DATA QUALITY SUMMARY

The foundation of a build-

ing plays a major role in the

Data Quality and Data successful construction and

longevity of the building. The

Quality Dimensions
stronger the foundation, the
stronger the building. In the
same way, data are the foun-
By Rupa Mahanti dation upon which high-per-
formance organizations rest
in this competitive age. Data
are no longer a by-product of
the various applications and systems for
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, DIGITAL business functions in an organization
an organization’s information
technology (IT) systems and
AGE, AND DATA (Mahanti 2019). applications, but are an orga-
nization’s most valuable asset
The first industrial revolution (late 1700s
and early 1800s) was characterized by
DATA-CENTRIC ORGANIZATIONS and resource, with a real,
measurable value. Besides
steam-powered machines, and the second In some organizations, data are the the importance of data as a
industrial revolution (late 1800s) was primary product or service. Insurance resource, it is also appropriate
characterized by electricity and assembly companies, banks, online retailers, credit to view data as a commodity.
lines. The introduction of computers, card companies, financial services com- These issues are compounded
innovations in computing, and industrial panies, and the Internal Revenue Service because the value of the data
automation defined the third industrial (IRS) are all organizations in which does not only rest with the
revolution (Radziwill 2018). The current business is data centric. These organiza- data themselves, but also the
and fourth industrial revolution, common- tions rely heavily on data and processing actions that arise from the
ly known as Industry 4.0 (Kagermann 2011), data as their primary activities. These data and their usage (Mahanti
is characterized by machine intelligence, organizations primarily process and trade 2019). This article summariz-
pervasive computing, affordable storage, information products (Mahanti 2019). es the case for data quality,
robust connectivity (Radziwill 2018), and Other organizations, such as man- discusses the different data
Internet of Systems and Industrial Inter- ufacturing, utilities, and healthcare quality dimensions and their
net of Things (IIoT) and fosters the vision organizations, may appear to be less role in ensuring quality data
of a smart factory. Data are the enabler and involved with information systems in a succinct fashion, and the
the differentiator in the Industry 4.0 era. because their products or activities are central role data quality plays
In this connected, digital age, high-quality not information-specific. However, if one in ensuring product quality,
data form the basis for every solid opera- looks beyond the products into opera- process quality, and compli-
tional and strategic process. Good quality tions, it becomes clear that most of their ance in the digital age.
data are essential to providing excellent activities and decisions are driven by data.
customer service, making operations For instance, manufacturing organiza-
efficient, ensuring compliance with regu- tions process raw materials to produce KEYWORDS
latory requirements, engaging in effective and ship products. However, data drives
decision making, and conducting effective the processes of material acquisition, data, data quality, data quality
strategic business planning. The data used inventory management, supply chain dimensions, digital age,
for all these decisions need to be managed management, determining final product Industry 4.0
efficiently in order to generate a return. quality, order processing, shipping, and
Additionally, the same data are often billing (Mahanti 2019).
used several times for multiple purposes. For utility companies, assets and asset
For example, address data are used for maintenance are the primary concerns.
deliveries, billing, invoices, and marketing. To make these processes effective, they
Product data are used for sales, inventory, require good quality data about their
forecasting, marketing, financial forecasts, assets and asset performance (in addition
and supply chain management. Although to customer data, sales information,
one often thinks in terms of software marketing data, billing, and service data)
systems driving organizational processes, to be able to provide good service and gain
instead, data are the true foundation for a competitive advantage (Mahanti 2019).

