There are two sayings that we will all have heard at some time:
- Start with the end in mind
- Start like you mean to go on
A client of ours demonstrates why these two sayings are important from a data perspective.
(more…)Start well….
Has lockdown exposed your data weaknesses?
Staff can often be very resourceful in making poor systems and processes work and to overcome data problems within an organisation. If people are based in a single office then they can call out questions like:
- “Do you remember who did…”
- “How did we solve….”
- “Where is the information on….”
- And so on
I used to give a similar answer about why many smaller organisations were less affected by poor data quality than they would be if they were larger – namely, being close to colleagues and able to verbally resolve issues acts as a ‘sticking plaster’ to overcome data problems.
(more…)Online training now available
To enable us to continue to support our clients during the changes arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are now offering online training at https://courses.dpadvantage.co.uk/.
Our popular ‘Managing Data Quality‘ course has been set up as four individual courses within an overall ‘bundle’:
- The enterprise data asset – explanations of the basics of data quality, characteristics of enterprise data and the ways organisations tend to exploit this data
- People and data – explanations about the generic behaviours people exhibit towards data using the Data Zoo concept, what drives these behaviours and how to improve data behaviours
- ISO 8000-61 – A framework for data quality management – An explanation of the ISO 8000-61 process model and the individual processes within the model
- Implementing data quality management – Steps to follow in order to develop a strategy to improve the approaches to data quality management in your organisation
All four courses are pragmatic and accessible with a clear focus on the people, behavioural and organisational aspects of data quality management. A free taster course is available here.
Further courses are being developed covering a range of business subjects.
ISO 8000-61 – the data quality management standard
A few years ago we did a series of blog posts on ISO 8000-150 which have been perennially popular. Well, since those posts were created ISO 8000-61 has been published which provides a richer and more comprehensive approach to data quality management.
(more…)Your data needs YOU!……(to specify what it should look like)
It has been stated that the most common failure of a software project is caused by not capturing or understanding what the system is required to achieve. This is equally true of your information needs; have you truly captured your data requirements to meet your information needs and organisational objectives?
Is your data over or under specified?
(more…)Data quality is free
You may be wondering why you should bother improving your data quality or what the benefits of this activity may be. You may be wondering how to secure suitable resources and funding to deliver improvements to data quality. Read on to discover why ‘data quality is free’.
(more…)Human data errors
Data quality problems all, at their root, involve some form of human error. Whilst this is easy to say, it is perhaps harder to identify and resolve the causes of these human errors.
In this blog post, I will explore ways to categorise human data errors and propose strategies to reduce the severity of these errors. (more…)
Continuity – the new data quality dimension
When talking about data quality, it is usual to consider different aspects or ‘dimensions’ of data quality – validity, completeness, uniqueness, consistency, timeliness and accuracy. These six dimensions were agreed as the most relevant and representative of data quality as part of work led by DAMA UK that I contributed to in 2013 and published in this White Paper.
Some recent work and discussions suggest that there may be another dimension to consider – continuity. This blog post explores things in a bit more detail.
(more…)Changing your data requirements
The world is changing, people are changing, organisations are changing, and this is no different for data requirements. An organisation needs to accept this and makes sure that change requirements are captured, impact assessed, acted upon and communicated.
During my career I’ve seen many approaches to configuration changes or data change management. I have seen approaches in organisations range from being totally non-existent right through to exemplary practices. It’s true that the process takes resources i.e. time and effort; to firstly put Change Management in place, and then the effort to maintain the process as a business as usual activity. However, this time and effort will reap dividends by reducing rework, ambiguity, process failure, etc. and create a defined and agreed data specification that will meet the needs of the business in terms of information requirements.
(more…)Garbage In, Gospel Out
Most people should be familiar with the old adage “Garbage In, Garbage Out” intended to remind people that if your input data is poor, then any outputs will also be poor.
There is a variant of this that cropped up in a discussion recently “Garbage In, Gospel Out”. So what can this mean and does it apply to your organisation?