OLD HARBOUR HIGH

SECTION 1: COMPUTER FUNDAMENTALS AND INFORMATION PROCESSING

Topic: Information Processing Fundamentals
Lesson notes
Grade 10

Information processing describes the many ways that data is gathered and interpreted. The
output depends on the interpretation of the input. For eg. An alarm system uses sensors to detect
movement into a room. If there is movement this data is processed to set off a siren.

COMPONENTS OF INFORMATION PROCESSING

 Data is raw facts and figures that may not make much sense on their own, such as a
series of digits entered into a computer.

 Information is the usable result you get after data has been processed, when the digits
that were entered have been processed into a table you can read.

SOURCES OF DATA AND INFORMATION

Primary sources: First hand information
1. Experiments
2. Observation
3. Survey

Secondary data sources: Second hand information

1. Books
2. Magazines
3. The internet
4. Newspaper
5. People
6. Television
7. Radio

DOCUMENT TYPES
To create useful information from data, you must get that data from a suitable source. Data can
be captured using machine-readable or human-readable documents. Machine-readable
documents are documents that a computer can read. Human-readable documents are documents
that a human can read.

Source Documents
A source document is a document used to capture information by writing it down. Source
documents are human-readable, which means that a person will read and enter information into
that document. The best example is a form, which may be a hard copy (printed copy) or
electronic copy (soft copy). A form contains spaces and blocks that allows a person to enter
relevant details. The data is then entered into a computer. Forms are used for surveys, censuses,
opinion polls, applications and market research, among other things.
Here are some points to help you create a good form:
 Give brief instructions that explain how to film in the form.
 Similar data should be grouped into sections on the form.
 Give people enough space to write their answers.
 Use a clear layout where compulsory sections are obvious.

Here are some of the fields you can include in a form:

 A field for information, such as person’s name
 A checkbox for selecting an option, such as male or female
 A range of values for rating something. For example, you could rate a movie from 1
(terrible) or to 5 (great).

Turnaround Document
A turnaround document is human-readable and machine-readable. A machine creates it and a
human adds more data or uses it as input for something else. The document is then read by a

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computer, which creates it as output, which you modify, and the machine uses that modified
document as input again. Examples are utility bills, such as water bills, with the perforated
section that is completed by the customer and then used as input.

RELIABILTY OF INFORMATIONOBTAINED FROM ONLINE SOURCES

1. Information should be Authentic- the quality of being real or true.
2. Information must be Current– show published date, up to date, frequently updated.

3. Information should have Relevance - the degree to which the information is related or
useful to what is happening or being researched.

4. Information should not be Bias -the action of supporting or opposing a particular person or
thing in an unfair way, because of allowing personal opinions to influence your judgment.

METHODS OF VALIDATION AND VERIFICATION

VALIDATION and VERIFICATION

You cannot assume that all data entered and used by the computers is accurate. Humans can
make mistakes and it can be very easy to enter incorrect or inaccurate data when you are tired, in
a hurry or simply by accident. This may cause a program to malfunction or cause incorrect
information to be stored about someone or something. Imagine you applied for a passport and
the data capturer entered your birth year as 1903 instead of 1993. Your passport would say that
you are over a hundred years old.

Software and hardware can cause data errors. If software is faulty, it may corrupt or delete data.
If hardware is not working properly, it may cause a computer to malfunction. If you are in the
middle of working on something, the data may be lost. If there is a problem with the hard disk,
saved data may be irretrievable.
Computers, electrical faults and faulty cabling can cause transmission errors, which is when the
data received by a computer or system is not the same as what was sent by another computer.
A human error during data input can be accidental or deliberate:

 Accidental errors are errors that are not made on purpose. The incorrect birth year on
the passport was an accidental error. Another accidental error is when someone
transposes characters to get, say, 1893 instead of 1983.

 Deliberate errors are errors made on purpose, usually for gain or to cause disorder. To
get a bigger loan, someone may enter false information about their salary on a loan
application.
There are two ways to prevent errors caused by humans: data verification and data validation.

DATA VERIFICATION
Data verification ensures that data entered into a computer contains no errors at all. It is a very
thorough way of making sure that the data entered is correct. Two methods of data verification
are double-entry and proofreading.

