The Data Detective's Toolkit

Appendix A: Your Part in the Data Life Cycle

Introduction

This appendix explains the data life cycle, describing how quality control and good documentation help the data flow through each stage. You will discover how using techniques from the Data Detective’s Toolkit throughout the data life cycle lowers the costs of data preparation, automates documentation, improves data quality, and extends the lifetime of your data.

Understanding the Data Life Cycle

The data life cycle is the series of stages your data flows through from conception to archive. Figure A-1 shows the stages in the data life cycle embedded in the context of critical tasks performed continually across all stages. Activities in each stage produce one or more project assets (data ...