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For hospitals and healthcare organizations, the
primary activity is medical and patient care. While these
activities on their own are not information-centric, hos-
pitals need to store and process patient data, physician
data, encounter data, information about care protocols,
information about resource utilization and scheduling,
and patient billing to provide good quality service
(Mahanti 2019). Furthermore, the Internet of Things
(IoT) is making it possible to establish health monitoring
networks around patients, and to connect patients and
healthcare professionals via wearable sensors that collect
vital data about the human body for further use (Wu et al.
2017; Cicirelli et al. 2016; Gope and Hwang 2016).
DATA AND ORGANIZATIONAL IMPACT
New trends in data warehousing, business intelligence,
data mining, data analytics, decision support, enterprise
resource planning, and customer relationship manage-
ment systems draw attention to the fact that data plays
an ever-growing and important role in organizations
(Mahanti 2019).
More information is available because people and
devices (such as sensors and actuators) are producing
data at greater rates than ever before (Radziwill 2018).
Large volumes of data across the various applications and
systems in organizations present a number of challenges
to the organization. From executive-level decisions about
mergers and acquisition activity to call-center represen-
tatives making split-second decisions about customer
service, the data an enterprise collects on virtually
every aspect of the organization—customers, prospects,
products, inventory, finances, assets, or employees—can
have a significant effect on the organization’s ability to
meet quality and performance objectives. These may
include satisfying customers, reducing costs, improving
productivity, mitigating risks (Dorr and Murnane 2011),
or increasing operational efficiency.
Accurate, complete, current, consistent, and timely
data are critical to accurate, timely, and unbiased deci-
sions. Since data and information are the basis of decision
making, they must be carefully managed to ensure they
can be located easily; relied upon for their currency, com-
pleteness, and accuracy; and obtained when and where
the data are needed (Mahanti 2019).
DATA QUALITY
While good data are a source of information, knowledge,
and myriad opportunities, bad data are a tremendous
burden and only present problems. There are many ways
of defining data quality. Data quality is the capability of
data to satisfy the stated business, system, and technical
requirements of an enterprise. Data quality can be
Data Quality and Data Quality Dimensions
defined as the data’s fitness for use or purpose for a given
context or specific task. Data quality reflects insights
into, or direct evaluation of, data’s fitness to serve their
purpose in a given context. In this sense, data reflect
J. M. Juran’s “fitness for use” criterion applied to any
other product or entity, and data on performance are
essential for all quality planning (Bisgaard 2007).
Data quality is accomplished when a business uses
data that are, at a minimum, complete, relevant, and
timely. Determination of quality is dynamic, as a certain
level of excellence is not universal, not an absolute, and
not a constant but is assessed to a relative degree. The
same applies in the case of data quality (Mahanti 2019).
When people talk about data quality, they usually
relate to data accuracy only and do not consider or assess
other important data quality dimensions in their quest
to achieve better quality data. Undeniably, data are
normally considered of poor quality if erroneous values
are associated with the real-world entity or event, such
as an incorrect zip code used in an address, a wrong date
of birth, an incorrect title or gender for employees or
customers, incorrect phone numbers or email IDs in
contact information, or incorrect product specifications
in the case of products in a retail store (Mahanti 2019).
However, data quality is not one-dimensional, but
rather multidimensional and hierarchical, and hence
complex. While accuracy is definitely an important
characteristic of data quality and therefore should not
be overlooked, accuracy alone does not completely
characterize the quality of data. Data quality has many
more attributes than the evident characteristic of data
accuracy. There are other substantial dimensions, such as
completeness, consistency, currency, and timeliness, that
are needed to holistically illustrate the quality of data
across multiple dimensions (Mahanti 2019).
Despite the fact that fitness for use or purpose does
capture the principle of quality, it is still abstract. Thus,
it is a challenge to measure data quality using only this
holistic construct or definition. It needs to be broken
into measurable facets or characteristics, known as data
quality dimensions, for data quality assessment to be
actionable. Hence, to measure data quality, one needs to
measure one or more of the dimensions of data quality,
depending on the context, situation, and task for which
the data are to be used. In short, these data quality
dimensions enable one to operationalize data quality
(Mahanti 2019).
DATA QUALITY DIMENSIONS
Each data quality dimension captures a particular measur-
able aspect of data quality. In other words, the data quality
dimensions represent the views, benchmarks, or measures
for data quality issues that can be understood, analyzed,
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 Data Quality and Data Quality Dimensions
