ACCA MA Syllabus A. Management Information - Sources of Data - Notes ^{1 / 4}

Data has 3 Main Sources

1. Machine / Sensor

2. Transactional

3. Human / Social

Let's look at these in more detail:

Machine / Sensor

Devices have inputs which they use for their outputs - the output is the data

Examples

• Wearable Tech

• Smart Phones

• Thermostats

• Location Trackers

Transactional

This is data that comes from the transactions of an organisation

Examples

• Sales Order

• Purchases Order

• Returns

Human / Social

This is often non-numerical. 

It comes from humans eg. Social media date includes the user's location. 

Human/social data can be more difficult for data analysis software to handle, because it's often not numerical 

Examples

• Customer feedback

• Focus Groups

• Social Media