Scaling up data quality. Start small but think big.

The success of an enterprise data quality project depends on strong sponsorship and the backing of business management and often there is no ready appreciation of data quality from the management, either because data quality is too “technical” or too abstract, and this happens mainly because most of the data quality initiatives are driven by IT and using tools built for IT.

Beginning with a small initiative in a particular department or business unit, training business users to the fundamentals of data quality management, dimensions of data quality, common causes of data quality issues, the fundamentals of data quality assessment and monitoring, with careful planning and extensive communication among those involved.

Monitoring and assessing the results, implementing corrective actions, modifying the practices to respond to the specific needs, making data quality part of the business process.

Then, as it becomes clear what has worked and what has not, expand the initiatives to other areas.

Can this be an attractive approach for introducing data quality initiatives to organizations without a data culture?

Originally published as Scaling up data quality. Start small but think big.