and (eventually) resolved or minimized. Enterprise data
must conform to the various dimensions of data quality
an organization has determined are important to be fit for
operational and analytical use (Mahanti 2019).
When defining data quality measures, one should
try to focus at a minimum on the dimensions that are
meaningful and pertinent for the business with maximum
return on investment. On the other hand, measuring all
the different dimensions of data quality gives the complete
picture. Each organization needs to identify the appropri-
ate balance based on its unique competitive position and
risk appetite. Also, data quality dimensions are intercon-
nected, and dependencies and correlations exist between
them, which must be taken into account when measure-
ment is being planned (Mahanti 2019). The different data
quality dimensions are summarized in Table 1.
MEASURING DATA QUALITY DIMENSIONS
The management axiom “what gets measured gets
managed” (Willcocks and Lester 1996) applies to data
quality and, in this light, data quality dimensions signify
a fundamental management element in the data quality
arena. Measurement exposes the hidden truths and thus
is essentially the first step toward diagnosing and fixing
data quality.
With data quality being such a broad topic, and with
the huge amounts of data and number of data elements
that organizations have and continue to capture, store,
and accumulate (thanks to the capabilities of digitiza-
tion), measurement can feel overwhelming. The myth
that data need to be 100 percent error-free makes things
even more difficult. Not all data quality dimensions need
to be measured for data, nor do all data elements need
to be subject to measurement. Only those data elements
that drive significant benefits should be measured for
quality purposes. However, data do not need to be 100
percent error-free, and, though data quality is broad, the “nice-to-have” requirement but a “must-have” require-
various data quality dimensions make measurement an
achievable exercise (Mahanti 2019).
The degree of data quality excellence that should
be attained and sustained is driven by the criticality of
the data, the business need, and the cost and time to
achieve the defined degree of data quality. The costs in
time, resources, and dollars to achieve and sustain the
desired quality level must be balanced against the return
on investment and benefits derived from that degree of
quality (Mahanti 2019).
Measurement of data quality dimensions for a data set
involves understanding the data set as a whole, as well as data being at the core, and, as such, to succeed would
understanding the constituent data elements, the context need all these elements to work in an integrated manner
of data use, and the characteristics of the data elements. to ensure success (Mahanti 2019). Good data quality and
This can include size, data type, and default values.
Metadata is the first input to the process of measuring
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and assessing data quality and includes the foundational
information necessary to comprehend common-sense
assumptions about data, thus providing a starting point
for defining expectations related to data quality (Sebas-
tian-Coleman 2013).
In the absence of metadata or given inadequate
metadata, subject matter experts need to be consulted to
get an understanding of the data. When measuring data
quality dimensions, it is also imperative to contemplate
the data granularity level at which they are applicable,
so the measurements are practically useful. In studying
data quality dimensions, the author observes that some
dimensions (for example, data coverage and timeliness)
are applicable at higher granularity levels. such as
the data set level. Alternatively, dimensions such as
completeness can be applicable at lower levels of data
granularity, namely the data element level. Granularity
may depend on the types of the dimensions that are
selected for measurement (Mahanti 2019).
Data quality dimensions that are related to characteristics
of the data themselves, for example, completeness,
accuracy, consistency, uniqueness, integrity, and
validity, are primarily defined based on data element
and/or data record level. Measurements in this case
generally involve objectively examining data values
stored in the data set against business rules to measure
the data quality dimensions. On the other hand, the data
quality dimensions that deal with the usage of data that
contribute to users’ judgment about the data’s fitness for
use, such as interpretability, accessibility, and credibility,
may be defined based on any arbitrary abstraction of data
elements, records, or data sets (Mahanti 2019).
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Data without quality can neither contribute any value
nor serve any purpose. Hence, high-quality data is not a
ment. A data quality improvement program can be driven
with the Six Sigma approach (Mahanti 2019). However,
Six Sigma improvement projects will not yield reliable
outcomes without measurements that take into account
all the required data quality dimensions.
While measurement is an integral part of the data
quality journey, data quality management involves much
more than measurement. It also involves the manage-
ment of people, processes, policies, technology, standards,
and data within an enterprise. Data quality management
is data-, people-, process-, and technology-intensive, with
effective management of data and processes to improve
and sustain data quality can reduce costs and risks,
 Data Quality and Data Quality Dimensions

