All of our data is equal, some is more equal than others

To paraphrase George Orwell’s quotation from the novel ‘1984’ “All of our data is equal, some is more equal than others”. If all data is treated equally, how can we prioritise our efforts?

Criticality is a method used in many situations to identify things that are of more importance to an organisation and may require more/different treatment. Examples of where criticality is used include managing physical assets, operating chemical or process plant and transport network planning.

How does the concept of criticality apply to data?

Take COINS data analysis with a pinch of salt?

Recently the UK government published extracts from the COINS database. COINS stands for the Combined On-line Information System and the extract contains details of all expenditure by UK Government Departments over £25K for the years 2008/9 and 2009/10. Expenditure is divided into budget expenditure, actual and forecast out-turn data. The release of this data comes as a result of the current coalition government’s desire for greater openness.

If we take a look at these extracts from a data quality perspective, then this may give an indication of whether any resulting analysis needs to be treated with “a pinch of salt”.

Computer software triage

Triage is a technique used in medical emergencies to help prioritise scarce care resources towards those most in need. Various versions of triage have been developed and refined since the concept was first developed in the First World War.

Similar concepts can be applied to the large range of software that some organisation end up owning.

And the winner is…..

As I write this post, the UK is in the middle of campaigning for the 2010 General Election. One feature of this election campaign has been the first televised debates between the leaders of the three main parties. The first of these debates has stirred up the campaign significantly as Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, by most accounts won the debate. This was an unexpected outcome as the Lib Dems have been the third party for many years.

This blog post is not a political post, but considers how winning may be assessed, particularly in a business context.

Why application based user groups do not work

Many larger organisation with enterprise wide applications set up user groups to promote application usage, to help resolve system issues and to help plan future enhancements to the application. These groups, in my experience, do not deliver suitable business benefits and can either become a ‘talking shop’ or an excuse to berate the IT department/directorate consequently, the wider business does not see them as adding value.

In this blog post I expand on the nature of the problem and make suggestions for a better approach.