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Data maintenance

Characteristic Name: Data maintenance
Dimension: Availability and Accessability
Description: Data should be accessible to perform necessary updates and maintenance operations in it’s entirely
Granularity: Record
Implementation Type: Process-based approach
Characteristic Type: Usage

Verification Metric:

The number of tasks failed or under performed due to lack of data maintenance
The number of complaints received due to lack of continuity in data access

GuidelinesExamplesDefinitons

The implementation guidelines are guidelines to follow in regard to the characteristic. The scenarios are examples of the implementation

Guidelines: Scenario:
Technological changes in the infrastructure/system should be handled in such a way that they should not make data inaccessible (1) Sales order is created once a customer signs a contract. Then it is updated in three instances 1)Delivery date and shipment date is updated once the production plan is created. 2) Actual quantity is updated once the manufacturing is complete 3) Total cost is updated once the freight changes are incurred. A sales order is achieved after one years from delivery.
A maintenance policy for mission critical data should be developed and implemented to handle on going systematic updates (Create, read, update, delete, archive and cleanse) (1) Customer data : Created when a customer enters into a contract, updated once the customer details change or contact change, archived once the contact end
When multiple versions of the same data is available through different datasets\databases create a master record and make it available across the systems (1) Master data management
Leverage application and storage technology in such a way that the maintenance policies can be applied on data (1)Addresses which were not updated during the last 24 months are prompted for validations
Create a responsibility structure/Authorisation structure and a communication structure to manage the process of information generation maintenance and utilisation (1) It is the responsibility of the work study team to provide SMV (standard minute values) for a garment.
(2) Approved SMVs should be sent to the planning department for planning purposes.

Validation Metric:

How mature is the data maintenance process

These are examples of how the characteristic might occur in a database.

Example: Source:
minutes of a meeting will be produced in draft form and reviewed by the members of the committee before being approved. Once this process of creation is finished the record must be fixed and must not be susceptible to change. If a record is changed or manipulated in some way, it no longer provides evidence of the transaction it originally documented. For example, if someone alters the minutes of a meeting after they have been approved, the minutes can no longer be considered an accurate record of the meeting. This is another issue that becomes more important in an electronic context. K. Smith, “Public Sector Records Management: A Practical Guide”, Ashgate, 2007.

The Definitions are examples of the characteristic that appear in the sources provided.

Definition: Source:
A measure of the degree to which data can be accessed and used and the degree to which data can be updated, maintained, and managed. D. McGilvray, “Executing Data Quality Projects: Ten Steps to Quality Data and Trusted Information”, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2008.
Can all of the information be organized and updated on an on-going basis? EPPLER, M. J. 2006. Managing information quality: increasing the value of information in knowledge-intensive products and processes, Springer.

 

Data access control

Characteristic Name: Data access control
Dimension: Availability and Accessability
Description: The access to the data should be controlled to ensure it is secure against damage or unauthorised access.
Granularity: Information object
Implementation Type: Process-based approach
Characteristic Type: Usage

Verification Metric:

The number of tasks failed or under performed due to lack of data access control
The number of complaints received due to lack of data access control

GuidelinesExamplesDefinitons

The implementation guidelines are guidelines to follow in regard to the characteristic. The scenarios are examples of the implementation

Guidelines: Scenario:
Periodically evaluate the security needs considering the criticality of data (Value, confidentiality, privacy needs etc.) and accessibility requirements of data and then update the information security policy consistently. (1) Employee salary is a confidential data and hence need security against unauthorised access.
(2) Master data has a high economic value to the organisation and hence need security against unauthorised access and change
Continuously evaluate the risks threats and identify the vulnerabilities for data and update the information security policy (1) The frequency of security assessment for data associated with online transactions was increased due to the high volume of online transactions.
Implementation of access controls for each critical information as prescribed by the information security policy. (1) An Employee’s salary data can be viewed only by his or her superiors.
(2) Master data can be created and updated only by the authorised executives.
(3) Login credentials are required for system access
Data is stored in secured locations and appropriate backups are taken (1) Databases are stored in a special server and backups are taken regularly (2) Documents are saved using a content management system in a file server
Restrict the accessibility of information using software based mechanism (1) Data encryption (2) Firewalls
Restrict the accessibility of information using hardware based mechanism (1) Security tokens

Validation Metric:

How mature is the process of ensuring data access control

These are examples of how the characteristic might occur in a database.

Example: Source:
if the official version of the minutes of a meeting is filed by the records manager and thus protected from change, the unauthorised version will not form part of the official record. K. Smith, “Public Sector Records Management: A Practical Guide”, Ashgate, 2007.

The Definitions are examples of the characteristic that appear in the sources provided.

Definition: Source:
Is the information protected against loss or unauthorized access? EPPLER, M. J. 2006. Managing information quality: increasing the value of information in knowledge-intensive products and processes, Springer.
Data is appropriately protected from damage or abuse (including unauthorized access, use, or distribution). PRICE, R. J. & SHANKS, G. Empirical refinement of a semiotic information quality framework. System Sciences, 2005. HICSS'05. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on, 2005. IEEE, 216a-216a.
The extent to which information is protected from harm in the context of a particular activity. STVILIA, B., GASSER, L., TWIDALE, M. B. & SMITH, L. C. 2007. A framework for information quality assessment. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58, 1720-1733.
Access to data can be restricted and hence kept secure. WANG, R. Y. & STRONG, D. M. 1996. Beyond accuracy: What data quality means to data consumers. Journal of management information systems, 5-33.