THE NPIC MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (MIS)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73T00325R000100020048-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 3, 2008
• Sequence Number: 48
• Publication Date: April 8, 1971
• Content Type: MEMO

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1"U"': Chie:C I:) i "171:?.iiro I~1 i r i'a. leal (; ( ~, , Staff,
*o9 !al' J..~.
St.'r ~i.he }ii)}.l. 1'?i":11i' ;CJ1::S'llt AIi.L~}ZIi. i.eu C.. rS)
1, I Ft1II sre t.}i l ~i C}~'r:isi~ '1 r:f' r i 1
the 1rut it - Ui. the !,US Ii.ay.
be close at
}1x'?1:.t~? I C 1 ,:
Ci-C: i-S l.O . 1s J.' J% C! i:iil s 1 1'dCU1.Ci once 2i- i i n
like to ; on Of the T:-.!'l.'' )' ^ n-r ' )' (J-
qu )shin land to Ciail.`'I11: 1Ct"! )I1 some o la?: 1`i l l.ent:
Gild Ci ' :
i:2.C.asms Ct3_): ec ed LOid%fi d MIS .I.1 C,-A,,: ev to p uti:. them into pro
PVs'JP?CC ive? ~~~
2. First and foremost :1.s th i cif i? t ' o at L. e l? n,, r
_. 1C 'i.111y
CC: 't:_
to vaAy'ink' d..~ ree ' and in tirry.i.l).-: ways- ,y b ~'i , 1 NPIC us co, i
s ' _I .~ I.by c I LJ.c ?iIS 1v.s ;,]t ;! l-ts and
c-nnn is , but a I1Li1i1.)') (' por e
-:Clar 7 an- . 1 a Iitu(ltiL_.
i. C))_ "LS lr 1': . "1.1.i.l. . Ll:(1'C7.1. you fro 11 "',(..her systems' IE.'.11a.C1.I'-(y ]'uC~t1:~,sI,'. This was illustrated p 11
ctt C' . CC. yT
L
by Li1 ad hoc request re ,.ive 1'ncn, at a SITS' UM fei'i Ii:oiichs ago,
the I :e.cut.1vo directed that the Group and staff chiefs keep cif
eye Oil then' To i.llu. strate C-.l 1r' i MIS U:.1:T7'u1. `t and
d
i A C. 1'11" 7 .~ usage, T. have G-}-ended thretei C?tl,c }:".i.?4?ts: A - MIS 'IS(.aniderd'' Reports
Distribution (Dist J.buted R,3go arly) ; 13 - 1-41S Reports Dis':.I'i.huti.on
~
(Dis tr ibu?t:ed }:eg I '?.rly) c ild C ` RCC;Lu sts for S';p: C i a.l. 1,"ISj Retrievals (Ad
Hoc I) is t ri:buti.on) for ride Period October 1970 thru February 1971.
3. The simple fact is t11a1.t the MIS must have scnie value, b c~ Luse
it is used rather 1?;iclely' This fact- should, I think, be coupled with
to O~?i?i011 of the NPIC CC~i~~:0i1c"1tS
e:?:pr~ss;.;l } .I.t..loa~h
time mna and tide ]-, do
cause s1.i.i;}?t. shifts, often in their conclusion About
a year and o e-?hala a.t o, a PPB Staff I i i ber assessed the }IS aild tiwTrotte
a irero'r t; this repo 'l , including its conclusions and reco i1end bons,
was G'S1'?.O?' LCS by a-11 the. 1' 1'U .S'~Laf Chiefs (aid the then
Executive Di.Iector) Today, 1 think I vmild* be cos i'ect in saying that
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1)oth1 .J:(7, al id PS", I ol1_i.i1 not. t, nt to 1 i.:sco" r .,1
;, SC! th:; ri1. , c. ,1ti..1 n,
~._~ (;?a_"tllollf,h
11 od ia.i.; 1. 17,):CIL`ps) I wool"cl r1',.'. ~t.'?.` :' 'laI'_i"l: 'f" X", lolld SS 1; 1i 11-L vote for
In. fact, it has bell proposed l n~.;.Il) r of times in
the past that be dropped fro;ll the 1 "Is, purportedly becm tlsc tlic,
(soup 1 c}1">re ents only o"; erh l::ii (I )clst confess that the rationale for
igno)'-illg Ovc:r11ead escapes 1'6,e) . Obv'iollsly, s11C11 a pv posill., at ] east
based upon the reason, given, is unsound since APSD/'1'SG is directly
involved in the production process and cannot. be considered. as avel.ilc:~d.
