Information

processing
fundamentals
Grade: 11
Information Technology
What is Information Processing?

Information processing is the manipulation of data to produce useful

information; it involves the capture of information in a format that is
retrievable and analyzable.

Processing information involves taking raw information and making it more

useful by putting it into context.
Data and Information

Data - Data is raw unprocessed facts. These can include numbers, text, images, or a combination of all of
these. For example, the numbers 26, 29, 30 represents data. These number could represent anything, such
as temperature, age of persons, lotto numbers, the number of students in three different classes etc.

Information – Information is processed data, in other words Information is data processed to increase
knowledge in the person using the data. The three numbers highlighted above can therefore indicate what
clothing to wear based on the temperature, the age of your friends, what numbers to buy for a lotto ticket,
and how many exam papers you should print for each class.
 Data processing
Data processing is the manipulation of data to obtain information. So, taking
one of the examples on slide 3, finding the average of the three numbers
gives an indication of how warm the days have been.
Information System
The term information system is given to any
record-keeping system. We come across
information systems all the time. Common
examples of manual information systems are
dictionaries and telephone directories. What
these examples have in common is that the
data has been collected (input), processed and
displayed (output) in order to provide useful
information
Data/Information
sources
Reasons for collecting data

Information is collected for the purposes of culture, leisure,

work, research and everyday life. In organizations,
however, it is mainly used for planning and decision
making.
 Measurement: sales, productivity
output, cash receipts.

Sources of Formal and Informal communications:

word of mouth, meetings,
Information announcements, interviews.

Publications: hurricane preparedness

tips, research, daily newspapers, media
reports and trends in chronic diseases.
 Questionnaires: opinion
polls, and market research
Sources of
Information
Products: labels containing
ingredients, quantities,
contents origin and dosage.
Information as a commodity

An information commodity is an item of information that can be bought or sold.  For example, with online information you
may have to pay a charge every time that you access that information.  The major types of information for sale include:

Databases, especially banking and other financial information that give demographic, tracking and buying trends.

Information retrieval systems such as abstracting and indexing services.

Full text databases and reference materials such as encyclopedias.

Other, less formal, publications such as subject specialized bulletin board, which in some cases may replace the more
traditional journals.
 There are many ways in which data can be
processed to become information. Here are some
of them:
Ways Carrying out calculations in a spreadsheet.

processed Printing a document or image

data can Searching document or database for a particular

item of data.

become Updating data in a file.

information Displaying an image on the screen.

Sorting data into alphabetical order.

 Commercial data processing

Computer systems are used in many businesses to carry out some time-consuming administrative tasks.  Here are
some examples of business information processing activities:

Payroll – Calculating how much each employee should be paid every month.

Orders – Recording orders that customers place with the business and then keeping track of when the goods are
sent.

Sales – In a shop, dealing with purchases at the till.

Invoices – Sending requests for payment to customers and other businesses

Payments – Paying other businesses who have supplied materials and services.

Accounts – Keeping track of all the payments made by the business and income.

Budget – Planning finances in the future.

Industrial data
processing
Industrial and manufacturing businesses need to carry
out all the business tasks listed in commercial data
processing.  In addition, they have further uses for data
processing such as:

Control Systems – controlling the processes used when

manufacturing products.

Computer Aided Design – Designing products

Computer Aided Engineering and Computer Aided

Manufacture – Using special software to develop and test
products.
Control Systems
We can use information processing systems to control machines automatically.  Here are
some examples:

Factories are often largely automated, e.g. manufacturing chemicals, packing goods.

Some factories used robots to manufacture goods, such as automobiles.

The signaling systems on many railways across the world are controlled by computers, to
ensure that the trains pass safely.

Most of the more advanced transport vehicles are controlled to some extent by computer
system, e.g. driverless train, autopilots on aircraft, etc.

These are all referred to as control systems.  In control systems the processor is often
referred to as the controller.
Two main types of
control system
Automation Systems – Carry out straightforward tasks, such as running
through a program on a washing machine.  They do this without any
human involvement at all.  Once an automation system has been
switched on it follows a set of predetermined actions to the end.

Process Control Systems – These are used for more complex

operations.  They constantly check the state of play and change the
actions in response.  In process control systems, data is captured
automatically.  This is done through input devices known as sensors.  A
sensor can measure things like temperature, humidity, light, sound,
movement and pressure.  It converts the measurement into an electronic
signal that it sends to the controller (processor).
Scientific data
processing

Scientists can gather a lot of data during an

experiment.  Sometimes they will use
sensors to capture data over a period of
time.  In other experiment the scientists
themselves may be recording readings on a
source document.
 Once information is collected it
is often communicated directly Relevant: it must be what the
to the person who wishes to user need to know, and be up
use it. In order for it to be to date
useful, information must be:

Timely: Information should be

provided for problem solving
Accurate: It must be as correct
before a critical stage is
as possible
reached and opportunities are
lost
Characteristics
of useful data In an appropriate medium: It
Complete: It must represent a
should be delivered using an
‘whole’ picture of a problem or
appropriate communication
solution.
medium

Cost – effective: the value of

information should be more
than the cost involved in its
collection.
Information
retrieval and
Management
Information retrieval
and management
Information retrieval – is when data is stored on a
computer system is searched and the relevant
information is found, this is known as information
retrieval.

