How to model best combination of resources
It sounds like you could simply use the Cost Minimization Problem:
$$\underset{z_1,...z_N}{min}\sum_{i=1}^N q_iz_i$$
$$s.t.\quad f(z_1,...,z_N)\geq \bar{y}$$
$$z_1,...z_n\geq0$$
Where $z_i$ and $q_i$ are the quantity and price of input $i$, respectively, $\bar{y}$ is some predetermined level of output, and $f(\frac{}{})$ is the production function. 

A production function relates physical output of a production process to factors of production. Of course, it seems to me that it may be a challenge to characterize a production function for your case. However, the production function can be any function which satisfies the following:

1) Strict Monotonicity: If $ z'&gt;z$ then $f(z')&gt;f(z)$

2) Quasi-concavity: $V(y)=\{ z:f(x)\geq y\}$ is a convex set

3) $V(y)$ is closed and non-empty

4) $f(z)$ is finite, nonnegative, real valued, and single valued $\forall z\geq 0$

5) $f(z)$ is a $C^2$ function  

To be more specific to your case (data is the input and output) the problem reduces to:
$$\underset{d_i}{min}\; d_iq+wl+rk$$ 
$$s.t.\quad f(d_i)\geq \bar{d_o}$$
$$d_i,l,k\geq 0$$

Where $d_i$ is the data used as input, $d_o$ is the data output, $q$ is the price of input data, $w$ is wage, $l$ is labor hours, $r$ is the rental price of capital and $k$ is quantity of capital.

Again, this type of production process is foreign to me, so I cannot make an informed suggestion regarding specification of the production function, but maybe someone who is more apt on this site may offer a suggestion. I hope this helps!