An information view is a collection of entity type attributes of interest to the process in some context or other. An information view is the means by which a process sees information about entities.
It is important to understand the subtle difference between an entity and information about an entity.
The chapter "Analyzing Data" explained that an entity represents a real thing. For example, an entity of the type customer is a real person named Fred Smith.
Information about an entity is merely some collection of data that is associated with the entity and of interest to the business. For example, Name, Address, and Credit Rating of Fred Smith are probably of interest to the business, while other characteristics may not be, such as IQ, Height, and Favorite Food. So, the definition of an entity type that is developed during data analysis describes the characteristics of entities of that type about which the business want to store information.
This distinction is important because you specify the details of an elementary process in terms of information about entities, not entities themselves. For example, in process logic and Process Action Diagram terminology, an entity is said to be "created" once the business learns of it. Obviously, Fred Smith is not created once the business learns of his existence. The term create refers to the recording of information about Fred Smith, who is an entity of the type customer.
Note: In the following discussion, the term entity is used to represent information about entities, and to denote the entities themselves, with distinctions made where necessary.
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