Definition of Management Information System (MIS)

MIS (management information systems) is a general term for the computer systems in an enterprise that provide information about its business operations. It's also used to refer to the people who manage these systems. Typically, in a large corporation, "MIS" or the "MIS department" refers to a central or centrally-

coordinated system of computer expertise and management, often including mainframe systems but also including by extension the corporation's entire network of computer resources.

According to Uma G. Gupta, “MIS is broad class of system that creates processes stores and provides information to facilitate organizational decision making.”

According to Kober & Watson, “A MIS is an organized set of process that provides information to managers to support the operation and decision making within an organization.”  

In the beginning, business computers were used for the practical business of computing the payroll and keeping track of accounts payable and receivable. As applications were developed that provided managers with information about sales, inventories, and other data that would help in managing the enterprise, the term "MIS" arose to describe these kinds of applications. Today, the term is used broadly in a number of contexts and includes (but is not limited to): decision support systems, resource and people management applications, project management, and database retrieval applications.
A management information system (MIS) provides information that organizations require to manage themselves efficiently and effectively.