The types of the database models generally used in the business organizations can be categorized as follows –

1. Hierarchical Data Base Model (HDBM)

a. Is one of the earliest data base management systems.
b. This model has data logically as one to many relationship.
c. Follows a structured organizational mode.
d. Requires a controlled, finite and a rule based approach.
e. Represents data in a pyramidal or a tree like structure.
f. Each record appears to be like an organizational chart with one top level segment, called the root, spreading downwards into the branches and the leaves.
g. There is a record.
h. Within each record, the data elements are organized into the pieces of record which are referred to as the segments.
i. An upper segment is linked to a lower segment in a parent child relationship.
j. A parent segment may have more than one child.
k. A child can have only one parent.
l. The most common hierarchical data base management system has been the Information Management System (IMS) released by the IBM in the year 1968.

2. Network Data Base Model (NDBM)

a. Acts as the variation of the above Hierarchical Data Base Model.
b. This model has data logically as many–to– many relationship.
c. Helps in understanding and also helps in analyzing the sales Zone performance.
d. Analysis the sales and the recovery position.
e. Analysis the product wise sales performance.

3. Relational Database Model (RDBM)

a. Most recent of the three database models.
b. Was proposed by Dr. E.F Cod in the year 1970.
c. Consists of the data in the database as simple two dimensional tables called as the relations.
d. The table consists of the rows and also the columns.
e. Rows represent the individual records.
f. The columns represent the attributes of each of the record.
g. The information in more than one file can be easily extracted.
h. This information can be further combined to suit the user’s specific requirements.
i. The three basic operations of this model are Select, Project, Join.

Introduction
In the Management Information Systems, the concept of the ‘Systems’ play a very essential and a defining role and it can be surely referred to as the backbone of the management Information Systems. The major concept of the systems involves basically the pattern or a way in which one thinks about managing optimally. In management Information Systems, it acts as the framework for the visualization and the analysation of the internal as well as the external environments and the factors affect these particular environments in a very integrated way or pattern.

The word systems refer to as the arrangement or the way of organizing some specific things in a particular way. So now a system can be defined as the regularly interacting interdependent group of the items ultimately leading to the formation of a united whole. Particularly for the management Information Systems, a system consists of certain specific set of elements that can be identified as the belonging together because of the common purpose, goal or the objective.

The features defining the system usually act as its boundaries, so it can be said that the system is inside the boundary and the environment is outside the boundary.

Each system is further made of the sub systems, which further consist of the other subsystems and one very important point to be kept in mind here is that all of these subsystems are defined specifically by its boundaries. Each subsystem itself actually acts as the system. The Interconnections and the various interactions that generally take place between the various subsystems are referred to as the interfaces.

These interfaces are generally known to occur at the boundary and usually take the form of the inputs and the outputs. A system is not at all arranged randomly but is arranged with the help of certain logic, which are governed by the rules, the regulations, the principles, the policies etc. Such an arrangement of a system is generally influenced by the objective which the system always desires to achieve.

In the management Information Systems, the concept of the system is very much important and one should have an in depth knowledge of it as with the help of this, one can easily have a look at the individual elements, subsystems in the larger perspective of the whole system leading to the optimal solutions and the synergy.

There are different types of the system and are generally found to be present in all the fields of the endeavor. There are systems like the social system, political system, economic system etc.
All the Systems must possess the following –
1. Goals
2. Components
3. Subsystems
4. Behavior
5. Boundaries
6. Life cycle

What are the Characteristics of the System
A System must be having or possessing the following characteristics –
1. System receives inputs with the help of the information, energy or the materials.
2. System processes inputs and also produces outputs or the results.
3. System has a particular structure.
4. System is very much interdependent in the nature.
5. System has an objective orientation.

Types of the System in the Management Information Systems
1. Conceptual Systems

a. Are theoretical and explanatory in the nature.
b. Provide the much needed clarification.
c. Provide theoretical framework for which there may or may not be any real life counterpart.
d. E.g. of such systems can be philosophy, theology etc.

2. Empirical Systems

a. Are very practical, specific and also very operational in the nature.
b. Can be based on the conceptual system.
c. Examination system, surgery act as very good examples of the empirical systems.

3. Open Systems

a. Involve continuous interaction with the environment.
b. So exchanges the information, material, energy with the environment.
c. Is open and also self organizing in the nature.
d. Is also adoptive or adaptive to the changing environment as it is flexible.

4. Closed Systems

a. Shuns any kind of the exchange with the environment.
b. Is rigid in nature.
c. Is not at all amenable to the change.
d. Is also self contained.
e. Is somewhat isolated in the nature.
f. Is having a well defined boundary.
g. Is not at all adaptive in the nature.