In the case of 11111s, as you are awa?re, the MiS is needed and used hcavi_l.y
in marl}' isayS. The most Obvious C?;i?i;"iiples are the SI Sti?i;y the is -C year
plan, and specific data collections (e.g. ; in assessing the efficac Of
the Al'I.S'I?/SC; reports production system and the impact of.
hoi'lever, Ills :fly of the most irllportallt uses of the MIS ?? ?' those bearing on
major recolzuiendations and decisions -- never see file `].igli of clay, at
least as far as the casual observer is concerned. All of this acids tip
to be a hearty endorsement of the centralized, automated MIS concept.
4. Another point often m'de in the building about the NITS bothers
me because it reveals a certain serious -- I hope not invincible --
lack of understanding of management information. systems in general and
ours- in particular. That is, because some relatively senior manager
does not make direct use of the MIS (e.g. ; receive 50.110 regular "i.IIS
Report"), the NITS is of little or no value to him and, by implication,
to others at his level. 1!lhile I
would. not rule out some sort O; "direct"
use of an '141S, uy" a se iior manager (depe,l.ding upon 1.11:: design of the
system and its inherent capacities fo'1"" SUiau'ar izillg, exception reporti.n.g ,
etc.) it is a rather rare bird with any depth in the 1,1IS field who would
even consider or suggest that a senior manager should "directly" use all
MIS or even receive reports based solely on MIS data. The point is
that normally an MIS is one of the tools used-in decision rah-i.ng; usually
NITS-type: data is analyzed, ground in with other factors -- logic,
experience, and good judgment -??? and the collated. product is fed to the
manager. I would also slake the point that practically every senior
manager in this building both makes much more use of and is affected
more significantly by the ,,ITS than he might 'be aware. 'So, such a "no use"
statement can only make one wonder why the manager is not aware of how he
or his peeople use the HIS or, if indeed the statement is true, wonder
why he does not use it as part of his information base. In the case of
a junior manager, the latter question should be asked quite pointedly.
S. The "no use" statement is often backed up by certain criticisms
of the AIIS. Principally these criticisms translate into untimeliness,
inaccuracy, exclusion of important information, and inflexibility. I
would be less than candid if I. did not point out that for the most
part these are not system problems but management and people problems.
As a very practical fact, the AIIS can be made just about as "fast" as
we want it or would need it. Secondly, for all intents and purposes,
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t:11; S)''?'ten Cill] hC 11 adc S accur"I.tc as ''o desire
\'i.?1'!. ')''~.]1~; 'Lll il, i:1'iC 01,i La 1.?euordcd i.s arc.i'to Th ii.`.. i:-1 a f:l.lilctioil Of
such a desir ':. bead` 1 i ``;,mo ;
such ? b .O1 \'Y?''%i1 to 10"111"' d 1 inc ,.,.n ,1carrying out its Any syst:ei!1 is dcsi.L;l:cd to i.riclud
,11'1d CaC..~i1cle Ce1.'i 17.T1 7.11fC~;'il::1i:1Gil, and some 101.110. ]_a1~( to see other data
ill the HIS. It should b;. pointed out ill this context, }lc.;;;cvc; , that
the full capac i ty of th;, MIS is not r!o?.;' ici.n Lri.:i.l:i zed, to a great
Of extent because of reasons aiialoc'ous to those cited with respect to
accuracy. A good exomplc of this is products reporting; into the MIS;
the truth Of the matter is that it r.1.5 lr:!d (1ni..CLn'rlte, not i1Sll.Ir:LI]., etc.)
because no one insists that it be put in and put in properly. Also, it
is naive and of little value for our purposes to attack the MIS on the
basis of what is not contained' in it. As is any other information
systelil, the MIS if, meant to be? used in conjunction with certain other
systems. As for flexibility, this ar;urn:nt can always be invoked
against any system; th t?IIS is reasonably flexible and it can be made
.more flexible. In fact, with little effort, reports much more valuable
than those currently being produced could be 1)roduced for line lilanagers.
6. Three other of:tr:n_cited MIS problems deal with overall system
costs, the manhour costs and annoyance to employees in f_ill.ino; out time
sheets, and the "policeman." Concept:. The Overall costs of the MIS are,
in the, first place; mi.n.in-'al (loss than one percent of the budget at
most) for a tool 1."hich does and can make ail even more valuable contri-
bution and, in the second place, quite overstated, in rriy opinion.
