Improving Data Warehouse and Business Information Quality: Methods for Reducing Costs and Increasing Profits

CHAPTER 12

Information Stewardship: Accountability for Information Quality

“Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will put in charge of his household.”

–BIBLE, LUKE 12:42

Implementing automated edit and validation routines in application programs can guarantee roughly zero percent of information quality. Edit and validation routines can prevent gross errors such as creating a date of “December 32, 1999,” or the fact that someone has 97 children. Only people can create accurate information.

Information stewardship is an essential element in an information quality environment. Kaizen, or continuous process improvement, means everyone in the organization takes responsibility for the process to continually improve everything in the business.

In this chapter we describe what information stewardship is and why it is required for information quality. We then identify and describe business and information systems roles in their accountability for their respective roles in information development, production, and use. We conclude with a description of the kinds of support resources required for empowering and sustaining information stewardship.

Information Quality and Accountability

Information producers will create information only to the quality level for which they are trained, measured, and held accountable. Real and sustainable information quality improvement can only be achieved by implementing management accountability for information like accountability for ...