This is arguably the most important aspect of any data capturing solution and often an area overlooked.

The Data Office is aware of the importance of data accuracy and integrity both at the solution design stage and once a system is being utilised.

We offer services that will analyse your data and offer advice about the quality and completeness: -

 

Validation – is the data in the correct field? Is the field complete or are blanks acceptable? Is the data of the correct format? Are any outliers genuine or input errors? Are there any duplicates? Are any name fields transposed? Are date ranges acceptable for the date concerned?

Analysis – Which fields are complete and accurate enough to be utilised for business decision-making reports? Are there any caveats to certain fields that need to be highlighted when data is released? Are there any obvious trends in the data? Do any seasonal or business related factors need to be incorporated into any conclusions?

Process changes – Do issues with the data quality imply a change is required in the process for collecting and inputting the data?

Data field changes – Are there data items that are not utilised / completed accurately enough to be relied on? Does the system require new fields to be added?

Data format changes – Is the format of the field still relevant? Is the format suitable for searching and querying? e.g. Comment / memo fields are not useful for extracting specific information but from the user interface they provide a lot of useful information. Are there issue with any mandatory fields? Should more fields be made mandatory?

Data options changes –Do list boxes provide all relevant options? Are some options never used, can they be removed? Are some options used as a “catch-all”? e.g. although useful, having “other” as an option can be used as a default and it might be worth considering removing the option and replacing with other categories.

Exception Reporting – routine reports that can be run to highlight any deviations from the agreed processes or data input procedures.