Double-entry is where the same data is entered twice, sometimes by different people. If the data
differs between the two entries, it does not get processed. It can be expensive and time-
consuming to use this method, but it does ensure very accurate data capture.
A simpler example of double-entry is when a program asks you to retype a password, perhaps
when you set up an email account. When you type, the screen shows only asterisks (*) so that no
one can see your password. But this means you cannot see whether you have mistyped any
characters. Without double entry, if you mistype a character when you set up your password, the
password in your head will not match what you told the program and will be rejected when you
type it correctly. Double entry asks you to type the password twice and accepts the password
only if the two versions match. It is possible to make the same typing mistake each time. Then
the password for the program will still be different from the password in your head.

Proofreading checks the data entered against the data on the original source document. The
person entering the data reads the source document and checks that it matches what he or she has

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entered into the computer. Sometimes a second person will check the entered data. This is very
time-consuming. If you have to enter large amounts of data from documents into a computer, it
may be wise to proofread the data you have entered. It is easy to make mistakes when you have
been working on the same task for a long time.

DATA VALIDATION
Data Validation uses a variety of checks to make sure that data is as accurate and complete as
possible. It does not check the complete accuracy of data, but it does help ensure that fewer
mistakes are made. If data does not pass the checks, the program may return an error or the field
will not be filled in. The checks compare the user-entered data against a rule. The check
depends on the type or nature of data that is entered.

RANGE CHECK
A Range Check ensures that numbers entered falls within a specific range. If you are entering
times of the day, you may need to check that the values for hours cannot go higher than 24. If
someone enters 25h00 by mistake that value will not compute.

REASONABLENESS CHECKS
Reasonableness check ensures that data is reasonable- not completely unrealistic. If you are
entering salary information into a Payroll system, a reasonableness check will ensure that you do
not enter zeros by mistake.

DATA TYPE CHECK

Data Type checks, or character checks, ensure that the right type of data has been entered. They
ensure that only numbers have been entered or that only symbols and letters have been entered.
A field that captures the age of persons may have a character check that rejects the input of
letters or symbols.

CONSISTENCY CHECKS
Consistency checks compare data you have entered against other data you have entered. If you
enter a person’s year of birth and their age in separate fields, a consistency check will ensure that
the two fields corresponds with each other. Consistency checks can be used to make sure that
false or dishonest data has not been entered.

PRESENCE CHECKS
Documents and forms have required fields and optional fields. A required field is one that has to
contain a value whereas an optional field can be left blank. In an application for a bank account,
your identity number and address will be required fields and your cell phone number may be an
optional field. A presence check is used to ensure that the required fields contain data.

LENGTH CHECKS
A length check determines whether the entered data is the correct length – the right number of
digits. Area codes and phone numbers usually have a fixed length. If a number is entered that is
longer or shorter than this length, the program will return an error. An easy way to ensure that
data is the correct length is to create a field that will not allow the user to continue unless all the
spaces for digits have been filled in.

CHECK DIGITS
Bar codes and other number sequences include a check digit calculated from all the other digits
using an algorithm. When the number sequence is entered into a field, the computer can separate
the check digit from the other digits, use the algorithm to calculate a check digit and compare it
with the entered check digit. If the calculated check digit matches the entered check digit, the
sequence is correct.

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 FILE ORGANIZATION AND ACCESS

Files and records need to be organized so they are easily accessible and easy to update when
necessary. People and organization capture and store a lot of data. A database is an organized
collection of data. Star manufacturing is a large company that uses a database to keep data about
all aspects of the business. The database has several components:

 A file – is an entire set of data. For example, Star manufacturing has a file in its database
that contains information about all its suppliers. A file can be a collection of as many
records as needed.
 A record – is a subset of data (a collection of fields) found in a file. Each record in Star
manufacturing’s file refers to a supplier.
 A field- is a piece of data contained in a record. Each record in Star Manufacturing’s
database contains fields with information about the supplier’s name, address, type of
product they supply, payment details, and so on.

