Ataccama MDM Enables Transition to SOA at City Government

DQ Issue Tracker, Master Data, Real-life data quality

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In terms of data, the public sector can pose quite a challenge. Within a governmental organization, departments run their processes and provide services based on their mandated role. In small towns where only a mayor, 5-member council, and local sheriff serve, data management is not likely to take on behemoth proportions. However, major cities must provide hundreds of thousands (even millions) of inhabitants with various services—public utilities, transportation, and combined emergency services are but a few. Essentially, tens of departments each provide scores of citizen services. After the dust settles, it’s obvious that without a formal data management process, the data that each department creates or stores becomes divergent in relation to the other departments. It isn’t all bad data—it just can’t be shared across all departments in a converged and efficient format.

Go Ahead, Put Those Eggs into One Basket

Reference Data Management

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A common proverb guides us in business and everyday life:

“Don’t put all your eggs into one basket.”

For those who don’t quite grasp this idiomatic expression, it refers to not placing all of your resources or hopes into one area or opportunity. The most typical context in which this proverb is used is finance, where the wisdom of spreading one’s risk (of loss), or diversification, is a widely accepted practice. But guess what? Easter is on the horizon, and it’s time to throw that pessimistic perspective out the window. Why? Well, when it came time for you as a child to find all the eggs hidden by the Easter bunny, did you ever want to be the child that came back with the least amount of eggs? Of course not. You wanted your Easter basket so full that eggs, chocolates, and all kinds of other goodies were falling out.

Downstream Data Quality Is Not Enough

Data Quality Center, Data quality concepts, DQ Firewall

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If you’ve ever hiked in the mountains, you know there is one thing you can count on—clean freshwater. Whether it’s a brook that meanders through a forest, or a river that churns around countless rocks, tourists and hikers alike find comfort in these areas, especially when seeking to rehydrate themselves on a hot summer day. No one fears the water is contaminated, and thankfully, it’s not in most cases. Nevertheless, it can happen right at the source or further downstream. How unfortunate that this same peril applies to data as it’s captured by businesses for operational or analytical purposes.
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Women and Modeling of a Different Kind

Predictive Analytics

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Place the words woman and model in the same sentence, and thoughts of swimsuits, fashion shows, and beauty pageants enter your mind quicker than you can say “Vogue.” World-renown names in modeling like Gisele Bündchen, Kate Moss, or Heidi Klum are in high demand for photo shoots and earn quite a lump sum for their efforts and fame. But another group of women are now making their modeling prowess known in a different way. They are hedge fund managers in the financial sector, and they’re turning men’s heads just as much as their bikini-clad counterparts.
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Version 8 Goes Great with Eggnog

Data Quality Center, DQ Issue Tracker

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The winter holidays are around the corner, and all around the world, people are preparing to take some time off work and spend the holiday season with family and friends. With that comes the joy of giving and putting a smile on the faces of those receiving. The same can be said with Ataccama’s recent unveiling of its new Version 8 product features, which are sure to place anyone into a merry, tune-humming mindset.
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Using a Data Quality Approach to Uncover Suspicious Data

DQ Analyzer, Real-life data quality

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Bad data hurts companies, considering the general effect on data quality throughout the organization. A customer is inaccurately represented in the database, a shipment misses its intended deadline, or an employee doesn’t receive the proper salary in a given month. As disturbing as those effects are, fraudulent data takes the concern to a higher level, given the fact that this type of data—while also invalid—exists in the system to be intentionally misleading. Its uncovering typically leads to the subsequent amazement that capable data quality tools or processes are not in place to provide some form of safeguard.
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Seeing the Real Data Quality in Political Rhetoric

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There is no doubt that with election time nearing, politicians are wrestling over various topics and issues that affect today’s society. Be it domestic issues like medical care and the economy, or international topics like energy and foreign policy, citizens want to know how candidates aim to improve the inconsistencies that burden their municipalities, states, and nation.
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Monitor Your Data Like a Formula 1 Pro

