This paper deals with the design of a management information system for a real world, small manufacturing firm. The major portion of the study was concerned with analyzing the case firm to initially gain an understanding of the system, evaluating the information needs, and then designing a system to provide management with information relevant to the decision making processes. It was concluded that designing an information system for a small firm was a highly creative process although the systems approach provided a good framework. The recommended system for the firm under study included both manual processing, (based on stratified sampling) to provide the regular information needed for operating and control decisions and electronic data processing to provide more detailed information for longer range policy and planning decisions. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

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by Yeung Fu Ki, Gallant. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-127). / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.ii / ABSTRACT --- p.iii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Organization Management --- p.2 / Systems Approach --- p.4 / Management Information System --- p.5 / Value of Study --- p.6 / Scope of Study --- p.7 / Chapter II. --- METHODOLOGY --- p.9 / Chapter III. --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.11 / Information System --- p.11 / Establishment of a Management Information System --- p.16 / Top Issues Affecting MIS --- p.18 / IS Security --- p.19 / MIS Manager --- p.21 / MIS Department --- p.23 / User Attitude Toward MIS --- p.25 / MIS and Organizational Culture --- p.27 / MIS Development Trend --- p.28 / Chapter IV. --- THE SUBJECT COMPANY --- p.30 / Company Profile --- p.30 / Product Profile --- p.31 / Competitive Profile --- p.33 / Market Profile --- p.36 / Target Market --- p.37 / Organization Development Team --- p.38 / Existing MIS --- p.39 / Strengths of Existing MIS --- p.47 / Weaknesses of Existing MIS --- p.49 / Summary of Survey --- p.52 / Recommendation for Improvement --- p.54 / Chapter V. --- CONCLUSION --- p.60 / APPENDICES --- p.63 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.123

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Bibliography: leaves 203-205.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Business. / Knowledge Based Systems (KBSs) have the potential to automate a significant number of the decision making processes across organisations of all types. This represents a unique capability, not available to conventional information systems. It gives KBSs the potential to increase internal efficiency, and to enhance an organisation's competitive position. Despite these potential improvements, the impact of this capability upon an organisation introduces a host of new and complex management issues. Strategic planning for the use of KBSs in organisations is recognised as an important, but neglected area of KBS management research. In practice, KBS development methodologies are used to guide KBS strategic planning. Historically, KBS strategic planning efforts have been poor and are linked to the very high incidence of KBS failure in organisations. While KBS development methodologies may be able to identify potential KBS projects, they are unable to identify which projects have the highest organisational value. The core of the strategic planning problem is that KBS development methodologies adopt current valuation models which do not adequately assess whether investment in a KBS is worthwhile. These valuation models are designed for use in the domain of conventional information systems, but are problematic when applied to KBSs. The unique capability of KBSs to make decisions generates numerous tangible and intangible costs and benefits which cannot be captured by these current valuation models. In addition, these current valuation models fail in three key areas that are critical for adequately assessing KBSs value. First, they do not provide disaggregated information on costs and benefits, many of which are peculiar to KBSs. Second they do not classify these costs and benefits into categories that are meaningful to managers making KBS investment decisions. Third, despite the fact that current valuation models cannot measure intangible costs and benefits, they do not utilise the perceptions of KBS employees to measure them. Using employee perceptions to measure intangible costs and benefits is valid if a recognised psychological model is used to measure perceptions of value. A valuation model specifically designed for KBSs, which addresses these key areas, is needed by managers planning for an organisation's KBS strategy to enable them to identify KBS investments with the highest organisational value. The aim of this thesis is to propose and verify such a model. To achieve this, the case study research methodology was used. The chosen case is a large sales and manufacturing organisation. At the time of study this organisation was developing three KBSs and was interested in being able to measure the relative value of the systems. The study found that the proposed KBS valuation model presented in this thesis overcame the inadequacies of current valuation techniques. First, the results indicate that value of a KBS to an organisation can be assessed by measuring KBS value perceptions of three key employee groups involved in the KBS lifecycle. These groups were found to be: KBS project managers; knowledge domain experts; and KBS users. Employee perceptions of KBS value were measured by adapting the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) which reliably produced valid measures of perceived KBS value. Second, the results indicate that the KBS value perceptions were able to be expressed as disaggregated tangible and intangible costs and benefits. Third, these disaggregated costs and benefits were able to be classified into three categories of value found to be common to all KBSs and meaningful to management. These categories are: time; finances; and quality. Finally, a new graphical technique, termed a "KBS value graph", designed to visually portray to managerial decision makers, the perceived value of a KBS was developed. It lucidly portrays perceived KBS value while supporting the three critical areas of KBS valuation.

