8 ways to not screw up your data quality project

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Good data is a critical component for every business today. But let's face it, if data quality were easy, everyone would have good data and it wouldn't be such a hot topic. On the contrary, despite all the tools and advice out there, selecting and implementing a comprehensive data quality solution still presents some hefty challenges. So how does a newly appointed Data Steward NOT mess up the data quality project? Here area a few pointers on how to avoid failure with this business-critical initiative.

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Page 1: 8 Ways to NOT Screw Up Your Data Quality Project

sys temsCLEANER DATA. BETTER DECISIONS.

1. Don’t FoRGet the little PeoPleAs with other IT projects, the top challenge for data quality projects is securing business stakeholder engagement throughout the process. But this doesn’t just mean C-level executi ves. Stakeholders for a data quality initi ati ve should also include department managers and even end-users within the company who must deal with the consequences of bad data as well as the impact of system changes. Marketi ng, for example, relies on data accuracy to reach the correct audience and maintain a positi ve image. Customer Service depends on completeness and accuracy of a record to meet their specifi c KPIs. Finance, logisti cs and even manufacturing may need to leverage the data for eff ecti ve operati ons or even to feed future decisions. When it comes to obtaining business buy-in, it is criti cal for Data Stewards to think outside the box regarding how the organizati on uses (or could use) the data and then seek input from the relevant team members. While the insti nct might be to avoid decision by committ ee, in the end, it’s not worth the risk of developing a soluti on that does not meet business expectati ons.

2. BeWaRe oF the “kitchen sink” solutionThe appeal of an ‘umbrella’ data management soluti on can lure both managers and IT experts, off ering the ease and convenience of one-stop shopping. In fact, contact data quality can oft en be an add-on toolset off ered by a major MDM or BI vendor - simply to check the box. However, when your main concern is contact data, be sure to measure all your opti ons against a best-of-breed standard before deciding on a vendor. That means understanding the diff erence between match quality vs match quanti ty, determining the intrinsic value (for your organizati on) of integrated data quality processes and not overlooking features (or quality) that might seem like nice-to-haves now but which down the line, can make or break the success of your overall soluti on. Once you know the standard you are looking for with regards to contact deduplicati on, address validati on, and single customer view, you can eff ecti vely evaluate whether those larger-scale soluti ons will have the granularity needed to achieve the best possible contact data cleansing for your company. While building that broader data strategy is a worthy goal, now is the ti me to be conscious of not throwing the data quality out with the proverbial bathwater.

Let’s face it, if data quality were easy, everyone would have good data and it wouldn’t be such a hot topic. On the contrary, despite all the tools and advice out there, selecti ng and implementi ng a comprehensive data quality soluti on sti ll presents some heft y challenges. So how does a newly appointed Data Steward NOT mess up the data quality project? Here are a few pointers on how to avoid failure.

8 Ways to screw up YourData Quality Project

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Page 2: 8 Ways to NOT Screw Up Your Data Quality Project

3. Just Because You can, Doesn’t Mean You shoulDWhen it comes to identifying the right contact data quality solution, most companies not only compare vendors to one another but they also consider the notion of developing a solution in-house. In fact, if you have a reasonably well-equipped IT Department (or consultant team) it is entirely possible that an in-house solution will appear cheaper to develop and there may be several factors that cause organizations to ‘lean’ in that direction including the desire to have ‘more control’ over the data or eliminate security and privacy concerns.

There is a flip side, however, to these perceived advantages, that begs to be considered before jumping in. First, ask yourself, does your team really have the knowledge AND bandwidth necessary to pull this off? Contact data cleansing is both art and science. Best-of-breed applications have been developed over years of trial and error and come with very deep knowledge bases and sophisticated match algorithms that can take a data quality project from 80% accuracy to 95% or greater accuracy. When you are dealing with millions or even billions of records, that extra percentage matters. Keep in mind that even the best-intentioned developers may be all too eager to prove they can build a data quality solution, without much thought as to whether or not they should. Even if the initial investment is less expensive than a purchased solution, how much revenue is lost (or not gained) by diverting resources to this initiative rather than to something more profitable? In-house solutions can be viable solutions, as long as they are chosen for the right reasons and nothing is sacrificed in the long run.

4. neVeR use soMeone else’s YaRDstick Every vendor you evaluate will basically tell you to measure by the benchmarks they perform the best at. So the only way to truly make an unbiased decision is to know ALL the benchmarks and then decide for yourself which is most important to your company and don’t be fooled in the fine print. For example:

• Number of duplicates, are often touted as a key measure of an application’s efficacy, but that figure is only valuable if they are all TRUE duplicates. Check this in an actual trial of your own data and go for the tool that delivers the greater number of TRUE duplicates while minimizing false matches.

• Speed matters too but make sure you know the run speeds on your data and on your equipment. • More ‘versatile’ solutions are great, as long as your users will really be able to take advantage of all the bells

and whistles. • Likewise, the volume of records processed should cover you for today and for what you expect to be

processing in the next two to five years as this solution is not going to be something you want to implement and then change within a short time frame. Hence, scalability matters as well.

So, use your own data file, test several software options and compare the results in your own environment, with your own users. Plus remember those intangibles like how long it will take you to get it up and running, users trained, quality of reports, etc. These very targeted parameters should be the measure of success for your chosen solution - not what anyone else dictates.

