Management Information System Development is undertaken to provide management (and operational) information on a company’s performance, particularly in order to assess how it is performing with respect to its goals or objectives or other externally-imposed standards. This information is used as powerful feedback for managers to take corrective action where necessary and to detect negative trends requiring attention as well as positive trends leading to opportunities. BSN works closely with the customer to determine its goals and objectives, how performance can be tracked from operational data and what needs to be done to either distill management information from this operational data or, where no readily-available data exists, how to gather this data in the first place. BSN recognizes that, because MIS is a fairly mature technology, many such applications can be bought off-the-shelf then later customized to suit the particular organization’s purposes. BSN seeks to provide value for money to the customer. Where it makes more sense to purchase and customize an off-the-shelf package, BSN will pursue such a path, especially where time constraints are a major factor. BSN can where necessary build add-on modules to supplement information gathering or to implement decision support systems.

BSN further understands that an MIS can only be as effective as the quality of information going in and how the information outputted is interpreted and used. A significant aspect of any MIS development is therefore training users and managers to use the system and information properly. Training sessions backed up by comprehensive user manuals are an integral part of any MIS development that BSN undertakes.

MIS Projects fail to meet management expectations or in some cases are never fully implemented mainly because there was little strategic planning beforehand to determine what if any management information system was needed in the first place and secondly because many organizations tend to view MIS systems simply as a computerization of business processes. While the latter may be the case in very simple and specific implementations, organization-wide or departmental management information systems require a different approach.

Introduction of an MIS, especially an off-the-shelf package, can have seismic effects on an organization’s structure and culture. Off-the-shelf packages for the most part assume a certain sequence of tasks and, though the order may be changed and the parameters adjusted, the overall underlying business process assumption remains basically the same. If this business process is significantly different from what existed in the organization before implementation, then the effects of the MIS implementation can be far-reaching. New policies and procedures will have to be formulated, new job descriptions prepared and new skill sets required. That is why BSN urges organizations setting up such MIS systems to do the necessary strategic planning before hand in order to fully understand how best to channel the new energies and opportunities unleashed by the introduction of any new MIS, otherwise the end result could have the opposite intended effect. BSN can conduct re-engineering studies and formulate strategic information systems plans before actual implementation to assist the customer in this regard. These studies help managers to understand beforehand the full life cycle costs of MIS systems and the range of benefits as well as the potential drawbacks.