WGU D322

• Information Technology

  The technology used in creating, maintaining, and making information accessible.
• IT Professional Roles

  Administration and Support
• System Administrator


  responsible for providing technical support for hardware and software issues end users encounter, such as log-in issues
• Network Administrator


  is responsible for designing, planning, setting up, and maintaining an organization's network
• Database Administrator


  is responsible for installing and configuring databases. This position also fixes database errors and creates user accounts.
• Security Administrator


  is responsible for installing, administering, and troubleshooting network security issues
• Web Administrator


  is responsible for troubleshooting error messages employees encounter when attempting to access their organization's website. The web administrator is also responsible for tracking, compiling, and analyzing website usage data. This role reports security breaches to appropriate personnel.
• Support IT Professionals

  Help desk and training.
• Information


  collection of processed data from a variety of sources
• DIKW Hierarchy

  Defines the transition of data to information from knowledge to wisdom. (Data Information Knowledge Wisdom)

  
• Data in DIKW

  The input directly received by the user (or computer). It is generally not usable until it has been converted into a relevant form.
• Information in DIKW

  Having been inferred from data; one or more processes have been applied to the data to transform it into a more useful form.
• Knowledge in DIKW


  Information that has been put to use; information placed into a context. Refined information such that the user of the knowledge is able to call forth only relevant portions of information when needed. KNOWING THR RIGHT THING TO DO
• Wisdom in DIKW

  Provides a social setting to knowledge; an understanding of the "why". Can only come by having both knowledge and experience.
• Information Systems


  A collection of data and information used to support the management of an organization. Also refers to the technical components and human resources that enable the assembly, storage, and processing of data and the delivery of information. This has existed for a lot longer than computers.
• Characteristics of Quality Data

  Relevance - the data being used must apply directly to the decision being made

  
  

  Timely - data must be efficient and must be provided in a timely manner

  
  

  Thorough - the data must be complete

  
  

  Accurate - data should be captured only once, where possible and should be captured as close to the point of activity as possible.

  
  

  Reliable - data should reflect stable and consistent data collection processes across collections points and over time
• Structured data


  is coded in a way that makes it easy to convert into a form usable for analysis.
• Examples of structured data

  contact information such as first name, last name, email address, and phone number. In addition, quantitative fields like date of birth, date of transaction, and the amount received or amount due are forms of structured data.
• Unstructured data


  refers to data that is more complex and possibly stored in a format that is not easily decoded.
• Examples of unstructured data


  include data stored in text or video format, comments on a web page, text messages, and videos of presentations or conferences.
• To begin analyzing business processes


  a business must first collect data from multiple platforms and portals.
• Data in businesses comes from various activities like

  sales and marketing, finance, customer service, and relationship management.
• Companies store data in multiple systems like

  customer relationship management (CRM) system and sales records, finance, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and customer applications. each has data on every customer
• Data Hygiene


  refers to the processes of ensuring the cleanliness of data (i.e., that the data is relatively error-free)
• Data scrubbing


  the process of amending or removing data in a database that is incorrect, incomplete, improperly formatted, or duplicated.
• Quality data


  defined as data that is precise, valid, reliable, timely, and complete.
• Good data enables businesses to do the following:

  *Analyze the current financial state of the organization in terms of net profits, revenues, cash flow, assets, and liabilities

  *Increase revenues through better targeting of products and increased customer satisfaction

  *Examine existing production processes to take corrective action, improve efficiency, and lower costs

  *Develop new, automated processes that integrate harmoniously into existing workflows and reduce demands on labor

  *Gather competitive information on product and pricing decisions to stay ahead of competitors

  *Make evidence-based decisions that utilize verifiable data to maximize profits and efficiency

  *Understand business value by exploiting rapid changes in information and generating insights from diverse data sources to widen the competitive differentiation gap
• Types of bad data

  *Duplicate data: Two or more identical records

  *Conflicting data: The same records with differing attributes

  *Incomplete data: Missing attributes

  *Invalid data: Attributes not conforming to standardization

  *Unsynchronized data: Data not appropriately shared between two systems
• three general steps for transforming institutional knowledge into implementable data solutions:


  capturing, analyzing, and using.
• IPO


  The input-process-output
• 4 main functions of a computer

  Input, processing, Output, Storage
• Input


  Raw data is entered by the user.
• Processing


  actoins computer takes to execute commands. Raw data is organized or structured for usefulness.
• Output


  Information is given out so users can see results. results provided by the computer after processing
• Storage

  Processed information is stored for permanent record.
• Computer System


  A collection of components that work together to meet the needs of the user; typically categorized as either hardware, software, networks, or users.
• The most important element of a computer system is?

  its users, sometimes called liveware
• Hardware


  Physical components of a computer system which include the system unit and its components and peripheral devices; tangible aspects of the computer. Motherboards, graphics cards, central processing units (CPUs), and power supply
• Middleware


  allows the hardware and software to communicate with each other, enabling data to move between computer system components
• Software


  a collection of instructions that enable a user to interact with a computer to perform tasks. Internet browsers, text editing tools, and spreadsheets are examples of computer software