Categorisation of information

Today I have been given the honour of writing today’s blog and having read jamie’s blog I didn’t think there was much I could write about but I was wrong.  I realised I could give definitons and examples for all the different categories of information and let me tell you I’m looking forward to writing this. So let the fun begin.

There are eight categories of information:

1. Source
2. Nature
3. Level
4. Time
5. Form
6. Use
7. Frequency
8. Type

So let’s start with number one on the list:

Source - Where the information comes from.

There are four different types of source but I find it easier to think as it of two separate couples of sources. Internal/External sources and Primary/Secondary sources.

Internal Source- Information within an organisation or establishment which the information concerns e.g stroke index of each hole on a golf course which compare it’s difficulty to that of the other holes.  This is worked out by averaging player’s scores over each hole over a span of time.

External Source- Information which originates from outwith the organisation it concerns e.g handicaps of golfers from other golf clubs competing in competitions.

Primary Source- Information comes directly from situation e.g referee’s report after football match.

Secondary source- Passed on from a primary source e.g minutes at a meeting.

Now let’s draw a line under that

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Nature-   Is this information formal or informal or qualitative or quantitative.

Formal- The information comes from an official source. It would be verified so would be reliable and accurate e.g a letter from a company informing someone of success in an application of some sort.

Informal- Information would come from a less authoritative source and would be less formally presented e.g a casual e-mail

Qualitative- Information mainly based on perceptions, evaluations and opinions e.g the view of delegates on a convention venue

Quantitative- Information which consists of hard facts and is recorded using formal methods e.g a tourist board for an area could count the number of tourists from adding up hotel bookings.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Level- Is information strategic, tactical or operational

Strategic- Information at this level is used by senior managers and often consists of summary information and forecasts.  It is used for major planning issues and is often considered for plans over a number of years e.g Iceland in Johnstone see’s a 70% increase in customers so the executives of the whole Iceland company decides to open a new store in Johnstone within the next three years to meet the demand.

Tactical- Information used by middle managers to plan for the medium term e.g the manager of Iceland in  Johnstone decides to employ more staff to cope with the upsurge in demand

Operational -Information used in the day-to day running of an organisation e.g person in charge of ordering stock  may increase orders for ice-cream in the summer and reduce it in the winter

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Time- Does this information refer to the past, present or future?

Historic- Information is gathered over time and is mainly used in order to identify trends e.g sun cream sales in July over the last 10 years in order to determine production

Present- Information is current for the period indicated e.g a school timetable

Future- Information which predicts what may happen in the future. Information is based upon both historic and present information e.g determining what will happen to house prices

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Form- How the information is presented

Written- Information is written down includes reports, tables of data and may require a code or laguage for understanding e.g an order of goods from a warehouse will be listed as codes found in a catalogue.

Aural – Information which can be heard e.g a voicemail message on a phone

Visual- Information that can be seen e.g graphics, pictures or video footage

NOTE- Some things can show all 3 of these forms e.g  a Powerpoint presentation

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Use- What is the purpose of the information

Control- Information is used to monitor and give feedback on the situation to which the information relates. The feedback can be used to change actions.  This can be done at any level.

Decision making- Again used at all levels and is taking action on available information e.g the re-stocking of an empty shelf in a shop

Planning- The use of information to make plans about the future use of resources at any level e.g scheduling production in a factory

————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Frequency- How often is this information updated?

Continuous- Information is updated and available as it is generated.  Also known as real-time e.g results for NAB  was being marked while being answered

Periodic- Information becomes available over regular time intervals e.g daily absence report

Random- No predetermined structure to time period as information is gathered randomly e.g booking flights on-line

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Type – Is information detailed, statistical or summarised?

Detailed- Detail of information increases as the level rises e.g teacher would know exact score in test whereas head would only know grade.

Aggregated – Information is combined and summarised

Sampled- Only some information is used e.g obtaining viewing figures for a TV show only a small proportion of TV viewers are consulted

————————————————————————————————————————————————–

And there we have it done.

Goodbye

Scott Edgar

Advertisement