UNIT 4

DATA AND
INFORMATION
 DATA AND
INFORMATION
Data
• Unprocessed facts about a situation or and
environment and is therefore not directly useful
for any given system purpose
• The ‘raw material’ which is inputted into the
computer
 DATA AND
INFORMATION
Information
− The processing or manipulation of data (facts) produces
information,

DATA + PROCESS = INFORMATION

− Data put into meaningful and useful context and

communication to a recipient who uses it to make decisions
− Knowledge communicated concerning some particular fact,
subject or event
 DATA AND
INFORMATION
Information
− Communication and reception of knowledge or intelligence
− Knowledge obtained from investigations, study or instructions
− Pattern or design that arranges data for instrumental purposes
− Data recorded, classified, organised, related or interpreted
within context to convey meaning
− Consist of data, images, text, documents and voices
intertwined but always organised in meaningful context
 DATA VS INFORMATION

DATA INFORMATION
• Raw facts • Data with context
• No context • Processed data
• Numbers • Value-added to data
• Text • summarized
• Audio • organized
• Pictures • analyzed
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
INFORMATION
Characteristic Definition

Accuracy Exact; precise; without error or defect.

(information must be correct or the
receiver will not have confidence in it)
Clarity Data is free from obscurity and easy to understand;
the comprehensibility of clear expression
(informationmust be clear so that the user
understands it)
Conciseness Data is brief, yet gets to the point quickly, including
important information
(complete yet concise – not too much
irrelevant information, should not be
excessive)
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
INFORMATION
Characteristic Definition
User Relatedness
must have a purpose, relevant for the purpose
(relevant for the purpose of the correct user)
Relevance Data should be relevant to the question for which it is
addresses, i.e. applicable.
(must have a purpose and should arrive via the
appropriate channel)
Timeliness Data should be captured as quickly as possible after
the event or activity and must be available for the
intended use within a reasonable time period.
Data must be available quickly and frequently enough
to support information needs and to influence
decisions.
Cost effective the cost to produce the information should not be
above the benefits of the information
Right Medium e.g. printed on paper versus displayed on a screen
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
INFORMATION

Characteristics Definition
Confidentiality Data is viewable by restricted persons

Security This is used in the prevention of

unauthorised access of data.
Interpretation Data is analyzable by various persons

Reliability verifiable
CATEGORIES OF
INFORMATION
 CATEGORIES OF
INFORMATION
Operational

− Used by junior managers or frontline supervisors to organise and

control the tasks for which they are responsible.
− Generally short-term in nature e.g. daily, weekly or monthly in
timescale
− Derived from internal sources only
− Highly detailed
− Task specific
− Prepared constantly frequently
− Largely quantitative
 CATEGORIES OF
INFORMATION
Tactical
− Used by middle management to plan and control the
resources of the business for which they are responsible
− Derived internally
− Summarised at lower levels
− Relevant for short and medium term decisions
− Prepared routinely and regularly
− Based on quantitative measures
 CATEGORIES OF
INFORMATION
Strategic
− Used by senior managers to plan the objectives of their
organisation and assess whether these are being met in
practice
− Derived from internal and external sources
− Highly summarised
− Relevant to long term decisions
− Deals with the entire organisation
− Prepared in an ad-hoc basis
− Both qualitative and quantitative
− Contain elements of uncertainty
 LEVELS OF
MANAGEMENT
Management in organizations exists on 3 broad vertical
levels:
1. Operational managers,
2. Managerial planners/middle managers
3. Strategic managers.

Each level carries its own responsibilities and each level

work towards the accomplishment of the organizational
goals and objectives in their own way.
 LEVELS OF
MANAGEMENT
 LEVELS OF
MANAGEMENT
 INFORMATION SYSTEMS
An information system may include a computer
program and all of the users or it may refer to a
single application including those data items,
programs and hardware resources devoted to it.

Another way of saying it is, An information system is

a set of hardware, software, data, people,
and procedures that works together to produce
information They are developed for different
purposes, depending on the needs of the business.
 TYPES OF
INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
TYPES OF INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
 TYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

• Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)

• Automate handling of data about business activities
(transactions)
• Management Information Systems (MIS)
• Converts raw data from transaction processing
system into meaningful form
• Decision Support Systems (DSS)
• Designed to help decision makers
• Provides interactive environment for decision
making
TYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

• Expert Systems (ES)

• Replicates decision making process
• Knowledge representation describes the way an
expert would approach the problem
• Control and Monitoring systems (cms)
• Executive information systems (eis)
• Knowledge management systems (kms)
 OPERATIONAL-LEVEL SYSTEMS

• Transaction-Processing Systems (TPS)

• Basic business systems
• Perform daily routine transactions necessary for
business functions
• At the operational level, tasks, resources and goals
are predefined and highly structured
• Generally, five functional categories are identified,
as shown in the diagram.
TRANSACTION PROCESSING
SYSTEM
 MANAGEMENT-LEVEL SYSTEMS

• Management Information Systems (MIS)

• MIS provide managers with reports and, in some cases,
on-line access to the organisations current
performance and historical records
• Typically these systems focus entirely on internal
events, providing the information for short-term
planning and decision making.
• MIS summarise and report on the basic operations of
the organisation, dependent on the underlying TPS for
their data.
 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
SYSTEMS (MIS)
• Management information system (MIS)
• An MIS provides managers with information and
support for effective decision making, and provides
feedback on daily operations
• Output, or reports, are usually generated through
accumulation of transaction processing data
• Each MIS is an integrated collection of subsystems,
which are typically organized along functional lines
within an organization
 OUTPUTS OF A MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION SYSTEM

