The Data Quality Pro Herald: Edition #1Hello and a warm welcome to the first edition of the "Data Quality Pro Herald", our regular community newsletter. Before we start I just want to thank everyone who has contributed or registered since our recent launch. Over 5,000 people visited the community site in recent weeks and we now have a total membership of 400 which is growing quickly every day. I just wanted to give a heartfelt thanks to all of you for helping to get Data Quality Pro off to a flying start. Thank you for your continued support. Dylan Jones – Editor/Founder From The Data Quality Pro Journal...Since we launched in September we’ve published over 40 articles, tutorials and no-cost DQ tools but get ready for a whole lot more as we strive towards a daily publishing schedule. To grab the very latest DQ content as we release it, here is our RSS feed: http://www.dataqualitypro.com/data-quality-home/rss.xml Want to get your content published in front of thousands of our readers? Why not reply to this mail and discuss your ideas or material?
Here are a few snippets from the the (almost) daily DQ journal: Do you need a DQ Framework? The New Zealand Ministry of Justice kindly gave us a copy of their DQ Framework for publication. This was a really progressive approach and we’re extremely grateful for the efforts of Mandy Mackay and her colleagues in the ministry. Does your DQ initiative observe the rules? Arkady Maydanchik, author, consultant, coach and CEO of Data Quality Group has published extracts from his excellent book “Data Quality Assessment”. We presented 5 articles/tutorials on the topics of data quality rules and have more in the pipeline. We also ran a tutorial on how to use visualisation techniques to discover/measure data quality rules. DQ Rules Tutorials | Data Visulaisation for Historical Rules Tutorial | Arkady Maydanchik Going solo – techniques to beat the feast or famine trap Many of our members operate their own DQ business so we recently enlisted a leading business coach, Richard White, to provide advice and support. Richard has produced tutorials on topics such as networking, the sales process and DQ storytelling. Richard has literally hundreds of resources that will help DQ business owners at his site: here, plus he's got a great all day course in London for members who run their own DQ business, 1st December, only £97 with member discount, click here: http://tinyurl.com/6pwsny Learn how to network | DQ Storytelling |Business Development Tips Get blogging – tips and incentives to get your voice heard We’ve started to track all the bloggers who regularly comment on the subject of DQ and associated disciplines. I’ve had numerous calls from people who are keen to give it a go but are unsure of where to start so this post should give you some ideas to get started. October DQ Blog Roundup | Blogger Tracker | 20 DQ Blogging Tips | Are your DQ skills relevant? We analysed DQ jobs posted over recent months to get a feel for what employers are looking for in DQ Analyst roles. Data profiling and technology come out on top but there is a clear need for candidates to also possess the “softer” skills such as communication, stakeholder management and requirements gathering. Data Profiling – No More Excuses Realising that a lot of people don’t have access to DQ tools we ran several features that included a no-cost data profiler (courtesy of Talend), no-cost pattern analysers (from us), sample business data and a full tutorial. It should give you the basics before we give you the next instalment, coming very soon. Profiling for beginners | Oracle Pattern Analyser | MS-Access Pattern Analysers Interviews This month we interviewed a number of our members and leading figures in the world of DQ including:
We want to make this a regular feature so if you are doing something interesting in the field of data quality then why not drop me a line so we can interview you.
New Features Recently Launched...
LinkedIn Group: We’ve created the Data Quality Pro.com LinkedIn group so you can connect with other members, upload relevant news and put a face to the name of others in the community. Please try and use our existing forums as much as possible for discussions, thanks.
Media & Sponsorship Partners: Many of our members visit data quality and similar conferences so I've been knocking on doors and haggling discounts for you. With the size of our membership and site traffic we have some weight behind us so if you want me to get discounts on anything else, just let me know. We’ve now got 15% off IRM and Ark Group conferences listed in our event planner section. Here are a couple of conferences coming up that are should be a good fit... Data Governance Conference Europe 2009, 2-5 February 2009, London, UK Focusing on the “how to’s” of Data Governance from getting started to achieving maturity. Include DG basics, how to get started in DG, real life success stories, data stewardship, MDM and DG, building the business case for DG, privacy, data protection, best practices in DG, SOA and DG, DG methodologies, managing change, cultural and political issues, roles and responsibilities, avoiding pitfalls and creating a global DG initiative. View full conference program or e-mail customerservice@irmuk.co.uk or call +44 (0)20 8866 8366 Data Quality Asia Pacific 2009, 24-26 March 2009, Sydney, Australia Drawing on the experience of leading data experts and practitioners, this event will investigate the latest advances in data quality, master data management data warehousing, and business intelligence, providing you with an integrated approach to data and information management. Featuring keynote speakers Larry English and Tom Redman, this event provides a great opportunity for Antipodeans to learn from some of the best experts in DQ and IQ. Visit conference website for more details. Website Sponsorship We’ve recently picked up some great new sponsors in the form of Business Data Quality, DataFlux and Datanomic and of course our sister community Data Migration Pro. If your organisation would like to become a sponsor and help us develop the community then please drop us a line, we've just included some special promotions on a first-come, first-served basis. Marketplace For those who have a burning desire to tell the world about your killer DQ app or perhaps you're searching for a star DQ employee then why not try out our new DQ marketplace forum? Provided at no cost to members it’s a simple yet effective way to get your message out there (click here). Ask the Expert & General Discussion Forums We’ve had some interesting questions come in from members who are in need of DQ support, these have been posted in the Ask the Expert or General Discussion forums, please keep them coming. We offer anonymity if you wish to remain in the shadows so don't suffer in silence because we have 20+ senior DQ professionals on hand in our DQ Expert Panel to share their wisdom, not to mention the collective knowledge of our 400+ strong membership.
