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July 26, 2006
A Timely Reminder
To measure the quality of any data item we need to understand its definition. Without that, we might totally misunderstand what we're looking at and if we're using the information as the basis for making an important decision the consequences can be dire.
Sometimes it's the presentation of the data that is at fault - take this example:
Date: 07/04/23
What is the date? The 4th of July or the 7th of April? And is the year 1923 or 2023?
If we were dealing with a customer database and the field was defined as the customer's date of birth I think we could safely assume that the year was 1923, but spot the same value in a field defined as a mortgage repayment date and the decision could go the other way. As to resolving which is the day and which the month, we probably all jump one way or another based on what we're used to. The problem is that the presentation of the date is ambiguous and without a clear definition it is open to misinterpretation.
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Copyright © 2006 Steve Tuck - All Rights Reserved
Posted by Steve Tuck at July 26, 2006 3:15 PM
