I don't understand this help me please!!!?

Hi

i've been asked by my teacher to do this task but i didn't understand what i have to do can you please tell me what i have to do:








Task 4
Prepare a handout that describes the features and key elements of a management information system, showing where it supports the functional areas of a College.(P4)

Information
Management information systems (MIS) are systems to gather process and distribute information within an organisation, in order that management can take informed decisions. The development of information technology means that management information can be provided quicker and cheaper than before, and that managers can have greater involvement in information production and report design.
Levels of information
Information within an organisation (as distinct from information provided by an organisation to external users, such as shareholders, the general public, pressure groups, competitors, suppliers and customers) can be analysed into three levels.
Strategic information is used by senior managers to plan the objectives of their organisation, and to assess whether the objectives are being met in practice. Such information includes overall profitability, the profitability of different segments of the business, future market prospects, the availability and cost of new funds, total cash needs, total manning levels and capital equipment needs. Much of this information must come from outside sources, although internally generated information will always be used. Strategic information is used in strategic planning.
Tactical information is used by middle management. Such information includes productivity measurements (output per man hour or per machine hour), budgetary control or, variance analysis reports, and cash flow forecasts, manning levels and profit results within a particular department of the organisation. A large proportion of this information will be generated from within the organisation and is likely to have an accounting emphasis. Tactical information is usually prepared regularly, perhaps weekly or monthly (whereas strategic information is communicated irregularly) and it is used in management control.
Operational information is used by `front-line' managers such as foremen or head clerks to ensure that specific tasks are planned and carried out properly within the factory or office. In the payroll office, for example, operational information will include each employee's hours worked each week, rate of pay per hour, details of deductions, and for the purpose of wages analysis, details of the time spent on individual jobs during the week. In this example, the information is required weekly, but more urgent operational information, such as the amount of raw materials being input to a production process, may be required daily, hourly, or in the case of automated production, second by second. Operational information is used in operational control.

The amount of detail provided in information is likely to vary with the purpose for which it is needed, and operational information is likely to go into much more detail than tactical information, which in turn will be more detailed than strategic information. What is information to one level of management or one department may be raw data (needing to be processed) to another. A foreman, for example, will check the output of each worker within the area of his responsibility but his superior may only wish to know about the performance of the section as a whole.

Planning, control and operating information
Another way of categorising information is into planning, operating and control information.
Planning information is information needed to formulate plans and consider alternative courses of action. It will include:
i)Forecasts (such as demand forecasts or forecasts of increases in prices and wages);
ii)Estimates of environmental conditions, such as likely actions by competitors or possible legislation.
Planning information may be based on historical data, but is essentially forward-looking, and so inevitably, it will be subject to uncertainty. When plans depend on environmental information, there is also likely to be some difficulty in obtaining all the relevant information.
Control information is information which provides a comparison between actual results and the plan. Control information cannot exist without a plan or target. Feedback is the key concept in the use of control information. The value of control information in an organisation will depend largely on the qualities of the information -its relevance, accuracy, comprehensiveness, timeliness and who receives it. Frequent criticisms of control information are that:
i)It arrives too late to be of any use;
ii)It contains information about matters outside the control of the person who receives it;
iii)The person receiving it does not rely on it, perhaps because he or she suspects it of being inaccurate of incomplete.
c)Op
this is the last bit sorry i mised it:



c)Operating information is information which is needed for the conduct of daily operations. It will include much transaction data, such as data about customer orders, purchases, cash receipts and payments. Operating information must usually be consolidated into totals in management reports before it becomes management control information.