Root cause analysis and supplier management

This chapter illustrates the process of identifying data quality problems with the help of root cause analysis and supplier management. For data quality issues, root cause analysis is performed as a sequence of stepping backward through the information chain to look for the source of a problem. The steps involved in root cause analysis include data collection (reconciliation records), identification of causal factors, charting the causal factors (problem trace-back), determination of root cause of the causal factors, and finally developing corrective actions (correction report). The whole analysis can be divided into two parts. The first part is tracing the problem backward in the system until the problem occurrence point is found. The second part is determining what caused the problem in the first place and devising a solution. Not all problems originate within the organization. In many companies, a significant amount of data is provided by external suppliers. Supplier management is used to solve data quality problems, when the root cause of the problem can be tracked to data that are being supplied by an external vendor. The key to supplier management is being able to specify a set of requirements that must be met by the supplier in order to satisfy the purchaser. Supplier management is best implemented as a “compliance codicil,” which is included as a component of the original agreement between the supplier and purchaser.