{"id":2034,"date":"2010-06-08T20:03:46","date_gmt":"2010-06-08T20:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biz4ge.net\/?p=2034"},"modified":"2021-03-15T14:57:25","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T14:57:25","slug":"data-the-poor-relation-with-a-big-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kz-a.net\/biz4ge\/index.php\/business-transformation\/information-and-data\/data-the-poor-relation-with-a-big-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Data – The Poor Relation with a Big Say"},"content":{"rendered":"

To some use of the word \u2018data\u2019 signals the beginning of one of the most boring, technically esoteric and generally useless topics of discussion they can imagine.\u00a0 Data model, data dictionary, data schema, data cleansing, data coding & classification\u2026\u2026or just plain old data.<\/p>\n

HELP!\u00a0 How much boredom and technophobia can one person be expected to cope with!\u00a0 Can\u2019t those sad techie\u2019s keep all that gobbledy-gook stuff to themselves and just talk to the rest of us about normal business things?<\/p>\n

Oh dear, a response common to many technophobes we know.\u00a0 At Biz4ge we even have some sympathy for this perspective.\u00a0 However, we also know from hard experience that the technophobes are dead wrong to place this conversation on the lower rung of technical hell.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, although we\u2019d never claim the topic was scintillating to most listeners, we know how fundamentally important good data is to modern organisations.\u00a0 It is not too much of an exaggeration to say that without it they are lost with little hope of rescue!<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>You see, business processes, functions, workflows, metrics, org charts, etc, etc change quite regularly\u2026\u2026sometimes at the whim of a passing management fad.\u00a0 Where-as base data on the other hand generally changes relatively little on the whole\u2026\u2026while underpinning all the rest of the faster changing artefacts that rest on top of it.<\/p>\n

To understand this, while trying to avoid the more technical aspects, it is useful to think of (business) data as being split into three camps: meta data, static data and dynamic data.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Meta data<\/strong><\/span> is simply data about data.\u00a0 This camp covers such things as should data be ten digits long or fifteen digits long.\u00a0 Should it be numeric or alpha-numeric.\u00a0 Should it use an existing classification system (e.g. NATO schema) to group and relate items or will you choose to use one you have invented for yourself.<\/p>\n

These basic decisions underpin every data structure (e.g. database) ever devised and are essential to being able to speak a common data \u2018language\u2019 that uses consistent definitions,\u00a0 formats and encoding structures.<\/p>\n

A very common business example of meta data is the structuring of an organisation\u2019s financial chart of accounts\u2026..i.e. what locations and functions, what departmental \/ budget codes, what time periods, what currency, what consolidation roll-up, what accounting standards, etc.<\/p>\n

Look more widely and you will also see that the concept of an invoice, an order, a requisition, a product, a part and many, many other familiar business artefacts are also meta data entities.\u00a0 That is, an object or item with an understood set of data attributes and rules that define and specify it and its relationship to other data entities.\u00a0 In fact, a map of such things is known as an entity relationship diagram or data schema!<\/p>\n

Once the basic data entity building blocks are defined, for both operational and maintenance purposes, they are often then divided into two further camps\u2026\u2026.static data and dynamic data.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Static data<\/strong><\/span>, as the name implies is data that either does not change, or more typically, changes relatively infrequently.\u00a0 Into this camp we can place data items such as products, customers, suppliers, BOMs, routings, etc.\u00a0 It is not that these data items never change, but that once created they commonly change little and infrequently\u2026\u2026for some organisations, sometimes verging on never\u2026..which can be a problem in and of itself!<\/p>\n

Finally, we have the camp of dynamic data<\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 As this name implies this is data that changes fairly frequently.\u00a0 Into this camp we can place data items such as quotes, orders, requisitions, GRNs, invoices, etc.\u00a0 These items by definition change regularly as part of the normal cycle and rhythm of conducting business.<\/p>\n

However, lets now circle back to our original point\u2026\u2026that base data changes relatively little on the whole.\u00a0 How does this reconcile with the idea of dynamic data which changes regularly for instance?\u00a0 Well, as for most things, the distinction is in the definition and the use of the qualifier \u2018base\u2019 in base data.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The point is that while dynamic data changes regularly (e.g. new invoice number, new requisition number, etc) and static data from time-to-time (e.g. new supplier, existing supplier address with a new address, etc) the meta data that defines those entities (e.g. the fact that there is an invoice number or address field) almost NEVER changes!<\/strong><\/p>\n

When is the last time for instance that you can remember a basic data concept like that of an invoice being introduced for the first time?<\/p>\n

Hence our use of the phrase \u2018on the whole\u2019 when describing the low change rate of base data.\u00a0 It also explains our desire to illuminate the distinction between the data camps as we did to explain things a bit more clearly and accurately.<\/p>\n

With your new understanding of these three data camps\u2026..keeping in mind that these definitions have a wide general applicability, but if you went outside the realms of business (e.g. scientific research), you would find far more data camps in use than just these\u2026\u2026you should be beginning to see how fundamental data is to everything built on top of it.<\/p>\n

And for common business concepts like P&L, ROI, management reporting, project status, etc\u2026..that is almost EVERYTHING!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now perhaps it is becoming fully clear why an apparently boring and technically esoteric topic like data is actually of PARAMOUNT importance to any business!<\/strong><\/p>\n

After money, it is arguably the lifeblood of any organisation in terms of understanding and deciding where it is, where it needs to go and how well it is progressing on that journey.\u00a0 Without good quality data a business is quite literally lost\u2026\u2026even more dangerously so if it actually believes it knows where it is (i.e. based on access to \u2018bad\u2019 data) but in fact does not\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n

This observation leads the conversation nicely to a few additional important facts about data.\u00a0 Namely, once you have some data, you also need to ensure that it is as:<\/p>\n