ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies the task that face management in implementing an Management Information System (MIS): it is a considerable one, but worth pursuing if our organisation is suffering from a confusing and contradictory array of systems. It is usually safest to restrict the MIS approach to selected areas of the database, and to work in an evolutionary manner to expand and extend it. This may require the use of a data management system. Some database management systems (DMS) are very substantial items of software and will result in expensive overheads in the operation of applications. In an MIS system managers start off with the fundamental situation of having a database shared by many application programs. In any system, the intention is to design a file structure which is consistent with the output required, and yet which minimises the amount of computer time required to run the application as a whole.
