Information is key to being an effective manager in every area of business. Information is often confused with the term data. Data is just the basis for information. Data is made up of raw facts while information is an organized collection of these facts that produce additional value beyond the value of each individual fact. Knowing the total monthly revenue generated or the total monthly expenses incurred in an organization can be more valuable than just the revenue or expenses of one single department. Turning data into information is a process. Using excel, you can enter individual data into each cell and then use a formula in another cell to combine the data of those cells into useful information. Information can be enhanced by adding new or different data which can increase the value of this information. The value of information is measured in how it can help the decision makers of an organization reach that organization’s goals. To be valuable, information should be accessible, accurate, complete, economical, flexible, relevant, reliable, secure, simple, timely and verifiable. The value of information is determined by its importance to the decision maker or to the outcome of the decision being made. Transportation professionals require information that is not only accurate, timely, and relevant, but also presented and interpreted in a meaningful way. [1]
An information system, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, is an integrated set of components for collecting, storing, processing, and communicating information . [2] The collecting of information is an input, there is a process of manipulating or converting the information in the middle and then the communicating of the information is an output. Feedback is also an important component of an information system that is used in making changes to input or processing activities to help an organization reach its goals.
As a corporate accountant, I tend to use transaction processing systems and management information systems the most. Solomon, an accounting transaction information system, is used on a daily basis as a billing system to send invoices to customers, a payment tracking systems for payments to vendors and a general ledger system to track assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. The data taken is then taken from Solomon, our transaction processing system, and summarized into a series of reports in FRx, our management information system. The two systems interface and data is extracted from Solomon and input into FRx to create reports such as a balance sheet, a P&L, forecasts and cash flows. These reports help upper management make decisions on spending and where costs can be reduced, on revenue generation and sales, and on capital expenditures.
The reports created only have value to upper management if the input from Solomon is accurate, reliable and complete and if the reports are done or created in a timely manner. Also, the reports are only beneficial to the upper management team if it is interpreted and presented in a meaningful way. These reports could also be created through Microsoft Excel, another information system, but the automation and direct pull of data from Solomon to FRx leaves less room for error than manual entry into excel. “ In the field of computer science, an interface is a tool and concept that refers to a point of interaction between components, and is applicable at the level of both hardware and software. This allows a component, whether a piece of hardware such as a graphics card or a piece of software such as an internet browser, to function independently while using interfaces to communicate with other components via an input/output system and an associated protocol.” [4]
Working for a hotel operations management company, I have learned that system interfaces are extremely important. Our hotels have front of the house systems such as the front desk systems that interface with our back of the house systems like Solomon. All guest room revenue is sent directly from our front desk software to our accounting software which makes revenue tracking a much easier task since it is automated.
[1] “Value of Information and Information Services.” US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. 11 July 2011. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/viis.pdf.
[2] "Information System." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2011. Web. 09 Jul. 2011. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/287895/information-system.
[3] “Types of Information System.” Tutur2u. Web. 11 July 2011. http://www.tutor2u.net/business/ict/intro_information_system_types.htm.
[4] “Interface (computing)” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 24 June 2011. Web. 11 July 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interface_(computer_science).
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