There are multiple types of data models, and some companies choose to NOT data model purchased software applications. I view this a bit differently. I think that any purchased application is part of our enterprise, thus it is part of our enterprise data model (or that concept is part of the
When you examine where most data quality defects arise from, you soon realise that your source applications are a prime culprit. You can argue that the sales team always enter incomplete address details, or the surgeons can't remember the correct patient type codes but in my experience the majority of
Data. Our industry really loves that word, making it seem like the whole world revolves around it. We certainly enjoy revolving a lot of words around it. We put words like master, big, and meta before it, and words like management, quality, and governance after it. This spins out disciplines
Don't be shy! Interviewing people BEFORE or AFTER a facilitated session just takes a bit of confidence, and good preparation. Building your confidence gets easier and easier the more you participate in interviews. The objective is to prepare and not waste anyone’s valuable time. I like to prepare notes based on
Many managers still perceive data quality projects to be a technical endeavour. Data being the domain of IT and therefore an initiative that can be mapped out on a traditional project plan with well-defined exit criteria and a clear statement of requirements. I used to believe this myth too. Coming
Data stewardship is one of the most important, and commonly misunderstood, aspects of data quality and data governance. Not only are the characteristics of a good data steward a rare combination of skills to find in an individual employee, the culture of most organizations does not nurture the development of data stewardship. It would not
So, the facilitated session is over. You have gathered a tremendous amount of information, and you may be wondering what to do now. I like to categorize all the information, and hopefully during the session you did some prioritization of the requirements based on company goals. If you have never
How do you convince executives, frontline workers, middle managers and everyone else in your organization that data quality is a worthwhile activity for them to support? The answer is to tap into their personal motivation. It is one of the most important data quality lessons to master because everything else
Truth is a funny thing. And I don’t just mean how some true things are funny. A few examples include that strawberries are not berries, peanuts are not nuts, Chock Full o’Nuts coffee does not contain nuts, and the singer-songwriter Barry Manilow did not write his hit song “I Write
To complete any conversion, with success, always seems to require a good understanding of the existing environment and platform. In fact, I would not move forward without the background analysis work products. You may want to consider some analysis of what is already in place, and understand: What is the
