section 5: information processing
DESCRIPTION
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. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
SECTION 5: SECTION 5: INFORMATION INFORMATION PROCESSINGPROCESSING
Distinguish between data Distinguish between data and and information; 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 explain the characteristics and and functions of Information functions of Information ProcessingProcessingInformation Processing is when a
machine or processor interacts with the
outside world and acts on the input it
receives.
Examples of information Examples of information processingprocessingPayroll- 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 Identify the sources of data in specified application areas;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 Describe methods of validation andvalidation andverification of data;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 Describe various methods of file organization and access;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.