* Electronic copy only (pdf)

NCC Members have free access to this Guideline on the Principia website.

Data quality has become an increasingly high profile concern for information systems managers in recent months, largely as a result of the growth in data warehousing and the parallel development of the Internet and associated technologies. By their nature, data warehouses demand the adoption of technologies and procedures designed to ensure the quality of data - that is, its validity, accuracy and consistency. But even the best designed and coordinated data warehouses cannot guarantee data quality, despite the rigour enforced by the implementation of data models and metadata.

The incorporation of legacy data, the possibility of human error, the dynamic nature of corporate operational data, and the growing appetite for different kinds of data to be incorporated into the warehouse to meet the demands of customer focus and globalisation, may have stretched technology-focused approaches to data quality to their limits. The Internet and a developing interest in lower-cost data marts have promoted the development of 'virtual' or 'web warehouses', creating even further strains on data quality.

*This Guideline is only available as a pdf, which will be sent as an email attachment.