Understanding Integrated Information Systems

Integrated Information Systems is the configuration that helps to coordinate the mechanized operations in an organization. This tool can be referred as one step ahead of management information systems. They help in supplying the required information that one can decide upon in an organization. This is said to be a crucial one because integration involves understanding lots of technical issues.

Some of the issues involved in Integrated Information Systems are as follows:

Importance

An integrated Information system is not a new concept. They have been in existence right from yester years. However they were not successful in achieving the results because of the fact that systems were neither available nor delivered up to the expectations. IIS is only a tool and can leverage and achieve better results if the systems were present and functioning as per the requirement. When that was not there the very concept of IIS got defeated. Its presence only added burden to the organization.

This trend has undergone a sea change. Organizations are keen to update and adopt the latest software programs and technologies available in the market. This applies to all the organizations irrespective of the size or other parameters like nature of business. There is no dearth on the amount invested for computers and other enterprise technologies. So integrating them amounts to paramount consideration otherwise the informations processed would be of no use and would not reach the concerned person. For EG in a company having more that 500 branches in a country the head office needs to be informed about the sales , profits and other relevant facts and figures on a monthly basis. If this is not done the works of branch offices will not be monitored properly.

Vendor's efforts

It is not only the responsibility of the company to have a proper setup for integrating their systems but also the responsibility of vendors and suppliers as well. Infact they have also shown keen interest in advising a method if not providing one so as to improve the prospects of integrated information systems sales. This becomes easy for them because of their vast experience in dealing with and them in different companies. Companies can as well seek their guidance having this in mind. In addition it becomes a question of business for the suppliers. Each one will thrive with the other and fight hard in order to provide the best possible support in the market. This will be advantageous to the companies because they can select the setup that bests suit the industry that they hail from or the nature of business. This is also a strategy to boost integrated information systems sales.

How to go about

The companies have to do lot of groundwork and research before implementing integrated information systems as done for any other enterprise application. The first step would be to analyze the organizational requirements. The study should focus on why IIS is needed and how it is going to serve the purpose. The results from this should be used as a framework or guideline to execute the remaining process (of research and implementation).This should be followed by specifically looking into the beneficiaries like manager, senior manager and important decision makers. Some of the questions that are required to be answered in this stage include "How the coordination will benefit them? Will it be an effective solution provider or not?" A step by step analyzing will constitute the following elements:

Gap Analysis

The gap analysis will identify the impetus that needs to be provided in order to do away with the existing destabilization in the organization. It will explore the defects in the existing system and suggest remedies to overcome the same. The defects will be analyzed on all areas like technology, handling of information, and other relevant practices in the organization. The gap analysis committee will come out with numerous suggestive schemes to weed out each setback. The changes will be made after consulting with the concerned department and or people. The main aim is to forecast how the integrated information systems will function in the organization. In addition to forecasting it involves the suggestion, review and implementation of steps that requires to be done in order to make Integrated Information Systems user friendly in the organization. A company may be having excellent network facilities but still lack connectivity. During a gap analysis such defaults will be brought to the notice in order to make the existing functions meaningful and add value to the proposed implementation of integrated information systems.

Implementation

The next step will be the implementation of the integrated information systems. The implementation process will take place only after all the modifications are carried as suggested in the initial process/processes. The implementation process is a tricky stage because lots of practical difficulties might arise and challenge the very concept of integrated information systems. One example could be the switch over a particular method of payroll or billing whereby the earlier stages have made recommendations based on the previous method. Under such circumstances the company should be immediately prepared to withhold from changing the system or if they are very urgent the company can decide to change them but provide some alternative for IIS (for that segment in the case of a single segment or for the whole organization as the case may be). An alternative to IIS denotes the partial implementation of IIS or similar suitable arrangements. This process should be immediately changed once the systems are fully studies and then IIS should be implemented.

AssessmentThe feedback should be received from every one who is directly or indirectly connected with the working or the results of integrated information systems. This will help the technical team to asses how things are getting on with IIS. The results should also be studied to find out if the money invested guarantees returns. The suppliers and vendors should also take efforts in understanding this in context with integrated information systems sales.

Conclusion

Integrated Information Systems is a crucial function in the company. Since it is a technical task maximum liberty should be provided to in-house IT personnel and others working on its setup. This will help them in establishing the correct process. This success of this system will have its own share in deciding the working of other enterprise application like executive enterprise system.

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