Understandability
| Characteristic Name: | Understandability |
| Dimension: | Usability and Interpretability |
| Description: | The data is understandable |
| Granularity: | Information object |
| Implementation Type: | Process-based approach |
| Characteristic Type: | Usage |
Verification Metric:
| The number of tasks failed or under performed due to the lack of understandability of data |
| The number of complaints received due to the lack of understandability of data |
The implementation guidelines are guidelines to follow in regard to the characteristic. The scenarios are examples of the implementation
| Guidelines: | Scenario: |
|---|---|
| Ensure that appropriate signs/language is used to strenthen the readers understanding about the information object | (1) Poor, good, excellent is more suitable than 1, 2,3 as ratings to compare two factors |
| Avoid any possibility of ambiguity in understanding data with the inclusion of footnotes, legend etc. | (1) Footnote : Total price includes GST. |
| Provide supplements to understand the content of non-text and non-numeral information (e.g.. Images) | (1) A location in a plan can be identified by the coordinates |
| Ensure that data are concisely represented without being overwhelmed | (1) Focussed on one topic |
| Convenient and user friendly (more natural) formats are used for structured attributes like dates, time, telephone number, tax ID number, product code, and currency amounts | (1) U.S. phone number formats [+1(555)999-1234] |
| Appropriate fonts and styles are used to improve the clarity of the content | (1) Headings are marked in bold letters, Totals figures are are marked with bold numbers |
Validation Metric:
| How mature is the process to maintain the understandability of data |
These are examples of how the characteristic might occur in a database.
| Example: | Source: |
|---|---|
| a Social Security number must consist of nine numeric digits. If this is your only definition, you will find that all values that are blank, contain characters other than numeric or contain less than or more than nine digits. However, you can go further in your definition. The government employs a scheme of assigning numbers that allows you to examine the value in more detail to determine if it is valid or not. Using the larger rule has the potential for finding more inaccurate values. | J. E. Olson, “Data Quality: The Accuracy Dimension”, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 9 January 2003. |
The Definitions are examples of the characteristic that appear in the sources provided.
| Definition: | Source: |
|---|---|
| The data element is used only for its intended purpose, that is, the degree to which the data characteristics are well understood and correctly utilized. | B. BYRNE, J. K., D. MCCARTY, G. SAUTER, H. SMITH, P WORCESTER 2008. The information perspective of SOA design Part 6:The value of applying the data quality analysis pattern in SOA. IBM corporation. |
| 1) Periodic Reports, such as Financial Statements, Annual Reports, and Policy and Procedure Manuals should have a standard format with a style sheet that presents the information in a consistent and easily read and understood format.
2) The Characteristic in which Information is presented in a way that clearly communicates the truth of the data. Information is presented with clear labels, footnotes, and/or other explanatory notes, with references or links to definitions or documentation the clearly communicates the meaning and any anomalies in the Information. |
ENGLISH, L. P. 2009. Information quality applied: Best practices for improving business information, processes and systems, Wiley Publishing. |
| Usability of data refers to the extent to which data can be accessed and understood. | 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. |
| A good presentation provides the user with everything required for the correct interpretation of information. When there is any possibility of ambiguity, a key or legend should be included. | LOSHIN, D. 2001. Enterprise knowledge management: The data quality approach, Morgan Kaufmann Pub. |
| Is the information understandable or comprehensible to the target group? | LOSHIN, D. 2006. Monitoring Data quality Performance using Data Quality Metrics. Informatica Corporation. |
| 1) The extent to which the content of an object is focused on one topic.
2) The extent of cognitive complexity of an information object measured by some index or indices. 3) The extent to which the model or schema and content of an information object are expressed by conventional, typified terms and forms according to some general-purpose reference source. |
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. |
| 1) Data are compactly represented without being overwhelmed.
