ACCA MA Syllabus A. Management Information - Direct and Indirect Data Capture Costs - Notes ^{4 / 4}

Direct and Indirect Data Capture Costs

• Direct data

  Data captured directly from the source

• Indirect data

  Any data which is not obtained directly from the source - but from secondary sources (eg a research firm).

Direct Costs of Information

These are the most significant costs:

1. Day-to-day running costs

   Costs associated with capturing, processing, analysing, and using data. 

   For example, the costs associated with maintaining a system that collects customer data as they make purchases on a website.

2. Storage costs

   Costs associated with storage of data. 

   An example can be costs incurred to maintain an on-site storage server or subscription to cloud storage.

Direct Data Capture Costs

Direct data capture costs are the costs of getting the data into the system in the first place. 

Direct data capture methods include:

• Use of and processing of data forms, either manually entered into a system, digitalised forms with pre-set fields, or automated through optical character recognition (OCR).

• Use machine-readable bar codes, QR codes, or RFID tags.

• Artificial intelligence (AI) or algorithmic processing and codifying (adding associated tags) of non-standardised data captures, such as faces or physical items.

Indirect Data Capture Costs

Indirect data might have a transactional cost, meaning it was purchased directly from another entity, such as a research firm or university.

There might also be costs in verifying the reliability of the data, such as establishing sources, cross-referencing with data of known veracity.