A Tough Subject Made Easier
Data quality assessment has become so much a part of many data quality programs that we assume that everyone knows how to do it well and efficiently. But this is not the case. Done well, assessment is technically difficult and demanding, often conducted under the press of time, short on budget, and long on conflicting management demands. Much can, and does, go wrong. So Arkady Maydanchik's volume is a welcome addition to the data quality literature. It describes the end-to-end assessment process and each step in a brisk, easy-to-read style.
I especially liked portions of Chapter 8. They lay out a process for actually creating business rules, another one of those nettlesome tasks that people underestimate.
M Lombard Data Governance Consultant
This is the best book on the subject I have seen, and I read almost all of them!
Extremely well organized, taking the reader from the fundamentals through the process in an easy read. He has a way of presenting technical subject in such a way that anyone could understand them. All concepts are accompanied by examples taken from of every-day experience. All the examples are easily understood and well explained. After reading his explanation and examples of even the most complex and obscure data quality issues you are left with the felling of "Oh yea, I get it."
Hua! It's about time.
My business, Northwest Database Services, has cleaned clients' data for over 20 years. In all that time I've only met two or three people who do this kind of work professionally on a regular basis. (Our conventions are small.)
With this in mind, it is easy to see why I was so pleased and surprised to find someone had written a book about the subject; especially as thoughtful and insightful a one as Quality Data Assessment.
Arkady Maydanchik brings years of experience and first-hand knowledge to the table, while organizing it into a logical, sequential and, most important, understandable manual. This book goes into the typical causes of data degradation as well as how to find it and begin the process of fixing it.
You can't even begin to fix your data until you have a clear picture of what's going on "in there", so data assessment is the first and maybe the most important step in achieving data consistency and reliability. If your work involves data assessment, migration creation or maintenance, you should have this book on your shelf. It's that simple.
But wait, there's more. This is just the first volume in a set of data assessment and cleaning processes, tips, tricks and tools books that will be forthcoming. I'm told that the second volume in this series will be published in October 2008. I know it sounds incredibly geeky, but I can hardly wait.
Great book
Book is well written, easy to read, great help for anyone who has to deal with data quality issues. It brings systematic approach to data quality testing.
A book for data quality analysts and practitioners
Data quality analysts and practioners needed this step by step guide to assess the quality of the data in their organization. The book is well organized, it's very practical and easy to understand. The examples are excellent and meaningful and the author has an interesting sense of humor.
