Skip to main content
  • Global

Data modeling challenge shows quality's importance

Paul Newman Archive
The value of a business process is defined by one simple thing - how likely it is to get good results. This can mean a combination of a variety of factors, including whether the solution will be definitive or lead to further problems in time. Information Management recently explored the ideas that make a business process commendable.

The source presented a decision between two methods of changing meal preferences on airline flights, inspired by the author's experience with a system that voided choices. The two different approaches involved a code for a special meal which would apply in either one or two places on a passenger's reservation.

Herein lies the data quality element. The plan mentioning meal type in only one location was judged by the author to be more reliable from this point of view, as it is harder to make a recording error if information is mentioned only once. This could apply to companies' data inputs in general - single points of input make for simplified and improved processes.

How companies populate their databases can have a real impact on performance. According to TechTarget, a marketing firm found itself suffering from a serious proliferation of duplicated records until it brought in specialized software to simplify things.