Data And Information In Finance

Question 1

What is data?

Answer 1

is raw and unprocessed numbers, facts or symbols that may contain potentially valuable information if analysed effectively.

Question 2

What is information?

Answer 2

is processed data in a way that provides meaning to the
person who receives it.
• Information is particular important to support decision making at 3 different levels in any organization (Strategic, Tactical, Operational)
• Finance function is tasked with providing high quality information to support the successful operations of organisations

Question 3

How can big data and data analytics be used?

Answer 3

Could be used to provide new insights and
understanding of the world.
• Could be a potential threat if a company fall behind its rivals.

Question 4

How can collecting data and using advanced technologies benefit the decision making process?

Answer 4

Enhanced data transparency
• Enhanced performance
• Market segmentation and customisation • Improved decision making
• New products and services
• Operational gains

Question 5

What are digital assets?

Answer 5

assets held by an entity in digital form that do not have physical substance.
• This includes images, animations, audio, video, pdf, etc.
• Amount of digital assets increases
• By increase in internet usage, connectivity and mobile technologies with the culture of moving to paperless practice.
• Issue: need to manage digital assets

Question 6

How do you create value from digital assets?

Answer 6

Digital asset management system (DAM)
• coordinate the digital assets (DA) of an organization • ensuring DA are held centrally in accessible manner • Secure
• Logically organized in a way to support the organization to run efficiently

Question 7

What are the features of DAM systems?

Answer 7

Database specifically designed to manage digital assets
• Single central location for storage and access
• Now often facilitate by cloud based software with security
• Allow access by users with different access rights
• Assets with associated metadata describing the content to support effective search function

Question 8

What are the benefits of DAM systems?

Answer 8

Efficient sharing
• Cost and space saving
• increased security and protect assets from improper use
• Copyright and contact information can be attached
• Standardised approach to apply metadata and shorten time spent on searching
• eliminate waste on re- creation or duplication of content

Question 9

What is data protection?

Answer 9

Data protection refers to the process of safeguarding important information from corruption, compromise or loss.
• E.g. WannaCry Ransomware attack (extra readings on moodle)
• In the UK, organisations have to ensure they are compliant with data protection legislation (e.g. GDPR) to prevent fines and legal consequences.
• Organisations can go beyond legislation to implement Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR)

Question 10

What are the UK’s guidelines on businesses collecting, saving and sharing data?

Answer 10

Do you have a record of what personal data you hold?
• Do you know what you use it for?
• Do people know you have their personal data and do they know how you use it?
• Do you only collect the personal data you need?
• Do you only keep personal data for as long as it is needed?
• Do you keep personal data accurate and up to date?
• Do you keep personal data secure?
• Do you have a way for people to exercise their rights regarding the personal data you hold about them?
• Do you and your staff know your data protection responsibilities?

Question 11

How do you create sound data management?

Answer 11

Essential to manage data to fit data needs and comply with legislations, features are:

1. Establish Chief Data Officer (CDO) – be responsible for governance and protection of data as well as strategies to optimize the use of data as an asset.
2. Establish Data Strategy to be a deliberate and integrated part of corporate strategy (please see next slide for detail).
3. Building an appropriate culture promoting the importance of data at all level that is led by the top management level to show intent and commitment.
4. Provide Training related to data awareness are increasingly mandatory to ensure compliance with legislation.

Question 12

What are the 5 building blocks of data strategy identified by SAS?

Answer 12

1.Identify – what data are require, what data does an organization has?
What is the structure, origin and location of such data?
2. Store – What kind of data structure and storage approach will allow easy sharing and access and at the same time to ensure data are adequately protected.
3. Provision – Rules, guidelines and access level related to data are required for access and sharing of data throughout the organisation.
4. Process – current and existing data should be designed for consistent processing in easy and clear manner. Integrating and unifying separate data stores are important for seamless processing
5. Govern – Clear and consistent user friendly policies on the use and storage of data have to be established in order to ensure correct data use and minimize risk of data breaches.

Question 13

What is data extraction?

Answer 13

Data Extraction, Transformation and Loading (ETL) can used to bring data from various sources into one destination system for further use through ETL system.

Question 14

What are business intelligent systems (BI’s)?

Answer 14

built to access and analyse data from ETL and present the finding through data visualization and reporting.