Data and Information

Data and Information Using the attached articles and others, Compare and contrast the concepts of data and information in a paper. Investigate the important components of each concept to assess the differences and similarities between the two. Report a minimum of three examples from the literature to demonstrate the utilization of each of these terms. For example, organizational informational systems may indicate the differences between the two concepts. HR functions may also demonstrate the differences or similarities. Review recent research articles and applications that evaluate these components. For example, assessing human resource information systems may reveal how data and information are utilized by managers. ecords  and  information management (RIM) profes- sionals manage their orga- nization’s   records   and information,  regardless  of their format or the media on which they are written. Most RIM programs have a good handle  on  how  to  manage  paper records and information. However, managing  content  in  a  relational database, or structured data , is more challenging.  This  content  is  con- tained in data fields within tables, and those tables are often joined. If content is removed without regard for the relationships between tables, the context of the transaction that was being documented is lost, and the official record is affected. A Record Defined The international RM standard ISO15489-1 Information and Docu- mentation – Records Management – Part I: General gives the following definition for a record: “Information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an or- ganization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the trans- action of business.” Paper Records In the example below, the folder content is considered a record of a transaction  Company  XYZ  con- ducted  with  an  outside  vendor  to order a desk: The  marketing  department  of Company XYZ created a paper pur- chase order with the unique identi- fying number 12345 for a desk. n The purchase order went to man- agement for approval. n Management approved the pur- chase order. n Vendor  received  the  purchase order  and  shipped  the  desk  to Company XYZ. n The shipping receipt referencing purchase  order  12345  was  re- ceived with the desk. MARCH/APRIL 2011 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT 27 Structured Data Elements: Are They Records? Kelly Hamilton, CRM R 28 MARCH/APRIL 2011 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT n The accounting department re- ceived an invoice referencing pur- chase order 12345. n Accounting paid the vendor and kept a copy of the check referenc- ing the purchase order number. After the transaction was com- pleted, the accounting department kept the paper copies of the pur- chase order, shipping receipt, vendor invoice,  check,  and  vendor  corre- spondence in the same folder. This constituted the record of the trans- action. Unstructured Data Had this order been transacted electronically, the various steps above may have resulted in unstructured in- formation , such as that found in word processing  documents,  e-mail,  and image files, to be managed. The elec- tronic folder structure might look like Figure 1. It shows a folder within a drive  that  contains  the  electronic equivalent of the information found in the paper folder. This electronic folder content constitutes the record of the transaction. Structured Data Databases  contain  information that can also be considered to be part of a record. This type of information, called structured data, contains in- formation in logical elements within tables. Referencing the above exam- ple, the database might contain the tables in Figures 2 and 3. Figure 2 represents a simplified version of how tables might be con- nected in a database that contains the same information found within the  paper  or  unstructured  docu- ments of the desk order transaction. In this instance, each table is linked to at least one other table, and the Purchase_ Order table is linked to every other table. Each  table  comprises  several fields. For instance, the Purchase_ Order table comprises six fields: 1. ID = The purchase order number Figure 1: Folder containing unstructured information documenting a transaction Figure 2: The relationships between structured data tables documenting a transaction Figure 3: In this purchase order table, the fields are the columns; the row is one table record (but not as defined by ISO 15489). Each value in the row is called an element. 2. Item ID = The ID number of the item (e.g., the desk) 3. Vendor ID = The ID number of the  vendor  from  whom  the item was ordered 4. Person ordering = The individ- ual  at  Company  XYZ  who placed the order 5. Management digital signature = The approval given by man- agement  for  the  purchase order 6. Date sent to vendor = The date the  purchase  order  informa- tion was sent to the vendor Figure 3 is an example from the Purchase_Order  table.  The  fields can  also  be  thought  of  as  the columns of a table. Each table con- sists of rows, which in a database table can be called “records.” (But in this context, the word record does not have the same meaning as de- fined by ISO15489-1.) Each value in the row is called an element. Figure 3 shows that the same in- formation contained within a paper purchase order or a purchase order in .pdf format can be found in the Purchase_Order table. 