5. Natural Systems

a. Such Systems exist and also abound in the nature.
b. Are also not at all the results of the human endeavors.
c. Rivers, mountains, minerals etc. are the major examples of the natural Systems.

6. Artificial Systems

a. Are manufactured (man made).
b. Examples of such Systems are dams, canals, roads, machines, factories etc.

7. Probabilistic Systems

a. Based on the predictability of the behavior or the outcome.

8. Deterministic Systems

a. In such Systems, the interaction of the elements is known.
b. As the behavior of the elements is pre determined, it becomes possible to work upon the reaction well in the advance.

Introduction
In the manufacturing sector, physical goods are to be manufactured for the customer, but this is not the case in the service sector. Unlike the manufacturing sector, the service sector does not involve any manufacturing of the physical goods for the customer. So now it can be said that the Management Information Systems that are generally used in the manufacturing and the selling organization cannot be used in the service sector.

Payroll, accounting, inventory etc form a very important part of the data processing applications and are used in the service sector only sometimes but an important point to be kept in mind here is that these applications are not that much critical for the service sector. The main mission in this service sector is to provide service to the customer that ultimately satisfies him but this is not the case in the manufacturing sector as here this concept varies from industry to industry and from organization to organization.

The service industry consists of some of the major applications which need to be controlled in a very good way for getting the best stuff out of them.

By these applications, the service organization becomes efficient in the nature and then is able to provide with the best type of the services to the customer. In the today’s world, there occurs a tremendous competition between the companies in order to achieve the maximum profit and this competition also exists a lot in the marketing world, one company directly or indirectly always tries to show the other company inferior to it. So in this competitive scenario, one of the major needs of the industry is to get a service distinction, in order to create a position and a particular identity and growth to remain ahead of the various other industries.

In the service sector, the identification of the segment to be served can be obtained by the sensitive market and also with the help of the consumer research. The service demands are very dynamic in the nature and as a result of all this, for the upgradation of the service facilities, it is very much necessary to conduct a research on the requirements, expectations and the perceptions.

Tom Peters in “The Service Edge” states five principles of a distinct service –
1. Listen, understand and respond to the customers.
2. Define a superior service and establish a service strategy.
3. Set the standards and measure the performance.
4. Select, then train and then empower the employees to work for the customers.
5. Recognize and also reward the accomplishments.

The service industries these days involve the front end facilities, which help in serving the customers in order to clear the immediate needs and to make him comfortable for the other service demands.
All the human interactions are mainly based on the knowledge, so all the systems making the human interaction effective are the mission critical applications and here the main responsibility of the service sector is to provide these to offer the most satisfying service. Changes in the service organizations tend to occur more quickly than the manufacturing sector and also the returns in the service industry are very immediate if compared to the manufacturing sector. At this point, it actually becomes a necessity to understand the meaning of the creation of an outstanding service. This creation of the distinctive service is actually a willful conscious and deliberate management endeavor etc. The management of the service business calls for these willful conscious and deliberate act to create a distinctive service and hence to remain in the business. In order to manage a service effectively, it is a necessity to have in depth understanding about the distinctive characters between the product and the service, the customer expectation and the perception.

Comparison between the Service and the Product

Following are few examples of application of Management Information Systems (MIS) in the Service Sector

1) Application of MIS in Airlines industry
2) Application of MIS in Hospitals
3) Application of MIS in Banking

Application of MIS in Hospitals

The front end applications –
a. Patient database –
i. Handling the queries on the existing patients and the patients treated and discharged.
ii. Queries can also come from the visitor, a doctor or other employees of the hospital.

b. Medical server database –
i. Name, address, telephones etc. of all medical staff.
ii. Hospitals, work times and the locations on the week days for the contact.
iii. Service centers like the laboratories, the blood banks, the especial clinics etc. in the town for providing the support services.

c. Resource planning and control –
i. An online query facility for answering the number of queries on the availability, scheduling and re – scheduling of the resources and the facilities.
ii. For judging the usage of the facilities and to put them in the proper use.

d. Medical case history database –
i. Knowledge database on the case history for the guidance and the research.
ii. Monitoring the effect of the drugs to judge the efficacy in terms of the patient’s response.
iii. Analyze the health care demand.

The back Office applications
a. Core applications are:-
i. Manpower and personnel planning.
ii. Payroll and employee related applications.
iii. Hospital billing and the recovery.
iv. An inventory control procurement, the planning and the control.
v. The expiry date management.
vi. Resource utilization and the analysis.
vii. Financial accounting.
viii. Capital budgeting and the expense control.
ix. Maintenance of the service facilities.

b. Critical control application –
i. Patients waiting time and the service cycle.
ii. Not using the critical resources.
iii. Stock outs of the critical drugs.
iv. Analysis of the delays in terms of the duration and the causes.
v. New trends in the service demands and the service performance in such cases.