INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Information management involves the use of information systems to provide a company’s information users with the information they need to carry out their job responsibilities.

An information system is an interactive combination of technology, people, and processes that collects, manipulates, and disseminates information.

Elements of Information System

• Hardware & Software
• Databases
• Communications Technology (Network)

o   Voice Mail

o   EDI( Electronic Data Interchange)

o   Telecommuting – act of working outside the traditional office or workplace, usually at home, by using electronics means of communication with the office, colleagues & customers.

Types of Information System

• Transaction Processing Systems
• Organized collection of procedures, software, databases, and devices used to perform high-volume, routine and repetitive business transactions. It is designed to handle activities such as application processing, policy issue & administration, premium billing, claim administration and salary & commission system.
• Decision Support Systems
• is an organized collection of hardware, software, databases, and procedures used to support decision making. One type of DSS is MIS (Management Information Systems).An insurer can program its MIS to provide
• Scheduled reports (produced automatically at predetermined times).
• Exception reports (produced when certain predetermined conditions or exceptions in operating performance occur).
• Ad hoc reports (produced in special situations when a system user requests a report.)
• Expert Systems
• Is a system of hardware and software that stores knowledge in the form of rules and applies those rules to make inferences and decisions similar to the way a human expert does.

Operations Support Technologies

A data warehouse is a type of DBMS that collects data from the company’s existing databases and possibly from sources outside the company. An insurer can analyze the data in its data warehouses through data mining, which is the analysis of large amounts of data to discover previously unknown trends, patterns and relationships.

A document management system is a technology that stores, organizes, and retrieves documents that have been

            Created electronically and converted to digital images by computer.

            Created on paper and converted to digital images through scanning.

Automated workflow Systems

Are often used in conjunction with DSS. An automated workflow system, also called automated workflow distribution, is a technology used to create computer-based records pertaining to the status and processing of specific transactions.