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For some people, it’s in their blood—the need to constantly improve the performance of their machine. High-flow air filters, fuel additives, exhaust upgrades present a few of the possible methods used. One area where this feeling can be seen and felt everywhere is Formula 1 Racing. In the team garages and on pit row, F1 teams constantly strive to make their machines (weighing a mere 640kg, including the driver) faster and more agile. In between races, mechanical engineers, testers, and drivers work together to monitor and analyze the car’s response to specific scenarios and conditions, potentially resulting in numerous chassis and engine modifications. During a race, the team’s attention shifts focus to pit wall monitors and radio communication with the driver, in which data such as gas consumption rates, tire wear, and lap times are closely monitored.
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Importing Issues Goes GUI

DQ Issue Tracker

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In a time where information overload bombards us on a daily basis, it pays to have some assistance in taking the work out of routine tasks. In modern cars alone, we have such things as seat and side mirror memory settings, where at the touch of a button (or turn of the ignition key), your seat and mirrors return to your optimal settings. Then there is hands-free mobile communication, which initiates a call just upon a voice command from the driver. GPS navigation shows us where to go, without the driver needing to stop the car and thumb through a map to pinpoint their location or direction. Even features like night vision assistance, car proximity sensors, and rearview cameras have worked their way into the mix. With all of these helpful visual technologies, the driving experience can certainly be considered more enjoyable and convenient, especially when the “work” is initiated and performed with one touch, view, or audible command.
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Scalability through Parallelism

Data Quality Center

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Ever find yourself commuting to work each day down the same road, wondering why there is so much traffic? You ask yourself, “Did the city planners not predict that a large number of commuters would use this road to get into the city when they built it?” Then comes the time for road construction and the traffic comes to a complete standstill. While it’s true that a population spurt in a particular area or city may be the cause of a rapid roadway overload, it’s clear that roads which frequently bottleneck within a few years, even in non-peak hours, were not made to handle the amount of traffic that has befallen them.
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The Impact of a Good Household

Data quality concepts, Master Data

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With Mother’s Day quickly approaching, there’s no doubt that flowers and greeting cards will once again be in high demand. After all, recognizing the mothers of the world (over 85 million in the U.S. alone, according to the Census Bureau) is near and dear to all of our hearts. Mothers bring things like love, kindness, and compassion to our world. They provide a safe and tidy household in which kids can grow and flourish.

Believe it or not, securing a sound household rings true for even something like master data. Similar to kids, data must also be groomed and shaped in order to perform well when called upon in the future for a specific purpose. Grouping related records that originate in different sources poses quite the challenge, despite the perception of ease at first glance. During the ETL process, householding presents a formidable task, if not the most difficult.
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Need Versatility? This Tool Comes Adapter-Equipped

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You are on a business trip and have just arrived at your hotel. An important presentation at a potential client awaits you the next day. Before going to sleep, you still have some tasks needing completion—a few calls on your mobile and some presentation editing on your laptop. Unfortunately, both components have dead batteries. In removing the chargers from your luggage, you realize you are in a foreign country and don’t possess an adapter for your chargers to work. You have the tools but no way to connect. The success of your presentation is now on thin ice.
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FATCA Presents a Shakespearean Quandary

Real-life data quality

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“To be or not to be, that is the question.”

Many know those words to come from a “little” 1602 play called Hamlet (officially named The tragedie of Hamlet, prince of Denmarke), written by none other than William Shakespeare. The literal meaning behind the quotation ponders whether it is better to live or die, or more specifically, trying to determine the greater of two evils—the pains encountered in life, or the fear of the uncertainty of death. To quote the sagely yet more pragmatic observation of Ben Franklin, “…in this world nothing can be certain but death and taxes.” Let’s explore a connection of sorts to the predicament brought about by the recently implemented FATCA (short for Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), set to take effect in January of 2013.
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Using Metadata Helps Avoid Splatter

Data quality concepts, DQ Analyzer

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Have you ever tried to contain a liquid of some kind after you spill it on a table? If you have small kids then you are no stranger to this, for it’s a daily ritual. The child grabs a filled container of liquid and proceeds to pour it out…just about anywhere. Juice or milk runs unchallenged to soak all papers, electronic devices, floors, and freshly washed clothes being worn in the vicinity. What’s worse is crawling on your hands and knees afterwards, searching for splattered stains on walls and furniture legs. Smart parents prepare for these scenarios by placing a towel or sponge at all locations where a spill is possible. The key is containment!
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Speak the Language of Foreign Data

