Author Archives: Garry

Aiming for Minimum

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Working within the financial sector for the last eight years has meant that I have been involved in a number of projects dealing with regulatory imperatives. Something that has always infuriated me is the desire for many organisations to deliver only the minimum necessary to achieve compliance. Don’t get me wrong I understand the dangers associated with aspirational plans and the over-engineering of ‘gold-plated’ IT developments, but the desire for minimum can be even more dangerous. Continue reading →

2012 Focal Points

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I’m not one for making New Year resolutions; in fact as I told my father-in-law the other day, “I resolved to stop making resolutions a long time ago”. However I felt that from a professional perspective it makes sense to at least have some focal points for the year ahead.

From my point of view, 2011 was a pretty good year all things considered. There were plenty of ups and downs, both from the personal and professional aspects of my life but I think, in retrospect, the downs were outnumbered by the ups. Continue reading →

So What?

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One of the most frustrating questions I can hear as a data quality practitioner is simply two words; “so what?”

It’s not that it’s a difficult question to answer (although attributing costs and impacts can be challenging) it’s just that I can’t help but find this question at times a lazy and ignorant response to the raising of a data related issue. It often belittles a problem and inadvertently endorses a culture that is largely indifferent to data. Continue reading →

The Balancing Act

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In considering data as an organisational resource it is important to realise that it is quite different from other resources. Data is obviously not a tangible resource like product components in a manufacturing process; you can’t touch it or hold it however it does have the advantage of not depleting through use. You can use data and reuse it as much as you like and it will still be there for you to use again. This makes it a very valuable asset within a modern organisation but it also means that organisations can easily slip into bad habits that take data for granted. They forget that they have to put effort into nurturing their data in order to get the best out of it. You can take, take, take but if you don’t give in return then the effect on data, and consequently your organisation, can be disastrous. Continue reading →

Categorically Clear-Cut Categories

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File Folders in Wire OrganizersAs part of my current role I’ve been heavily involved in the definition, documentation, and implementation of data quality rules as part of a Solvency II (Solvency 2) programme. One of the big challenges of this activity is being able to systematically manage and categorise rules and I thought that it might be helpful for others undertaking similar activities if I were to share the source of the method I chose to employ.

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