Using Measurements To Be Satisfied With Your Data Quality
You can measure data quality in many ways. With good clean data, you end up with accurate and relevant information with integrity, immediately available while it is still useful. You can measure all those aspects of your data and be satisfied with its quality.
Data Measurement, Brought to you by the Letter ‘C’
Other measurable attributes that you want in your data begin with the letter C:
- Completeness – does it have all the necessary or appropriate parts?
- Conformity – does it comply with your organisation’s data rules?
- Consistency – were all fields completed in the same way?
- Clarity – is the information easily understood?
- Comparability – can the records be grouped and compared?
- Coherence – is it logical and easy to access?
Is that a good picture of your data, or does it seem like a tall order to get there? Are you always having to play with it to get it right?
Getting on the Straight and Narrow
If so, you don’t have the right data quality software, the tools you need to get you off that rollercoaster and back on the straight and narrow road. Getting your data audited and profiled and consistently using data scrubbing products that match, standardise, cleanse, enhance and enrich, means that no dirty data will ever be allowed to enter and clog up your systems. Fixing the root of the problem with merge purge software, deduplication software, address verification software, will make your day to day work that much easier.
When your six C answers are yes, everyone benefits. Executives and senior managers can make decisions confidently when they are based on timely and accurate information. Marketing professionals will start their campaigns with a single customer view that brings the results they want. Other staff won’t be blamed for inputting incorrectly, and IT can breathe easily.
Let’s all get the data measuring-sticks out!
