Control Your Data Quality
In recent years a record number of fines have been handed out by Ofwat to water companies, primarily due to the underlying issue of poor-quality data and a lack of understanding as to its flow throughout the organisation. The consequences were not only financial penalties and compensation to the customer but also caused major reputational risk to the industry as a whole resulting in a complete breakdown in consumer trust.
In a combative mode, the regulator has produced its most challenging Price Review yet (PR19). Understanding data flow is now a mandatory part of a water utility’s business and cannot be ignored.
Be proactive. Act now.
Take ownership and responsibility for your data obligations.Problem
- The data flow is not fully appreciated, creating data quality issues
- Not knowing the true path of data could lead to unreliable reporting to the regulator and inaccurate pricing to the customer
- Lack of understanding of data can lead to inefficiencies and potentially unnecessary expenditure
- Using inadequate tools such as Excel and Visio to map data landscapes can become overwhelming and chaotic
- Non-compliance to regulations can lead to heavy fines and irreversible damage to reputation
- Water companies are reliant on the knowledge held on an individual and the lack of standard controls has led to inconsistent record keeping
- Transformation projects are often hindered by the lack of understanding of data classifications and compliance officers are forced to take the hardest line of interpretation, leading to stagnation
Solution
- Implement a data governance model across the organisation to ensure an enterprise-wide agreed approach to data management
- Integrate and automate data lineage to better understand organisational data to improve confidence in business reporting
- Accurate and timely compiling of metadata in one managed system to understanding the purpose of data assets
- Help drive business decisions through better transparency
- Data lineage allows for better insight of data to help identify strengths and weaknesses in performance
- Reduce “fire-drill” reporting through better data understanding to limit the disruption on day-to-day business operations
- Demonstrate consistency, governance and control with data lineage, while allowing for faster change and transformation.
WHY DATA LINEAGE
- Reduce Cost
Share knowledge internally to help break down silos and gain better business insight, identify redundancies, streamline process and reduce cost - Mitigate Risk
Systematically identify poor quality data to reduce business risk by highlighting where potential issues may arise - Regulate Change
Support businesses in their efforts to reduce the burden of regulations by providing operational transparency
