What Is Manual Data Processing?

Date First Published: 19th September 2023

Topic: Computer Systems

Subtopic: Computer Software

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 4/10

Learn about what manual data processing is in this article.

Manual data processing is a type of data processing that entirely relies on an individual manually entering the data into a system without any automated systems. It is usually as simple as entering data from physical sources, like paper using a keyboard or clicking on objects with a mouse.

Examples Of Manual Data Processing

Below are three examples of manual data processing.

A teacher has finished marking student's exam papers or coursework. Afterwards, they manually type student's marks into a spreadsheet to keep a record of the results.

A hotel receptionist enters customer booking details into a bookings database using a keyboard to record the details of everyone who has booked a stay with them.

A teacher has a software program on a personal computer to manually register students. Absent students are marked as 'N' and present students are marked with a forward slash '/'.

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Manual Data Processing

• Compared to automated data processing, it is much more suitable for entering complex data. Manual data can handle any data type. Data can be complex and automated entry methods may not exist for that data.
• It is a simple method of data entry. Staff are more likely to be familiar with manual data entry methods than automated data entry. This means that it is unlikely that staff will require training to be able to input data, reducing costs.
• It can be more accurate than automated data processing as the data is not prone to misinterpretation by the automated system.

• It is more time-consuming for people to manually enter data into a system than to use an automated system. A task that would take a few minutes using an automated system, like marking multi-choice question exams using OMR could take hours to manually enter into a computer system.
• It is prone to human errors, like typos, which can lead to incorrect data being inputted into the computer system, giving people the wrong impression. For example, a teacher may accidentally type 'N' instead of '/' on the incorrect row that contains the student's name. Poorly designed forms can make this worse.
• It is prone to inconsistencies in data, like inconsistent formatting and text.

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