P2/D1

Valid:

Information that has not been tampered with, transformed or has any unbiased connotation so there is neither an argument for or against the data as it doesn't warrant one. An example of this would be where businesses look at sales or profit, there is no reason for them to tamper or be bias because it doesn't effect the outcome of the results at all as they have already happened. They could tamper the data to say they have achieved more sales but the reality is they haven't and they cannot fix that by upping the number of sales on a spreadsheet. Keeping the information valid is aided by only allowing authorised users on to the information system because they are less likely to tamper with the information.

Reliability and Source Confidence:

Information that is from a reliable source, e.g the government or an independent watchdog. A business will need to make a decision as to whether they can trust the data source they are using as it could effect how the business performs. A business could receive secondary data about the interests of their target market which is completely wrong and would then mean they might create a product that is wrong or unsuitable for their market. Primary information should be more trustworthy than secondary information because the business can trust that their marketing department will get them legitimate results. Secondary information is always a risk as it's not 100% suited to a certain business so sometimes should not be trusted. Again the way to improve the quality of this information would be to use information supplied by an official source like the government or a certified business.

Timely:

Information that is given within a certain deadline to allow a business to keep up to date with change in trends or their target market. A business might ask an employee in marketing to take a survey of their target market by the end of the week as they want to start working with R&D to create a product at the beginning of next week. This would be the supply of timely data and if not completed on time, this could have a detrimental effect on the competitive advantage that business could of had by producing the product before other businesses in their market. Ways to improve the quality/timeliness of information would be to offer a bonus to staff for meeting set deadlines.

Fit For Purpose:

There would be no reason to collect all of this valid, reliable and timely data if it means nothing for the business that wants to use it to aid them.  Not collecting this purposeful data could effect expenditure as business could order to much raw material and significantly increase their wastage cost. The way to improve the quality of information is making sure the information is fit for purpose and the employee(s) that are given this task are briefed on what information to collect before given the means to.

Accessible:

In a business, there must be a collective software used as crossed wires when files are not in the right format can affect the timescale of a project or the ability for a department to meet deadlines set by managers. Good and common examples of this would be the formats for the different writing software on Microsoft and Mac OSX, on Microsoft machines you can typically see users write with Word that comes with Microsoft Office, where as Mac users tend to use OpenOffice as it is free and does a similar job to word. The only problem with this is that these two programs use different file formats, .doc and .odt, whilst they can both be opened on the opposing formats, information can be lost in transformation. Images made on photoshop are saved as a .psd file which can cause problems when sent to systems without photoshop installed, this can be avoided by saving the image as a .JPEG before sending. Improving the accessibility to information within a business is fairly easy as all the business really has to do it make sure all software is compatible and suggest that colleagues have a system they can take home with them that has the same software installed.

Cost Effective:

Information can be costly when collecting through different sources that charge for their services. A good way to avoid this is to collect the information yourself, but should of course be weighed up against the cost of buying the information outright. If a business was to collect primary data, there could be a fairly hefty cost attached as is costs to pay workers and for the supplies to record the data. Sometimes, if the man hours add up to become more than the fee of the secondary information it would be more cost effect to purchase the information as a whole. Keeping information cost effective is easier done if the business has control over the costs, i.e. collecting primary data but a stratified sample rather than the whole population to save money.

Accurate and Relevant:

The information bought or collected needs to be relevant to the intentions of a business. This is easier to control with primary data because it is collected by the business that intends to use it to aid performance. It is harder for a business to shop round for the most accurate data as ultimately it will never be exactly accurate with what they want. Relevant data means that the data actually contains data your business can make use of. Again secondary data is never going to be 100% relevant to a business, where as primary information is easier to set parameters for. Managers are mostly responsible for the accuracy and relevance of data because they give the employees criteria for data collection and it is easy to set these parameters and thats how you ensure/improve the quality of information.

Detail and Understanding:

If paying for information you would expect the detail to be in depth and the correct use of grammar to be demonstrated. Obviously detail is within the businesses control if they collect the data themselves as they can choose what lengths they are prepared to go to have detailed information. This detail means nothing if the information is impossible to understand, businesses need to make sure correct language is used to avoid putting up barriers to effective communication.  Again, improving or ensuring the quality of data and information is easier to do if you have full control over its collection and this is only done with primary data.