Data and Information

Data and Information

Data is an individual unit that contains raw materials which do not carry any
specific meaning.
Data can be a number, symbol, character, word, codes, graphs, etc.
 What is Data?
• Data is a collection of raw, un-organised facts and details like text,
observations, figures, symbols and descriptions of things etc. In other
words, data does not carry any specific purpose and has no
significance by itself. Moreover, data is measured in terms of bits and
bytes – which are basic units of information in the context of
computer storage and processing.
 What is Information?
• Information is a group of data that collectively carries a logical
meaning.
• Information is data put into context. Information is utilised by humans
in some significant way (such as to make decisions, forecasts etc).
• A basic example of information would be a computer. A computer
uses programming scripts, formulas, or software applications to turn
data into information.
• Information is processed, organised and structured data. It provides
context for data and enables decision making. For example, a single
customer’s sale at a restaurant is data – this becomes information
when the business is able to identify the most popular or least
popular dish.
 Data can be of two types:
• Qualitative data: It is non-numerical data. For eg., the texture of the
skin, the color of the eyes, etc.
• Qualitative data is descriptive, referring to things that can be
observed but not measured—such as colors or emotions.

• Quantitative data: Quantitative data is given in numbers. Data in the

form of questions such as “how much” and “how many”, gives the
quantitative data.
• Quantitative data is anything that can be counted or measured; it
refers to numerical data.
 Internal Data
• Internal data refers to data that comes directly from a company’s
systems, such as sales and financial data, marketing data, human
resource data, transaction types, topics, and occurrences. This type of
data is specifically controlled by the company in order to provide
information about its operations, transactions, and current practices.
• Internal data is information an organization generates from within,
collecting from departments like Sales, Finance, Marketing, and HR.
• Internal data, which comes from your own company’s sales, finance,
and HR departments, includes everything from customer info and
sales numbers to website hits and phone logs. The data is generally
reliable because it’s sourced directly from your operations. It’s
valuable for understanding what’s working and what’s not, so use it
wisely to maximize resources. Just make sure it’s clean and accurate
for the best outcomes.
 External data
• External data comes from the market, such as surveys, questionnaires, research,
and customer feedback.

