Define Data And Information

I.

Define data and information.

Data is a collection of facts, figures and statistics related to an object. Data can be processed to create useful information. Data is a valuable asset for an organization. The manipulated and processed form of data is called Information. It is more meaningful than data. It is used for making decisions.

II.

Enumerate the six steps in data processing cycle.

1. Data collection usually takes place early on in an improvement project, and is often formalised through a data collection Plan which often contains the following activity. 1. Pre collection activity – Agree goals, target data, definitions, methods 2. Collection – data collection 3. Present Findings – usually involves some form of sorting analysis and/or presentation. 2. Data Preparation 3. Data Input 4. Data Processing - is any computering process that converts data into information or knowledge.[1] The processing is usually assumed to be automated and running on a computer. 5. Data storage - often called storage or memory, refers to computer components, devices, and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time. Computer data storage provides one of the core functions of the modern computer, that of information retention. 6. Data output

III. Write the 7 data hierarchy and explain. Data Hierarchy refers to the systematic organization of data, often in a hierarchical form. Data organization involves fields, records, files and so on.

A data field holds a single fact. Consider a date field, e.g. "September 19, 2004". This can be treated as a single date field (eg birthdate), or 3 fields, namely, month, day of month and year. A record is a collection of related fields. An Employee record may contain a name field(s), address fields, birthdate field and so on. A file is a collection of related records. If there are 100 employees, then each employee would have a record (e.g. called Employee Personal Details record) and the collection of 100 such records would constitute a file (in this case, called Employee Personal Details file). Files are integrated into a database. This is done using a Database Management System. If there are other facets of employee data that we wish to capture, then other files such as Employee Training History file and Employee Work History file could be created as well. The above is a view of data seen by a computer user. The above structure can be seen in the hierarchical model, which is one way to organize data in a database. In terms of data storage, data fields are made of bytes and these in turn are made up of bits.

III.

List down the 11 data processing operation.

Computer data processing is any computering process that converts data into information or knowledge.[1] The processing is usually assumed to be automated and running on a computer. Because datas are most useful when well-presented and actually informative, data-processing systems are often referred to as information systems to emphasize their practicality. Nevertheless, the terms are roughly synonymous, performing similar conversions; data-processing systems typically manipulate raw data into information, and likewise information systems typically take raw data as input to produce information as output.Data can be seen as a raw material, which be later coverted to information. e.g. For a company that wants to produce bornvita, such company will need to make use of cocoa,which means that cocoa is the raw material for the production of bornvtiva, likewise data is the raw material for information. Data has to pass through a specific process before it could be changed to information, and it is called a process.