Once data is keyed into a computer system, data processing takes over. It's not much use to enter it in to begin with unless the information will be useful. Maybe it's printing of IRS forms or National Change of Address (NCOA) matching or conversion of data from an old accounting system toa new one.

Data processing covers a broad range of data services, including data entry, conversion, and analysis. Organizations with large quantities of data on paper may turn to data processing services to enter the data, either by hand or with optical scanners, into a computer database. Similarly, clients may want old data files or several databases converted to a single, more easily accessible format. Aside from converting data to another format, data processing services also produce reports that summarize the data for better analysis by their clients.