The Concept of management information systems originated in the1960s & , it became obvious that the computer was being applied to help find solutions for a business problem.

Advantages of MIS:

1. It Facilitates planning : MIS help to improve quality of plants by providing information which help in sound decision making . An effect of increase in the size & complexity of organizations is that there is loss in personal contact managers have with the scene of operations.

2. It Minimizes information overload : MIS converge the larger amounts of data into summarized form & thus avoiding confusions which arise when managers are provided with large amounts of details & facts.

3. MIS Encourages Decentralization : Authority decentralisation is possible when there is a system which monitors operations at lower levels. MIS is used successfully to measure performance & make required changes in organizational plans & procedures.

4. It increases Co-ordination : MIS facilitates integration of specialized activities by keeping all departments aware of the problems & requirements of other departments. It thus connects all decision centers in an organization .

5. It improves control : MIS serves as a link between managerial planning & control. Use of MIS help improve the ability of management to evaluate & improve performance . The use of computers has increased the data processing & storage capabilities & reduced the cost .

6. MIS assemble, process , store , Retrieve , evaluate & Disseminates the required information & convert them into forms which are easier to process.

The Human Resource Information System is a software for data entry, tracking, & data information needed by Human Resources, management, payroll, & accounting functions in a business. Normally packaged in form of a data base, hundreds of companies sell some form of HRIS & every HRIS has different capabilities.

Effective HRIS provide information on anything the company needs to track & analyze about employees, former employees, & applicants. Companies usually select a Human Resources Information System & customize it to meet their requirements.

With an appropriate HRIS, Human Resources staff enable employees to do their own updates & address changes, thus freeing HR staff for other strategic functions. Plus, data necessary for employee management, knowledge development, career growth & development, & equal treatment is facilitated. Finally, employees & managers can access the information they need legally, ethically.

The payroll module automate the pay process. This module gathers data on employee time & attendance, calculating various deductions & taxes, & generates periodic pay cheques & employee tax reports. Data is fed from the human resources & time keeping modules to calculate automatic deposit & manual cheque writing capabilities. Payroll module can store all employee related transactions. It can also integrate this information with the existing financial management systems.

Work time modules gather standardized time & efforts related to work. The most advanced modules impart greater flexibility in data collection methods, labour distribution capabilities & data analysis features. Cost analysis & efficiency metrics are primary functions.

Benefits administration module provides a system which help organizations to administer & track employee participation in benefits programs. These usually encompass insurance, compensation, profit sharing & retirement.

HR managemnt module is a component which helps in covering many other HR aspects from application to retirement. This system records basic demographic & address data, selection, training & development, capabilities & skills management, compensation, planning records & other related activities. Human resource management function involves recruitment, placement, evaluation, compensation & development of employees belonging to an organization. Previously, businesses used computer based information systems to:

produce pay checks & payroll reports;

maintain records of employees;

pursue Talent Management

Recruiting online has now become one of the important methods used by HR departments to identify potential candidates for an available position within the organization. Talent Management systems typically include:

analyzing personnel usage within the organization;

identifying potential applicants;

recruiting via company facing listings;

recruiting via online recruiting sites

significant costs are incurred in maintaining an organized recruitment effort, cross posting in & across general or industry-specific job boards & maintaining a competitive exposure of availabilities has given rise to the development of a dedicated Applicant Tracking System or ATS module.

Training modules provide a system for an organization which help to administer & track employee training & development efforts. Learning Management System is a one of its kind product, which allows HR to track education, qualifications & skills of an employee, & as well as outlining what training courses, books, CDs, web based learning materials are available to develop their skills. Courses can be offered in properly specified sessions according to dates along with delegates & training resources being mapped & managed within the same system. A sophisticated LMS helps managers to approve training, budgets & calendars alongside performance management & appraisal metrics.

Employee Self-Service module helps employees to query HR related data & perform some HR transactions over the system. These employees may calculate their attendance from the system without imposing on the HR staff for any information. This module also lets supervisors approve Overtime requests from their subordinates through this system without any help of the HR department thus reducing the burden on HR staff.

Many organizations have gone a step further from the traditional functions & developed human resource management information systems (HRIS), which support recruitments, selections, hirings, job placements, performance appraisals, employee benefit analysis, employee health, safety & security, while some others use an outsourced Applicant Tracking System that encompasses subsets of the above.

