Data Cleaning

Definition:
Correction or removal of erroneous (dirty) data caused by contradictions, disparities, keying mistakes, missing
bits, etc. It also includes validation of the changes made and may require normalization. [Business Dictionary]

Data cleaning is the process of preparing data for analysis by removing or modifying data that is incorrect,
incomplete, irrelevant, duplicated, or improperly formatted. This data is usually not necessary or helpful when it
comes to analyzing data because it may hinder the process or provide inaccurate results. There are several methods
for cleaning data depending on how it is stored along with the answers being sought.

Data cleaning is not simply about erasing information to make space for new data, but rather finding a way to
maximize a data set’s accuracy without necessarily deleting information.

For one, data cleaning includes more actions than removing data, such as fixing spelling and syntax errors,
standardizing data sets, and correcting mistakes such as empty fields, missing codes, and identifying duplicate
data points. Data cleaning is considered a foundational element of the data science basics, as it plays an important
role in the analytical process and uncovering reliable answers.

Most importantly, the goal of data cleaning is to create data sets that are standardized and uniform to allow
business intelligence and data analytics tools to easily access and find the right data for each query.

Importance of Data Cleaning:

Though you often hear about data cleansing in the professional world, data cleansing is important for both
businesses and individuals. Here are some advantages of data cleaning.

1. Improves the Efficiency of Customer Acquisition Activities:

Business enterprises can significantly boost their customer acquisition efforts by cleaning their data as a more
efficient prospects list having accurate data can be created. Throughout the marketing process, business enterprises
must ensure that the data is clean, up-to-date and accurate by regularly following data quality routines. Multi-
channel customer data can also be managed seamlessly which provides the enterprise with an opportunity to carry
out successful marketing campaigns in the future as they would be aware of the methods to effectively reach out
to their target audience.

2. Improves Decision Making Process:

The keystone of effective decision making in a business enterprise is customer data. Precise information and data
quality are essential to decision making. Data cleansing can support better analytics as well as all-round business
intelligence which can facilitate better decision making and execution. In the end, having accurate data can help
business enterprises make better decisions which will contribute to the success of the business in the long run.

3. Streamlines Business Practices:

Data cleansing along with the right analytics can also help the enterprise to identify an opportunity to launch a
new product or service in the market which the consumers might like, or it can highlight various marketing
avenues that the enterprises can try. For example, if a marketing campaign is unsuccessful, the business enterprise
can look at various other marketing channels that have the best customer response data and implement them.

4. Increases Productivity:
Having a clean and properly maintained database can help business enterprises to ensure that the employees are
making the best use of their work hours. It can also prevent the staff of from contacting customers with outdated
information or create invalid vendor files in the system by helping them to work with clean records thereby
maximizing the staff’s efficiency and productivity.

How to Ensure Data Cleaning:

To achieve your goals and meet expectations on how your fleet data can benefit you, you must first determine
how will you execute data cleanup successfully. A couple of great guidelines to follow is to focus on your top
metrics. What is your company’s overall goal and what is each member looking to achieve from it? A good way
to start is to get all the interested parties involved and start throwing ideas around.
Here are some best practices when it comes to creating a data cleaning process:

1. Monitor Errors:
Keep a record and look at trends of where most errors are coming from, as this will make it a lot easier to identify
fix the incorrect or corrupt data. This is especially important if you are integrating other solutions with your fleet
management software, so that errors don’t clog up the work of other departments.
2. Standardize Your Processes:
It’s important that you standardize the point of entry and check the importance of it. By standardizing your data
process, you will ensure a good point of entry and reduce the risk of duplication.
3. Validate Accuracy:
Validate the accuracy of your data once you have cleaned your existing database. Research and invest in data
tools that allow you to clean your data in real-time. Some tools now even use AI or machine learning to better test
for accuracy.
4. Scrub for Duplicate Data:
Identify duplicates, since this will help you save time when analyzing data. This can be avoided by researching
and investing in different data cleaning tools, as mentioned above, that can analyze raw data in bulk and automate
the process for you.
5. Analyze:
After your data has been standardized, validated, and scrubbed for duplicates, use third-party sources to append
it. Reliable third-party sources can capture information directly from first-party sites, then clean and compile the
data to provide more complete information for business intelligence and analytics.
6. Communicate with the Team:
Communicate the new standardized cleaning process to your team. Now that you’ve scrubbed down your data,
it’s important to keep it clean. This will help you develop and strengthen your customer segmentation and send
more targeted information to customers and prospects, so you want to make sure you get your team in line with
it.