SOURCES OF INFORMATION
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
 Information held in electronic form:
On computer files and databases
Computer files and databases may be
internal or external to the organisation
Files and databases may be accessed
and transferred within local area
networks or wider area networks
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
 Information held in electronic form:
On CD-ROM
Many reference books, for example:
dictionaries, thesauruses, guides, encyclopaedias
and newspapers are now available on
CD-ROM
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
 Information held in electronic form:
The Internet
ie The World Wide Web (www)
Contains a vast amount of information on ‘websites’
For example:
TravelStatistics
News
Government
Commercial
Information
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
 Information held in electronic form:
Viewdata
Provides general and specific information
For example
New Prestel
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
 Information held in electronic form:
Teletext
Information accessed via a TV
For example
Financial
Weather
Sport
News
Information
Travel
This information cannot be printed or manipulated
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
 Information held in electronic form can
usually be:
– Accessed quickly
– Printed as required
– Queried and manipulated to suit
requirements
PAPER BASED SOURCES
 Information in printed form:
The information may be internal or external
to the organisation.
For example:
Road
PhoneMaps
Book
AA/RAC
Yellow Pages
Handbook
Whitaker’s Almanac
Roget’s Thesaurus
Railway
Timetables
Dictionaries
Encyclopaedias
Postal
Leaflets
Who’s World
WhoGazetteers
Hansard
Airways
Guide
ORAL SOURCES
 Information is passed by word of mouth:
In order for this to be of value as a reliable
source of information, a full and accurate
record should be kept of what is said
Examples of Oral Sources of
Information include:
Meetings
Telephone
Videophone
Interviews
Visits
Cellular (mobile) phone
Videoconferencing
INTERNAL SOURCES OF
INFORMATION
 Information which is obtained from the
organisation’s own internal records
The value will depend on the accuracy,
relevance and quality of the information
Examples include: Personnel Records
Payroll (wages) Records
Company Files
Dept Reports
Company Handbooks
Minutes of Meetings
Internal Databases
Stock Records
Financial Reports
Sales and Purchases Information
EXTERNAL SOURCES OF
INFORMATION
 Information which is obtained from
outwith the organisation
May be required when comparing the organisation’s
performance against other similar organisations
Examples include:
Govt Reports
and
Market Research Internet
Local Enterprise
Professional
External
Databases
and
Trade
(www)
Publications
CompanyArticles
Reports
Newspaper
Associations
Price Lists
Catalogues
Local
Authority
Company
Viewdata
eg New Prestel
HMSO Reports
Teletext
Reports
Reports
Reference Books
USES OF THESE SOURCES OF
INFORMATION
 Telecommunications:
Phone Book
Information
Names,
addresses
on phone
and
services,
phone numbers
useful numbers,
of subscribers,
national
codes, business
international
fax numbers
information
Yellow Pages
Names, addresses, phone, fax and telex
numbers classified by trades and professions
Business Pages
Names, addresses, phone, fax and telex
numbers of companies who supply goods
and services to other companies
British Telecom
Telex Directory
Names, addresses and telex numbers of all UK
subscribers
USES OF THESE SOURCES OF
INFORMATION
 Travel:
AA/RAC
Handbooks
Road maps, hotels, garages
ABC World
Airways Guide
Timetables for all regular air services
throughout the world
A-Z Guides
World Atlas
Town street maps
Maps, climate, transport, population, land use
Dictionary
Meaning and spelling of words, pronunciation,
abbreviations etc
Roget’s
Thesaurus
Synonyms and antonyms
USES OF THESE SOURCES OF
INFORMATION
 Companies:
Director of
Companies
Names of Directors and their (UK)
companies
The (Macmillan) An outline of all companies listed on the
Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange
Official Year Book
USES OF THESE SOURCES OF
INFORMATION
 Famous People:
Who’s Who
Biographies of famous or important living
people
Who Was Who
Biographies of famous people who have died
USES OF THESE SOURCES OF
INFORMATION
 Miscellaneous:
Hansard
Verbatim (word for word) reports of
proceedings in Parliament
Mailguide
Royal Mail Services
Pears
Cyclopaedia
Gazetteer, historical events, prominent people,
politics, science, music, sport etc
Whitaker’s
Almanac
Previous year’s main events – Government, UK
statistics, Royal Family, Education etc
USES OF THESE SOURCES OF
INFORMATION
 Miscellaneous:
Black’s
Titles and
Forms of
Addresses
Forms of address for people who hold a
high rank or official position
Government
Bookshops
Formerly HMSO. Government publications,
health and safety, statistics, parliamentary
papers
SOURCES ON CD-ROM
Census
Family spending
Regional Trends
Social Trends
Newspapers
British Medical Journals
Hansard
Encyclopaedia
Who’s Who
Oxford English Dictionary
SOURCES ON THE INTERNET
Magellan Maps
Foreign Exchange Rates
Eurostar
London Transport
Scotrail
Weather Net
Roget’s Thesaurus
On-line Newspapers
News Services
Broadcasting eg BBC
Etc Etc Etc
CONCLUSION
 Information is the lifeblood of an
organisation.
 It is the basis upon which an
organisation operates and upon which
decisions are made
To make effective decisions you require
GOOD (or reliable, up-to-date, high-quality)
information!