Tag archive for ‘Data Quality’
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Data quality from a four year old
I think my four year old would make a good data quality dude. He explained to me recently, why its better to use stickers than crayons, "for the things people use a lot". "Dad, if you use crayons, you might draw it different, but stickers- they are all the same." he then pointed to the [...]
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Data integration is like a pizza
I enjoy a slice of pizza as much as the next person (perhaps a bit more). The key to a good pizza is the raw materials- use the right stuff, and you'll be happy every time. What's great about pizza is that it has all sorts of great stuff on it, and presents them all [...]
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Why you should data profile.
Imagine that you have bought a new home, and you've decided to do some landscaping. So you pick three landscapers, draw a rough sketch of what you want, and ask them to bid on the job. But you don`t allow them to come see your property, and your sketch doesn't specify anything about the existing [...]
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Spreadsheet errors- Fear, uncertainty and doubt
I love the acronym FUD which stands for "Fear, uncertainty and doubt". What I don't love is the underhanded use of FUD to manipulate peoples behavior. Spreading FUD is not about creating something new, but destroying- destroying someones confidence in something, clouding the real issue, stopping a new or creative direction from being taken. FUD [...]
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The tragedy of anti-data leadership and dataphobia
There has been a lot of discussion in the last year or so about how important data analysis is becoming. IBM made a major move into data analytics by establishing a new organisation "Business Analytics & Optimization Services" with 4000 people in it. There was the much quoted Hal Varian of Google who predicted that [...]
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Data migration- Part 2 – Determining data quality is the first key step
Any discussion on data migration needs to include data quality as a core topic. Migrating data from one set of applications to another, particularly when the applications were never designed to interact, and share little or no common structure or definitions is a complex task. This task is made even more complex by the data [...]
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Data migration- Part 1 Introduction to the data migration dilema
The world is a dynamic place. Businesses change. Companies merge, technologies shift and applications come and go. Our data, however, is often less dynamic. All those sales records in the old sales system don't morph into the format required in the shiny new ERP. The data has to be dragged kicking and screaming into the [...]
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Data quality at the burger joint
I have noticed that when I go to a fast food outlet no matter what I get to drink with my meal it is almost always listed as "Cola" on the receipt. But I didn't order Cola. Ever. Usually I get juice, or milk. So every time I order a burger, I'm clearly a source [...]
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Making rapid prototypes for data warehouse ETL jobs
Data warehouses and even data marts can be expensive, complex projects. They are not projects to start lightly, and they are not projects that you want to launch without doing some solid planning. But there is a way to get a handle on the tricky parts of your data warehouse scope, and to reduce your [...]
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Self Serve Business Intelligence
Self serve business intelligence dreams of letting everyone whip up any report or analysis they want. The reality is that its often not the report that's the problem- it the underlying data and model. So the idea of self serve business intelligence is a wonderful idea- the problem is that its not all about pretty [...]
