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46 Part One Organizations, Management, and the Networked Enterprise

facts representing events occurring in organizations or the physical environ-
ment before they have been organized and arranged into a form that people can
understand and use.
A brief example contrasting information and data may prove useful.
Supermarket checkout counters scan millions of pieces of data from bar
codes, which describe each product. Such pieces of data can be totaled and
analyzed to provide meaningful information, such as the total number of
bottles of dish detergent sold at a particular store, which brands of dish deter-
gent were selling the most rapidly at that store or sales territory, or the total
amount spent on that brand of dish detergent at that store or sales region
(see Figure 1.3).
Three activities in an information system produce the information that
organizations need to make decisions, control operations, analyze problems,
and create new products or services. These activities are input, processing,
and output (see Figure 1.4). Input captures or collects raw data from within
the organization or from its external environment. Processing converts this
raw input into a meaningful form. Output transfers the processed informa-
tion to the people who will use it or to the activities for which it will be used.
Information systems also require feedback, which is output that is returned to
appropriate members of the organization to help them evaluate or correct the
input stage.
For example, in Disney World’s systems for controlling crowds, the raw input
consists of data from airline bookings and hotel reservations, satellite weather
data, historic attendance data for the date being analyzed, and images of crowds
from video cameras stationed at key locations throughout the park. Computers
store these data and process them to calculate projected total attendance for
a specific date as well as attendance figures and wait times for each ride and
restaurant at various times during the day. The systems indicate which rides or
attractions are too overcrowded, which have spare capacity, and which can add
capacity. The system provides meaningful information such as the number of

FIGURE 1.3 DATA AND INFORMATION

Raw data from a supermarket checkout counter can be processed and organized to produce meaningful information, such
as the total unit sales of dish detergent or the total sales revenue from dish detergent for a specific store or sales territory.

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