Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Data quality tools

I've noticed an increasing tendency, especially in blogs, to use the term "data quality tool" to refer only to a piece of software.

We are doing the cause of data quality no favours at all by continuing the myth that data quality can only be improved through the purchase and use of a piece of software. Almost everything you do and touch within a company can affect data quality, and therefore a tool for improving data quality can range from a pencil and a piece of paper all the way to that Cray supercomputer over there in the corner. In fact, by far the most useful and effective data quality tool is the human brain. If we'd use it a bit more effectively, a great deal of data quality improvement would result!