executive information system

n.A user interface to complex data designed to assist senior managers by summarizing, integrating, and analyzing current information so that they can quickly and effectively monitor operations and trends.

Notes

Executive information systems often, but not always, use online analytical processes (OLAP) built on top of a data warehouse.

Citations

MIT 1996, http://yerkes.mit.edu/NARC/Technology/Data%20Analysis/executiveinfosys.html Whereas the traditional focus of Management Information Systems (MIS) has been on the storage and processing of large amounts of information, the focus of EIS is on the retrieval of specific information about the daily operational status of the organization's activities. Whereas the purpose of an EIS is the monitoring and scanning of the environment to give executives rapid exposure to changes in the environment, the purpose of Decision Support Systems (DSS) is to support ad hoc decisions as well as routine analysis. And while the core of DSS is extensive modeling and analysis capabilities, the core of EIS is status information about the organization's performance. Expert Systems use artificial intelligence to go beyond basic decision support.