By focus on data vs. information. provide an example of what would be data and w

Question

By focus on data vs. information. provide an example of what would be data and what would be information in a business environment. Keep in mind that the answer depends on your viewpoint in an organization. The key idea is that you should add new information to the discussion.

I will get you started with a couple of examples.

1- Suppose you are a store manager at a Kroger store. Your data may be the number of products of each type stocked on the store's shelves, the amount sold daily, as well as the prices. (For instance, the amount of Tide laundry detergent and its price.) Your information extracted from the data may be sales trends weekly and monthly that guide your advertising decisions and re-stocking decisions.

2- If you are a national manager at Kroger, then sales trends from one Indiana store are your data. The data at a higher level in an organization's hierarchy are more aggregated and less detailed. The information may be national trends that guide decisions on opening new stores or offering new products

Explanation / Answer

Answer:

Data is raw measurements before any analysis or processing. Once it has been analyzed or processed, it converts into an information which is meaningful to receiver.

Note the two words highlighted in bold- "Processed/Analysed" and "Meaningful". It is not enough for data simply to be processed. it has to be of use to someone - otherwise why bother?!

Let's take an example of when you buy a product from a retailer. This includes:

- Transaction Time and date (e.g. 11:08 Tuesday 28 Jan 2018)
- Value of Transaction (e.g. £75.00)
- Facts about what was bought (e.g. hairdryer, Shaving Kit, ) and   how much was bought (quantities)
- Method of payment (e.g. credit card, credit card number and code)
- Which employee recorded the sale
- Any promotional discount applied

At its basics, this data needs processing at the point of sale in order for the customer to receive a valid receipt. So the data about the transaction is processed to create "information" - in this case a receipt. You can imagine that the same data would also be useful to the manager of the retail store. For example, a report showing total sales in the day, or which are the best-selling products. So the data concerning all shop transactions in the day needs to be captured, and then processed into a management report.

Therefore, just to summarize, Information is data that has been processed in such a way as to be meaningful to the person who receives it.

Note: I would like to have your opinion and if you need for more information, I would be glad to help you.

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