A professional approach to management. (includes related article)

The Executive Information System (EIS) roars through the night. By 5:30 each morning, American General Finance (AGF) management at headquarters in Evansville, Indiana as well as all division general managers have fingertip access to key operational information. The system, operating for about the last six months, is a sophisticated new database that allows our management to spot trends, variances and critical indicators on a daily basis so that they can take immediate action. Prior to EIS, getting to this kind of information sometimes took as long as three weeks and almost always required further paperwork to categorize and quantify specific data.

Mike Atnip, senior vice president of administration and coordinator of the EIS project, said the project was initiated by American General Corporation President Roy Haley, who wanted managers to have access to real time data. The system consists of this basic programs, Briefing Book and Execuview. Briefing Book is a set of established, personal computer-based reports that are automatically generated each night. Execuview allows the …