Uniqueness

Characteristic Name:	Uniqueness
Dimension:	Consistency
Description:	The data is uniquely identifiable
Granularity:	Record
Implementation Type:	Rule-based approach
Characteristic Type:	Declarative

Verification Metric:

The number of duplicate records reported per thousand records

GuidelinesExamplesDefinitons

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

Guidelines:	Scenario:
Ensure that every entity(record) is unique by implementing a key in every relation	(1) Key constraint
Ensure that same entity is not recorded twice under different unique identifiers	(1) Same customer is entered under different customer ID
Ensure that unique key is not-null at any cost	(1) Employee ID which is the key of employee table is not null at any cost
In case of using bar codes standardise the bar code generation process to ensure that Bar codes are not reused	(1) UPC

Validation Metric:

How mature is the creation and implementation of the DQ rules to maintain uniqueness of data records

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

Example:	Source:
A school has 120 current students and 380 former students (i.e. 500 in total) however; the Student database shows 520 different student records. This could include Fred Smith and Freddy Smith as separate records, despite there only being one student at the school named Fred Smith. This indicates a uniqueness of 500/520 x 100 = 96.2%	N. Askham, et al., “The Six Primary Dimensions for Data Quality Assessment: Defining Data Quality Dimensions”, DAMA UK Working Group, 2013.
duplicate vendor records with the same name and different addresses make it difficult to ensure that payment is sent to the correct address. When purchases by one company are associated with duplicate master records, the credit limit for that company can unknowingly be exceeded. This can expose the business to unnecessary credit risks.	D. McGilvray, “Executing Data Quality Projects: Ten Steps to Quality Data and Trusted Information”, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2008.
on two maps of the same date. Since events have a duration, this idea can be extended to identify events that exhibit temporal overlap.	H. Veregin, “Data Quality Parameters” in P. A. Longley, M. F. Goodchild, D. J. Maguire, and D. W. Rhind (eds) Geographical Information Systems: Volume 1, Principles and Technical Issues. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1999, pp. 177-89.
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:
The entity is unique — there are no duplicate values.	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.
Asserting uniqueness of the entities within a data set implies that no entity exists more than once within the data set and that there is a key that can be used to uniquely access each entity. For example, in a master product table, each product must appear once and be assigned a unique identifier that represents that product across the client applications.	LOSHIN, D. 2006. Monitoring Data quality Performance using Data Quality Metrics. Informatica Corporation.
Each real-world phenomenon is either represented by at most one identifiable data unit or by multiple but consistent identifiable units or by multiple identifiable units whose inconsistencies are resolved within an acceptable time frame.	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.

Data punctuality

Characteristic Name:	Data punctuality
Dimension:	Availability and Accessability
Description:	Data should be available at the time of its intended use
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 punctuality

The number of complaints received due to lack of data punctuality

GuidelinesExamplesDefinitons

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

Guidelines:	Scenario:
Standardise the timelines for the availability of information for a particular task	(1) Investment product pricing data is often provided by third-party vendors. As the success of the business depends on accessibility to that pricing data, service levels specifying how quickly the data must be provided are defined and compliance with those timeliness constraints.
Create efficient processes for information delivery by removing the bottlenecks in information flow	(1) Billing details of a patient is gathered two hours before discharging the patient

Validation Metric:

How mature is the process of ensuring data punctuality

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

Example:	Source:
1) For example, the best and easiest method to obtain demographic information may be to obtain it from an existing system. Another method may be to assign data collection by the expertise of each team member. For example, the admission staff collects demographic data, the nursing staff collects symptoms, and the HIM staff assigns codes. Team members should be assigned accordingly. 2) For example, patient census is needed daily to provide sufficient day-to-day operations staffing, such as nursing and food service. How- ever, annual or monthly patient census data are needed for the facilityís strategic planning.	B. Cassidy, et al., “Practice Brief: Data Quality Management Model” in Journal of AHIMA, 1998, 69(6).

Example:

Source:

1) For example, the best and easiest method to obtain demographic information may be to obtain it from an existing system. Another method may be to assign data collection by the expertise of each team member. For example, the admission staff collects demographic data, the nursing staff collects symptoms, and the HIM staff assigns codes. Team members should be assigned accordingly.

2) For example, patient census is needed daily to provide sufficient day-to-day operations staffing, such as nursing and food service. How- ever, annual or monthly patient census data are needed for the facilityís strategic planning.

B. Cassidy, et al., “Practice Brief: Data Quality Management Model” in Journal of AHIMA, 1998, 69(6).

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

Definition:	Source:
1) The characteristic of getting or having the Information when needed by a process or Knowledge Worker. 2) The Characteristic of the Information being accessible when it is needed.	ENGLISH, L. P. 2009. Information quality applied: Best practices for improving business information, processes and systems, Wiley Publishing.
Is the information processed and delivered rapidly without delays?	EPPLER, M. J. 2006. Managing information quality: increasing the value of information in knowledge-intensive products and processes, Springer.
Timeliness refers to the time expectation for accessibility and availability of information. Timeliness can be measured as the time between when information is expected and when it is readily available for use. For example, in the financial industry, investment product pricing data is often provided by third-party vendors. As the success of the business depends on accessibility to that pricing data, service levels specifying how quickly the data must be provided can be defined and compliance with those timeliness constraints can be measured.	LOSHIN, D. 2006. Monitoring Data quality Performance using Data Quality Metrics. Informatica Corporation.
Timeliness reflects the length of time between availability and the event or phenomenon described. Punctuality refers to the time lag between the release date of data and the target date when it should have been delivered.	LYON, M. 2008. Assessing Data Quality , Monetary and Financial Statistics. Bank of England. http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/ statistics/Documents/ms/articles/art1mar08.pdf.