Unit 3 Information Systems
Assignment 1
Contents
Characteristics of good Information......................................................................................................1
Explain how organisations use information...........................................................................................3
How to improve the quality of Information...........................................................................................4
Sources..............................................................................................................................................4
Gather and check data in advance.....................................................................................................5
Keeping information up to date.........................................................................................................5
Ways of collecting Data.....................................................................................................................5
Characteristics of good Information
Reliable – It is extremely important that the information you have is reliable and can be counted as
trustworthy. This means that the place or person you are getting the information from also need to
be trustworthy and honest. In reality you will only be able to use the information you have with
confidence if you are sure that it is reliable. Therefore, if the information you have is not consistent
and accurate it can lead you to make poor and uncertain business decisions.
Understandable – Since information has already been processed to provide you with some sort of
meaning it also needs to be understood by the people you are giving the information to in order for
them to interpret it in the right way. If you have information with a lot of value and important facts,
but it isn’t understandable and presented well than it essentially becomes useless. The person that is
being provided with the information needs to know about any abbreviations, shortened notations or
acronyms that may be included in the information you have sent over. So, this means that when
information is being presented it is structured in a way that anyone will be able to understand or
there are explanations included as there may be a lot of people that look through the information.
Timely – The information has to be delivered at correct time and at the right place. The information
has to be available when it is needed whenever that may be. This is a very important characteristic
of good information as decisions that need to be made can be delayed due to the necessary
information not being available at the time. This can result in missed opportunities and could
possibly lead to financial or client loss for businesses. However, this also means that information
shouldn’t be delivered to early as well because premature information can become out-dated or it
may also be forgotten about by the time it is actually needed. The other important thing is that the
time it takes for the information to be processed from when the data was collected and to the time
information has been presented should be reduced as much as it is possible.
Assignment 1
Contents
Characteristics of good Information......................................................................................................1
Explain how organisations use information...........................................................................................3
How to improve the quality of Information...........................................................................................4
Sources..............................................................................................................................................4
Gather and check data in advance.....................................................................................................5
Keeping information up to date.........................................................................................................5
Ways of collecting Data.....................................................................................................................5
Characteristics of good Information
Reliable – It is extremely important that the information you have is reliable and can be counted as
trustworthy. This means that the place or person you are getting the information from also need to
be trustworthy and honest. In reality you will only be able to use the information you have with
confidence if you are sure that it is reliable. Therefore, if the information you have is not consistent
and accurate it can lead you to make poor and uncertain business decisions.
Understandable – Since information has already been processed to provide you with some sort of
meaning it also needs to be understood by the people you are giving the information to in order for
them to interpret it in the right way. If you have information with a lot of value and important facts,
but it isn’t understandable and presented well than it essentially becomes useless. The person that is
being provided with the information needs to know about any abbreviations, shortened notations or
acronyms that may be included in the information you have sent over. So, this means that when
information is being presented it is structured in a way that anyone will be able to understand or
there are explanations included as there may be a lot of people that look through the information.
Timely – The information has to be delivered at correct time and at the right place. The information
has to be available when it is needed whenever that may be. This is a very important characteristic
of good information as decisions that need to be made can be delayed due to the necessary
information not being available at the time. This can result in missed opportunities and could
possibly lead to financial or client loss for businesses. However, this also means that information
shouldn’t be delivered to early as well because premature information can become out-dated or it
may also be forgotten about by the time it is actually needed. The other important thing is that the
time it takes for the information to be processed from when the data was collected and to the time
information has been presented should be reduced as much as it is possible.