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Page 3: 8 Ways to NOT Screw Up Your Data Quality Project

5. MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS (TEST CASES, THAT IS)Not all matching software is created equal and the only way to effectively determine which software will address your specific needs, is to develop test cases that serve as relevant and appropriate examples of the kinds of data quality issues your organization is experiencing. These should be used as the litmus to determine which applications will best be able to resolve those examples. Be detailed in developing these test cases so you can get down to the granular features in the software which address them. Here are a few examples to consider:

• Do you have contact records with phonetic variations in their names?• Are certain fields prone to missing or incorrect data?• Do your datasets consistently have data in the wrong fields (e.g. names in address lines, postal code in city

fields, etc)?• Is business name matching a major priority?• Do customers often have multiple addresses?

Once you have identified a specific list of recurring challenges within your data, pull several real-world examples from your actual database and use them in any data sample you send to vendors for trial cleansing. When reviewing the results, make sure the solutions you are considering can find these matches on a trial. Each test case will require specific features and strengths that not all data quality software offers. Without this granular level of information about the names, addresses, emails, zip codes and phone numbers that are in your system, you will not be able to fully evaluate whether a software can resolve them or not.

6. ReMeMBeR it’s not all Black anD WhiteContact data quality solutions are often presented as binary - they either find the match or they don’t. In fact, as we mentioned earlier, some vendors will tout the number of matches found as the key benchmark for efficiency. The problem with this perception is that matching is not black and white - there is always a gray area of matches that ‘might be the same, but you can’t really be sure without inspecting each match pair’ so it is important to anticipate how large your gray area will be and have a plan for addressing it. This is where the false match/true match discussion comes into play.

True matches are just what they sound like while false matches are contact records that look and sound alike to the matching engine, but are in fact, different. While it’s great when a software package can find lots of matches, the scary part is in deciding what to do with them. Do you merge and purge them all? What if they are false matches? Which one do you treat as a master record? What info will you lose? What other consequence flowed from that incorrect decision?

The bottom line is: know how your chosen data quality vendor or solution will address the gray area. Ideally, you’ll want a solution that allows the user to set the threshold of match strictness. A mass marketing mailing may err on the side of removing records in the gray area to minimize the risk of mailing dupes whereas customer data integration may require manual review of gray records to ensure they are all correct. If a solution doesn’t mention the gray area or have a way of addressing it, that’s a red flag indicating they do not understand data quality.

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Page 4: 8 Ways to NOT Screw Up Your Data Quality Project

sys temsCLEANER DATA. BETTER DECISIONS.

cleaner Data. Bett er Decisions.

americas, australia, new Zealand: 866.332.7132uk, europe, asia: 011 +44 (0) 1372 225 900www.helpit.com

For the past 20 years, helpIT systems has been ti ghtly focused on developing and delivering data quality technology that generates tangible and accurate results. With over 2,000 clients in 30 countries across 5 conti nents, helpIT is consistently raising the bar on data quality success.

7. Don’t FoRGet aBout FoRMatMost companies do not have the luxury of one nice, cleanly formatt ed database where everyone follows the rules of entry. In fact, most companies have data stored in a variety of places with incoming fi les muddying the waters on a daily basis. Users and customers are creati ve in entering informati on. Legacy systems oft en have infl exible data structures. Ulti mately, every company has a variety of formatti ng anomalies that need to be considered when exploring data cleansing tools. To avoid fi nding out too late, make sure to pull together data samples from all your sources and run them during your trial. The data quality soluti on needs to handle data amalgamati on from systems with diff erent structures and standards. Otherwise, inconsistencies will migrate and conti nue to cause systemic quality problems.

8. DON’T BE SHORT-SIGHTED Wouldn’t it be nice if once data is cleansed, the record set remains clean and stati c? Well, it would be nice but it wouldn’t be realisti c. On the contrary, informati on constantly evolves, even in the most closed-loop system. Contact records represent real people with changing lives and as a result, decay by at least 4 percent per year through deaths, moves, name changes, postal address changes or even contact preference updates. Business-side changes such as acquisiti ons/mergers, system changes, upgrades and staff turnover also drive data decay. The post-acquisiti on company oft en faces the task of either hybridizing systems or migrati ng data into the chosen soluti on. Project teams must not only consider record integrity, but they must update business rules and fi lters that can aff ect data format and cleansing standards.

Valid data being entered into the system during the normal course of business (either by CSR reps or by customers themselves) also contributes to ongoing changes within the data. New forms and data elements may be added by marketi ng and will need to be accounted for in the database. Incoming lists or big data sources will muddy the water. Expansion of sales will result in new audiences and languages providing data in formats you haven’t anti cipated. Remember, the only constant in data quality is change. If you begin with this assumpti on, you skyrocket your project’s likelihood of success. Identi fy the ways that your data changes over ti me so you can plan ahead and establish a soluti on or set of business processes that will scale with your business.

Data quality is hard. Unfortunately, there is no one-size fi ts all approach and there isn’t even a single vendor that can solve all your data quality problems. However, by being aware of some of the common pitf alls and doing a thorough and comprehensive evaluati on of any vendors involved, you can get your initi ati ve off to the right start and give yourself the best possible chances of success.

If you are interested in learning more about helpIT systems data quality tools, please feel free to contact us for a Free Consultati on and Trial.