The EIS... alive and ticking?
The Executive Information System is not a new term to most businessmen. The concept has been around for many years, even though the definition is still fuzzy. From the start, the EIS has claimed to be the system that will present all that data as information the executive can make his decisions from. It's graphical presentations with alarms were supposed to take the guesswork out of data interpretation. All the executive need do is turn on the machine and it will tell you either "all is well" or "look here, there's a problem". That concept was well before its time. The first EIS's were developed on mainframes after huge learning curves on complicated software. Expensive, difficult to develop and difficult to maintain, they didn't deliver. Many executives are soured to the claims.
Enter the micro, relational databases, powerful servers, easy to use software tools. The time is truly ripe for quickly developed, easy to use, easy to maintain, and relatively inexpensive applications. But expectations still need to be managed. Consider the following guidelines for today's EIS:
- Start small and keep it simple. Don't try to build Rome in a day
- After the initial pilot, evolve the application. New ideas and questions are generated after seeing the possibilities. This cannot be the typical MIS application that falls back into the project stack when phase I is complete.
- Even though the software and databases make the claim, do not drop these tools into the hands of the executive. The EIS is an application that is to be developed... not the job of the executive. He doesn't, and shouldn't, have the time nor the patience for the effort.
- The EIS is not a transaction processor. It is a presentation vehicle for static information... it gives a window into a "snapshot" of a point in time.
- Weekly snapshots are often enough.
- Data should be extracted from the active database and loaded into a separate, inquiry database.
- Take the time to explain what is being presented. Without understanding the data, erroneous assumptions are easily made.
All is not rosy... some cautions:
- Expectation still have to be managed
- The EIS must evolve
- MIS resources must still be devoted to projects
- Don't drop it in the lap of users
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