A Lean Information Management Model for Efficient Operations of an Educational Entity at the University of Tennessee

A software based Management Information System (MIS) is designed and implemented in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at University of Tennessee to handle different types of data requests that are currently processed through multiple steps. This thesis addresses the current resource intensive data management model in educational institutions and proposes a decentralized and customized solution. The proposed software based data management system provides information to authorized sources in the requested format with minimal or no time consumption. The quantification of the new systems’ impact is done by comparing it with current data management process using Graph Theoretic Approach (GTA). A Variable Permanent Function (VPF) is utilized to determine the impact of various factors on the information flow in generating requests with current and proposed data processing techniques. The analysis indicates improvement with new departmental information system in terms of reducing process variations. There is also an increase in productivity of delivering reports on time to the requesting sources. The proposed system enables standardization of the information request handling process by increasing the ease of access to data, decreasing the number of resources, time and finally, allowing departments to customize data management.