What is Management System? A management system is best described as a framework. This framework might detail primary policies. It might outline the steps of an essential process. Or it might explain how to comply with a standardized procedure. One way or another, an organization will use a management system to coordinate aspects of its business to achieve a goal.
Think of management systems, then, as templates on how to do specific things in an organization. It’s a way of identifying various parts of an organization and harmonizing how everything works together to create the desired outcome.
Before the information age when computing became popular, management systems were spelt out in documents. This as you can imagine, resulted in voluminous documents that required plenty of space for storage.
Now, however, management systems have been digitized. It is now easy to organize information, find it when needed, and act on it. Storage is no longer a problem. Data can be stored on a server rather than in a warehouse filled with file cabinets.
Relying on software rather than documents has made management systems much more robust. It is now easier to understand what to do and how to organize the various resources necessary to regulate diverse operations and get all sorts of projects completed.
Management System Types
Let’s take a look at five common types of management systems—content management systems, workforce management systems, project management systems, management information systems, and quality management systems—to develop a deeper appreciation for how useful management systems can be.
Content Management Systems
A content management system organizes content on a platform. While the most common content management system is a website, the idea of microsites is becoming more popular. It’s an easy way to separate the content from a company’s main website onto an independent homepage with specific content.
This smaller website may be a subdomain of the main website or it may have its own URL. It functions autonomously, and visitors don’t need to access the main website at all to learn more information or make a purchase.
Some microsite examples that might make this concept easier to understand are the Human Project, Collaborative Fund, and Lucidworks. A Human Project is a microsite for a nonprofit organization that generates donations; Collaborative Fund is a microsite that provides information on car sharing; Lucidworks is a microsite that explains ways to protect yourself from dark data on the Internet.
Workforce Management Systems
A workforce management system is a framework to help an organization schedule its staff. Software organized along the line of workforce management principles is particularly useful for large companies. A call centre, for example, may hire hundreds of employees on different shifts and pay them hourly wages.
What would be overwhelming for a Human Resource department to coordinate and to track is elementary with workforce management systems applications.
Project Management Systems
A project management system is a framework to help an organization plan its projects. It tracks a variety of things, like scheduling and resource allocation and change. Managers and stakeholders use it to manage budgets, control quality, document progress and administer projects.
Project management systems are indispensable for maintaining control. Besides coordinating everyone’s contribution, it helps prevent projects overrunning deadlines and costs from exceeding budgets.
Management Information Systems
A management information system is a framework to help an organization study a variety of things happening within a company.
It serves the needs of a variety of different parties, like managers or employees or consumers. For instance, management information systems might be used to describe the behaviour of employers or the efficacy of a technology the company is using.
Businesses use management information systems to analyze how various policies are working out and to quantify results. It’s a way for a company to improve their operations.
Quality Management Systems
A quality management system is a framework to help an organization improve the quality of its products or services.
Quality policies and goals are measured by documenting processes, by examining the benefits of various procedures, and by examining what works and what fails to work.
In conclusion, management systems can be thought of ways to help an organization practice five essential principles of good management to plan, organize, command, coordinate, and control.
