Traceability
| Characteristic Name: | Traceability |
| Dimension: | Reliability and Credibility |
| Description: | The lineage of the data is verifiable |
| Granularity: | Record |
| Implementation Type: | Process-based approach |
| Characteristic Type: | Usage |
Verification Metric:
| The number of tasks failed or under performed due to lack of traceability in data |
| The number of complaints received due to lack of traceability in data |
GuidelinesExamplesDefinitons
The implementation guidelines are guidelines to follow in regard to the characteristic. The scenarios are examples of the implementation
| Guidelines: | Scenario: |
|---|---|
| Maintain provenance records for the events such as creation, update,transcription, abstraction, validation and transforming ownership, if the data are dynamic. | (1) Inventory system shows the current stocks and keep records for all the transactions that the stocks are subjected to |
| In case of multiple sources are available for same data/information, implement a traceability mechanism to view all versions from multiple sources | (1) Content management systems |
| Maintain proper protocols/standards/policy to archive data | (1) Every invoice is archived after 120 days of payments. |
| Maintain versions of data records where necessary | (1) Customer versions |
Validation Metric:
| How mature is the process to maintain traceability in data |
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: |
|---|---|
| Is the background of the information visible (author, date etc.)? | EPPLER, M. J. 2006. Managing information quality: increasing the value of information in knowledge-intensive products and processes, Springer. |
| A data provanance record can include information about creation, update, transcription, abstraction, validation and transforming ownership of data. | ISO 2012. ISO 8000-2 Data Quality-Part 2-Vocabulary. ISO. |
| The extent to which the correctness of information is verifiable or provable 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. |
Statistical validity
| Characteristic Name: | Statistical validity |
| Dimension: | Validity |
| Description: | Computed data must be statistically valid |
| 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 statistical validity in data |
| The number of complaints received due to lack of statistical validity of data |
GuidelinesExamplesDefinitons
The implementation guidelines are guidelines to follow in regard to the characteristic. The scenarios are examples of the implementation
| Guidelines: | Scenario: |
|---|---|
| Establish the population of interest unambiguously with appropriate justification (maintain documentation) | (1) Both credit customers and cash customers are considered for a survey on customer satisfaction. |
| Establish an appropriate sampling method with appropriate justification | (1) Stratified sampling is used to investigate drug preference of the medical officers |
| Establish statistical validity of samples -avoid over coverage and under coverage (maintain documentation) | (1) Samples are taken from all income levels in a survey on vaccination |
| Maintain consistency of samples in case longitudinal analysis is performed. (Maintain documentation) | (1) Same population is used over the time to collect epidemic data for a longitudinal analysis |
| Ensure that valid statistical methods are used to enable valid inferences about data, valid comparisons of parameters and generalise the findings. | (1) Poisson distribution is used to make inferences since data generating events are occurred in a fixed interval of time and/or space |
| Ensure that the acceptable variations for estimated parameters are established with appropriate justifications | (1) 95% confidence interval is used in estimating the mean value |
| Ensure that appropriate imputation measures are taken to nullify the impact of problems relating to outliers, data collection and data collection procedures and the edit rules are defined and maintained. | (1) Incomplete responses are removed from the final data sample |
Validation Metric:
| How mature is the process to maintain statistical validity of data |
These are examples of how the characteristic might occur in a database.
| Example: | Source: |
|---|---|
| if a column should contain at least one occurrence of all 50 states, but the column contains only 43 states, then the population is incomplete. | Y. Lee, et al., “Journey to Data Quality”, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. |
The Definitions are examples of the characteristic that appear in the sources provided.
| Definition: | Source: |
|---|---|
| Coherence of data refers to the internal consistency of the data. Coherence can be evaluated by determining if there is coherence between different data items for the same point in time, coherence between the same data items for different points in time or coherence between organisations or internationally. Coherence is promoted through the use of standard data concepts, classifications and target populations. | HIQA 2011. International Review of Data Quality Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), Ireland. http://www.hiqa.ie/press-release/2011-04-28-international-review-data-quality. |
| 1) Accuracy in the general statistical sense denotes the closeness of computations or estimates to the exact or true values.
2) Coherence of statistics is their adequacy to be reliably combined in different ways and for various uses. |
LYON, M. 2008. Assessing Data Quality , Monetary and Financial Statistics. Bank of England. http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/ statistics/Documents/ms/articles/art1mar08.pdf. |