Data processing
Data processing is the collection and manipulation of digital data to produce meaningful information.[1] Data processing is a form of information processing, which is the modification (processing) of information in any manner detectable by an observer.[note 1]
Functions
Data processing may involve various processes, including:
- Validation – Ensuring that supplied data is correct and relevant.
- Sorting – "arranging items in some sequence and/or in different sets."
- Summarization(statistical) or (automatic)– reducing detailed data to its main points.
- Aggregation – combining multiple pieces of data.
- Analysis – the "collection, organization, analysis, interpretation and presentation of data."
- Reporting – list detail or summary data or computed information.
- Classification – separation of data into various categories.
History
The United States Census Bureau history illustrates the evolution of data processing from manual through electronic procedures.
Manual
Although widespread use of the term data processing dates only from the 1950s,
The
Automatic
The term
Computerized
Computerized data processing, or
delivered in 1952.Other developments
The term data processing has mostly been subsumed by the more general term
Applications
Commercial data processing
Commercial data processing involves a large volume of input data, relatively few computational operations, and a large volume of output. For example, an insurance company needs to keep records on tens or hundreds of thousands of policies, print and mail bills, and receive and post payments.
Data analysis
In science and engineering, the terms data processing and information systems are considered too broad, and the term data processing is typically used for the initial stage followed by a data analysis in the second stage of the overall data handling.
Data analysis uses specialized
Systems
A data processing system is a combination of machines, people, and processes that for a set of inputs produces a defined set of outputs. The inputs and outputs are interpreted as data, facts, information etc. depending on the interpreter's relation to the system.
A term commonly used synonymously with data or storage (codes) processing system is information system.[6] With regard particularly to electronic data processing, the corresponding concept is referred to as electronic data processing system.
Examples
Simple example
A very simple example of a data processing system is the process of maintaining a check register. Transactions— checks and deposits— are recorded as they occur and the transactions are summarized to determine a current balance. Monthly the data recorded in the register is reconciled with a hopefully identical list of transactions processed by the bank.
A more sophisticated record keeping system might further identify the transactions— for example deposits by source or checks by type, such as charitable contributions. This information might be used to obtain information like the total of all contributions for the year.
The important thing about this example is that it is a system, in which, all transactions are recorded consistently, and the same method of bank reconciliation is used each time.
Real-world example
This is a flowchart of a data processing system combining manual and computerized processing to handle accounts receivable, billing, and general ledger
See also
- Scientific computing
- Big data
- Computation
- Decision-making software
- Information and communications technology
- Information technology
- Computer science
Notes
- word processing, which is manipulation of text specifically rather than data generally. "data processing". Webopedia. September 1996. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
External links
References
- ISBN 1844801004.
- ^ Google N gram viewer. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ Truesdell, Leon E. (1965). The development of punch card tabulation in the Bureau of the Census, 1890. United States Department of Commerce.
- ^ a b Bohme, Frederick; Wyatt, J. Paul; Curry, James P. (1991). 100 Years of Data Processing: The Punchcard Century. United States Bureau of the Census.
- ^ Google N gram viewer. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
- ^ Anthony Ralston; et al., eds. (2000). Encyclopedia of Computer Science 4th ed. Nature Publishing Group. p. 865.
Further reading
- Bourque, Linda B.; Clark, Virginia A. (1992) Processing Data: The Survey Example. (Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, no. 07-085). Sage Publications. ISBN 0-8039-4741-0
- Levy, Joseph (1967) Punched Card Data Processing. McGraw-Hill Book Company.