• External data comes from outside your company, usually from specialized data
providers. It encompasses a wide range of sources that includes:
• Public records
• Market research
• Social media
• Web-harvested data
• The amount of external data continues to grow, giving businesses a goldmine of
info they can tap into. External data can really beef up your own data and give
you a full picture of customers and the market. Companies leverage it to identify
trends, understand their audience, and ultimately make smarter decisions for
smoother operations.
 Reliability of data sources
• Data reliability refers to the completeness and accuracy of data as a
measure of how well it can be counted on to be consistent and free
from errors across time and sources. The more reliable data is, the
more trustworthy it becomes.
 Characteristics of
Unreliable Data
• Inaccurate data is flat-out wrong and misleading.
• Outdated data is no longer accurate and equally misleading.
• Incomplete data is missing values or lacks specific attributes, such as a
customer record without contact information.
• Duplicate data can skew analyses and waste resources.
• Inconsistent data exists in different forms or formats within the
organization.
• Irrelevant data doesn’t add value in the context of the current analysis.
• Unstructured data lacks a context that allows it to be analyzed accurately,
such as plain text vs. text in a defined database field.
• Non-compliant data causes problems for regulated industries such
healthcare and finance and can lead to legal and financial penalties.
 How to Measure Data Reliability
• Accuracy is measured by how well the data describes or represents the real-
world situation to which it pertains. This includes whether the data possesses the
attributes described in the data model, and whether the model’s predictions
about events and circumstances prove to be true.
• Completeness relates to both the data itself and the data models that were
created based on that data. Completeness is measured by identifying null values
or data elements in the database, and fields where data is missing entirely.
• Consistency roots out data redundancies and inconsistencies in values that are
aggregations of each other. An example is a database in which the product model
numbers used by the sales department don’t match the model numbers used by
the production team.
• Freshness defines the currentness of the data at the present moment, which is
related to but not synonymous with data timeliness, or the data’s relevance when
applied to a specific task. For example, sales figures may be delayed from posting
by an outdated roster of sales representatives. The sales data is accurate and
timely for analysis, but it isn’t current.
• Relevance ensures the data provides the necessary insight for the task, and
is sufficient to meet all intended use cases. Irrelevance can be caused by
redundancies, being out of date, or being incomplete.
• Reliability refers to how trustworthy stakeholders consider the data to be.
For data to be considered true and credible, it must be verifiable in terms
of its source, its quality, and any potential biases.
• Timeliness confirms that the data is up to date and available to be used for
its intended purposes. Up-to-date information that never makes it to the
decision-makers who need it is as useless as out-of-date information that
gets to them right away.
• Usability determines how easily the data can be accessed and understood
by the organization’s data consumers. The data must be clear and
unambiguous, and it must be accessible using variations of request forms,
wording, and approaches.
• Validity verifies that the data conforms to the company’s internal rules and
data definitions. Various departments must agree on specific methods for
creating, describing, and maintaining data to promote consistent and
efficient business processes.
HOW ORGANISATIONS USE
BUSINESS INFORMATION
 Operational support
• When monitoring and controlling its activities a business can make immediate use of
the information from its operational support system to make its minute-by-minute or
hour-by- hour decisions. For a restaurant, for example, some of their products are
freshly prepared, while others are cooking in batches or need time to defrost. If
customers orders are recorded on an EPOS system, then an operational support system
can alert the restaurant management as to when they need to cook or defrost more
bulk items.
• When monitoring and controlling its activities a business can make immediate use of
the information from its operational support system to make its minute-by-minute or
hour-by- hour decisions.
• For a restaurant, for example, some of their products are freshly prepared, while others
are cooking in batches or need time to defrost. If customers orders are recorded on an
EPOS system, then an operational support system can alert the restaurant management
as to when they need to cook or defrost more bulk items.
 Analysis
• Analysis is where the business regularly does the same or similar
processing of its data. This is typically to identify patterns or trends and
to monitor the business. A business might produce a weekly sales and
costs report. This would show a trend of whether profits are increasing
or decreasing and whether increased sales drive up costs.
• For example, a restaurant chain might use analysis to compare the
performance of similar restaurants, to compare one restaurant against
the regional or national average or to identify the impact of a
promotion on sales and costs.
• Analysis may also be used to identify patterns, such as the increase in
sales at Christmas or Easter. Analysis can be a powerful tool to predict
sales and demand in the future, which in turn helps the organization to
know how much stock to buy in, what staffing is required and what
advertising needs there are.
 Identify patterns or trends
• The identification of patterns and trends are techniques used by analysts studying
the supply and demand of an asset traded on an open market. A trend is the
general direction of a price over a period of time.
• Trends, patterns are important because they can help you gain insights from your
data and make better decisions. By identifying trends, you can understand how
your data changes over time and predict the future outcomes or opportunities.
By identifying patterns, you can understand the underlying causes or
relationships of your data and optimize the processes or strategies. By identifying
anomalies, you can detect the potential problems, errors, or opportunities in
your data and take corrective or preventive actions.
• Trend analysis is the practice of collecting data over time and analyzing it to
identify patterns that can predict future behavior or performance. It's an
essential component of strategic planning because it enables businesses to
navigate market uncertainties and capitalize on potential opportunities.
 Decision making
• Information systems can support decision making when a problem or issue arises
and management needs to take action to resolve it. This is typically done on an
ad-hoc basis as problems arise. Management can take these decisions at
various levels – operational, tactical or strategic.
• Information systems can support decision making when a problem or issue arises
and management needs to take action to resolve it. This is typically done on an
ad-hoc basis as problems arise. Management can take these decisions at various
levels – operational, tactical or strategic.
• For example, the management of the restaurant chain might want to reduce
costs. They might decide to do this by a reduction in hours that some of their
restaurants are open. They could decide when to close the restaurant by looking
at information on sales and costs by hour of the day, by day of the week, and by
branch. The could open later, or close earlier, if sales less direct costs where low.
This could be operational (for one branch), tactical (or a group of branches) or
strategic (for a region or nationally).
 Marketing and sales
• Marketing involves much more than advertising, publicity or selling. Marketing seeks to get ‘the right
product or service to the customer at the right price, at the right time.’ And that: ‘Without proper
marketing, companies cannot get close to customers and satisfy their needs.’
• Effective marketing is underpinned by sound knowledge of (potential) customers and competitors. Only
by knowing your customers' needs, wants and aspirations can you hope to satisfy or delight them – and
possibly even lure them away from competitors. Marketing success is underpinned by the Four Ps:
Product; Price; Place (ie distribution channel); and Promotion. Together, they form the ‘Marketing Mix’. If
done correctly companies can maximize the success of their marketing efforts. You also need powerful
messages and a unique selling proposition that convinces customers to buy from you.
• Marketing seeks to get ‘the right product or service to the customer at the right price, at the right time.’
And that: ‘Without proper marketing, companies cannot get close to customers and satisfy their needs.’
• It is important to promote a business effectively and it is a never ending task. Key options include
advertising (online and offline), direct mail, point of sale display, public relations (PR), word of mouth and
networking. The most potent promotion comes from the mouths of satisfied customers, so it is important
to make sure that customers are delighted with the products and services they receive. Can you think of
an example where marketing activities might be carried out in school?
 Gaining advantage
• This is the opposite to resolving a problem, in that it is about taking advantage of
external or internal events. It is done on an ad-hoc basis as and when the opportunities
arise. It is also used to identify patterns or trends, this time with the aim of making
decisions to benefit from these events.
• For example, how should the restaurant respond when the local football team gains
promotion to the premier league? Should management employ more staff or open
longer on match days? Should they advertise more at the club ground? Or should they
do special promotions? Another example is if a competing chain goes out of business.
• This is the opposite to resolving a problem, in that it is about taking advantage of
external or internal events. It is done on an ad-hoc basis as and when the opportunities
arise.
• What actions should the restaurants near their former competitor take? What might be
the effect of taking these actions?