Bookshop You've probably noticed this already if you're a regular but we have a well stocked online DQ bookshop, all the major DQ titles are listed but if we've missed anyting you find useful - tell us.
Job Centre We've tried to make this as simple as possible but we do have big plans for this element of the site. At present it costs nothing to post your jobs and with over 5,000+ data quality visitors checking the site chances are you might just be able to reduce your recruitment costs and find that new data quality recruit. Coming Soon...
We’ve got a rack of new features and content planned for December and into 2009
Online DQ Professional Register: Okay, clearly we’re struggling for a catchy name but I’m really excited about this. It will be a powerful, yet simple, database of DQ professionals worldwide, featuring some very neat features to help members and organisations search for those who wish to be contacted. If you run a small consulting business or just want to get yourself noticed in the DQ fraternity, this could become vital to your online presence. I need beta testers so please reply if you want to be one of the first to show off your DQ skills. Go for launch: This week. DQ Technology Selector: What DQ tools offer name and address matching? Which products have a profiler built in? What free tools are available? All your answers will be found in a new online and offline search tool of the entire DQ product landscape that significantly extends our existing DQ Tool Finder widget. Go for launch: Within three weeks. SQL for DQ Toolbox: It’s fair to say that SQL is probably the most popular tool used for analysing and measuring DQ so we’re building a new online SQL repository that will allow you to search for different SQL statements based on your DQ needs. This will require contributions so if you are a hot SQL programmer with a strong DQ streak PLEASE drop me a line. Go for launch: Within two weeks.
Intermediate Data Profiling Tutorial: Following on from our earlier profiling tutorial we will release some more exercises including software, data and tutorial notes on how to deliver a DQ assessment using no-cost software. Stay tuned... Go for launch: Within two weeks. Daily publishing schedule: Okay, I’m sticking my neck out here but I really want the editorial side to go daily. My goal is for world-class daily content for a world-class community all within a world-class site with absolutely no cost to members. I think we’ve made a huge leap in just a few weeks but we need a steady stream of great quality content so if you have something of value for our thousands of eager readers just let me know. Go for launch: Nearly there...
Once again, thank you all for supporting Data Quality Pro, remember to use the feedback facility or drop me a line if there is something you want to see on the site in future or you need help with any of the features.
Catch you in December, Community Editor/Founder |
Recent Forum Discussions: Data Governance - What approach do you recommend for getting buy-in? How do you measure the "believability" of data? What book(s) do you recommend for a company starting out with DQ? Why is your small data quality business successful? Profiting from Your Most Important Business Asset Where next for data quality technology? Latest Articles from the Journal: 5 Simple Techniques To Differentiate Your Data Quality Service How to create a professional data quality blog (Part 1 - Planning)8 Tips for vetting data quality service providersHow to create a data quality scorecardUsing Data Visualisation Tools: Tutorial #1 Historical DataEssential data quality skills #1: Information Chain ManagementRecent Jobs: Strategic Data Optimization Bus Mgr, $110,000 - $130,000 USASenior Data Analyst Virginia, USA, to $90,000 Data Definition Specialist, Mobile Company, ScandinaviaData Quality Manager, Mobile Company, ScandinaviaLatest News: Informatica Launches Data Quality Certification ProgramTalend Announces Availability of Talend Data QualityDataFlux Unveils Improved Master Data Management Solution Built on Data QualityIAIDQ announces plans to develop a Certified Information Quality Professional certificationLatest from the marketplace: OFFERED: Conference talks on open source BI andDQ OFFERED: Open Source Data Quality Analysis Tool,freedownload OFFERED: Open Source Data QualitySuite |