THE DATA DOWNLOAD

Topics: Data Profiling, Data Quality, Blog

We all know that ‘bad data’ is bad, but to what extent? Have you ever been a part of an email campaign where you get more email bounce-backs than successfully sent messages? While the annoyance factor is high, research tells us it can’t compare to the true cost of having customer data that’s out of date, duplicated, or inaccurate. As a frame of reference, think about the grocery store loyalty cards in your wallet. Do you always have them with you when you shop, or do you have one under your cell phone number and one under your defunct home phone?

Topics: Data Profiling, Informatica Data Quality, Blog

One of the first steps in solving a data quality problem is to perform data profiling. As seen in Jason Hover’s article, Data Profiling: What, Why and How?, data profiling allows you to analyze your data to determine what it looks like and what problems exist in the data. Manual data profiling can be performed; however, using software such as Informatica Data Quality allows both data stewards and developers to collaboratively profile the data in a common repository more quickly, often yielding a more thorough analysis.

Topics: Data Profiling, Data Quality

Like it or not, many of the assumptions you have about your data are probably not accurate. Despite our best efforts, gremlins inevitably find their way into our systems. The end result – poor data quality – has a host of negative consequences. This brief article will provide an introduction to data quality concepts, and illustrate how data profiling can be used to improve data quality.