November 12, 2013 – Michael Scofield on Ensuring Trusted Data
Phoenix DAMA Presents Michael Scofield: Ensuring Trusted Data Through Managed Import and Semantic Integration
Click Here to Register for this Event
Click for Map to Mutual of Omaha New Horizon Learning Center
More enterprises are importing data from external sources (which they cannot control), and integrating that data either into their operational systems or into their data warehouse. Data from external (uncontrolled) sources can be problematic because (1) their logical data architecture can be different, and (2) they can morph their architecture, scope, or definitions of the data which you receive without telling you. Hence, the need for a rigorous declaration of expectations in the agreement to establish that data flow and business relationship.
If the imported data is used for operational systems (for example, expanding the knowledge about a customer), then this is enhancing a portion of the “master data” of your enterprise. A major challenge is proper data integration. Their ID’s for customers may not match your ID’s. And their coding scheme for relatively stable customer (or product) attributes may differ. Hence, a daunting effort to design a strategy of data import, screening, translation, and integration.
One important goal of master data management is ensuring that changes (internal or externally driven) do not cause harm to downstream systems. The most significant downstream system sometimes is the data warehouse driving decision-support and business intelligence. One major technique to enrich data points to convert them to usable information is to place each data point in context–context of history or context of peer enterprises (e.g. competitors). History involves time series which are terribly valuable for decision-making. But if (lacking astute master data management) there is a disconnect in a definition of an instance in a critical central reference file (e.g. redefining the boundary of a sales territory starting in April), that discontinuity of definition can lead to misleading analysis at the executive level.
This presentation will discuss data import, data integration, and managing of change of data for downstream efficacy. Mr. Scofield draws upon his own lectures about data import and semantic data integration which have been presented to numerous audiences over the past 14 years.
Michael Scofield is an Assistant Professor of Health Information Management at Loma Linda University. He is a popular speaker, writer, and consultant in the fields of data management, data quality assessment, and data visualization.
His career has included education and private industry in areas of data quality, decision-support systems, data warehousing, and data management. His articles appear in DM Review, the B-Eye Newsletter, InformationWeek magazine, the Northern California Oracle User Group Journal, the IBI Systems Journal, and other professional journals. He has spoken to over 220 professional audiences in these disciplines all over the U.S., in London, and Australia. He also has a variety of topics for general audiences. These topics include satellite imagery, the succession to the British monarchy, and various travel topics. He also has humor published in the L.A. Times and other journals.