【正文】 ation of Management Information Systems There are various types of management information systems. Mason and Swanson (1981) describe four categories of management information systems: (1) databank information system, (2) predictive information system, (3) decisionmaking information system, and (4) decisiontaking information system. The classification is based on the level of support that the information system provides in the process of decision making. Sachdeva (1990) prehensively presents these four types of systems: Databank Information System. The responsibility of this information system is to observe, classify, and store any item of data which might be potentially useful to the decision maker. Predictive Information System. This system moves beyond pure data collection and the determination of trends over time. Predictive information systems provide for the drawing of inferences and predictions that are relevant to decision making. If data from the above examples were to be used in this way, it is possible to obtain information useful for making predictions or for drawing inferences. DecisionMaking Information System. This system goes one step further in the process of decision making and incorporates the value system of the organization or its criteria for choosing among alternatives. An extension organization39。s values are many and varied. They include concerns for resolving farmer problems, increasing and providing for stability of farmer ines, and improving the quality of farm life. But they also including and providing for stability of farmer ines, and improving the quality of farm life. But they also include an intent to provide well for staff members (training, adequate salaries, etc.) and to aid in the process of bringing about rural economic development. DecisionTaking Information System. Examples of decisiontaking information systems are not usually found in an extension organization. This is a decision system in which the information system and the decision maker are one and the same. Management is so confident in the assumptions incorporated in the system that it basically relegates its power to initiate action to the system itself. Airplanes carry automatic pilot systems, which are an example of a decisiontaking system. Once activated, the system itself keeps the plane on course and at the proper speed and altitude (according to parameters determined by the pilot). Another example of decisiontaking information systems is found in modem factory production. In automobile production, continuous inventories of parts are maintained by puter as cars move down an assembly line. Orders are placed automatically by the puter when additional parts are needed. This is done without the intervention of a manager. Role of MIS in the management of agricultural extension programmers National agricultural extension systems, especially in developing countries, tend to be very large. For example, in India, the national agricultural extension system employs about 125,000 people. Extension managers at various levels need relevant information in order to make effective decisions. In the absence of such information, they act only on the basis of their intuition and past experience. Data that have been processed, stored, and presented properly will aid them in analysing situations and to make effective decisions. As suggested above, at every phase of the management process, managers need information in order to make effective decisions. This we call management information. It does not include purely functional information or technical information, such as packages of practices for rice or wheat cultivation. Management information is the information required by managers as they make their decisions, such as the number of extension personnel employed by category, their training requirements, career development plans, job descriptions, budgets, forecasts, benchmark surveys, reports on socioeconomic conditions of people served, and existing facilities (Ramesh Babu amp。 Singh, 1987). Need for automation An automated MIS system contains data just as a manual system does. It re