Information and Knowledge Management using ArcGIS ModelBuilder

Executive Information Systems (EIS) Implementation for
Education Management – a Conceptual Framework
Rozilawati Razali and Mahamsiatus Kamaruddin
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
rozila@ftsm.ukm.my
siatus09@gmail.com
Abstract: Education management is a social process to identify, maintain, stimulate and unite human resources
and physical assets in a comprehensive way in order to meet educational aspirations. Education management of
a country in general involves several layers of management that requires different types of information from
various operational units. As the units are mainly scattered all around the country and managed individually, most
education information are isolated and disintegrated. On the other hand, the strategic planning and direction for
education has to be centralised where it originates from the authority body, namely the Ministry of Education
(MOE). MOE is responsible for planning, managing and monitoring the administration of those units so that they
align with the national educational goals. These tasks are not straightforward to accomplish for a huge business
like education, especially when the information are not easily and readily accessed. Fortunately, information age
offers computer technology and applications as a powerful means to assist people in managing their businesses.
The issues of education management above can be resolved, for instance, by having an Executive Information
System (EIS). EIS is capable of not only retrieving and storing information in a repository, it can also consolidate
isolated information and perform comparative analyses through its mapping and merging feature. This paper
aims to discuss how EIS can be applied in education domain. A conceptual framework that consists of critical
success factors and characteristics of EIS implementation, particularly for education management is included in
the paper. The framework was proposed based on literature reviews as well as field study that uses Malaysia
context as a case. The results indicate that EIS can become a potential and feasible solution for addressing
education management issues. The framework can act as a guideline to education’s stakeholders for introducing
and implementing EIS in managing their respective education businesses.
Keywords: Executive Information System (EIS), EIS for education management, critical success factors of EIS
1. Introduction
Education management can be defined as a social process to identify, maintain, stimulate, and
consolidate resources to meet educational aspirations. It involves various top management tasks
such as planning, arranging, managing, directing and controlling as well as acquiring co-operation
from individuals involved in education. It is influenced by specific plans and policies that contain
strategic formulation and directions for education business in a country.
Education management is very critical to any nation as it determines the future of the young citizens.
It involves various community levels and background, and its execution covers a wide range of
geographical areas. Education in most countries comprises different types of operational units that
are distributed all around the country. It normally has four distinct hierarchical levels; federal, state,
district and school. The planning and direction is centralised where it originates from the federal
authority body, namely the Ministry of Education (MOE). Besides planning, MOE is also responsible in
managing and monitoring the administration of education business across units. MOE needs to
monitor actions and status as well as coordinate measures and perform comparative analysis as a
benchmark in measuring achievements in education. These tasks are not so straightforward to
perform as the units are mainly scattered and managed individually. This is one of the reasons why
most education information are isolated and disintegrated.
In the era of information and communication technology (ICT), computer applications offer a powerful
means to assist people in managing their businesses. The ability to asses a variety of information is
an important asset for any organisation to improve productivity (Diez & Macintosh 2009). The
management of an organisation only needs to know what information it requires. The technology in
general has the capacity to get the information for them and maximise its use. The management later
uses the information to make important decisions and establish new knowledge to improve the
organisation’s services and performance. With ICT, these managerial tasks are very much feasible.
One possible option is by having an Executive Information System (EIS).
Executive Information System (EIS) is a specialised information system that allows executives to
monitor the management of an organisation. EIS can also be used to support organisational planning
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