P1

Information and Data

Information is a result of data that is numerical and has been manipulated in such a way that makes sense of the numbers used. A good example of this would be on a timetable whether it's for a train or a bus, it takes into account the numerical value of the weight of the bus/train and the distance traveled and makes it into easy to read information for the passenger.  Data, as I've said, is just raw figures that don't really make sense to someone who isn't an expert in reading them when they're unprocessed. In the public transport case, the data is the weight and distance but before they've been processed e.g. worked out but means nothing to passengers where as bus drivers/operators might have more of an understanding.

Primary and Secondary Data:

Primary data is data that has been collected by the person or organisation who intends to use and manipulate it. This data is predominately gained by interviewing potential customers/users but can also be gathered via taking surveys, measurements and other methods that gains data straight from the target audience. Secondary data is gathered by someone else but data that you are applying to your own business in a different way. This can be gathered by journals, newspapers, public records or any other data available to you.

Qualitative and Quantitative:

Qualitative data has not got any figures or numerical value and is purely based on factors of opinion or names etc, this data has no way of being measured and is presented in narrative form. These are normally in the form of opinion polls or questionnaires with open questions. Quantitative data is quantifiable and can be represented in numbers and 'proven as fact'. These numbers usually relate to an amount of a population, e.g. 25% of males aged 18-25 watch motoring television shows.

 Purpose of Information:

Operational Support:

This ensures that employees do the job they have been employed to do. These are usually in the form of reminders or alerts that let people know how to do their job. Operational support is useful for getting employees to meet project deadlines, meaning that a business can benefit from this by being more efficient. This is usually supplied by specialist managers that have been employed to help with this support.

Analysis:

In business terms, analysis is where an organisation analyses key documents such as cash flow, balance sheets and income statements to track progress or eventually rectify an on going problem with in the business. They can then compare their results to industry average an see how they are fairing up against competition. They can select programs or processes to try to fix problems identified by the analysis. It can aid decision making in project management process as you can see how you are performing.

Decision Making

Information systems can definitely aid decision making because managers can see their performance month on month with ease, certainly easier than they could before information systems were so advanced. It is also easier than ever to forecast performance using forecasting software, so managers can  make decisions based only on predictions. These decisions can be very beneficial to the business as they can cut off loose ends, shut down necessary routes of business and exploit avenues that are making them money.

Gaining Commercial Advantage:

Also known as competitive advantage is where a business analyses it's results against others to see how they are doing in their market, then after that they will devise a method to gain competitive advantage, whether this is through lowering prices or offering a more unique service thats suits the customers and they will be more inclined to use your website. This commercial or competitive advantage means that you can take some market share off other businesses who do what you do within your region and can be key in trying to boost sales.


External Information:

Government:

Businesses have to abide by legislation or law that the government decides applies to businesses within a certain country/province. The main issue surrounding businesses is the corporate tax the government usually ask for in return for trading within their borders can take a big chunk out of profits. This has forced some to trade in the taboo areas that don't charge businesses corporate tax such as Switzerland. Whilst these strategies are not illegal they can put off customers as they could get the impression the business is only set up to receive money and doesn't provide a service.

Trading Groups:

Trading groups are groups that employees from a business have the right to belong to and are popularised by trade unions. The main focus of a trade union is to make sure that all the employees who belong to it are treated fairly by employers, this can be in terms of money, working environments and how they are treated by management. The later is one that is fairly frequent but most of these factors often come into only one case as trade unions are only used when businesses can't resolve the problem themselves. Trading groups make sure that everything in an industry is fair and benefits all businesses involved, an example of this would be that medical equipment costs the same for all NHS hospitals.

Databases:

Storing information on a database automatically means that a business must comply to the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This means that businesses are allowed to use personal information on clients in some ways but there are limits to what they can do with it, these criteria are outlined by the Data Protection Act. This act ensure that information is used lawfully and fairly, is a limited and adequate manner which means data is only kept for as long as necessary.  The Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows the public to access information that is being held by authorities. It does this by making this public authorities publish information about what they are doing as well as allowing members of the public randomly request information from these large authorities.

Research and Commercially Provided:

Businesses can buy information off of specialist businesses that sell it as well as external sources like watch dogs. This can be helpful when comparing against others or just to help understand your own results. Research is the free alternative but can be costly in terms of time and effort because a business could be potentially looking for a long time in order to find the same quality of information as the specialist businesses that trade it.

Internal Sources:

Finance:

The department dedicated to finance is responsible for all things money, whether it's assets, liabilities, sales or cost, they deal with it. They specialise in dealing with sales, invoices, debtors, creditors and VAT returns as well as all the employee associated costs such as payroll, national insurance and pensions. A good gauge of performance is to compare results year on year in certain quarters of the annual calendar and this doesn't require any outside influence.

Personnel:

Everything that revolves around recruiting new staff comes under the responsibilities of the personnel department that organise interviews and put job descriptions/advertisements online for potential employees to see. This department can look at their successful recruits that have been assets to the business and compare them to previous recruits from previous years to see if they are doing a good job. If management see these figures and they are not good, they are likely to employ new personnel staff so can be good in the sense that it highlights the need for change in the department.

Marketing:

How well the marketing department markets the business can make or break it's financial results because have a fantastic business is useless if no one knows about it. Obviously this department should only really target their marketing at people who would be likely to be interested in the product, which means extensive research into the market and similar products.

Sales/Customer Service:

If any potential customer contacts the business, you want to make sure they are taken care off so they are more likely to spend money on them and give good reviews, this means that you would need a dedicated customer service team to make sure they are treated well. The other situation in which you want your customer to be treated impeccably would be when actually buying a product, especially one with a hefty price, but this logic should apply through out the business.

Manufacturing:

Creating is the way that some companies make their money and you have to create in order to manufacture. This means turning raw materials into a product with the aim of adding value along the way. Manufacturing can be costly so a good measurement of performance would be to compare the cost of production from one year to the next in order to lower cost and increase efficiency.

Distribution:

Once capital has been spent on production and customer service you want to make sure that this carrys on right until the minute that the customer receives the product and even have carelines which deal with enquiries after. Making the distribution speedy and relevant means that the customer gets the right product within the right time scale. This can lead to good reviews, recommendations and ultimately a larger customer base.

Administation:

Most large companies will have a department dedicated to dealing with administrative tasks such as filing, photocopying, printing, laminating and stapling. These departments are an integral cog of the business as they provide information on paper for meetings or managers who can then compare and recommend new strategies. This departments are normally very costly in terms of input as they print and use other resources heavily.

Research and Development:

This department ultimately defines how a business works and what products they release as they use scientific approaches to creating new products for customers. They can also link in to customer service as they can rectify any problems with previous products that they can work with marketing to find out what their customers what to try to incorporate those features into a product which gives that business a USP.