Q: When can data quality be improved most easily?
A: Your data is as valued as the trust of the customers on it. That makesdata quality the critical component of your data driven business eco-system. Consistency of data across all the sources and processes will make your data highly accessible and reliable.
The best place to ensure high data qualitypractice is the source systems [where data is generated]. If organizations invest enough in this philosophy, the investment pays off; the downstream systems can then focus more on data analysis and reporting. This can also minimize the investments to be made in data quality checks.
Also, the organizations should focus more on integration checks than on the source data quality checks. When merging applications or when inducting new ones give some time for data quality as a priority. Once this is done, the process of integration can also be handled smoothly on account of good data.
Remember, data quality is not an end in itself. It is a process that needs constant attention. Do not invest in a tool just to get an initiative started and then to forget about it and to let it be a low focus area. .
This was first published in November 2011