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Information

Information provided to management must be relevant. This means that it should not only relate to the particular manager's role, but that its level of detail should be appropriate. Information that is not relevant or that contains too little or too much detail will hinder the decision making process.

The method used to present the information is also important. Tables are good for providing detail, particularly when individual values are likely to be required. A line graph is more appropriate when trying to identify trends and Pie charts are useful for showing relative values. Where there are too many categories for a pie chart, a bar chart could be used to show relative values.

Management may need historical data, for example comparing current performance with previous years and certainly information based on current data will be required - information that is out of date may well be worthless.

In addition predictions of future situations based on trends and the present are also required. Managers also need to be able to make predictions based on a variety of possible current actions so that they can gain some idea of what effect their decisions may have.

The information provided by a system can be classified in various ways as detailed below

Source

Internal	From within the organisation - possibly from data processing
External	Possibly purchased or public domain
Primary	Information from original data.
Secondary	From data that has been output by processing other data - e.g. processing summary information. The danger is that the primary data may have been processed and the output processed again but with time delay the original primary data has changed. The recently processed secondary data may then be mistakenly thought of as up to date.

Nature

Quantitative	Providing numerical values
Qualitative	Using words like improving, good or better but not providing numerical values
Formal	Information provided according to some organisational procedure - a quarterly report to a divisional manager or which flows through some formal channel according to accepted procedures.
Informal	This type of information will usually move through an informal route such as gossip or conversation

Level

Strategic	Information relating to long term goals and performance - e.g. predicted market share compared to competitors over the next five years
Tactical	Information relating to shorter term management - e.g. summary sales information for a particular branch of a supermarket.
Operational	Short term information relating to day to day operation of one part the organisation - e.g. list of items that must be re-ordered.

Time

Historical	Information based on data collected over some period in the past - e.g. sales figures for the past year. Whether or not information is historical depends on how quickly the underlying data is changing.
Current	Based on the latest data
Future	Information based on predicted or possibly known future data values. Predicted data values could be based on current data modified by historical data.

Frequency

Real Time	Real time information will be based on current data in a transaction processing application such as a supermarket. The information could be changed as the underlying data changes in real time. An example could be the percentage of holidays that have vacancies. Real time information is most useful at the operational level.
Periodic	Information can be classified according to the frequency with which it is produced - e.g.; annual report, quarterly sales report. The longer the period, the more likely it is that the information will be strategic rather than operational.
Use	Classifying information according to its intended use refers back to the level.
Planning	Information intended to help plan some future action
Control	Information used to control some process - e.g. stock control information is used to control stock levels.
Decision	Information used to support decision making - e.g. the holiday rota would be used to decide if a particular employee could take time off.

Form

The form that information is presented in will often be decided by the mechanism that is used to transmit it through the organisation:-

Written
Visual
Aural
Sensory

Type

Detailed	Information based on all the data.
Aggregated	Summary information bringing data together from a variety of sources - e.g. summary sales information for all the branches in a supermarket chain.
Sampled	Information based on a sample of all data. An example would be a Europe wide weather report based on temperatures in each of the capital cities. Detailed data is available over a wide area of Europe but the nature of the information required means that a restricted sample of all possible data is sufficient.

Value of Information

It is not sufficient to provide information. If the information is to acted on then it must be seen as 'good' information. A managing director arriving for work is unlikely to believe a passing tramp who calls out that the company is going bust. The same information passed informally by the company president would be more believable. For information to be considered good it must relevant, accurate and complete. It must be provided to the right person - i.e. to the person able to act on the information and it must be available at the right time. If the information is not presented through the proper channel of communication then it may not be believed.

Detail	The amount of detail must be sufficient to convey the information required but it must not be allowed to become excessive so that the meaning is obscured. A factory foreman will need to know the work assignment for each of the workers that he is responsible for. The managing director needs to know the productivity of each department.
Confidence	Information in which the user has no confidence is of no value. User confidence will be established by ensuring that the information is based on sound and up to date data, that it is presented in a suitable format and that it arrives through an expected channel of communication.
Format	The method used to present the information is important. Graphs and charts can be used to replace large columns of figures, presenting the same information in a more readily understandable format.
Style	The way in which the information is presented is important. Information which appears too casual or which is presented in a non-serious way loses value because it does not appear authoritative. The end user starts out with a lack of confidence in it. On the other hand, if the intended audience is more general then a formal presentation may appear boring. An example of this is the use of pictograms in newspapers to make bar graphs appear more interesting. This type of presentation would be inappropriate in a business report.

Timing	If information is to be effective it must be presented at the right time. It must be available at a time when the knowledge gained from the information can be used to influence the decisions to be made. It may be an advantage to present information in advance of a meeting so that people can study it. On the other hand a report circulated informally beforehand may not carry the same weight as one presented formally at a meeting. The best method will depend on the circumstances and the structure of the organisation and, to some extent, on the status of the person presenting the information.
Channel	Information that arrives via an inappropriate channel of communication may not be seen or, if it is seen, it may be ignored or discredited
Destination	For information to be of use, it must reach the right person. This will be the person who has the power needed to make decisions based on the information.
Understandable	Finally the information must be understandable. If all the above factors are present but the information itself is not understandable - perhaps because of the use of jargon or axes missed of graphs then it will not be used.