Mr. Larry English @ RDS

Summary of Larry English’s Masterclass

In

ICT Expo Conference

Ge Mouzhi, May, 2006

During the six hour “THE ESSENTIALS INFORMATION QUALITY IMPROVEMENT” masterclass, the lecturer Larry English showed us the whole strategy [1] of the information quality improvement. First of all, Larry listed the cost items of the non-quality information with analyzing the components of the non-quality data cost. Then he showed us the real world costs based on the true events. In order to improve the information quality, Larry introduced the TOTAL INFORMATION QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TIQM) to us and detailed each process in the TIQM and further 14 points of TIQM. After that, Larry focused on the implementation and the vision of the Information Quality (IQ) environment and product/process quality improvement. And he also depicted an information quality management maturity model to evaluate the improvement and explained the significations of the five maturity stages in that model. Next, he described how to sustain a TIQM environment. Finally, Larry emphasized Success is a journey, not a destination and IQ is a habit.

Many kinds of costs have been caused by low quality information. Nowadays, most organizations ignore processing the poor information quality. However, low quality information can bring monetary damages to an organization in a variety of ways [4]. There are many real cases that the low quality information invoked cost millions [5]. Furthermore, there are also many costs are indirect costs such as missed opportunity costs, customer dissatisfaction costs and creditability costs. So we could employ a systematic classification and analysis of data quality cost [2] to identify and characterize such costs (direct and indirect). Thus we are able to address the optimal investment point for information quality.

TIQM is to eliminate the costs of the non-quality information, increase the value of the high quality information assets [3] and finally establish the information quality environment. First TIQM assessment process is to assess the information quality and quantify the non-quality information costs; Second, TIQM betterment process is used to improve the information product and process quality and Deming’s PDCA cycle is also involved; Third, TIQM culture change process is used for planning and implementing an IQ Environment and it is a key component in the whole process of information quality improvement. With the above three key process, we can improve our information quality and build the information quality improvement culture.

Assessment is a crucial step in the information quality improvement process. Data Quality Assessment (DQA) is the scientific and statistical evaluation of data to determine if data obtained from environmental data operations are of the right type, quality, and quantity to support their intended use [6]. The information quality architecture and characteristics are developed to assess the existing value chains, systems, organization relationships and management. Information quality is a multi-dimensional concept [7] and measurements used for assessing the information quality are also multi-dimension such as stability, flexibility and usability. Assessment results are used for the analysis in the strategy to evaluate the entire system.

Information quality management maturity model is used for measuring the stage of the management level. The initial stage of the maturity model is uncertainty, people do not know why they have problems with information quality; the second stage is awakening, people have recognized that the information quality management may be valuable but do not want to invest money and time on it; the third stage is enlightenment, people have understand the importance of information quality management and become supportive; the fourth stage is wisdom, people participate the prevention of information quality problems and recognize their personal role in continuing emphasis; the last stage is certainty, people know why they do not have problems with information quality in the first stage and information quality management have been an indispensable part of the enterprise. Those five models are developed for measuring the information quality organization status and instruct the next operation we should take.

Information quality is not only the responsibility of the enterprise manager, but also the responsibility of everyone. Information quality improvement is not a program but is a habit of the staff. The customer satisfaction and enterprise results are the objectives of the information quality improvement and the success is a journey, not a destination.

REFERENCES

1. Frank Dravis, Data Quality Strategy: a step-by-step approcach, Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Information Quality (ICIQ-04), 2004.
2. Martin J. Eppler & Markus Helfert, A Classification and Analysis of Data Quality Costs. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Information Quality (ICIQ-04), 2004.
3. Larry P. English, The Essential of Information Quality Management, DM Review. 2002.
4. Won, K. & Choi, B., Towards Quantifying Data Quality Costs, Journal of Object Technology, 2003, 2(4), 69-76.
5. Larry P. English, Improving Data Warehouse and Business Information Quality, New York: Wiley & Sons 1999.
6. Quality Guidance for Data Quality Assessment, Practical Methods for Data Analysis, EPA QA/G-9, 2000.
7. Leo L. Pipino; Yang W. Lee & Richard Y. Wang, Data Quality Assessment, Communications of the ACM, 2002.
8. Larry P. English, the slide of “The Essential of Information Quality Improvement” ICT Expo Conference, 2006.