FILE ORGANIZATION AND ACCESS METHODS

SEQUENTIAL AND SERIAL

1. Sequential file ordering – this is where records are stored in a logical order. Records can
be arranged according to name, date, size or any other field. In an office environment,
many records are kept in sequential order, such as employee details, payroll information
and customer records. It makes sense to sort them in sequential order, such as
alphabetical order, so they are easier to understand if you have to view a large number of
records at once.

2. Serial file ordering- this is similar to sequential file ordering, except the records are not
stored in any order. They are simply stored one after the other as they are added, similar
to new items on a to-do list. This type of ordering is often used to capture transactions as
they occur during the day. This is useful because it provides an easy way to go back and
check a transaction. They may be reorganized into a sequential order after they have been
checked, processed or backed up.

3. Sequential access- this means accessing records one by one in the order in which they
were stored until the right one is reached. This type of access is used with sequential file
ordering. It can be slow if there is a lot of data to go through, but it is very effective for
accessing, viewing and modifying records in large batches. Serial access works in the
same way- the records are read one by one in the order they are stored until the desired
record is found.

RANDOM FILE ORDERING AND ACCESS

1. Random file ordering- also known as direct access file ordering, is where files are
stored in any order. The computer maps where all this data is stored so you can
immediately access it when you search for it. Think of a one-dimensional array where
each array element has an index number to mark its location. Random file ordering works
in the same way, except the records are organized in random order. This type of file
ordering is useful if you want fast access to records, or if you want to store data that is
unrelated or does not need to be in any particular sequence. Random access or direct
access, allows you to access the record you want without having to go through any
others. The computer locates the data item using the indices.

INDEX SEQUENTIAL FILE ORDERING AND ACCESS

Index sequential ordering uses an index file to store records. In other words, records are
stored in this file in sequential order and a set of indices are used to refer to each item stored
in a file. Each record can be accessed via its index number. This file ordering is a
combination of sequential and random file ordering and is used when records need to be
sorted in sequence but individual records must be quickly accessible.

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 INDEX SEQUENTIAL FILE ORDERING
Index sequential file ordering uses both types of access to search for records. Sequential
access is used to go through each record, and direct access is used to find a specific record.
For example, Star Manufacturing keeps a file with supplier’s individual record must be
accessed – this requires direct access. At the end of a financial quarter, Star Manufacturing
prints out an ordered list of all supplier information so it can do a financial review. This
requires sequential access.

USING METHODS OF ORDERING AND ACCESS

The way that records are stored and accessed depends on the types of record, what they are
used for and even the form of storage. For example, a bank may store data about its daily
transactions using magnetic tape, which store data using sequential file ordering. Therefore
sequential access is used to access those records.

A school will have a record for each student, stored on a file. Each student’s record must be
accessible to review or update information, but all records must be printed out at the end of
each school year to allocate students to new classes. This type of setup would benefit from
direct and sequential file ordering, so index sequential file ordering and access is probably
the best system to use.

SUMMARY
 Data is the plural form of the word datum, however, data is commonly used to represent both singular and
plural.
Data may exist in one of the following forms: text, numbers, sounds and images.
 Data is generally considered as the raw material needed to produce information.
 Information is data - whether in the form of words, numbers, graphics or sound - that has been organized
and presented so that underlying patterns become clear.
 Information processing is the acquisition, recording, organization, retrieval, display, and
dissemination of information.
 Data sources may be machine readable, human readable or both.
 In order to be processed by a computer, data needs first to be manually entered into the computer
system or captured automatically using a data capture device.
 A turnaround document is a document that has been output from a computer, some extra information added to
it, and then returned to become an input document.
 Errors can occur during both the data collection and data capture phases.
 A typographical error is a typing error, for example, a missing letter or typing an extra letter.
 A transposition error is a computing error caused by switching the position of two adjacent digits in a number.
 Validation and verification checks are used to minimize or eliminate data capture errors. Verification is
performed by a human whereas validation can be carried out by the information processing system.
 Validation is a process that ensures that data entered into a database form, a web form, or a computer
program conforms to a set of validation rules.
 Verification is a process during which data that has already been inputted or captured is checked to ensure
that it matches the data on the source document.
 A file is a collection of data or information that has a name, called the filename, and exists
permanently on a secondary storage media.
 There are three main methods of organizing a file: sequential, indexed-sequential and random