Data Processing

Prepared by: John Carl P. Macasero

 Data

• The word “data” is the plural of datum, which means fact,

observation, assumption or occurrence.

• More precisely, data are representations of facts pertaining to

people, things, ideas and events. Data are represented by
symbols such as letters of the alphabets, numerals or other special
symbols.

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 Data Processing

• Data processing is the process through which facts and figures are
collected, assigned meaning, communicated to others and retained
for future use.
• Hence we can define data processing as a series of actions or
operations that converts data into useful information. We use the
term 'data processing system' to include the resources that are
used to accomplish the processing of data.

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 Information

• Information, thus can be defined as “data that has been transformed

into a meaningful and useful form for specific purposes”. In some cases
data may not require any processing before constituting information.
However, generally, data is not useful unless it is subjected to a
process through which it is manipulated and organized, its contents
analyzed and evaluated. Only then data becomes information.

• For example, when you purchase something in a departmental store, a

number of data items are put together, such as your name, address
articles you bought, the number of items purchased, the price, the tax
and the amount you paid. Separately, these are all data items but if you
put these items together, they represent information about a business
transaction.

INFORMATION = DATA + PROCESSING

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 Data Processing Activities

• Data processing consists of those activities which are necessary to

transform data into information.

• Man has in course of time devised certain tools to help him in processing
data. These include manual tools such as pencil and paper, mechanical
tools such as filing cabinets, electromechanical tools such as adding
machines and typewriters, and electronic tools such as calculators and
computers. Many people immediately associate data processing with
computers.

• As stated above, a computer is not the only tool used for data processing,
it can be done without computers also. However, computers have
outperformed people for certain tasks. There are some other tasks for
which computer is a poor substitute for human skill and intelligence.
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 Data Processing Activities

1. Collection

Data originates in the form of events transaction or some

observations. This data is then recorded in some usable form.

Data may be initially recorded on paper source documents and

then converted into a machine usable form for processing.

Alternatively, they may be recorded by a direct input device in a

paperless, machine-readable form. Data collection is also termed as data
capture.

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 Data Processing Activities

2. Conversion

Once the data is collected, it is converted from its source

documents to a form that is more suitable for processing.
The data is first codified by assigning identification codes. A code
comprises of numbers, letters, special characters, or a combination of these.

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 Data Processing Activities

3. Manipulation

Once data is collected and converted, it is ready for the

manipulation function which converts data into information. Manipulation
consists of following activities:
a.) Sorting
b.) Calculating
c.) Summarizing
d.) Comparing

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 Data Processing Activities

a.) Sorting

• It involves the arrangement of data items in a desired sequence. Usually, it

is easier to work with data if it is arranged in a logical sequence. Most
often, the data are arranged in alphabetical sequence. Sometimes sorting
itself will transform data into information.

• For example, a simple act of sorting the names in alphabetical order gives
meaning to a telephone directory. The directory will be practically
worthless without sorting.

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 Data Processing Activities

b.) Calculating

• Arithmetic manipulation of data is called calculating. Items of recorded

data can be added to one another, subtracted, divided or multiplied to
create new data as shown in figure below.

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 Data Processing Activities

b.) Calculating

• Calculation is an integral part of data processing. For example, in

calculating an employee's pay, the hours worked multiplied by the hourly
wage rate gives the gross pay. Based on total earning, income-tax
deductions are computed and subtracted from gross-pay to arrive at net
pay.

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 Data Processing Activities

c.) Summarizing

• To summarize is to condense or reduce masses of data to a more usable

and concise form as shown in figure below.

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 Data Processing Activities

c.) Summarizing

• For example, you may summarize a

lecture attended in a class by writing small
notes in one or two pages. When the data
involved is numbers, you summarize by
counting or accumulating the totals of the
data in a classification or by selecting
strategic data from the mass of data being
processed.

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 Data Processing Activities

d.) Comparing

• To compare data is to perform an evaluation in relation to some known

measure. For example, business managers compare data to discover how
well their companies are doing. They many compare current sales figures
with those for last year to analyze the performance of the company in the
current month.

