Editorials

Final (for now) Thoughts on Data Access

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Final (for now) Thoughts on Data Access
From Brian, some practical thoughts about how to approach accessibility, trust in data and bringing some meaningful steps into action – "After 13 years of BI projects, I do not see that this particular discussion has evolved significantly.

The "open access" crowd usually disregards the dangers of decision making based on data with no clear lineage and vague definitions (till it blows up in their faces), while the "lock it down till it hurts" party builds beautifully consistent systems that no one uses.

In my experience this is yet another problem that can only be solved on a case-by-case basis, guided by pragmatism, best practices, experience and common sense.

The one simple, cheap thing that can always help is appropriate labeling. Reports can’t just be an Excel spreadsheet with column and row headers, sets of numbers and charts. Time of generation, source(s), filter(s), amendment history, everything has to be part of any report that gets published, and most especially passed along by email. A clear distinction between "official" reports approved by management and verified by IT versus user manipulated data needs also helps."

….perhaps this is a key element, the presentation of the information. If we can enforce either voluntary "rules" or mandated rules for headers, footers and data source information, maybe this begins to answer the questions of data flow, usage and protection. While I don’t think this is a "final" answer, I do think it would help you feel better if the information were included, was automatically generated during the extraction and preparation, and then was very evident during the review of the reports.

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