Qi}1 i' systems clo exist in the building; the MIS could and should take
over some, not all, of these functions. If the P1IS Were discontinued.,
however, many more systems would spring up so that the total cost to
the Center. would increase; this t?+would be accoJ"-tpanied by a degradation
in the quality, unifonrlity, and availability of the info;:'riation. The
pla.ianl fact is tllatt we do receive value for our money and. that we could
(and should) receive even more. The time sheet troubles are also
vastly overstatcd, both with respect to the actual minutes it takes to
fill out a. time sheet (many employees do not fill out their own) and
to the annoyance factor; in any case, a chore which takes an employee
less than five minutes a day should not be overemphasized. The
policeman argument is nonsense; the real policeman is (or should be)
the employee's supervisor, and the MIS role in this respect is
negligible. The MIS can be a tangible help to the supervisor, ho;?rever,
in understanding and performing his job.
c
7. To summarize briefly the main points:
a. The MIS has value and is used.
b. Center m nagement predominantly recognizes the need
for and endorses a centralized, automated MIS.
c. Confusion may exist about the role of the MIS, as
to \;hat it should do, as to what it now does, a.S to what
it could do, and as to how it relates to other managemn nt
systems now operating or being planned.
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d. of no
i.nf:l.exibl.e, lack of i11:io7 m tion,
hip ,h cost-s, and n noyt1t1~_c to employees -- are for '010'2 1"1',!.-)SL
pirt enormously e:~;clgger feel and in great part the di.rc`ct
managem ;rri,~ inac:t:ion.
result. Of
e. j`(le inherent Capacity of the MIS far exceeds it s
Cu ?rrcnt 111:ilization.
Obviously, 1w:llat..1 man attempting to do is wipe out some of the myths
surrounding the MIS so that we can get.on with whatever course: of action
is required. Particularly, in this area we should clea.l in facts, because
it is an important issue. It ta'kes' tliile and effort to. gather these facts,
and normally you won't get theme, in sufficient detail, by interviewing a
few senior managers. Historically, the MIS has been subjected to quick
patchwork solutions to its problems, real and imagined.. This approach
has been one of the ma in pr oblcills with the MIS; either it must stop or
the entire MIS ship 1?: -11 go under the waves, which Ii would hate to see
happen. On the other hand, I do not want to give the impression that
the MIS does not have serious problems and does not need improvement --
it certainly does. In fact, if we looked below the surface I believe
two things would be apparent.: 1) while the MIS concept is generally
endorsed, many are about ready to give up on the current. MIS and 2)
a good deal of enthusiasm could be generated. for a new, second generatioi-n,
if you will, MIS. I am not ready to give -up on the present MIS because
it has worth, and at the some time, I would not be adverse to looking
toward a better system sometime in the future, after we make the current
one. work.
1101.1- to. elicit -froill the
Executive Director the charge for. PPBS to revitalize the MIS. This
men, is that the full, capability of the MIS will be looked at and, where
feasible, improved. Among these improvements will be redefinition of
activity codes to make them meaningful and unequivocal, along with the
elimination of unnecessary activity codes ncl the addition of new ones
.where needed. The heretofore rarely used MIS capability to collect and
store data on NPIC products (reports, briefing hoards, etc.) will be
implemented. This should eliminate the keeping of such records by
various systems now in use throughout the Center. I also propose that
we look at the reporting components and either eliminate or consolidate
their input where feasible and advantageous. I propose that we 1.001:
into the nwibcr and types of projects on the books to see where iml:prove-
ments can be made in project establishment and reporting. I propose
that new guidelines and regulations on the input of data and maintenance
of the MIS data files be instituted to insure that the above is accom-
pui.sllecl. I propose that eventually more responsibility he shifted to
each component so that the data within the MIS i.s. accurate and timely.
LT i ie
Plans & Program Division, PPBS
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{?J 1~\.'1. ?~,1 f.- its! *:,' ~i .)~ ,7, ,.n r
j\! ~. 1? ?:f?~ILc~i., il.l, ~lt.:l.C..~::4't.:'i{)i. .) . "l ~I?lL,.i
Att C1 ::i c nits: -I/
1 - NPIC:/PPJ3S
1 - NPIC/Pr'u5/PPP
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