IndexRelevanceAccuracyUsefulnessTimelinessCompletenessThere are generally three types of information required in decision making within a typical organizational hierarchy, namely operational information for the operational level, tactical information for the middle-tier of the organization and strategic information for the highest level of the organization. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The types of information required at different levels of the management hierarchy. Operational information Operational information concerns the daily operations of the organization and, therefore, is very useful in the process of controlling the operations that take place on a daily basis. Since such activities are normally controlled and managed by lower management levels, operational information is required by lower management (Arrowsmith, James, 2013). For example, information relating to the cash position on a daily basis is supervised and monitored by lower levels of management. Similarly, in the marketing department, daily and weekly sales information is used by the lower-level manager to monitor the performance of sales representatives. It is worth remembering that operational information usually concerns activities that need to be measured according to specific standards established by the company. Operational information comes mostly from current and historical performance records and is generally based on internal data sources. The predictive nature of operational information is relatively low, therefore it has a short-term horizon. An information system that refers to this type of information is operations support systems. Operations support systems (OSS) produce a variety of information products for internal management purposes, such as processing business transactions, controlling manufacturing processes, and effectively supporting intercompany communications and collaborations. They do not focus on a specific information product, however further processing by management information systems is usually required (Abdel, AATS & Kadir, 2013) Tactical Information Tactical information helps middle level management with issues such as resource allocation resources and establishing controls to support the organization's high-level plans. For example, at middle levels of management, information is needed about alternative sources of funds and their use, about potential opportunities for using excess resources in short-term securities. Tactical information generally possesses a predictive nature while focusing on short-term trends. These may be partly current and partly historical, and can be found from internal as well as external sources. The information system that deals with such information would be the management support system and the management information system. Management information systems and management support systems produce information in the form of reports that are then displayed to managers to support their daily decision-making needs. In most cases information is processed in order to adequately meet expectations at both the operational and tactical levels of the organization, where the decision-making process is usually structured and well defined (Anon, 2014) Strategic information While operational information information is necessary to research how to do business better, strategic information is necessary to make choices in business options. The informationstrategies help determine and evaluate these options so that managers can make wise choices that are better than those of competitors and the limitations of what they are doing. Strategic information is used by managers to determine objectives and establish priorities, lead new programs and initiate acquisition policies. For example, information about funding needs for ongoing projects and possible long-term futures of the company can be used by high-level managers in making decisions about going public or obtaining loans from financial institutions. Insights have a predictive characteristic, which makes them rely heavily on data sources external to the organization, have a long-term perspective and are mostly summarized. Sometimes it may include assumptions. However, strategic information is not just about external information. In the past, it was believed that strategic information only referred to information regarding the external environment. However, it is now well recognized that information gathered from the internal environment is equally crucial to the success or failure of a strategy and therefore, internal information is also necessary for strategic decision making. Strategic information usually appears in the following information systems: Decision Support System (DSS) is a computer-based information system that provides information support to managers and business professionals during decision making in an interactive manner. DSS uses analytical models, well-structured databases, insights and judgments of a typical decision maker, and an interactive process to support business decisions. Executive Information Systems (EIS) or Executive Support Systems (ESS) are information systems that incorporate most of the future of MIS and DSS. Here information is presented in ways specific to the preferences of executives using the system, such as a personal user interface. Each type of information has its role to play in helping to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of management. They are needed in varying degrees as determined by managers at all levels. It is therefore natural that part of the operational information is also used by the CEO of a company. The difference occurs in the proportion of different types of information in the total information needs of management at the lower, middle and upper levels of the organizational hierarchy. Decision makers access various internal and external information sources on a daily basis to acquire the information needed to assist in the decision-making process (Dragan Sutevski, 2013). Such sources of information include: data-driven reports, analyzes and recommendations presented to committees, and relevant departmental or government documents. These are the main sources from which management can obtain timely and useful information for the company. Data-driven reports With the help of modern information technologies, managers today rely most of the time on data and reports from software. Such software provides a wide variety of financial and non-financial information needed to make decisions. The raw data will be fed into these programs, which will then allow management to track all available departmental information and activities. These reports may include: monthly departmental financial statements, specific liability reports, and accounts receivable aging reports. Analysis and advice presented in committees Information for decision making can also be gathered through regularly scheduled committees such as the Financial Management Committee and the Executive Committee. The presentations in thesemeetings provide management with the context to shape policy options, which makes early decision-making more convenient. The information needed for decision making can be gathered from committee discussions recorded in the minutes. Relevant departmental or government documents Publicly available government documents can also be used to facilitate decision making. These speeches delivered in parliament and on the national budget. These documents provide management with knowledge of possible and potential changes and therefore opportunities for further business growth. At each level of the organizational hierarchy there are different desired qualities of the information received, but in most cases, relevant and useful information shares the same traits in different levels of the organizational hierarchy (Thakur, D. 2012) . Below are the desirable characteristics common to each level of the organizational hierarchy. Relevance The information that management receives is necessary to be related to the decisions that the manager must make so that an informed choice can be made. An effective MIS will take data from the business areas that interest the manager at any given time and transform it into meaningful and useful forms for making decisions. If a manager needs to make a pricing decision, for example, an MIS can take sales data from the last few years and show sales volume and profit margin for different pricing scenarios. Accuracy A key factor in the effectiveness and efficiency of an MIS is the accuracy of its information. The accuracy of the data used and the calculations applied in the application will determine the effectiveness of the resulting information. The sources from which the data was obtained will make a difference if the information is reliable and trustworthy. Historical performance is usually part of an MIS's database and too often serves as a useful measure of the accuracy and reliability of its results. Utility The information that management receives from an MIS may be relevant and accurate, but it will only be useful if it serves the purpose of helping it make a particular decision it needs to make. For example, if a manager needs to make a decision about which employee to fire due to bad economics, information regarding the cost savings from reducing that employee is crucial and relevant, but information about the performance of the employees in question is much more useful and important. Therefore the MIS must make useful information more easily and readily accessible. Timeliness management must make decisions regarding the future of the organization based on current performance data, especially when evaluating trends. The more recent the data, the more the decision made will reflect the current reality and the correct anticipation of the effects on company performance. When data delays its availability, it must be taken into account that this could lead to potential inaccuracies due to ageing. The following characteristic is more important in high-level management. Completeness It is necessary to present all relevant and useful information in order for a particular decision to be made. If only part of the information is available due to missing data, possible scenarios resulting from incomplete data will be displayed. Management should add missing data or make decisions taking the missing information into account. An incomplete presentation of information can lead to decisions that do not produce the expected effects. At the lower level of the organization, information tends to exhibit finer granularity as the.