2) Data are clear without ambiguity and easily comprehended. |
WANG, R. Y. & STRONG, D. M. 1996. Beyond accuracy: What data quality means to data consumers. Journal of management information systems, 5-33. |
Accuracy to reality
| Characteristic Name: | Accuracy to reality |
| Dimension: | Accuracy |
| Description: | Data should truly reflect the real world |
| Granularity: | Record |
| Implementation Type: | Process-based approach |
| Characteristic Type: | Usage |
Verification Metric:
| The number of tasks failed or under performed due to lack of accuracy to reality |
| The number of complaints received due to lack of accuracy to reality |
The implementation guidelines are guidelines to follow in regard to the characteristic. The scenarios are examples of the implementation
| Guidelines: | Scenario: |
|---|---|
| Continuously evaluate if the existing data model is sufficient to represent the real world as required by the organisational need and do the necessary amendments to the data model if needed. | (1) A student who received a concession travel card is not eligible for a concession fare if he terminates his candidature before completion of the course. Hence the data model should have an extra attribute as "current status of candidature" |
| Perform regular audits on mission critical data to verify that every record has a meaningful existence in the reality which is useful for the organisation | (1) All customers existing in the customer master file actually a customer in the customer space open for the organisation. (non customers are not in the customer file) (2) "Greg Glass" is recorded as a glass work company but in fact they are opticians (3) A person's personal details taken from his educational profile may not be a correct reality for his insurance profile even though the information is |
| Perform regular audits on mission critical data to verify that every record has a unique existence in the reality | (1) It is difficult to find out that the professor "Andrew" is from Colombia university or from the university of Queensland |
| Ensure that Information available in the system is accurate in the context of a particular activity or event | (1) The driver details taken from vehicle registration may not be accurate in the case of finding the real person who drive the vehicle when an accident is caused |
Validation Metric:
| How mature is the process to ensure the accuracy to reality |
These are examples of how the characteristic might occur in a database.
| Example: | Source: |
|---|---|
| if the name of a person is John, the value v = John is correct, while the value v = Jhn is incorrect | C. Batini and M, Scannapieco, “Data Quality: Concepts, Methodologies, and Techniques”, Springer, 2006. |
| Percent of values that are correct when compared to the actual value. For example, M=Male when the subject is Male. | P. Cykana, A. Paul, and M. Stern, “DoD Guidelines on Data Quality Management” in MIT Conference on Information Quality - IQ, 1996, pp. 154-171. |
| an EMPLOYEE entity (identified by the Employee-Number
314159) and the attribute Year-of-Birth. If the value of Year-of-Birth for employee 314159 is the year the employee was born, the datum is correct. |
C. Fox, A. Levitin, and T. Redman, “The Notion of Data and Its Quality Dimensions” in Journal Information Processing and Management: an International Journal archive, Volume 30 Issue 1, Jan-Feb 1994, 1992, pp. 9-19. |
| Consider a database that contains names, addresses, phone numbers, and e- mail addresses of physicians in the state of Texas. This database is known to have a number of errors: some records are wrong, some are missing, and some are obsolete. If you compare the database to the true population of physicians, it is expected to be 85% accurate. If this database is to be used for the state of Texas to notify physicians of a new law regarding assisted suicide, it would certainly be considered poor quality. In fact, it would be dangerous to use it for that intended purpose.
24 2.1 Data Quality Definitions 25 If this database were to be used by a new surgical device manufacturer to find potential customers, it would be considered high quality. Any such firm would be delighted to have a potential customer database that is 85% accurate. From it, they could conduct a telemarketing campaign to identify real sales leads with a completely acceptable success rate. The same database: for one use it has poor data quality, and for another it has high data quality. |
J. E. Olson, “Data Quality: The Accuracy Dimension”, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 9 January 2003. |
| The patient’s identification details are correct and uniquely identify the patient. | P. J. Watson, “Improving Data Quality: A Guide for Developing Countries”, World Health Organization, 2003. |
The Definitions are examples of the characteristic that appear in the sources provided.
| Definition: | Source: |
|---|---|
| Determines the extent to which data objects correctly represent the real-world values for which they were designed. For example, the sales orders for the Northeast region must be assigned a Northeast sales representative. | D. McGilvray, “Executing Data Quality Projects: Ten Steps to Quality Data and Trusted Information”, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2008. |
| The data value correctly reflects the real-world condition. | B. BYRNE, J. K., D. MCCARTY, G. SAUTER, H. SMITH, P WORCESTER 2008. The information perspective of SOA design Part 6:The value of applying the data quality analysis pattern in SOA. IBM corporation. |
| The data correctly reflects the Characteristics of a Real-World Object or Event being described. Accuracy and Precision represent the highest degree of inherent Information Quality possible. | ENGLISH, L. P. 2009. Information quality applied: Best practices for improving business information, processes and systems, Wiley Publishing. |
| Is the information precise enough and close enough to reality? | EPPLER, M. J. 2006. Managing information quality: increasing the value of information in knowledge-intensive products and processes, Springer. |
| 1) Each identifiable data unit maps to the correct real-world phenomenon.
2) Non-identifying (i.e. non-key) attribute values in an identifiable data unit match the property values for the represented real-world phenomenon. 3) Each identifiable data unit represents at least one specific real-world phenomenon. 4) Each identifiable data unit represents at most one specific real-world phenomenon. |
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. |
| 1) The degree to which an information object correctly represents another information object, process, or phenomenon in the context of a particular activity or culture.
2) Closeness of agreement between a property value and the true value (value that characterizes a characteristic perfectly defined in the conditions that exists when the characteristic is considered. 3) 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. |