Data Quality Dashboard
Business
problem
Every process fails sometimes, whether from human error or process
flaws. We needed a reliable, consistent way to spot problems with
critical data about people and accounts. Unlike people, computers
never forget to run a report or send an e-mail, and they always
do things the same way, so automated audit reports were the best
solution.
What
gets audited?
Initially, we tried to identify all the places where important processes
might fail and then report any failures. Of course, it seems like
there's always one more way that any process can fail, and the list
of audit reports continues to grow.
Audit
reports are e-mailed to the people who are directly responsible
for the process and for correcting any defects. Many of the reports
are also displayed on a IT data quality dashboard, along with selected
statistics. The dashboard currently contains the following measures:





In
addition to the measures on the dashboard, there are many other
automated audit reports that are e-mailed but do not lend themselves
to being displayed on the data quality dashboard. For example, a
report such as the "Missing ITID in Meditech provider dictionary"
mentioned in Integrating
Provider Directories is not listed on the dashboard because
it is a list of possible issues that are not necessarily defects
a useful audit tool but not a defect report that needs to
be managed to zero defects.
Lessons
learned
- Simply
e-mailing exception reports does not always achieve the desired
results; other priorities may cause the reports to be ignored.
- A
dashboard, visible to a wider audience, can help ensure attention
to important measures.
- Nothing
not even a dashboard guarantees that defects will
be addressed without consistent management attention.
Posted 23 March 2008
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