Company Profile

Volkswagen was found in the year 1937 by the German Labour Front. It was then known as “Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH” , & on 16 th September , 1938 it was renamed “Volkswagenwerk GmbH”.

Volkswagen AG, globally represented by 9 brands which are Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Scania, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles & Volkswagen Passenger Cars. Their Product ranges extend from low-consumption small cars to luxury class vehicles & trucks. Volkswagen operates 60 production plants around the world. It has a total of more than 370,000 employees which are producing more than 26,600 vehicles or are involved in vehicle-related services each working day.

Volkswagen is one of the most successful car brands of Europe & has now also entered the Indian market.

With a huge work force it becomes important to organize the method of interaction between the employees & the management. Use of an MIS here would greatly benefit Volkswagen by helping them to find out employee attendance, performance, leave demands, etc.

On Jan. 16, 1996 SAP, the world’s leader in providing of client/server business applications, announced that Volkswagen of Mexico had selected SAP R/3 client/server business applications which was used in the manufacturing facility at Puebla, Mexico.

Implementation of SAP modules in production planning & control, inventory management, warehouse management, plant maintenance & purchase helped support a major increase in production capacity for the high-volume automotive plant, scheduled to produce several new Volkswagen car models during the late 1990s.

The Puebla plant currently produces Beetle, Golf, Jetta, Cabrio & Derby models for North American & overseas markets. According to Plans a plant with a capacity of more than 340,000 vehicles per year was made by 1998 as the facility ramped up to produce next-generation Jetta & Concept I models.

Volkswagen implemented R/3 solutions in conjunction with the company’s very own GEDAS consulting division, which is an official SAP partner which provides MIS solutions. Over 1,500 users had access to the R/3 system, & the Puebla installation served as a test facility for more advanced MIS initiatives to help Volkswagen facilities across the globe.

“Volkswagen of Mexico & GEDAS are dedicated to pursuing the most advanced MIS initiatives in the automotive industry, & we are looking forward to realizing substantial productivity gains as we implement R/3 & exp& plant capacity,” said Hans Bartels, chief information officer of Volkswagen of Mexico & chief executive officer of GEDAS.

Volkswagen selected the SAP over competing products because of R/3’s powerful, flexible feature set, & as well as SAP’s expertise in the industry & proven commitment to the automotive sectors in North America & around the world.

“Volkswagen & GEDAS required a sophisticated feature set & functionality from its application software in order to support the Puebla expansion,” said Raul Vejar, Managing Director, SAP, Mexico. “R/3 & SAP will provide VW with configuration, functionality & integration advantages, as well as specific industry experience through our Automotive Industry Center of Expertise program.”

Volkswagen of Mexico is supported by SAP’s Automotive Industry Center of Expertise (ICOE) program. This program is designed so as to directly address challenges which are faced by the automotive industry from the lowest to the highest levels of employees.

The program is designed to directly address the challenges facing the automotive industry, from the board room to the shop floor. SAP supports over 375 automotive clients across the globe, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Goodyear, Toyota, & Tenneco.

GEDAS

Volkswagen GEDAS North America was formed April 1995 as joint venture of Volkswagen de Mexico, SA de CV & VW-GEDAS mbH, all subsidiaries of Volkswagen. VW-GEDAS mbH is an international consulting company which was formed in 1983 so as to provide services & products which are related to information systems & business process reengineering.

Their portfolio of services included outsourcing, systems integration, standard software implementation, custom systems design & development, network planning, help desks & CAD/CAM. For the year 1995, VW-GEDAS mbH expected revenues of $120 million.

SAP

SAP provides a flexible, integrated client/server & mainframe based business applications softwares which are easily compatible with the most popular hardwares , softwares & database platforms. Over 4,600 companies in 41 countries use SAP’s softwares to manage complex financial, sales, manufacturing, & human resource requirements.

SAP’s R/3 client/server software is installed in 4,000 cities worldwide & is accepted as the standard in key industrial sectors such as oils, chemicals, consumer packaged goods, & high technology/electronics. Founded in 1972, SAP has its headquarters in Walldorf, Germany & employs a workforce of over 6,600 worldwide.