20 MAY/JUNE 2012 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT As workers have gained access to more powerful technology, become savvy and independent in using it, and begun interfacing with external services, IT involvement with processing and managing the information being created has significantly decreased. But, with electronically stored information under intense scrutiny by courts and regulators, IT must now focus on ensuring the organization’s ability to produce records and information that are authentic and reliable. Patrick Cunningham, CRM, CIP, FAI IT’S MOST IMPORTANT ROLE: ENSURING INFORMATION INTEGRITY MAY/JUNE 2012 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT 21 bout 20 years ago, the fundamental relationship be- tween information technology (IT) and the end user shifted irrevocably. The personal computer became a part of most office workers’ lives, and the ability of the end user to customize and personalize their comput- ing experience began. Prior to the early 1990s, the personal computer, as a nov- elty to IT, did not have an impact on strategy or operations. IT guarded the big computer systems, and end users settled for masses of green bar reports in order to con- sume information. The data was protected be- hind locked doors. Com- puter  programs  were changed  carefully  and evolved slowly. There was no question about the reliability and authenticity of the data and the reports coming from IT. Changing Dynamics = Changing Focus Today, an entire generation of office workers knows lit- tle or nothing about how the office functioned before e-mail or before the personal computer. A new generation of work- ers has always had the Internet at their fingertips. The 9- to-5 office job is a thing of the past. People answer e-mails at all hours; they interface with co-workers on different continents. They carry their information on their hips and are expected to be responsive to the needs of their job wher- ever they are and regardless of what they are doing. In exchange,  workers demand access to needed information and the ability to customize their experience of that  infor- mation. At the same time, the tools the end user has have be- come far more powerful than ever before. Savvy users can create a database and manipulate data. They can create interfaces into corporate databases, saving themselves time and effort to update information. They can input in- formation from a mobile device – placing an order, re- questing service, or signing a business deal – right from their office, a coffee shop, or the front seat of their truck. In addition, the end user is now not solely interfacing with the company’s IT resources – they may be entering data into a system managed by an IT outsourcer or by a third party contracted to provide a specific IT service. In- creasingly, IT has little to do with directly processing and managing an organization’s information. The dynamics have changed; the requirements have changed; the technology has changed. At the same time, the need to ensure that the information is reliable and au- thentic has never been higher. Events in which data was improperly and illegally manipulated have driven the re- quirements for ensuring data integrity. New laws and reg- A ulations have been enacted because of these events and have placed a higher burden on organizations to ensure their IT systems are reliable and their data is authentic. Likewise, the courts have increased their scrutiny of electronically stored information (ESI) and raised the bar on the thresh- olds required of evidence. All of these changes cumulatively have altered the man- ner in which IT operates – increasing the need for controls and audits to validate the reliability and authenticity of in- formation in the enterprise. GARP ® Provides a Key Tool The Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles ® (GARP ® ) help the enterprise speak about records and infor- mation utilizing a common vocabulary and a general set of maturity measures to understand where there are opportu- nities for improving their management. For IT, a key area of focus is integrity. The GARP ® Prin- ciple of Integrity states: “A recordkeeping program shall be constructed so the records and information generated or managed by or for the organization shall have a reasonable and suitable guarantee of authenticity and reliability.” In examining the focal points for IT regarding integrity of information, two key areas emerge as having the most im- portance. First, the information itself and the processes that affect the information have to be trustworthy. However, with more and more processes moving outside of an organization’s IT function, the focus for IT moves from developing solutions to testing processes and results – in other words, the focus is on quality control. The second focus is on the importance of metadata , which is data about data. Metadata will tell the story about whom or what touched the data and help ensure the data is au- thentic and reliable. Addressing Cloud’s Risks Every day, for reasons of cost, simplification, or business optimization,  organizations  choose  to  move  business processes to third parties. Specialized organizations perform real estate, security, janitorial, mailroom, and records man- agement functions, among many other services. IT is in- creasingly reliant upon third parties to create applications, run computer systems, or manage an entire IT organization. In addition, the need for an organization to completely customize a business process has diminished. Therefore, adopting a relatively generic business process offered by a third party and customizing the user experience is what many organizations do today. Outsourcing or moving to the cloud (i.e., a shared computing environment that generally is accessed through the Internet by individual users) means that the underlying programming and much of the core busi- ness process are sometimes invisible to the organization. GARP