Question
Discuss the various types of information systems used at
strategic level management, Tactical level management and
operational level
strategic level management, Tactical level management and
operational level
Answers
GPT-5 mini
Organizations use different classes of information systems to match the kinds of decisions and activities at the three management levels: operational, tactical (middle/managerial), and strategic. Below is a concise breakdown of the common systems used at each level, their purpose, typical features, examples, data sources, and the types of decisions they support.
1) Operational level (day-to-day operations)
- Purpose
- Support and automate routine, structured transactions and control processes.
- Ensure efficient execution of core business processes (sales, purchasing, production, payroll).
- Typical systems
- Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) — record daily transactions (sales orders, receipts, payments).
- Point of Sale (POS) systems — retail transactions and inventory updates.
- Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) — shop-floor control, scheduling, data capture.
- Process Control / SCADA systems — real-time control of industrial equipment.
- Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), Transportation Management Systems (TMS).
- Office Automation Systems (OAS) — e‑mail, document management, scheduling for routine office tasks.
- Customer-Facing Systems (self-service portals, ticketing systems).
- Characteristics
- High volume, highly structured data; real-time or near-real-time processing; high reliability/availability and strong audit trails.
- Outputs: receipts, invoices, inventory updates, production logs, daily reports.
- Users & decisions
- Operational staff and first-line supervisors.
- Routine, well-defined decisions (accept order, approve leave, release production batch).
2) Tactical / middle-management level (planning, monitoring, short-to-medium term control)
- Purpose
- Monitor performance, allocate resources, implement policies, and make semi-structured decisions to meet short-to-medium-term objectives.
- Typical systems
- Management Information Systems (MIS) — periodic summary reports (sales by region, cost centers).
- Decision Support Systems (DSS) for managerial use — interactive analysis, “what-if” modeling, ad hoc queries.
- Business Intelligence (BI) tools and dashboards — reports, KPIs, trending, drill-down analyses.
- Budgeting and Financial Planning systems, Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) for workforce planning.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems used for campaign and service management.
- Characteristics
- Aggregated historical and current data; structured and semi-structured decision support; more analytical capabilities; scheduled and ad-hoc reporting.
- Outputs: monthly/quarterly reports, variance analyses, forecasts, scenario analyses, dashboards.
- Users & decisions
- Middle managers, department heads.
- Decisions about resource allocation, performance corrective actions, short-term planning, pricing promotions.
3) Strategic / executive level (long-term direction and policy)
- Purpose
- Support unstructured, complex decisions about long-term strategy, competitive positioning, mergers, new markets, major investments.
- Typical systems
- Executive Information Systems (EIS) / Executive Support Systems (ESS) — high-level dashboards, external/internal indicators.
- Strategic Decision Support Systems (advanced DSS) — scenario planning, simulation, optimization models.
- Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) / Corporate Performance Management (CPM) and Balanced Scorecard systems.
- Data Warehouses and Data Marts (integrated historical and cross‑domain data), Big Data analytics, Predictive Analytics and AI tools.
- Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) and competitive intelligence systems (external market, regulatory data).
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) components used for cross-functional visibility (at an aggregated level).
- Characteristics
- Low-volume but highly aggregated, often external and unstructured data combined with internal data; emphasis on trend analysis, forecasting, scenarios, visualization.
- Outputs: strategic dashboards, forecasts, scenario comparisons, risk assessments, business-case analyses.
- Users & decisions
- Top executives, board members, chief officers.
- Unstructured decisions: entering new markets, mergers/acquisitions, long-term investments and strategy setting.
Cross-level and cross-functional points
- Some systems span levels: ERPs, CRM, SCM, and data warehouses serve multiple management levels by providing different views and aggregation of the same underlying data.
- Integration and data quality are critical: strategic analytics require consolidated, cleansed data from operational TPS and external sources.
- Decision type mapping: operational = structured decisions; tactical = semi-structured; strategic = unstructured. System design and outputs should match the decision type.
- Security, governance, and change management are important across all systems, increasing in complexity as systems integrate enterprise-wide and support strategic decisions.
Examples (vendors/technologies)
- Operational: POS systems (Square), MES (Siemens Opcenter), SCADA (Schneider Electric).
- Tactical: MIS/DSS/BI (Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Qlik), CRM (Salesforce for campaign analysis).
- Strategic: Data warehouses (Snowflake, Teradata), EPM (Oracle Hyperion), advanced analytics/ML platforms (SAS, Databricks).
