuously looking for some information which is needed to perform his/her task. Hence, the information is people-oriented and it varies with the nature of the people in the organization.

The difficulty in handling this multiple requirement of the people is due to a couple of reasons. The information is a processed product to fulfill an imprecise need of the people. It takes time to search the data and may require a difficult processing path. It has a time value and unless processed on time and communicated, it has no value. The scope and the quantum of information is individual dependent and it is difficult to conceive the information as a well-defined product for the entire organization. Since the people are instrumental in any business transaction, a human error is possible in conducting the same. Since a human error is difficult to control, the difficulty arises in ensuring a hundred per cent quality assurance of information in terms of completeness, accuracy, validity, timeliness and meeting the decision making needs.

In order to get a better grip on the activity of information processing, it is necessary to have a formal system which should take care of the following points-

1. Handling of a voluminous data.
2. Confirmation of the validity of data and transaction.
3. Complex processing of data and multidimensional analysis.
4. Quick search and retrieval.
5. Mass storage.
6. Communication of the information system to the user on time.
7. Fulfilling the changing needs of the information.

The management information system uses computers and communication technology to deal with these points of supreme importance.