Turning information and data quality into sustainable business value

Data and information1 of high quality is not just a hygiene factor for business, but has turned into an asset for competitive advantage. In line with this, data must be carefully managed, thoughtfully governed, strategically used, and sensibly controlled. Excellent organizations recognize the importance of timely, accurate, and reliable data and accordingly treat data as an asset the same way they treat all other corporate assets (such as employees, patents, or manufacturing equipment, for example). The opposite, however, is also true; enterprises using only ad hoc data management practices find that important information gets locked in silos, reports are untrustworthy or practically useless, and vital processes depending on data often run incorrectly. Today's companies are establishing enterprise-wide data quality management as a corporate function in order to ensure smooth business operations provisioned withthe right data at the right time at a sufficient quality level. To support enterprises in their efforts, the Framework for Corporate Data Quality Management (CDQM) describes structures and activities that need to be built up and implemented for efficient and effective management of enterprise-wide data. The Framework has been published as a standard for master data and data quality management by the Competence Center Corporate Data Quality (CC CDQ) of the University of St. Gallen and the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM, see http://www.efqm.org). The Framework focuses on raising awareness of the topic and on giving guidance for establishing CDQM in organizations. What the Framework does not do, however, is providing guidelines or recommendations as to how corporate data quality management is supposed to be implemented from a technical point of view.This white paper aims at filling this gap, as it describes how the Framework for CDQM can be implemented using solutions and products which are part of SAP Solutions for Information Management. The white paper addresses both experienced practitioners (who need to expand their skills regarding SAP's Information Management domain) and practitioners who are new to managing, governing, and optimizing the use of data that has an impact on enterprise operations. This white paper can be used in several ways:- as a reference regarding practices and methods for establishing corporatewide data quality management,- as a guide to quickly identify specific products of SAP's Information Management portfolio and how these products support the implementation of the Framework for CDQM,- as a reference regarding a common terminology to be used by business and IT professionals.