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Business. / Knowledge Based Systems (KBSs) have the potential to automate a significant number of the decision making processes across organisations of all types. This represents a unique capability, not available to conventional information systems. It gives KBSs the potential to increase internal efficiency, and to enhance an organisation's competitive position. Despite these potential improvements, the impact of this capability upon an organisation introduces a host of new and complex management issues. Strategic planning for the use of KBSs in organisations is recognised as an important, but neglected area of KBS management research. In practice, KBS development methodologies are used to guide KBS strategic planning. Historically, KBS strategic planning efforts have been poor and are linked to the very high incidence of KBS failure in organisations. While KBS development methodologies may be able to identify potential KBS projects, they are unable to identify which projects have the highest organisational value. The core of the strategic planning problem is that KBS development methodologies adopt current valuation models which do not adequately assess whether investment in a KBS is worthwhile. These valuation models are designed for use in the domain of conventional information systems, but are problematic when applied to KBSs. The unique capability of KBSs to make decisions generates numerous tangible and intangible costs and benefits which cannot be captured by these current valuation models. In addition, these current valuation models fail in three key areas that are critical for adequately assessing KBSs value. First, they do not provide disaggregated information on costs and benefits, many of which are peculiar to KBSs. Second they do not classify these costs and benefits into categories that are meaningful to managers making KBS investment decisions. Third, despite the fact that current valuation models cannot measure intangible costs and benefits, they do not utilise the perceptions of KBS employees to measure them. Using employee perceptions to measure intangible costs and benefits is valid if a recognised psychological model is used to measure perceptions of value. A valuation model specifically designed for KBSs, which addresses these key areas, is needed by managers planning for an organisation's KBS strategy to enable them to identify KBS investments with the highest organisational value. The aim of this thesis is to propose and verify such a model. To achieve this, the case study research methodology was used. The chosen case is a large sales and manufacturing organisation. At the time of study this organisation was developing three KBSs and was interested in being able to measure the relative value of the systems. The study found that the proposed KBS valuation model presented in this thesis overcame the inadequacies of current valuation techniques. First, the results indicate that value of a KBS to an organisation can be assessed by measuring KBS value perceptions of three key employee groups involved in the KBS lifecycle. These groups were found to be: KBS project managers; knowledge domain experts; and KBS users. Employee perceptions of KBS value were measured by adapting the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) which reliably produced valid measures of perceived KBS value. Second, the results indicate that the KBS value perceptions were able to be expressed as disaggregated tangible and intangible costs and benefits. Third, these disaggregated costs and benefits were able to be classified into three categories of value found to be common to all KBSs and meaningful to management. These categories are: time; finances; and quality. Finally, a new graphical technique, termed a "KBS value graph", designed to visually portray to managerial decision makers, the perceived value of a KBS was developed. It lucidly portrays perceived KBS value while supporting the three critical areas of KBS valuation.

M. Tech. Business Administration / The advent of information technology has significantly influenced and changed how businesses are being managed and monitored today. Information technology functions have strived tirelessly to understand demand, set priorities, deliver effectively, and capture value, yet the results still disappoint. Company ABC is currently operating within a market that calls for better use of its assets in order to reduce costs and improve its operations. The information technology function is seen as a strategic asset for ABC and needs to be assessed to determine the level of capability so that it can make a meaningful contribution towards achieving various business objectives. This study sought to assess various information technology functions to determine their level of capability. An analysis was done of the company's information technology processes based on the control objectives for information and related technology (COBIT) framework. The study also highlights the status of ABC's information technology systems and determines what control should be established. Finally it sought to assist the organisation in satisfying its quality, fiduciary and security requirements for their information assets.

The impact of the Intranet on knowledge management within an Omani organisational context is investigated. The main purpose is twofold, to investigate the use, benefit and impact of the Intranet on Omani organisations and to identify factors that make organisations successful in using an Intranet. A quantitative survey is used as the main data collecting method, however, some qualitative means are used in each of two mini case studies to test the validity of the proposed model and inform a detailed case study. Using the strategy of multiple paradigms, the robustness of the results is shown to be increased and cross-validation is achieved. A number of statistical techniques such as descriptive statistic, Speraman correlation and regression are used to derive to the results. While most of the participants report the benefits from the use of the Intranet for their organisations in managing organisational knowledge, it is shown that currently Omani companies' experience is mostly limited to explicit knowledge. Furthermore, the empirical findings clearly link success with positive interaction between IT staff training, management support, availability of funds, user participation and organisational culture factors. The results of logistic regression analysis suggest that 89% of the variation in the level of Intranet usagew ithin Omanic ompaniesis attributedt o thesef actors. The model presented not only gives a description of the use and benefits of the Intranet within Omani organisations but offers a prescription of the factors that need to be considered in the implementation of the Intranet and the consequent utilisation of the technology to its full potential. The factors are of great importance, particularly to practitioners hoping to change the attitudes and the behaviour of employees who are reluctant to actively participate in the acquisition and exchange of knowledge. In the adopting and implementing Intranet based strategies for knowledge management in Oman, it is vital that these factors are considered.Practitioners and researchers alike will benefit from the results obtained. Researchers may benefit from the theoretical framework, which may form the basis for further empirical research. In addition, practitioners have gained models to guide them in implementing and using the Intranet to manage knowledge, the most valuable resource available to ensure organisational success.

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