Executive Information System and Decision Support System

            Executives and those in the senior management of big organizations are faced with major decisions daily. Executives are acting based on insufficient information. This is because they simply cannot accommodate the immense bulk of information surrounding the issues that they are deciding upon. As such, they need to enlist the help of other people within the organization to help them in making decisions.

            Executive Information System (EIS) is a kind of management information systems that seeks to gather, digest and present the most relevant information surrounding the issues under consideration. The focus of EIS is on the presentation of data and information in graphs and user-friendly interfaces. The strength of EIS is the way it helps top management and executives in the analysis, comparison and focusing on the trends in the identified indicators or variables (Salmeron, 2002). This will then provide assistance to executives in the area of performance monitoring and identification of challenges and problems in these issues.

Decision Support Systems (DSS) is also another means of presenting information and in making important decisions. It makes use of computers and presents information through various computer-based applications, with emphasis on the alternatives and how these alternatives are weighed against each other. Also, the focus of DSS is on issues that do not easily fit into pre-conceived structures and categories. DSS also provides assistance, not only to top managers but to individuals, groups and other members in setting alternatives and providing models of support and presentation of data (Power, 2002).

            Both EIS and DSS provide important assistance to decision-makers but DSS is not only for top-level managers, but also for other organizational personnel who are involved in decision-making one way or another.

Reference

Power, D. J. (2002). Decision Support Systems: Concepts and Resources for Managers. Westport: Quorum Books.

Salmeron, J. L. (2002). EIS Profitability, Costs and Benefits: An Evolutionary Approach. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 102, (5-6), 284-288.