Executive Information Systems (EIS)

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An Example of the Open EIS Solution 

The Otis Elevator Company is a large American multinational with 130 business units scattered throughout the world.

Its turnover is in the multi-billion dollar range.

Its problem was an excessive amount of financial information which could not be quickly or accurately summarised into a form that enabled top executives to take timely decisions.

The EIS that was developed is based on the Microsoft Open EIS approach.

Besides solving the problems outlined above, Otis wanted a system that is easy to use and required little maintenance.

The EIS application gives users access to thousands of online reports that are updated regularly with data sent from around the world. In addition, a hard copy Chart-book is produced each month which contains 570 trend-and-variance charts on all major operations. This book can be produced in only two hours from the time the monthly period comes to an end.

At the highest level the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) can obtain a world-view of the company’s status. He can select various topics of interest such as: Elevator Sales Margins - The screen then highlights the regions of the world where Otis operates:

• green circle will be displayed in regions where sales margins are 5% or more above plan
• red circle if they are 5% or more below plan
• white circle if they are between the two ranges

As the CEO selects a new topic the circles will change colour to reflect the status of that particular aspect of business in each region. At any point, by clicking on a circle the CEO may drill down to see a summary report. Double clicking on items in the summary
report will drill down to even more detailed figures on any region.

A “Charts” screen also provides seven charts showing financial data for the current year and the past five years. Most CEOs are only interested in summary information but the system will also produce the detailed data necessary for in-depth analysis by data analysts in the company.

The “analyst” screen can provide access to 40,000 reports and 570 charts which are continually updated and which are the basis for the seven summary charts mentioned above.

Finally there is a “Books” screen which gives access to the company’s standard operating reports such as sales/profits, assets/cash flow and others.

Thus, this single system can supply the information needs of a wide range of personnel operating at different hierarchical levels in the company.

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Reference(s)
	Journal		Dolk, D. R. & Kridel, D. J. (1991) An active modeling system for econometric analysis. Decision Support Systems, Volume: 7, Issue: 4, Page(s): 315-328. [doi: 10.1016/0167-9236(91)90061-F]. [Available on: ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/016792369190061F].
	Book		Pfaffenberger, B. (2002) Computers in Your Future 2003. 5th Edition. Prentice Hall: United States of America (USA), New Jersey (NJ), Bergen, Upper Saddle River. [ISBN: 9780139227820]. [Available on: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3gv8n7D].
	Book		Sauter, V. L. (1997) Decision Support Systems: An Applied Managerial Approach. John Wiley & Sons: United States of America (USA), New York (NY). [ISBN: 9780471173359]. [Available on: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3gDvD3h].
	Book		Turban, E. & Aronson, J. E. (2000) Decision support systems and intelligent systems. 6th Edition. Prentice Hall: United States of America (USA), New Jersey (NJ), Bergen, Upper Saddle River. [ISBN: 9780130327239]. [Available on: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3SALNI5].

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Reference (or cite) Article
	Kahlon, R. S. (2013) Executive Information Systems (EIS) [Online]. dkode: United Kingdom, England, London. [Published on: 2013-02-09]. [Article ID: RSK666-0000104]. [Available on: dkode | Ravi - https://ravi.dkode.co/2013/02/executive-information-systems-eis.html].

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