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 Data Processing Activities

4. Managing the Output Results

Once data has been captured and manipulated following activities

may be carried out :
a.) Storing
b.) Retrieving

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 Data Processing Activities

a.) Storing

• To store is to hold data for continued or later use. Storage is essential for
any organized method of processing and re-using data. The storage
mechanisms for data processing systems are file cabinets in a manual
system, and electronic devices such as magnetic disks/magnetic tapes in
case of computer based system. The storing activity involves storing data
and information in organized manner in order to facilitate the retrieval
activity. Of course, data should be stored only if the value of having them in
future exceeds the storage cost.

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 Data Processing Activities

b.) Retrieving

• To retrieve means to recover or find again the stored data or information.

Retrieval techniques use data storage devices. Thus data, whether in file
cabinets or in computers can be recalled for further processing. Retrieval
and comparison of old data gives meaning to current information.

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 Data Processing Activities

5. Communication

Communication is the process of sharing information. Unless the

information is made available to the users who need it, it is worthless. Thus,
communication involves the transfer of data and information produced by the
data processing system to the prospective users of such information or to
another data processing system. As a result, reports and documents are
prepared and delivered to the users. In electronic data processing, results are
communicated through display units or terminals.

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 Data Processing Activities

6. Reproduction

To reproduce is to copy or duplicate data or information. This

reproduction activity may be done by hand or by machine.

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 The Data Processing Cycle

• The data processing activities described above are common to all data
processing systems from manual to electronic systems. These activities
can be grouped in four functional categories, data input, data processing,
data output and storage, constituting what is known as a data processing
cycle.

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 The Data Processing Cycle

• Input

The term input refers to the activities required to record data and to
make it available for processing. The input can also include the steps
necessary to check, verify and validate data contents.

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 The Data Processing Cycle

• Processing

The term processing denotes the actual data manipulation

techniques such as classifying, sorting, calculating, summarizing, comparing,
etc. that convert data into information.

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 The Data Processing Cycle

• Output

It is a communication function which transmits the information,

generated after processing of data, to persons who need the information.
Sometimes output also includes decoding activity which converts the
electronically generated information into human-readable form.

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 The Data Processing Cycle

• Storage

It involves the filing of data and information for future use.

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 Data Processing Operations

A computer can perform only the following four operations which enable
computers to carry out the various data processing activities we have just
discussed.

1. Input/output operations

A computer can accept data (input) from and supply processed

data (output) to a wide range of input/output devices. These devices such as
keyboards, display screens, and printers make human-machine
communication possible.

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 Data Processing Operations

2. Calculation and text manipulation Operations

Computer circuits perform calculations on numbers. They are also

capable of manipulating numeric and other symbols used in text with equal
efficiency.

3. Logic/Comparison Operations

A computer also possesses the ability to perform logic operations.

For example, if we compare two items represented by the symbols A and B,
there are only three possible outcomes.
A is less than B (A<B); A is equal to B (A=B): or A is greater than B (A>B). A
computer can perform such comparisons and the, depending on the result,
follow a predetermined path to complete its work. This ability to compare is an
important property of computers. 26
 Data Processing Operations

4. Storage and Retrieval Operations

Both data and program instructions are stored internally in a

computer. Once they are stored in the internal memory, they can be called up
quickly or retrieved, for further use.

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 Data Processing System

• The activity of data processing can be viewed as a "system". According to

James O'brien a system can be defined as "a group of interrelated
components that seeks the attainment of a common goal by accepting
inputs and producing outputs in an organized process". For example, a
production system accepts raw material as input and produces finished
goods as output.

• Similarly, a data processing system can be viewed as a system that uses

data as input and processes this data to produce information as output.

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 Data Processing System

There are many kinds of data processing systems. A manual data processing
system is one that utilizes tools like pens, and filing cabinets. A mechanical
data processing system uses devices such as typewriters, calculating
machines and book-keeping machines. Finally, electronic data processing
uses computers to automatically process data.

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