Data entry clerk
profession
A data entry clerk, also known as data preparation and control operator, data registration and control operator, and data preparation and registration operator, is a member of staff employed to enter or update data into a computer system. Data is often entered into a computer from paper documents using a keyboard. The keyboards used can often have special keys and multiple colors to help in the task and speed up the work. Proper ergonomics at the workstation is a common topic considered.
The data entry clerk may also use a mouse, and a manually-fed scanner may be involved.
Speed and accuracy, not necessarily in that order, are the key measures of the job.
History
The invention of punched card data processing in the 1890s created a demand for many workers, typically women, to run keypunch machines. To ensure accuracy, data was often entered twice; the second time a different keyboarding device, known as a verifier (such as the IBM 056) was used.
In the 1970s, punched card data entry was gradually replaced by the use of video display terminals.
Examples
For a mailing company, data entry clerks might be required to type in reference numbers for items of mail which had failed to reach their destination, so that the relevant addresses could be deleted from the database used to send the mail out.
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This entry incorporates text from “Data entry clerk” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.