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Information Processing 1

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Althimese Anderson
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7 views15 pages

Information Processing 1

Uploaded by

Althimese Anderson
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SECTION 5: INFORMATION

PROCESSING
Distinguish between data and
information;
Data is a set of raw facts and figures while
information is processed data, that is
meaningful to the person who receiving it
explain the characteristics and
functions of Information Processing
Information Processing is when a machine
or processor interacts with the outside
world and acts on the input it receives.
Examples of information processing
Payroll- A payroll system used an information
processing system to calculate the wages of
each employee, print out pay slips and record
the information for accounting purposes.

Input: Comes from a database of employees


details, such as salaries, pay rates, bonus rates

Process: Using software like spreadsheet or other


accounting software to calculate the amount earned by
employees.

Output: Pay slips would need to be printed using an impact.


Library- This is automated, where a
membership card is issued which has barcode
printed on it.

Input: Barcode from book, membership card, burrow


date, librarians name etc

Process: Library database would have the files


containing details about the books, magazines etc.

Information Retrieval: Searches would have to be


performed on database by the librarian

Output: Summary reports results of searches


Industry: The whole manufacturing process is
controlled automatically by a computer system.

Input: Sensors take readings at regular time


intervals and send the readings to the
computer.

Processing: The computer analyzes the


readings and decides whether action
needed to be taken.

Output: The computer sends output signals to


devices which manage the process to increase
pressure or temperature.
Weather Forecasting: Some of the world’s
most powerful computers are used to forecast the
weather, which improves the accuracy of forecasts.

Input: Millions of pieces of data such as temperature,


pressure etc are collected from satellites, radar etc.

Processing: The data is then stored in a large database.


The first task is to perform a quality control check.

Output: The forecasts are normally produced as global


and local charts of weather information.
Supermarket Stock Control: Businesses need to
hold stocks of goods, they sell and manufacturers need
to hold their stock of raw materials and finished
goods.

Input: the operator at a POS terminal only needs to


pass the barcode on each item past a laser scanner.

Process: As each item is sold, the stock files are


updated so that customer service can be much
quicker

Output: Orders are printed when stock levels reach a


re-order point. Customer receipts are printed using
thermal printers
Identify the sources of data in specified application
areas;
Turnaround document: A document which,
after being output by the computer, can be
used to record data.

An example of a turnaround document is the


mark sheet that is filled in by your teacher.
The mark sheet is generated by the
computer, filled in by the subject teacher
and then used for input back into the
computer so that reports can be printed.
Human Readable: Data that can be
understood by humans. Printers and
monitors produce human- readable copies.

Machine Readable: Data that can be


understood by computers. Disc drives and
tape drives produce machine-readable
copies.
Describe methods of validation and
verification of data;
Validation : A checking process in a program
which is aimed at finding out if data is
genuine. E.g The data type is text and Mr
Jones gets typed in as Mr J0nes,

Verification: Is the checking for mistakes


such as transcription errors when data is
copied from one medium or device to another.
Range Check: Range check ensures that
the data entered is within a certain range.
is a date in August between 1 and 31?

Data type checks: This is known as


character or alphanumeric check. Whenever
data is entered into a field the database will
Check that it is of the correct type.
e.g. have letters been entered instead of digits?
Inconsistency check: A consistency
check compares the contents of two or
more fields to make sure that they make
sense.
Transposition errors – happen when we enter
numbers or characters in the wrong order.
e.g. I wnet down the street and was my friends
playing cricket.
Describe various methods of file organization and
access;
Direct access - This is where any data can be
accessed without reading any other data items
first (randomly). Examples: floppy diskette,
flash drive, hard disk drive, etc.

Serial access - This is where all data between


the read/write head and the required data have
to be passed over before the data can be
accessed.
An indexed file is used to speed up the
key search in a file. You can think of it as a
one column table.

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