Executive information system

In general, EIS are enterprise-wide DSS that help top-level executives analyze, compare, and highlight trends in important variables so that they can monitor performance and identify opportunities and problems.

The term EIS lost popularity in favor of business intelligence (with the sub areas of reporting, analytics, and digital dashboards).

The objective was to develop computer applications that highlighted information to satisfy senior executives' needs.

As decentralizing is becoming a trend in companies, telecommunications plays a pivotal role in networked information systems.

EIS helps executives find data according to user-defined criteria and promote information-based insight and understanding.

Unlike a traditional management information system presentation, EIS can distinguish between vital and seldom-used data, and track different key critical activities for executives, both which are helpful in evaluating if the company is meeting its corporate objectives.

Executives needs to use financial ratios and cash flow analysis to estimate the trends and make capital investment decisions.

An EIS integrates planning or budgeting with control of performance reporting, and it can be extremely helpful to finance executives.

EIS focuses on financial performance accountability, and recognizes the importance of cost standards and flexible budgeting in developing the quality of information provided for all executive levels.

This trend frees executives from learning different computer operating systems, and substantially decreases implementation costs.

Because this trend includes using existing software applications, executives don't need to learn a new or special language for the EIS package.