Requirements For Useful Information

The information must assist decision-makers in their process of concluding informed decisions which will benefit the organisation. Businesses require those information systems included in their processes and procedures, meet specific requirements. The requirements for useful information will underlie the requirements that a business should set for administrative systems. Organisations that have the ability to easily and promptly analyse and extract relevant information to use in their decision-making process, have a competitive advantage. Extensive information (qualitative and quantitative) can be overwhelming and will have a debilitating effect on constructive decision-making processes. It is therefore important to ensure that information that is included in the administrative systems are clear, concise, relevant and applicable.

The following requirements for information need to be taken into account and will be advantageous to the organisation:

Correct and accurate: This will ensure that correct deductions and conclusions will be reached. Records that are correctly filed and stored are easily accessible, and this facilitates transparency, accountability and democracy.

Timely: Information must be readily available and easily accessible. Time wasted on searching for information will deteriorate the decision-making ability of the organisation. An orderly structure supports this principle of timely processing.

Complete: All information needed must be at hand. The need must be specified. Partial information will be misleading and not conducive to good decision-making processes.

Format: Information must be summarized and presented in acceptable formats such as graphs, diagrams. The information must be presented in a format that is easy to scan, skim and interpret.

Relevant: New information must be included, and records must be updated regularly, ensuring that constructive decisions can be based on relevant data. A retention and disposal programme will ensure that only those records that are functional are stored.

Resourceful: Information must be obtained from diverse sources and must be approached from various points of view.

Authoritative and Reliable: Records must be created and maintained in an intelligent and usable manner in order to support the business and accountability requirements of the organisation.

Efficient and Economic: Ensure that unnecessary duplication of records and systems are eliminated.