Exchanging Information

For information to be successfuly exchanged between businesses it must be at certain standard. For example word processed files written in Microsoft Word conform to a standard so that most other word proccessors can read them to making it possible to exchange files easily.

A 'defacto standard' is a standard of file where most organisation either have the program itself or software that can read files from that program. For example Microsoft Word is a defacto file standard, most organisations have either Microsoft Word or software that is able to read Microsoft Word files.

However, not all data can be stored using in the format of everyday office software. There are some simple standards that have been brought about to make it easier for data to be prepared on one computer system and processed further by another. This makes it easy for data to be moved between computers using different 'platforms' such as Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple.

Here are some examples of data that is exchanged between organisations:

• Exam results are passed from the exam board mainframes and to universities
• Orders for goods are passed from a supermarket to a supply company
• Schools make exam entries and send in coursework marks online

CSV (common separated values). This is when each data item is separated from the next one by a marker, usually a comma is used for this purpose.