The primary focus of our business is information systems software. This involves computers and communication which have given rise to some of the most controversial issues of our age. On this page we offer our own editorial contribution.

M.I.S.

    The history of computers/information systems is scarred with phenomena, each promising to solve  our most pressing problems. The PC of the 80's was going to free us from the tyranny of the monster, followed by client/server of the 90's which was to rescue us from the anarchy of the PC. Today it is e-EVERYTHING(my personal favorite is e-portals......whatever that is!). These phenomena are quite analogous to those in the entertainment business e.g. Madonna or JLo, where each promises far more than they ever deliver.

    The hard/firmware examples above, despite their excessive ambition, have generally been somewhat successful in achieving some of their goals. The capacity and availability of computing has increased dramatically over the years but it could be argued that the lofty ambitions of other phenomenal movements in this business have not achieved even that modest degree of success. M.I.S. is exhibit number one.

    In the early 70's  information technology was called data processing and the text books were full of M.I.S. The basic theory was that all computerized information systems should be driven by the ultimate goal of providing senior management with the information to make decisions about the overall direction of the organization.  Part of the evaluation of any information system was to relate its value to M.I.S. Analytical systems evolved(with acronyms like IMS and IDMS) with the goal of documenting all data attributes in all files in an effort to minimize redundancy and serve the needs of M.I.S. Eventually this contributed to the development of relational data base management systems which were supposed to make it possible to relate all corporate data attributes to each other.

    In general the focus of corporate data processing departments became holistic, many even changed their name to MIS. Part of the justification of any effort became the extent to which it served the god M.I.S. Information systems became more functionally integrated, hence larger and more complex. Testing and implementation of change became increasingly difficult and time consuming. Satisfaction of the simplest operational requirement was subject to extensive analysis to be considered for inclusion in the next revision of the monster. MIS departments were alienating lower and middle management with unresponsive efforts and at the same time showed little progress toward achieving the goals of M.I.S.

    By the mid 1980's M.I.S. was lost in the PC revolution along with the credibility of those responsible for the corporate information processing function. The 1990's brought data warehousing and its close cousin data mining. These efforts also aspired to phenomenon status but the focus was on finding the information gems as a by-product of operations. The grand plan had MISfired.