MIS: Upgrade or Replace?

But what are the limitations of the older "standalone" MIS that are still in common use today? For many MIS, anything related to prepress data is a black hole. To get a true reading about the success of a business, an MIS needs to accommodate the prepress and production systems. Machine and labor productivity are always critical factors to business performance. Collecting time sheets, job tickets, or even tracking employee tasks and timekeeping online can help explore efficiencies in production, identify errors and unwanted costs, and improve processes. They can deliver information such as stock levels, requirements analysis, order status, and delivery dates. A good system can make scheduling easier, getting real-time feedback directly from the plant floor. Stock control becomes an exact science—tracking raw materials and finished goods and managing quantities, ordering, transactions, and movements. It also serves up all the information needed for immediate answers to customers' questions, in real-time. An automatic customer sales rep (CSR) can offer customers online access to account information—and free up CSRs to handle more urgent needs.