Information Management – ensures that all data is

input accurately, stored correctly, retrieved easily and
output in a way that provides useful information
Documents used for
information processing

Source document - When an employee

takes a document and enters the data into a
computer system, the document is referred
to as a source document.  Once the data has
been entered it should be filed away safely,
and not thrown away.  That is because the
data may have to be checked again.
Documents used for
information processing

Human readable document

Many forms are filled in by hand and the employee has to read them
before entering the data on a keyboard.  These are called human
readable documents. An example is application forms.

Handwriting can be very difficult to read, and sometimes the employee

has problems working out what is written.  This can be improved by
asking the person writing the document to use capital letters.  Sometimes
a series of boxes are placed on a form to try to force the writer to
separate out the letters to make them clearer.
Documents used for
information processing

Machine readable documents 

These are one solution to the problem of unclear handwriting.  Instead of

writing the data, the form is marked in some way.  The document is then
passed through a reader or scanner, which can identify where the marks
are.  This approach can be very successful but can only work for
particular types of data.  For example a machine readable multiple-choice
paper.  The marks you have made on the answer sheet will be read by an
input device directly into the computer system.
Documents used for
information processing

Turnaround Documents

A turnaround document is a machine-readable document that

has some information printed on it by a computer but has
more information added to it by a human.  It is then fed back
into a computer to transfer this newly added information. 
These documents serve two purposes.  They are used to:

Verify the accuracy and completeness of information that has

already been entered.

Update information already entered with additional data.

Data validation and
verification
Data validation

Data validation is the computerized checking

of input data for errors (data that may be
unreasonable or incomplete) before it is
processed.  There are many different
methods of validation.  The most appropriate
method(s) to use will depend upon what
data is being entered
Methods of data validation

Presence check – This type of check ensures that the data is actually entered and can be
used on any field in a database. For example, every person in a particular database must
be given a job title.  Therefore a presence check could be carried out on the form field in
each employee’s record to ensure that a job title is entered in the form.

Data type check – This is also known as character or alphanumeric check.  These check
whether the data is of the correct type, such as number, date or text.  For example phone
numbers are numerical, so a data type check would notice if a letter was included.
Methods of data validation

Check digit – A check digit is an extra digit added to the end of a code.  It is used to detect errors
arising from transcription and also to ensure that codes originally produced by a computer are re-
entered into another computer correctly.  It is calculated from the other digits in the number. Check
digits are included in barcode numbers.

Parity check – All data is transmitted in a sequence of 1s and 0s.  A common type of error that occurs
during data transmission is that a bit is swapped from a 0 to a 1 or a 1 to a 0 by electrical interference. 
Parity checks detect this type of error, by adding an extra digit to data to make the total number of 1s
(or 0s) either odd or even.  Parity checks are not very good at detecting errors where more than one bit
in a byte is changed.
Methods of data validation

Range check – Range check ensures that the data entered is within a certain range.  For example if you
are asked to enter someone’s age, the number should be between 0 and 110.  If the data required is the
date when someone joined an organization then clearly the date cannot be in the future.  Similarly,
figures entered for height, weight, shoe size, etc can all be checked against the range of numbers that
could be reasonably expected.

Consistency check (also known as inconsistency checks) – These check one piece of data against
another.  For example, the data may include both gender (M or F) and title (Mr., Mrs., and Miss).  If
someone has entered M. and Mrs., then the two data items are inconsistent.
Methods of data validation

Reasonableness Checks – Reasonableness checks determine whether values are reasonable by making
sure that they don’t deviate too much from established norms. For example, if someone puts the height
of a 2-year-old as 5ft, it should be flagged as being unreasonable since toddlers aren’t that tall.

Format check – this check that the data has been entered in the correct format.  For example, national
ID number may have the format 999-9999-x999, where 9 represents a number and X represents an
alphabetic character.

Length check – This check verifies that the data entered is the correct length.  For example, a password
for a credit card may be four digits long, therefore entering three or five digits may result in an error.
Data verification

Data verification is the process of confirming that the data that is entered
into the computer is the same as what was written on the source document
OR it is when a person checks for mistakes such as transcription errors
when data is copied from one medium or device to another.

For example, when you top up your mobile phone, most retailers ask you to
write the cell number in a book and also read the number aloud to confirm
that it is correct.  This is a form of verification.
Other Methods of verification

double entry process where two persons key the same document.  The
computer program compares the two versions and any differences are
highlighted.   These differences are then checked against the source document
and corrected.

Visual checks – One verification method is to use on-screen prompts.  After a set
of data is entered, it is redisplayed on the screen.  The user is prompt to read it
and confirm that it has been entered correctly.  If the user has entered any data
incorrectly, it is re-entered. 
THE END