Sometime ago I wrote in another blog entry - Five Root Causes of Bad Data Quality in Business Intelligence.
The fourth root cause of Bad Data Quality is inadequate training on software systems!
Many software systems suffer from inadequate buy-ins from end-users in the first place. How many warehousing systems have been implemented after getting ideas and buy-ins from warehouse workers?
Most likely, they were decided by Centralized IT, Business Managers, and Analysts in that function. The people who actually do the work may have had some very spectacular ideas about doing things in simpler but better ways; may be cutting some costs in the process!
On top of this, towards the end of most implementation efforts, you run out of time and schedule and so you cut short training. There is nothing like this to create bad data that does not set the factory on fire immediately or cause any other immediately noticeable catastrophe but slowly builds up the bad data as time goes along!
Something as simple as training users to doublecheck the name and address of a customer against a Drivers License or an ID could eliminate creating two identities for the same person within your system, just because you accidentally transposed two letters!
A lot of bad data may not come as a result of something that can be fixed in the software itself but something that is part of training to make sure what you entered is good data - like cross-checking if you have spelled a name properly against an ID.
Inadequate training is one of those insidious things that has a delayed effect but nevertheless brings the value of all that money spent on creating data that can be used properly.
I hated every minute of training, but I said, "Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion. - Muhammad Ali
