Data Quality: The Field Guide

Comments from using the electronic version of the book at books24x7.com. I read the entire book for use on a capstone project I'm working on. This book hammered home many of the exact concepts I believed were present, but couldn't prove. I work in IT for a multi-billion / year company. Many of the issues Tom describes are the exact issues we've either gone through or are currently struggling with. Key concepts for me: 1) IT cannot be responsible for data quality, but they are definately involved. 2) Data quality is a multi-facted management issue. 3) Quality has to be defined by the each organization. (i.e. what's good enough for company A may be substandard for company B.) I also noticed the website address listed in the book is obsolete and has been replaced with this: http://books.elsevier.com/companions/1555582516/?country=United+States

I like this book quite a bit because although it's not a huge doorstop of a tome in terms of length, it's quite complete and thorough. Some data quality books cover management aspects, some the technical aspects, and some take other angles. This book takes a look at all of the different angles on data quality and sums them up into a very nice package. One of the things I liked about it is the section on social aspects of data quality, since so many technical people I work with have a great idea but aren't able to implement it for lack of understanding of the social aspects of working on data quality projects. Another is a part where Redman goes through the process of how data quality is tracked over time, to see if things are improving, and the way that he draws a distinction between records that are "perfect", and records that are "usable", which points out some differences that are important. There is even a very relevant section on data quality problems in the US elections of 2000. The nice thing about this field guide is that it should have everything an organization needs to do some serious data quality work (including even middle management roles and responsibilities). I think it's a very solid book that would be a great addition to data manager's and other tech manager's libraries.

Have actually improved performance results by implementing many of the techniques found in the Field Guide (tips have helped me in a number of places and ways). An easy read. Practical, applicable and actionable.

Extremely easy to read and learn from. Provides key learnings and guidelines for not only surviving but thriving in the information age. Important for all CEO's and senior leaders in business to read to help develop an understanding of the importance of data quality and practical steps to achieve it.

This book gives excellent insight to the practical issues associated with data quality. The book gives some great suggesions on how businesses can improve performance through a focused approach to managing information. I enjoyed reading it, and have actually begun to use some of the ideas presented in the book in my current job.