W4: Supporting Business Needs Through Information Quality Metrics

How can an Information Quality leader a) convincingly demonstrate the business value of Information Quality, b) align Information Quality activities with business goals, and c) clearly define success and incentivize the right behaviors? These are fundamental challenges and opportunities most Information Quality practitioners struggle with routinely. A well-defined approach to data quality metrics provides actionable insights about the most important data on which your organization depends and suggests desired interventions needed to improve results. Metrics provide visibility to data quality issues, so we can react quickly when they arise. Those same metrics can show us where things are working, so we can confidently turn our attention to other priorities. There is also an art to metrics – understanding that metrics change behavior and designing them so you promote the behavior you intend.

Participants in this workshop will learn how to define data quality metrics that are clearly connected to the organization’s vision, strategy, and business needs. This workshop will be beneficial to those seeking to enhance the value and effectiveness of their Information Quality function. Participants will leave equipped with robust techniques to develop or polish their information quality metrics and turn them into effective action.

Topics include:

Identifying the vital few metrics
Linking metrics to organizational goals and business strategy
Establishing the right accountabilities
Metrics as the foundation for improvement
Avoiding the most common measurement traps

Danette McGilvray is president and principal of Granite Falls Consulting, Inc., a firm that helps organizations increase their success by addressing the information quality and data governance aspects of their business efforts. Focusing on bottom-line results, Danette helps organizations enhance the value of their information assets by naturally incorporating information quality management into the business. She also emphasizes communication and the human aspect of information quality and governance. Danette is the author of Executing Data Quality Projects: Ten Steps to Quality Data and Trusted Information™ (Morgan Kaufmann, 2008). An internationally respected expert, her Ten Steps™ approach to information quality has been embraced as a proven method for both understanding and creating information and data quality in the enterprise. The Chinese-language edition is available and her book is used as a textbook in university graduate programs. She has contributed articles to various industry journals and newsletters and has been profiled in PC Week and HP Measure Magazine. She was an invited delegate to the People's Republic of China to discuss roles and opportunities for women in the computer field.