Business Intelligence Network - The Vision for BI and Beyond

“In e-business, the information IS the business.”

In my forthcoming book, Information Quality Applied: Best Practices for Improving Business Information, Processes and Systems (John Wiley & Sons), I describe how to apply quality principles to ten critical enterprise value chains, such as “prospect to satisfied customer” customer life cycle and “order to satisfied customer” supply chain. In this article, I share some information quality (IQ) tips about IQ in the Internet and e-business environments.

There are three categories of information in the Internet environment to which quality principles must be applied:

1. Web-based documents and web content.
   
   
2. Data “shared” by internal processes and Internet processes.
   
   
3. Information collected or created in e-commerce and e-business value chains, including third-party business partners.

The major problem with information quality on the Internet is that business is conducted in “cyberspace” with no person “minding the store” or monitoring the e-business transactions.

IQ in Web-Based Documents and Web Content

Here, I will address some information quality problems and costs along with suggested information quality improvements in the first category of web content.

IQ Issue: Unclear, Misleading or Biased Web Information

Misleading or unclear information can confuse e-visitors and drive them away. Because there is no one to observe these e-visits or to provide answers when e-visitors have questions, you must make the site and information intuitive and clear, with explanations and definitions of technical terms.

Confusion in e-customers can cause them to make wrong selection decisions. If information does not match customers' perception of a product or service, they may request their money back, costing you the handling of the return, compensation to the customer or loss of business.

IQ Issue: Inaccurate or Out-of-Date Information

Costs include:

• Lost business if product prices are overpriced in error.
  
  
• Lost revenue if product prices are underpriced in error and legal liability and reputation problems with cost-recovery initiatives attempted. This happened to US Airways when they sold over 1,000 airline tickets at $1.86, instead of $186.00. They honored the ticket sales at a loss of approximately $200,000!
  
  
  
• Lost profit in returns of products for which information does not match product reality.

Preventative Actions for Inaccurate Out-of-Date Information Content

• Make the problems visible by creating internal real-time IQ monitors that can detect runaway or out-of-control transactions. Create thresholds of reasonable transaction limits, updated for sale or promotion events, to allow you to identify abnormal transaction patterns, both high and low. Then, analyze the data associated with any runaway transactions to identify if an information quality issue is the cause, taking corrective action as necessary.
  
  
• Hold managers of content producers accountable for the quality and currency of web content. Once managers have accountability written into their job descriptions and are held accountable for information quality, and once training and resources are provided to information producers, then the content producers may also be held accountable for their information.
  
  
• Content producers must understand the “shelf life” of the information and create a schedule for the information to “expire.” If there is a known time of expiration, then calendar events can trigger a review to update or archive. At this time, the information must be:
  
• • Updated to keep it current, such as a new price for a current product,
  • Replaced with correct, current information, such as when a new-and-improved product replaces a previous product, or
  • Archived or deleted with no replacement, such as a discontinued product.

What do you think? Let me hear at Larry.English@infoimpact.com.

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