By Meg Shallcrass |
November 8, 2024
The importance of information integrity
The quantity of data we create is growing exponentially. So, the ability to manage information ownership effectively is vital, in order to meet all regulatory obligations while maintaining productivity.
In this series of blog posts, we are taking a deep dive into the world of information management and revealing the information management issues we come across in our day-to-day work, and how to address them. For our fifth blog in the series, Meg Shallcrass, our data management specialist, discusses the risks of poor data quality and shares key steps to maintain high information integrity and quality in order to extract real insights and value.
Read on:
The pitfalls of poor information quality and integrity
Ensuring that the information you collect and store is accurate, complete, and remains up-to-date is a persistent challenge for many organisations. Poor data quality can lead to incorrect insights, misguided strategies, and operational inefficiencies.
Many things can cause poor quality information, although generally, a lack of Information Governance is the key culprit. If information is not managed and governed, it is much more difficult to keep it up to date and ensure it is trustworthy and complete. Many clients we work with have problems around siloed information which causes duplication – typically where users or teams are storing their own versions of a particular policy document in separate locations, and it becomes apparent that no-one is quite sure which version is the current version. And then if an older version is updated, how do you ensure those updates are applied to all the copies, in every location?
Poor information quality can cause regulatory non-compliance, inaccurate reporting and analytics, and uninformed decisions making. One big impact of poor information quality is on internal collaboration and communication – if different departments work with inconsistent or incomplete data, it can lead to confusion, duplication of efforts, and miscommunication. We have worked with several organisations where their key concern around inaccurate information was related to information security and business continuity, as poor information integrity can compromise disaster recovery efforts. If backups contain corrupted or inaccurate data, restoring operations during a crisis can be difficult, leading to longer downtimes and business interruptions.
A hot topic right now is AI and machine learning, and how this can be leveraged to enhance efficiency. Your organisation will never be able to reap the full benefits of tools like Microsoft’s Copilot without accurate, complete, and high quality information. Without accurate information (and information controls), you will miss out on the chance to leverage these exciting new solutions.
How to regain control of your information integrity
At Metataxis, we offer a holistic approach that combines technology, processes, along with a people-first approach, to help you regain control of your information. Information quality and integrity is essential for all organisational areas and needs to be tackled using multiple approaches.
Establishing a solid Information Governance Framework is crucial to maintaining high information quality and integrity over time. We can work collaboratively with your stakeholders to develop a governance structure that defines roles, responsibilities, and accountability for information across the organisation. We work with your team to establish policies around information ownership, quality standards, and approval workflows as necessary.
Establishing a solid Information Governance Framework is crucial to maintaining high information quality and integrity
Information lifecycle management practices ensure data remains valuable over time
To ensure your information remains valuable over time, you need to implement information lifecycle management practices that govern how information is created, stored, used, archived, and disposed of. This process helps eliminate redundant, obsolete, or trivial (ROT) information, subsequently reducing storage costs and operational inefficiencies. The foundation of this is an up to date and complete Records Retention Schedule, something we are experts at creating and updating.
Information Architecture artefacts, such as taxonomies, are crucial to ensuring information consistency and accuracy. We recommend creating and maintaining an organisation-wide metadata schema at a minimum to help with this.
These initiatives are designed to be scalable, ensuring they grow with your business and adapt to changing information needs. Whether you’re expanding into new markets or adopting new technologies, a flexible, technology-agnostic approach will support long-term success.