Data quality concepts

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Ever send mail to or receive mail from a foreign destination? For those of us who have family, friends, or colleagues in foreign countries, it can be a challenge. Despite the internet helping to bridge the gap for communicating, there are still times when “non-electronic” mail is required—birthday or Christmas cards, express parcels and envelopes, etc. You stress about getting them into the mail or delivery service on time, and worse yet, butchering that unfamiliar foreign street address beyond the point of recognition. Time to take out your lucky charm and hope for the best.
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The Score Says It All

Data quality concepts

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“He shoots…he scoooooores!”
Anyone that follows hockey all-star Jaromir Jagr either in the NHL or on the Czech national team has become accustomed to hearing those words. Since his career began in 1988, he has won league scoring titles, MVP awards, helped lead NHL teams to Stanley Cup titles and his homeland to medals in the Olympics and world championships. Quite the resumé.

In hockey, as in most sports, it’s a good thing to score. Common sense has it that the player or team with the higher score at the end of the game or match is declared the winner. A high score in the context of data quality, however, won’t make one enthusiastic.
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Improved Shortcuts Make this Resolution Stick

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The New Year came and went just as fast as a Champagne bottle pops. Along with it came the usual purchasing of new calendars, planners, and memberships to the local fitness center. Completely forgetting how last year’s goals went by the wayside, we once again attempt to adhere to those fresh resolutions that typically last as long as you can hold your breath.
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DQIT Series Part 4: Multi-Record Inconsistencies

Data quality concepts

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In the language-learning industry, there is an activity—simply called “telephone”—that involves placing students in a line. The first student whispers a secret message (only the first student knows it) to the second, and then the second student whispers the message to the third student, and so on. The final student must then say the secret message aloud to the group, showing whether the message was passed successfully from the first student. Laughter among all students typically breaks out at this point, since the message at the end often turns out to be something that makes no sense at all. The main point of the activity is, of course, to work on using listening and speaking skills within a foreign language, but it also shows how difficult it is to keep things consistent when numerous components (in this case, students) are involved.
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DQIT Series Part 3: Match and Merge

Data quality concepts

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Have you ever had one too many of something?

Mark Twain once said, “A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure.”

As Mr. Twain knew, and most of us learn, having more than one of something isn’t always positive. In the context of data, having more than one of the same record can also be the source of headaches, as issues often arise from this predicament. For this reason, DQIT possesses a means to deal with this type of issue and re-solidify the groupings within your data.
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DQIT Series Part 2: Manual Cleansing—No More Heavy Lifting

Data quality concepts, DQ Issue Tracker

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We all know that data quality is a continuous process. You also know, at a fundamental level, that the process is going to include manual cleansing—it’s necessary and it’s unavoidable. But don’t despair, because thanks to modern tools and technology, it doesn’t have to be a dirty job.
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DQIT Series Part 1: The Basics

Data quality concepts

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It’s one thing to resolve your company’s data quality issues, it’s another to manage them and keep them to a minimum. Much like ranchers who use sheep-herding dogs to watch their flocks, data stewards place themselves in a good position to succeed when employing the services of DQ Issue Tracker (DQIT) to watch their data.
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See What You Want to See

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It’s happened to all of us. You walk by a magazine stand and one of the magazine covers cleverly grabs your attention. Plucking the magazine off the shelf, you quickly turn to the page of the article that was crying out to you. You find the pictures of that new car / gardening tip / vacation destination / home interior design /etc. to be fantastic and the text is a great read. However, what do you do with the rest of the otherwise unwanted sections? Do you tear your article out of the magazine? Well, that’s a bit over the edge, and it would make for one irate shopkeeper, so the next thing you know, you’re checking your wallet to see if you have 5 dollars to buy a magazine stuffed with advertisements and articles you don’t want.
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