Home » Technology » Software Re-engineering » Lessons Learned -- Data quality

Lessons Learned -- Data quality

© Faisal Bin Bashir

Of central importance to any hypertext document are the quality of its information and how well it is organized. Information may come from a range of sources and be subject to change at any time. Since data can include links to other pages, structure and content are inextricably mixed. The ability to update and restructure information quickly can make hypertext pages valuable sources of information-but only when readers are assured that only authorized individuals have changed information.

At the technical level, quality control in hypertext has no direct equivalent in programming. Most data used by a program comes from a separate file or database, making it largely independent of both the program and the processes used to create it. Although data quality is important for correct program operation, controlling changes to the data is quite different from controlling changes in the program, and each will likely use a different mechanism.

Version control cannot ensure data quality, but it can indirectly reassure consumers of the data's integrity. Data quality control is itself an organizational task, whether it involves data in a Web page or data in a file that is read into a program. This task may well involve providing further information that will give some degree of assurance that such controls have been applied.

References

"Hypertext: The Next Maintenance Mountain" by Pearl Brereton, David Budgen and Geoff Hamilton

The copyright of the article Lessons Learned -- Data quality in Software Re-engineering is owned by . Permission to republish Lessons Learned -- Data quality in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.