What key benefit does an executive information system (EIS) provide?

An executive information system (EIS) is specifically designed to assist top-level management in making strategic decisions by providing access to relevant data and sophisticated analytical tools. One of the key benefits of an EIS is its ability to facilitate trend analysis, allowing executives to identify patterns and changes over time that can impact organizational strategy. By presenting data in a user-friendly manner, EIS enables decision-makers to draw insights from historical information, forecast future trends, and evaluate the effectiveness of various strategies. This capability is crucial as it directly supports high-level decision-making processes that require a clear understanding of trends and significant metrics in business performance.

Other choices like operational data, basic data entry capabilities, and daily financial reports do not encapsulate the primary function of an EIS. While these aspects are important in other information systems geared towards operational management, they do not provide the strategic insights and trend analysis that an EIS is designed to offer to executives.