Data Control

1From Data to Decision-Making: A Major Pathway

While information is at the heart of economic intelligence, data are essential elements required to build knowledge in order to make a good decision. This is something which at the moment may seem optimal in the possible fields of its knowledge. It is the use of data that gives power. As companies become increasingly aware of the importance of data and information, they are rushing to think about how to “manage”, enrich and leverage it.

Thus, the explosion of a phenomenal amount of data, and the need to analyze them, brings to the fore the well-known hierarchical model: “Data, Information and Knowledge”. This model is often exploited in the literature on information and knowledge management. Several studies claim that the first appearance of the hierarchy of knowledge can be found in T.S. Elliot's poem “The Rock” in 1934. In recent literature, several authors cite R.L. Ackoff's 1989 publication “From data to wisdom” as a source of the hierarchy of knowledge. Indeed, this hierarchical model highlights three words: “Data”, “Information” and “Knowledge”. The relationship between these three words can be represented in the above form where knowledge is given the highest place to emphasize the fact that a great deal of data is necessary for the acquisition of knowledge.

This hierarchical model is often exploited in the literature on information and knowledge management. It can also be exploited as an approach to the concept of business ...