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Tackling Data Quality Problems

Five step approach – As simple as A to E

 

[Please note that this half day workshop is delivered as a virtual training and allows adequate interaction!]

In our digital age many organisations seek to become data driven and are investing heavily in new technologies to make it happen. But this investment will not deliver its promised riches unless the data itself on which it depends is fit for purpose and of the required quality. Having accurate, complete and reliable data is a ‘must have’ for any digital business or organisation.

One of the oldest maxims in data management is ‘Garbage in, Garbage Out’. If data is of poor quality other data management disciplines can never fulfil their promise. Business Intelligence initiatives will generate information and outcomes that cannot be relied on, leading to poor decision making. Master Data Management will fail to deliver a single, integrated view of a customer or product, and so on. 

More importantly, poor data quality has a significant adverse impact on the business or organisation itself. When data is not fit for business purpose, revenue is lost, unnecessary costs are incurred, productivity and efficiency suffer, and the risks of breaching regulatory and legal requirements (for instance with GDPR) are greatly increased.

Despite this, the reality is that data quality in most organisations remains poor, and often very poor. A study conducted by The Harvard Business Review and MIT in 2017 found that fully 97% of records surveyed in key organisational databases contained critical data quality errors.[1] Identifying and tackling these issues is a top priority for any organisation which seeks to extract the maximum value from its data assets. 

 

The Workshop

In this half-day workshop Nigel Turner will answer a number of fundamental questions that need to be addressed to deliver fit for purpose data quality. These include:

  • Why should I care about data quality?
  • How do I know what my main data quality problems are?
  • What is the impact of these on my organisation and how can these be measured?
  • What problems should I seek to address first?
  • How can the problems be improved?
  • Who should be responsible for taking action?
  • How can I ensure that I prevent further data quality problems arising in the future as the volume, variety and velocity of data increases?

The workshop will help you answer these questions by taking you through a five step approach to identify, deliver and sustain data quality improvement. The five steps of Assess, Baseline, Converge, Develop & Evaluate (A2E) provide a simple framework and methodology to enable data quality to be tackled in a systematic and repeatable way. The session will also contain practical exercises to help participants apply A2E before doing it for real back in their own organisations.

 

Learning Objectives

  • Understand what ‘fit for purpose’ data is, and is not
  • Describe the dimensions of data quality
  • Know the main causes of poor data quality
  • Highlight the impact of poor data quality on individuals and organisations
  • Understand the relationship between data quality and other data management disciplines, with particular emphasis on data governance
  • Highlight the shortcomings of traditional ways of tackling poor data quality and the importance of a holistic approach, involving people, process and technology
  • Learn the five steps of the A2E methodology and how to apply it to identify, prioritise and address data quality problems
  • Specify and apply the main activities and deliverables of each of the five steps
  • Be able to understand and develop business rules to baseline data quality and to set improvement thresholds
  • Be aware of software tools that can help to support and automate the A2E approach.

 

Who is it for?

  • Business people with a strong interest in data and how to improve it
  • Data Governance professionals
  • IT professionals who are dealing with data quality problems in their role in developing and supporting operational systems
  • BI and Analytics specialists who want to ensure that the quality of data they rely on is fit for purpose
  • Business Analysts
  • Data Architects
  • Data and IT consultants.

 

Payment by credit card is also available. Please mention this in the Comment-field upon registration and find further instructions for credit card payment on our customer service page.

 

[1] “Only 3% of Companies’ Data Meets Basic Quality Standards”, Tadhg Nagle, Thomas C. Redman & David Sammon, Harvard Business Review, 11 September 2017

 

Nigel Turner

Principal Information Management Consultant
Global Data Strategy
Nigel Turner is Principal Information Management Consultant for EMEA at Global Data Strategy Ltd. and Vice-Chair of the Data Management Association of the UK. Nigel has worked in Information Management for over 25 years, both as an in-house deliverer of Information Management solutions at British Telecommunications plc and subsequently as an external consultant to more than 150 clients, including British Gas, UK Environment Agency, Intel US and others.

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The virtual seminars and workshops will be offered through an online meeting platform, usually Webex or Zoom, from our video studio. The virtual classroom is equipped with multiple professional cameras and microphones and we have a two person crew available so that we can offer a similar experience to that of the traditional classroom and, more important, still offer adequate interaction with the speaker.

The presenter / trainer will still use his Powerpoint, combined with flipchart and paper, virtual whiteboard and physical whiteboard and will be accompanied by a operator / moderator at the scene. The presenter does not have to worry about technical issues such as switching, splitting, microphone settings and such but can fully focus on the course material and on engaging with the online attendees.

  • When using the flipchart, the moderator will take care of switching scenes and camera perspective and of switching to attendees to ask questions.
  • When switching to flipchart you will have full view of the presenter and of the flipchart with all text and diagrams crystal clear.
  • And since the presenter / trainer is equipped with a wireless lapel microphone and the questions of the participants enter the course room clearly understandable (amplified), he can answer those questions from anywhere in the classroom and from any camera angle.
  • Asking questions and the speaker answering them can therefore be done just like you are used to in a regular classroom.
  • Because the course room is equipped with at least four monitors, the speaker/trainer also has a view of the online participants during the meeting.
  • For some (international) speakers we may use their own virtual course room with similar facilities but we will send the invite ourselves and the meeting will run on the Adept Events online meeting platform.

All of the above is to ensure that it does not become an impersonal one-way webinar but an interactive virtual classroom setting.

Those attending an online event or a hybrid event with the online meeting platform will be sent an invitiation with the meeting hyperlink and instructions a few days before, so well in advance of the course.

In-house Info

Practically all of our seminars and workshops can be offered as an In-house course for your company exclusively. We can tailor with extra focus on specific topics that apply to your organization. Also available in online format or in face-to-face format with live video stream.

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