E I S

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E I S

• Determining Executive Information Needs

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Presented By

• Jennifer Huynh
• Nhu Thai
• Minh Doan
• Tony Chung
• Wei-Ju Chou

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Definition of EIS

• A computerized system that provides executives
  with internal and competitive information through
  user-friendly interfaces that can be used by
  someone with almost no computer-related knowledge.

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Who are executives?

• Executives
• manage an entire organization
• responsible for more than one functional area of
  the organization
  
• typically located on the strategic planning level
  of their firms
  
• establish policies
• tend to be more future-oriented

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Who are executives?

• Executives
• have very important positions in their
  organizations.
  
• expected to effectively mange the large
  investments in their firms
  
• concerned with a range of broad issues
• Example workforce, hiring, technology

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Personal Characteristics Of Executives

• many executives are over 50 years old
• some may not have had training on computers in
  school
  
• have spent their careers in a mainframe computing
  environment
  
• Some executives are not particularly
  knowledgeable about, or handy with, computers.

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Personal Characteristics Of Executives

• Executives are
• self-confident
• capable
• able to handle any situation
• EIS staff must be
• motivated
• promote changes in the objectives

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Personal Characteristics Of Executives

• Training executives on EIS
• short duration
• one to one
• Used directly by executives w/o intermediaries
• Presents graphical, tabular, and/or textual
  information
  
• Provide on-line status access

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Initial Objectives Selecting the Objectives

• The obtainable now objectives usually are too
  numerous to complete for the initial version.
  
• EIS staff must consult w/ the users to develop a
  manageable list.
  
• Priorities given to initial objectives
• Emphasized by senior management
• Best achieved by EIS technology

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What Executives Do

• The Nature of Executive Work
• Executive Tasks
• Executive Roles
• Executive Decision Making

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What Executives Do

• The Nature of Executive Work
• is very complex, demanding, unstructured,
  unfocused, unpredictable, and long range
  
• activities are typically brief, diverse, and
  fragmented, and demonstrate high degrees of
  uncertainly

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What Executives Do

• Executive Tasks
• including strategic planning, management control,
  and operational control
  
• strategic planning involves making decisions on
  objectives of the organization
  
• management control confirms that resources are
  obtained and used effectively
  
• operational control assures that specific tasks
  are carried out effectively and efficiently

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What Executives Do

• Executive Tasks (cont)
• creating a strategic vision of what the
  enterprise is
  
• For example
• they formulate and define the purposes and
  objectives of the organization
  
• they maintain organizational communication

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What Executives Do

• Executive Tasks (cont)
• creating and maintaining an organizational
  culture or a set of values and norms
  
• obtaining, developing, and allocating people and
  other resources necessary for the organization to
  accomplish its strategic objectives

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What Executives Do

• Executive Tasks (cont)
• organizing work processes such as planning,
  budgeting, control, and communications
  
• building networks of people to develop
  cooperative relationships

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What Executives Do

• Executive Roles
• Interpersonal roles
• consist of figurehead (representing the
  organization to outsiders and employees) and
  leader (providing guidance and motivation)
  
• Informational roles
• include monitor (seeing and interpreting relevant
  information), spokesperson (transmitting
  information to outside parties)
  

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What Executives Do

• Executive Roles (cont)
• Decisional roles
• encompass entrepreneur (initiating and designing
  controlled change in the organization), resource
  allocator, and negotiator

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What Executives Do

• Executive Decision Making
• are non-programmed
• have long time horizons
• have high degree of discontinuity

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Types of Executive InformationExecutives Mental
Models Functions of EIS
E I S
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Types of Executive Information

• Internal
• External

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Internal

• The status of operation within the firm
• The information comes from
• Standard operating reports
• Ad hoc information
• Example
• Product quality
• Employee moral
• Customer service

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External

• External Environment
• Clients, Competitors, Markets/Political changes,
  Technological developments.
  
• The information comes from
• Personal contacts
• Trade organizations
• Conferences
• Periodicals

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Sources of Executive Information

• Can be acquired from
• Scanning
• Focus searches
• Information can be obtained or received by
• Written Letters, non-computer reports, computer
  reports, memos, periodicals
  
• Oral Telephone conversations, business meals

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Executive Mental Models

• Executives use information that is received in
  four ways
  
• They disseminate it to others.
• The develop value positions for the firm.
• They identify business problems and
  opportunities.
  
• They develop modes of how the organization its
  environment function.

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Functions of EIS

• To provide executives with high quality
  information that is timely and accurate
  
• To supply executives with many different types of
  information.
  
• To offer easy access to electronic and voice
  mail.
  
• To help executives formulate, access, and modify
  their mental models

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Determining the Need for EIS
E I S
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Overview

• An organization develops an EIS in response to
  external or internal pressures that generate a
  business need for it.
  
• Key to EIS success Experience.
• EIS staff must turn the broadly stated needs for
  the system into specific, detailed objectives.
  