• Scheduled reports
• Produced periodically, or on a schedule (daily, weekly,
monthly)
• Key-indicator report
• Summarizes the previous day’s critical activities
• Typically available at the beginning of each day
• Demand report
• Gives certain information at a manager’s request
• Exception report
• Automatically produced when a situation is unusual or
requires management action
 CHARACTERISTICS OF A
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
SYSTEM

• Provides reports with fixed and standard formats

• Hard-copy and soft-copy reports
• Uses internal data stored in the computer system
• End users can develop custom reports
• Requires formal requests from users
 DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
• As MIS, these serve the needs of the management level
of the organisation
• Focus on helping managers make decisions that are
semi-structured, unique, or rapidly changing, and not
easily specified in advance
• Use internal information from TPS and MIS, but also
information from external sources
• Greater analytical power than other systems,
incorporate modelling tools, aggregation and analysis
tools, and support what-if scenarios
• Must provide user-friendly, interactive tools
 DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
CHARACTERISTICS

• Handles large amounts of data from different sources

• Provides report and presentation flexibility
• Offers both textual and graphical orientation
• Supports drill down analysis
• Performs complex, sophisticated analysis and
comparisons using advanced software packages
• Supports optimization, satisficing, and heuristic
approaches
 CAPABILITIES OF A DSS

• Supports
• Problem solving phases
• Different decision frequencies

How many
Merge with
widgets
another
should I
company?
order?

low high
Frequency
Voyage-estimating Decision Support System
 STRATEGIC-LEVEL SYSTEMS

• Executive Support/Information Systems

(ESS/EIS)
• Serve the strategic level of the organisation
• ESS/EIS address unstructured decisions and create
a generalised computing and communications
environment, rather than providing any fixed
application or specific capability. Such systems are
not designed to solve specific problems, but to
tackle a changing array of problems
EXECUTIVE INFORMATION
SYSTEM
 EXECUTIVE INFORMATION
SYSTEM (EIS)
• A computer-based system that serves the information needs
of top executives
• Provides rapid access to timely information and direct access
to management reports
• Very user-friendly, supported by graphics
• Provides exceptions reporting and "drill-down" capabilities
• Easily connected to the Internet
• Drill down

37
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
EIS
• Drill down
• Critical success Factors (CSF)
• Status access
• Analysis
• Exception reporting
• Colors and audio
• Navigation of information
• Communication

38
 STRATEGIC-LEVEL SYSTEMS

• ESS/EIS are designed to incorporate data about external

events, such as new tax laws or competitors, and also
draw summarised information from internal MIS and DSS
• These systems filter, compress, and track critical data,
emphasising the reduction of time and effort required to
obtain information useful to executive management
• ESS/EIS employ advanced graphics software to provide
highly visual and easy-to-use representations of complex
information and current trends, but they tend not to
provide analytical models
Inter-relationships and inter-dependencies between IS types
 STRATEGIC-LEVEL SYSTEMS
• Expert systems (strategic level) -. An expert system is
computer software that attempts to act like a human expert
on a particular subject area. This is a step further in AI
technology. It represents and reasons with the knowledge of
some specialist subject area with a view to solving problems
or giving advice. It is given rules to solve problems and uses
these rules to come up with solutions.
• E.g. playing chess, making medical diagnoses (doctor),
lawyer, engineer, finance
• expert, stock broker. (Also called knowledge based system
or Heuristic system or an Artificially intelligent system).
 ADVANTAGES
CONTINUED
• Explanation

• Fast response

• Steady, unemotional, and complete responses at all

times

• Intelligent tutor

• Intelligent database
43
 ADVANTAGES OF EXPERT
SYSTEMS
• Increased availability

• Reduced cost

• Reduced danger

• Performance

• Multiple expertise

• Increased reliability
44
 ELEMENTS/ FEATURES OF AN
EXPERT SYSTEM
• User interface – mechanism by which user and system
communicate.
• Inference engine – makes inferences deciding which rules are
satisfied and prioritizing.
• Knowledge acquisition facility – automatic way for the user to
enter knowledge in the system bypassing the explicit coding by
knowledge engineer.
• Knowledge Base – includes the rules of the expert system

45
 CONTROL AND MONITORING
SYSTEMS (CMS)
• These check sensors providing information about the system’s
environment and take actions depending on the sensor reading.
• Monitoring systems take actions when some exceptional sensor
value is detected.
• Control systems continuously control hardware actuators
depending on the value of associated sensors.
• For example a thermostat my lower the temperature if a room
gets
• too hot or an insulin pump may inject more insulin in a patient
depending on the blood sugar levels.
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS (KMS)

• Please research Knowledge

management systems (kms)
 CONTEMPLATIVE QUESTIONS

• What are the 4 types of information systems?

• How are they different?
• Who are the primary users?
• How much data is being stored by each?
• How much data is being read (queried) by each?
Exercise. Match the type of information system with the organizational
level where they are most commonly used:

❖ Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)

❖ Management Information Systems (MIS)
❖ Decision Support Systems (DSS)
❖ Expert Systems (ES)

Top
Managers
Middle
Managers
First-Line
Managers

Operatives
FUNCTIONAL UNITS WITHIN AN
ENTERPRISE