The Five Most Dangerous Questions in Information Quality

C. Lwanga Yonke Data Quality 2012 Asia Pacific Congress 27-29 March 2012 Sydney, Australia

Copyright 2007 C. Lwanga Yonke

Bio
C. Lwanga Yonke is a seasoned information quality and data management leader with more than 20 years of oil industry experience. He has successfully designed and implemented projects in multiple areas, including information quality, data governance, data management, business intelligence, data warehousing, data architecture and document management. His initial experience is in petroleum engineering and operations. An ASQ Certified Quality Engineer, Lwanga earned an MBA from California State University and holds a BS degree in petroleum engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. Lwanga is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and a senior member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ). He is a founding member of the International Association for Information and Data Quality (IAIDQ) and currently serves as an Advisor to the IAIDQ Board and as a board member for several other non-profit organizations Lwanga is the recipient of the 2011 IAIDQ Distinguished Service Award, and the 2008 SPE Western North America Regional Management and Information Award.

Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

Abstract
As the information quality matures, several controversial questions and topics still remain. They often cause passionate debates inside organizations, at conferences, and in social networks. This session will tackle these issues openly, discuss the opposing perspectives, and offer best practices leaders can use to move their organizations forward. Topics include
The five most dangerous questions Points and counterpoints The way forward

Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

Outline
Introduction The questions Recap and Q&A

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About Dangerous
Tend to generate heated debates Controversial No consensus Conventional wisdom not always so wise Come up cyclically More than one right answer Best answer maybe it depends

Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

#5 IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DATA AND INFORMATION?

Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

Four Models
Data is the raw material, information is the product Information is data that teaches you something you did not already know Information includes unstructured data: documents (MS Office, pdf, paper), web pages, images, audio files etc
Wisdom Knowledge Information Data
Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

Is There a Difference between Data and Information?

Yes But when does it really matter?

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#4 WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR INFORMATION QUALITY?

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Who is Responsible for Information Quality?

IT / IS? The Business? The Information Quality Team?

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Who is Responsible for Information Quality?

Business and IT must assure IQ at all the touch points in the information supply chain and lifecycle

ERP BW

BO Univers BI es Tool RDW

Reports

Data collection (new & updates)

Data Data Entry Entry Systems Systems

ODS

Analytics App Other Reporting Tools Analytics & Info. delivery

IM&T Processes

Reporting & analysis

Other Data capture, transfer, integration & storage

Business Processes

The IQ Team assures there is a great IQ process in place

Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

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Information Stewardship Roles and Functions Larry English's Perspective

Process Owner Information Producer Line Manager / Supervisor Line Manager / Supervisor

Data Loader

Information Producer

Knowledge Workers Supplier-Customer Relationship

Real Time Data External Data Create Update

Information Product

Retrieve

Database Technical Support

Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

Info. Directory & Dictionary (Metadata Repository)

Data Definer Information definition and specification

Adapted from: English, L. P., 1999

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Who is Responsible for Information Quality?

Everyone, but each role has specific IQ accountabilities and responsibilities

Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

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#3 IS YOUR DATA ACCURATE?

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Is Your Data Accurate?

Accuracy vs. validity
Validity: conformance to data quality rules Accuracy: the extent to which a data value (or set of data values) is true and correctly represents the attributes of the real-world object or event it is supposed to represent
Accuracy to real-life object/event Accuracy to surrogate source

Need to update and maintain

Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

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#2 IS DATA AN ASSET?

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Is Data an Asset?
How to value in order to place on Balance Sheet
No widely accepted standard for valuation Acquisition costs vs. value in usage

Asset or resource? Justify data on the cost side or revenue side?

Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

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Manage Data as an Asset Learning from Other Assets

People Money Equipment and Facilities
Facilities drawings Plant and instrumentation diagrams

Data

Model

Organization chart

Chart of accounts

Logical data model (entityrelationship diagram) Business and data quality rules Data standards

Rules

Hiring Practices Compensation Plans

GAAP FASB Basel II Dodd-Frank

Maintenance management best practices Asset Accounting Equipment and facilities inventories

Tracking

Staff Counts

Budget Monthly financial results

Data inventory

Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

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Manage Data as an Asset Redmans 3 Tests

Make sure you have enough of the right kind, then take care of it Put it to work to make money (increase revenue and reduce costs) Understand its special properties and adjust the management system accordingly

Source: Redman, 2008, Oct. 2008 and July 2007.

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#1 HOW MANY____DO WE HAVE?

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Close Cousins
Why are our numbers different? Our numbers dont match what is going on (again)?

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Definitions What What What What What is is is is is a Well? a Customer? a Student? Revenue? a ______?

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The Three Components of Information Quality

Quality of architecture and definitions Quality of values Quality of presentation

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Adapted from: English, L. P., 1999

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The New New Math

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BONUS QUESTION HOW COME NOBODY LOVES US?

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Close Cousins
Why is it so hard for C-level executives to understand the strategic importance of quality data? Or is it that they understand it, but they have little faith that DQ efforts will be successful? (IAIDQ LinkedIn Group) If Data Management makes so much sense, why doesnt the Business get it? (DAMA LinkedIn group) How do I sell my data quality project? (everywhere)

Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

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The Sponsor Two Approaches

Type I sponsor
Someone who is willing to support your Data Quality project Your question: how can you help me?

Type II sponsor
Someone who has a project and who believes that you can help it succeed by addressing the DQ components of he project Your question: how can I help you?

Which type of sponsor

do you prefer? do you currently have? is best in the long run? In your current effort, Are you a servant leader? Or a leader seeking servants?
Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

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Recap
5) Is there a difference between Data and Information? 4) Who is responsible for Information Quality? 3) Is your data accurate? 2) Is data an asset? 1) How many ____ do we have? Bonus: How come nobody loves us?
Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

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Q&A & DISCUSSION

Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

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References
English, L. P., Improving Data Warehouse and Business Information Quality, Methods for Reducing Costs and Increasing Profits, John Wiley & Sons, 1999 Redman, T. C., Data Driven: Profiting from Your Most Important Business Asset, Harvard Business Press, 2008 Redman, T. C., Data Driven: Profiting from Your Most Important Business Asset, IAIDQ Webinar, October 2008 www.iaidq.org/webinars/2008-10-01.shtml Redman, T. C., What Does it Mean to Manage Your Information and Data Assets?, IAIDQ Information and Data Quality Newsletter, July 2007 www.iaidq.org/publications/redman-2007-07.shtml Web sites www.iaidq.org; International Association for Information and Data Quality (IAIDQ)

Copyright 2012 C. Lwanga Yonke. All rights reserved.

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