Another area to look at is the nature of information held by organisation. It can be split into two parts, Quantitative and Qualitative. Qualitative information needs to be detailed and accurate to allow for effective decisions to be made. Quantitative information is brief and as concise as possible. Too much information sometimes could cause unnecessary delay and confusion as well as having the risk of missing vital information.
An organisation will use information and any data collected via the two parts mentioned above in another way as well. The information and data collected can allow for effective decisions to be made. For example a supermarket could give questionnaire to customers to find out what they though of certain products or the supermarket layout.
Information can be looked at in many levels of information. When I refer to levels of information I am looking at information that is directly related to the level within the organisation in which it is being used. So information that is used at the Operational Level is known as Operational Information, Tactical Information is used at the Tactical Level of the organisation whilst Strategic Information is used at the Strategic Level. So for example Customer orders, payments and stock level adjustments are all examples of tactical information. The number of orders made in a week, total payments for a month and the stock levels over a given period for a new product are examples of tactical information. Projected orders for the next six months, a forecast of payments and the information outlining the affect of a new store in a given area are examples of strategic information.
It allows information to be gathered within an organisation to be split up into certain categories. So that the data gathered can be best used to further the companies growth and the key point to note is to get ahead of it competitors thus showing information is important to the organisation.
The next important thing that has made data and information increasingly important is how accurate and up to date both the data and information is.
The timing of information or how up to date it is dependent upon the type of information. For example Information regarding aeroplane tickets needs to be up to the minute since the risk of overbooking would be too high otherwise. The total volume of sales through the week may be required by the following day. It is clear that information must be on time and reach the right person since otherwise effective decisions are harder to arrive at without the necessary facts and figures.
Also the accuracy of information again depends upon its source and level. Information from an ATM would be irregular as well as its accuracy varying dependent on the time of day and year. Whilst information based on data from a sensor within a nuclear power station would be very frequent and regular. Reports may be daily, weekly or monthly and generally depend upon the level used. An operational report is likely to be the most frequent (daily) since this level is concerned with the day-to-day activity of the organisation. Tactical and strategic reports may be generated weekly and monthly respectively, though again the purpose of the information will also affect its accuracy and frequency of use.
So again an organisation may need its information and data to be accurate to be useful. The greater the accuracy the more likely the importance of it is in today’s society. Similarly if information collected needs to be up to date otherwise the information is less likely to be important and so many companies try their best to keep information and date as up to date as is needed. As I mentioned previously companies may even buy information from external sources.
There are three considerations to take into account when we consider the use of information those are planning, control and decision. Information can be used to help plan the launch of a new product, control the production of an existing product or decide on the closing of an old product.
What is the Value of information? Good information will be as detailed as necessary, up to date and accurate. Decisions can only be as good as the information that they are based upon. During the Second World War both sides tried to collect information on the other so that the most effective strategic decisions could be made. Both sides therefore tried to give out misinformation to try to make such decision-making as difficult as possible.
Information is often made to simplify the data into an easily analysed form. Accounts may be rounded to the nearest £1 for simple analysis of day-to-day business whilst large decisions may be rounded to the nearest £100. The level of accuracy depends on the information itself and its intended purpose.
So in conclusion I have analysed and accessed many reasons why in today’s society and work place information and data is becoming ever increasingly more important.
Summary: Companies can sell up to date and accurate information to other companies provided they have the consent to do so. Information can be used to expand a company or increase its profit. And finally the value of information can also be based on the source of the data so if the source is not trustworthy then it is unlikely to have much influence and not be very important to anyone.