Valuable data generated by a group within an organization may need to be validated before being harvested and distributed. Keeping information current by eliminating wrong or old ideas is a constant battle.
How to be sure that my organisation is keeping data accurate?
Do some of you have any experience with a project in Data Management and Data Cleaning?
Data quality management is the key to any company's success. It is important that one understands the effect of enterprise data accuracy problems and takes steps to solve them. Some of the key ways in which data accuracy rates can be improved are listed here -
Companies should identify the right data sources, both internally and externally, to improve the quality of incoming data. Incorrect data may result from the migration of data from one database to another, the presence of incorrect values, or even time-bound data changes. It is important to identify the cause for incorrect data and try to fix it.
It is important that firms set realistic goals towards improving overall data quality. The top management needs to understand the basic problems which are plaguing their data accuracy and set realistic goals for the data entry specialist team. They should be examined based on efficient data capturing, data entry, and effective coding.
A manager must ensure that the data entry team is not under pressure to deliver expected results from the get-go. If data entry specialists are overloaded with work, they can become tired and that can result in data entry errors. If there is more work it is a good option to delegate some of the work to others in the data entry team or span it over the course of multiple weeks.
Reviewing is an efficient way to check the correctness of the data. Companies must incorporate an efficient way to review and double-check the data entered. It is always beneficial to hire a team of quality assurance professionals who can review the data and help in reducing the data errors to a large extent.
Making use of advanced software is always a plus point for any company. Generating automated error reports is a common practice among leading companies today. This is especially beneficial when you are entering the same kind of data for a project.
Companies must adopt highly robust data entry quality standards such as matching, geocoding, data monitoring, data profiling, linking, etc. This ensures that the data entered conforms to pre-defined data standards which in turn help in improving the data quality.
Having a good and healthy work environment helps the employees make lesser mistakes and therefore has a direct impact on data accuracy. Companies need to provide a healthy work environment to their data entry professionals which help in retaining their focus.