AS Level Module 2

Information: Management and Manipulation

Lecture One

11.1 Data Capture

Lecturer: Deepak Gautam
Email: gautamd@wolverhamptoncollege.ac.uk
Room: 120, Wulfrun Campus
Telephone: 01902 821133

Overview of Data Capture

The process of collecting data in a form suitable for use in an information system is termed data capture. For example, before an electricity board can charge a customer for the use of electricity, the customer’s meter must be read and recorded, or captured, on a suitable form. The data must then be transferred into the computer system by means of an input device appropriate to the method of data capture.

Sometimes the data capture form is directly readable by an input device, as, for example, in the case of mark sensitive forms which can be read by optical mark readers (OMRs). On other occasions, the data on the form must be first transferred to a suitable medium by a data entry person using a key-to-storage device. Sometimes the data to be captured is pre-recorded on an item to be sold, as with bar codes, so that a data recording form is not required at all, but in many instances, some sort of data capture form is required.

The design of such forms is of great importance, since the clearer and more concise the form, the less chance there is of inaccurate data being recorded. Frequently it is necessary to use questionnaires or observation sheets to collect data for statistical purposes, and again the quality of the design of these data capture forms is of great importance.

System Inputs

A number of details concerning the data inputs to a system need to be established, including the:

o source of the data. It may, for example, originate from a customer, a supplier, or another department in the organisation

o form of the