Table 1 Data quality dimensions in a nutshell (Adapted from Mahanti 2019).

Data Quality Dimension Definition

Accessibility The ease with which the existence of data can be determined, the suitability of the form or medium through
which the data can be quickly and easily retrieved.
Accuracy The extent to which data are the true representation of reality, be it features of the real-world entity, situation,
object, phenomenon or event, which they intend to model.
Believability The extent to which the data are regarded as being trustworthy and credible by the user.

Credibility The extent to which the good faith of a provider of data or source of data can be relied upon to ensure what
the data actually represent is what the data are supposed to represent, and there is no intent to misrepresent
what the data are supposed to represent (Chisholm 2014).
Trustworthiness The extent to which the data originate from trustworthy sources.

Reputation The extent to which the data are highly regarded in terms of their source or content (Pipino et al. 2002)

Timeliness The time expectation of availability of data for consumption.

Currency The extent to which the stored data values are sufficiently up to date for the intent of use despite lapse of time.

Volatility The frequency with which the data elements change over time.

Correctness Refers to freedom from errors.

Precision The extent to which the data elements contain a sufficient level of detail.

Reliability Whether the data can be counted on to convey the right information (Wand and Wang 1996).

Consistency The extent to which the same data are equivalent across different data tables sources or systems.

Integrity The extent to which data are not missing important relationship linkages (Faltin et al. 2012) and the relationship
linkages are valid.
Completeness The extent to which the applicable data (data element, records or data set) are not absent.

Conformance/Validity The extent to which data elements comply to a set of internal or external standards or guidelines or standard
data definitions, including data type, size, format, and other features.
Interpretability The extent to which the user can easily understand and properly use and analyze the data.

Security The extent to which access to data is restricted and regulated appropriately to prevent unauthorized access.

Conciseness The extent to which the data are represented in a compact manner but at the same time are complete.

Uniqueness The extent to which an entity is recorded only once and there are no repetitions. Duplication is the inverse of
uniqueness.
Duplication The extent of unwanted duplication of an entity. Uniqueness is the inverse of duplication.

Cardinality Refers to the uniqueness of the data values that are contained in a particular column, known as attribute, of a
database table.
Data coverage The extent of the availability and comprehensiveness of the data when compared to total data universe or
population of interest (McGilvray 2008).
Relevance The extent to which the data content and coverage is relevant for the purpose for which it is used and the
extent to which it meets the current and potential future needs.
Ease of manipulation The extent to which the data can be easily manipulated or transformed for different tasks.

Objectivity The extent to which the data are free from bias and judgement.

Traceability/Lineage The extent to which data can be verified with respect to the origin, history, first inserted date and time,
updated date and time, and audit trail by means of documented recorded identification.
Data Specification A measure of the existence, completeness, quality, and documentation of data standards, data models,
business rules, metadata, and reference data (McGilvray 2008).
Granularity The extent to which data elements can be subdivided.

Redundancy The extent to which data are replicated and captured in two different systems in different storage locations.

©2019 ASQ

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 Data Quality and Data Quality Dimensions

eliminate waste, empower decision making, improve

customer satisfaction, enhance brand image, and help
organizations be compliant and satisfy privacy, security,
and regulatory requirements.
Data quality is just as important whether an organi-
zation is dealing with Big Data or “small data.” However,
data management technologies that are suitable for
smaller data will not work for Big Data, owing to the
different Vs of Big Data (namely, volume, velocity, va-
riety, and veracity). For example, fancy charts, graphs,
and analysis provided for Big Data may not contain the
comparable accuracy that is experienced with the “tried-
and-true” methods for smaller data (Duarte and Dame
2019). Future research will be focused on Big Data.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To learn more about data quality such as the myths, chal-
lenges, critical success factors, strategy, DQ dimensions,
data profiling, and more, including how to measure data
quality dimensions, implement methodologies for data
quality management, and data quality aspects to consider
when undertaking data intensive projects, please read
Data Quality: Dimensions, Measurement, Strategy, Man-
agement and Governance published by ASQ Quality Press
in 2019. This article draws significantly from the research
presented in that book. Special thanks to Nicole Radzi-
will, SQP editor, for reviewing and editing this article.

REFERENCES

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Chisholm, M. 2014. Data credibility: A new dimension of data quality?
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BIOGRAPHY
Rupa Mahanti is a business and information management consultant and has extensive and diversified consulting experience in different tech-
nologies, solution environments, business areas, industry sectors, and geographies (United States, United Kingdom, India, and Australia). With a
work experience that spans industry, academic, and research, Mahanti has guided a doctoral dissertation, published a large number of research
articles, and authored the book Data Quality: Dimensions, Measurement, Strategy, Management and Governance.  She is an associate editor with
Software Quality Professional and a reviewer for several international journals. She can be reached at rupa.mahanti0@gmail.com.

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