The most important prerequisite for obtaining a reliable and high-quality planning and forecast document is the availability of an appropriate information base. The information base is understood as a set of information, data, facts, knowledge regarding the object under study. It reflects the state and determines the directions of its change and development. The most important requirement of information is its compliance with the goals and objectives of forecasting and planning.
The main type of information used in planning and forecasting is economic information. It is a set of various information of an economic nature, on the basis of which analysis is carried out, planning and forecasting documents are developed that reflect the development of the national economy as a whole and its individual links.
Economic information is characterized by mass (large volumes), repetition of cycles of receipt and processing in established periods, a large proportion of relatively stable elements combined for further processing or long-term storage. An integral part of the economic is statistical information reflecting the processes and phenomena in the economic activity of enterprises and organizations, branches of the national economy, spheres and regions, in the national economy of the republic as a whole. The economic information obtained from all parts of the national economy is necessary for economic analysis and comparison of data, for the search for unused resources, for determining the need for certain types of raw materials, fuel, etc.
Economic information should comply with the principles arising from the planning and forecasting methodology: comparison of values, aggregation and disaggregation of information units, establishment of information relations between them, it should be reliable, complete, but without redundant information and timely. The carriers of economic information are economic indicators. The system of economic indicators characterizes all aspects of the socio-economic development of the country: the release and sale of products, the use of means and objects of labor, labor resources, etc. The meaning of each indicator is contained in its name, and the value is expressed quantitatively or qualitatively (see 4.4).
For the convenience of work, indicators on certain grounds are grouped into documents. The document is an interconnected set of indicators, fixed on a special medium and having legal force. For each document, an instruction is developed for its formation and passage through certain structural units in the management system. Documents are differentiated by types of activity, the degree of importance of the decisions made and are distributed according to the hierarchical structure of the management system in accordance with the developed and approved document flow. For example, by type of activity, there are:
system of design and technological documentation; a system of planned documentation; a system of reporting and statistical documentation; system of primary accounting records, etc.
In the system of documents, normative and instructional-methodical documents are distinguished: laws, resolutions, charters, regulations, methodological and work instructions, etc.
In the array of information sources, patent information occupies a special place, having a number of advantages:
credibility: only solutions that can be implemented are patented; novelty: due to the very specifics of patenting; concentration: information is presented concisely and without repetition; formalization: all descriptions for patents have a single form and are presented in a certain sequence; completeness: almost all new and valuable technical ideas are protected by patents.
Patent information is used in science and technology forecasting.
In connection with the strengthening of the social orientation of planning and forecasting, social information acquires an important role. And here the question arises of the need to use, along with a system of indicators reflecting the social development and standard of living of the people, information of a special type – sociological, which expresses the interests of individual social classes, classes, groups, society.
Sociological research today is conducted widely. New centers for the study of public opinion are being established and are being created, there are specialized units and laboratories. One of the forms of obtaining sociological information is a survey. According to the amount of information processed, surveys can be divided into three groups: complete complex (republican population census); large-scale targeted (studying the readership of a certain newspaper, magazine) and regional (surveys within the region, city, district, etc.). As a result of the processing of sociological information, analytical data are systematized, on the basis of which social phenomena are understood, decisions are made in the field of social planning and forecasting. The widespread use of sociological information requires its systematization, a single form of presentation and its concentration in one center, which will allow for a consolidated analysis of the entire information flow.
The development and further improvement of the information base is the most important task, on the solution of which a qualitatively new level of forecasting and planning depends. In accordance with the main provisions of the Law “On State Forecasting and Programs of Socio-Economic Development of the Republic of Belarus”, the task was set to create a modern information infrastructure capable of ensuring the development of a system of forecasts and programs for the socio-economic development of the country.
The formation of the information infrastructure in the republic should be aimed at creating and updating the statistical and classification database and automated means of storing, processing information and providing access to it. The main principle of the formation of the information infrastructure is its compliance and interconnection with the system of national accounts. To this end, new and previously formed information resources are being created and improved, the efficiency of their use in the interaction of ministries, government bodies, local executive and administrative bodies on the basis of modern means of communication, computer technology and information technology is increasing.