If you want, I can:
- Map specific business functions (finance, HR, manufacturing, sales) to concrete system types, or
- Provide a small table showing one example system for each management level with sample outputs and decision types.
1) Operational level (day-to-day operations)
- Purpose
- Support and automate routine, structured transactions and control processes.
- Ensure efficient execution of core business processes (sales, purchasing, production, payroll).
- Typical systems
- Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) — record daily transactions (sales orders, receipts, payments).
- Point of Sale (POS) systems — retail transactions and inventory updates.
- Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) — shop-floor control, scheduling, data capture.
- Process Control / SCADA systems — real-time control of industrial equipment.
- Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), Transportation Management Systems (TMS).
- Office Automation Systems (OAS) — e‑mail, document management, scheduling for routine office tasks.
- Customer-Facing Systems (self-service portals, ticketing systems).
- Characteristics
- High volume, highly structured data; real-time or near-real-time processing; high reliability/availability and strong audit trails.
- Outputs: receipts, invoices, inventory updates, production logs, daily reports.
- Users & decisions
- Operational staff and first-line supervisors.
- Routine, well-defined decisions (accept order, approve leave, release production batch).
2) Tactical / middle-management level (planning, monitoring, short-to-medium term control)
- Purpose
- Monitor performance, allocate resources, implement policies, and make semi-structured decisions to meet short-to-medium-term objectives.
- Typical systems
- Management Information Systems (MIS) — periodic summary reports (sales by region, cost centers).
- Decision Support Systems (DSS) for managerial use — interactive analysis, “what-if” modeling, ad hoc queries.
- Business Intelligence (BI) tools and dashboards — reports, KPIs, trending, drill-down analyses.
- Budgeting and Financial Planning systems, Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) for workforce planning.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems used for campaign and service management.
- Characteristics
- Aggregated historical and current data; structured and semi-structured decision support; more analytical capabilities; scheduled and ad-hoc reporting.
- Outputs: monthly/quarterly reports, variance analyses, forecasts, scenario analyses, dashboards.
- Users & decisions
- Middle managers, department heads.
- Decisions about resource allocation, performance corrective actions, short-term planning, pricing promotions.
3) Strategic / executive level (long-term direction and policy)
- Purpose
- Support unstructured, complex decisions about long-term strategy, competitive positioning, mergers, new markets, major investments.
- Typical systems
- Executive Information Systems (EIS) / Executive Support Systems (ESS) — high-level dashboards, external/internal indicators.
- Strategic Decision Support Systems (advanced DSS) — scenario planning, simulation, optimization models.
- Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) / Corporate Performance Management (CPM) and Balanced Scorecard systems.
- Data Warehouses and Data Marts (integrated historical and cross‑domain data), Big Data analytics, Predictive Analytics and AI tools.
- Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) and competitive intelligence systems (external market, regulatory data).
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) components used for cross-functional visibility (at an aggregated level).
- Characteristics
- Low-volume but highly aggregated, often external and unstructured data combined with internal data; emphasis on trend analysis, forecasting, scenarios, visualization.
- Outputs: strategic dashboards, forecasts, scenario comparisons, risk assessments, business-case analyses.
- Users & decisions
- Top executives, board members, chief officers.
- Unstructured decisions: entering new markets, mergers/acquisitions, long-term investments and strategy setting.
Cross-level and cross-functional points
- Some systems span levels: ERPs, CRM, SCM, and data warehouses serve multiple management levels by providing different views and aggregation of the same underlying data.
- Integration and data quality are critical: strategic analytics require consolidated, cleansed data from operational TPS and external sources.
- Decision type mapping: operational = structured decisions; tactical = semi-structured; strategic = unstructured. System design and outputs should match the decision type.
- Security, governance, and change management are important across all systems, increasing in complexity as systems integrate enterprise-wide and support strategic decisions.
Examples (vendors/technologies)
- Operational: POS systems (Square), MES (Siemens Opcenter), SCADA (Schneider Electric).
- Tactical: MIS/DSS/BI (Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Qlik), CRM (Salesforce for campaign analysis).
- Strategic: Data warehouses (Snowflake, Teradata), EPM (Oracle Hyperion), advanced analytics/ML platforms (SAS, Databricks).
If you want, I can:
- Map specific business functions (finance, HR, manufacturing, sales) to concrete system types, or
- Provide a small table showing one example system for each management level with sample outputs and decision types.