OBJECTIVE 9

Characteristics of Information
Good information is that which is used and which creates value. Experience and research
shows that good information has numerous qualities.

Good information is relevant for its purpose, sufficiently accurate for its purpose, complete
enough for the problem, reliable and targeted to the right person.  It is also communicated in
time for its purpose, contains the right level of detail and is communicated by an appropriate
channel, i.e. one that is understandable to the user.

1 Availability/accessibility

Information should be easy to obtain or access.  Information kept in a book of some kind is
only available and easy to access if you have the book to hand.  A good example of
availability is a telephone directory, as every home has one for its local area.  It is probably
the first place you look for a local number. But nobody keeps the whole country’s telephone
books so for numbers further afield you probably phone a directory enquiry number.  For
business premises, say for a hotel in London, you would probably use the Internet.

Businesses used to keep customer details on a card-index system at the customer’s branch.  If
the customer visited a different branch a telephone call would be needed to check details. 
Now, with centralised computer systems, businesses like banks and building societies can
access any customer’s data from any branch.

2 Cost of information

Information should be available within set cost levels that may vary dependent on situation. If
costs are too high to obtain information an organisation may decide to seek slightly less
comprehensive information elsewhere. For example, an organisation wants to commission a
market survey on a new product. The survey could cost more than the forecast initial profit
from the product. In that situation, the organisation would probably decide that a less costly
source of information should be used, even if it may give inferior information.

3 Value of information

The relative importance of information for decision-making can increase or decrease its value
to an organisation. For example, an organisation requires information on a competitor’s
performance that is critical to their own decision on whether to invest in new machinery for
their factory. The value of this information would be high. Always keep in mind that
information should be available on time, within cost constraints and be legally obtained

4 Timing or currency of information

Information must be on time for the purpose for which it is required. Information received too
late will be irrelevant. For example, if you receive a brochure from a theatre and notice there
was a concert by your favourite band yesterday, then the information is too late to be of use.
5 Level of detail/conciseness/depth

Information should be in a form that is short enough to allow for its examination and use.
There should be no extraneous (foreign to or external to) information.  For example, it is very
common practice to summarise financial data and present this information, both in the form
of figures and by using a chart or graph.  We would say that the graph is more concise than
the tables of figures as there is little or no extraneous information in the graph or chart. 
Clearly there is a trade-off between level of detail and conciseness.

6 Reliability or objectivity

Reliability deals with the truth of information or the objectivity with which it is presented. 
You can only really use information confidently if you are sure of its reliability and
objectivity.
When researching for an essay in any subject, we might make straight for the library to find a
suitable book.  We are reasonably confident that the information found in a book, especially
one that the library has purchased, is reliable and (in the case of factual information)
objective.  The book has been written and the author’s name is usually printed for all to see. 
The publisher should have employed an editor and an expert in the field to edit the book and
question any factual doubts they may have.  In short, much time and energy goes into
publishing a book and for that reason we can be reasonably confident that the information is
reliable and objective.

Compare that to finding information on the Internet where anybody can write unedited and
unverified material and ‘publish’ it on the web.  Unless you know who the author is, or a
reputable university or government agency backs up the research, then you cannot be sure
that the information is reliable.  Some Internet websites are like vanity publishing, where
anyone can write a book and pay certain (vanity) publishers to publish it.

7 Format and medium.

Information is available and accessible in two main formats namely, print and non-print and these
include published and unpublished sources. 

8 Accuracy

Information needs to be accurate enough for the use to which it is going to be put.  To obtain
information that is 100% accurate is usually unrealistic as it is likely to be too expensive to
produce on time.  The degree of accuracy depends upon the circumstances.  At operational
levels information may need to be accurate to the nearest penny – on a supermarket till
receipt, for example.  At tactical level department heads may see weekly summaries correct
to the nearest £100, whereas at strategic level directors may look at comparing stores’
performances over several months to the nearest £100,000 per month.

Accuracy is important.  As an example, if government statistics based on the last census

9 Relevance/appropriateness

Information should be relevant to the purpose for which it is required. It must be suitable. 
What is relevant for one manager may not be relevant for another.  The user will become
frustrated if information contains data irrelevant to the task in hand.

For example, a market research company may give information on users’ perceptions of the
quality of a product.  This is not relevant for the manager who wants to know opinions on
relative prices of the product and its rivals.  The information gained would not be relevant to
the purpose.

10 Completeness

Information should contain all the details required by the user. Otherwise, it may not be
useful as the basis for making a decision. For example, if an organisation is supplied with
information regarding the costs of supplying a fleet of cars for the sales force, and servicing
and maintenance costs are not included, then a costing based on the information supplied will
be considerably underestimated.

Ideally all the information needed for a particular decision should be available.  However,
this rarely happens; good information is often incomplete.  To meet all the needs of the
situation, you often have to collect it from a variety of sources.

11 Presentation

The presentation of information is important to the user. Information can be more easily
assimilated if it is aesthetically pleasing. For example, a marketing report that includes graphs
of statistics will be more concise as well as more aesthetically pleasing to the users within the
organisation.  Many organisations use presentation software and show summary information
via a data projector.  These presentations have usually been well thought out to be visually
attractive and to convey the correct amount of detail.