MIS in Large Public Programs: The Literacy Program in India

Designing MIS for large public programs is a complex task more so in a developing country context. While the potential need and utility of computer based management information systems (MIS) is obvious, the actual application poses challenging problems regarding system design, implementation, decision structures, financial allocations and manpower. As a result, there have been only a few programs where computerized MIS has been a success in developing countries. A large part of MIS literature covers private sector studies in developed countries – the relevance of which is limited for developing countries. Few studies of computerized MIS in public programs have been made, particularly in developing countries. There is, therefore, a need to document and analyze the experience of these countries in order to identify the significant issues and their bearing on the successful program implementation and MIS design. These studies need to be related to existing theory and frameworks. This paper documents the experience of implementing an MIS for the literacy program in India which was being promoted in over 187 districts of India as of April 1993. The paper highlights important issues in design and implementation of MIS for such programs and uses a public MIS framework to identify differences in developed and developing country contexts.