• EIS objectives
• Dynamic constantly changing to meet the users
  needs, to take advantage of technology
  improvements to apply EIS staff innovations.

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A Study of EIS Need

• A variety of needs can motivate the development
  of an EIS.
  
• Table 1 Nine motivation factors. Anchored five
  point scale ( 1 unimportant, 5 very
  important)
  
• Top Five motivations are internal in nature.

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Table 1 Motivating Factors in the Development of
an EIS

• Motivation Mean
• 1. Provide easier, faster access to information
  4.68
  
• 2. Improve the efficiency effectiveness of
  senior executive 3.95
  
• 3. Monitor organizational performance
  3.90
  
• 4. Improve communication 3.47
• 5. Extract and integrate data from incompatible
  sources 3.31
  
• 6. Change executives mental model of the
  organization 2.82
  
• 7. Competitive information 2.71
• 8. Monitor external environment 2.28
• 9. Downsize the organization through personal
  reductions
  
• made possible by the system 2.00
  

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Initial Objectives

• Overview
• Identifying EIS objectives is a process of
  recognizing the pressures on an organization
  developing the EIS the help to relieve them.
  
• Three criteria
• It must be important
• It must be influenced by executive-level
  monitoring
  
• It must be quantifiable

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Initial ObjectivesIdentifying the Objectives

• Begin with specific objectives identified by the
  executive sponsor
  
• To focus on key performance data
• To provide info thats related to helping
  accomplish the firms strategic business
  objectives
  
• To focus on critical success factors (CSFs)
• The limited number of areas where things must go
  right for the business to flourish

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Initial Objectives Identifying the Objectives

• Selecting the best approach
• Depends on the working relationship between EIS
  staff and users
  
• The time available to develop the EIS
• The organizations cooperative efforts to develop
  the system

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Initial Objectives Identifying the Objectives

• There must be executive input into the process.
• Interviews
• Allow for development of a rapport between the
  executives the EIS staff
  
• Survey
• Provides the executives w/ a basis for EIS
  discussions w/ their staffs
  
• Spontaneous comments

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Initial Objectives Expanding the Objectives

• An objective for more timely information in one
  area can be broadened to include
  
• Other areas not specifically identified by
  executives
  
• Information requested in one form may be expanded
  into several screen designs to provide more
  comprehensive viewing

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Initial Objectives Demanding of the Initial
Version

• Most organizations employ a prototyping /
  evolutionary methodology w/ their EIS
  
• Initial version is usually developed quickly
  presents the users w/ a working system

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Initial Objectives Selecting the Objectives

• The obtainable now objectives usually are too
  numerous to complete for the initial version.
  
• EIS staff must consult w/ the users to develop a
  manageable list.
  
• Priorities given to initial objectives
• Emphasized by senior management
• Best achieved by EIS technology

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Refining the Objectives

• Developmental Impacts
• Obstacles encountered during development may lead
  to a revision in the systems objectives
  
• EIS staff resolve problems by finding a way to
  overcome them or making changes to the
  objectives
  
• Positive development related to objectives.
• Ex. May find additional data in operational
  database that hadnt been previously promised by
  executives

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Refining the Objectives

• Operational Experience
• Once experienced, users typically identify
  additional system objectives for the initial
  version
  
• EIS staff will offer new or improved system
  objectives based on their experiences.

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Influences on Operational Objectives

• Overview
• EIS objectives should not remain static
• EIS objectives should not be a list to be
  accomplished for the initial version
  
• EIS objectives should not be a list of things to
  be incorporated as soon as possible
  
• EIS objectives should not be limited to what data
  are easily available

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Influences on Operational Objectives

• 4 Influences
• New Organizational Goals
• Personnel Changes
• Technology
• System Efficiency and Effectiveness

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Influences on Operational Objectives

• New Organizational Goals
• Organizational goals change
• Example New governmental regulation
• EIS objectives must also change
• EIS objectives must be synchronized with new
  organizational goals

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Influences on Operational Objectives

• Personnel Changes
• Different executives have different needs from
  the EIS
  
• When users change, the need may also change
• Two methods to sync users with EIS
• New users should be asked to evaluate the EIS
• Review usage reports (if EIS usage is monitored)

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Influences on Operational Objectives

• Technology
• New technology may call for new EIS objectives
• Improvements in EIS may call for a change in
  objectives
  
• Future objectives may be established for
  availability of new technology
  

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Influences on Operational Objectives

• System Efficiency and Effectiveness
• EIS operations may reveal ways to become more
  efficient and effective
  
• Examples
• Reliance on color to convey information
• New quality monitoring system
• E-Mail comments

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Constantly Changing Objectives

• Successful EIS adapts its objectives to the
  changing needs of its users
  
• EIS staff must be motivated to accept and promote
  changes in the objectives whenever the EIS can be
  improved

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Managing the Objectives

• Maintains record of progress toward meeting
  objectives
  
• Maintain record within the EIS, allowing users to
  observe progress of objectives
  
• Retain record for future referral