What Is a Management Information System?
According to the MBA Knowledge Base website, the components of a management information system consist of people, data, networks, hardware and software. Each of the components produce, store and/or analyze data to produce information that is utilized in the operation of a business.
The people component includes end users and information system specialists. The end users are the clients that will be using the information produced by the system. The system specialists are the people that operate and maintain the information system.
The data component is exactly what it sounds like. It is the data going into and being stored by the system so that it can be analyzed and manipulated to provide information to the end users.
The network component is the computers, disk drives and processors used to link all the components to a communications system such as the Internet or intranet.
The hardware component is the actual inner workings of the computer and include things such as boards, circuits and storage devices where the data is kept and stored.
The fifth component, software, is the actual computer programs that have been written to store, process, compile, extract and produce information from the data .
These five components when linked together create a management information system.
