July 2010 Archives

Did you know that effective data management and data quality are no longer "nice-to-have" options? According to independent consultant Joe McKendrick, organizations of all types are turning to data analytics to gain that extra edge in understanding both what customers are doing, and what they intend to do.

Read about the three elements that should be part of any effective data management effort here:

http://www.information-management.com/news/data_management_quality-10018204-1.html?zkPrintable=true

Did you know that Melissa Data's address cleansing Web service can be easily integrated with SAP? With just a click of a button, your address is verified, corrected and standardized. In this video, Forrest Horner, a senior IT analyst for Sacramento County, shows a snippet of the Web services' address cleansing functionality within a SAP environment. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-aCtcDSfKo

The address cleansing function is just one of the many features Melissa Data's WebSmart Services offers. The company recently introduced several new Web services to the WebSmart line. These functions include the Phone Verifier, ZIP Search, and Street Search.

• Phone Verifier validates phone numbers down to the entire 10 digits, appends geographic information, identifies landline vs. cell and business vs. residence.
• The ZIP Search service allows you to search for, or by city names and ZIP™ codes.
• The Street Search service lets you query all possible streets in the U.S., therefore allowing you to generate suggestions on bad address inputs.

The services are operating system and programming language neutral and support multiple protocols, including SOAP, XML and REST.

Call 1-800-MELISSA (635-4772) for more information or to request a free trial, go to:

http://www.melissadata.com/dqt/websmartres.asp

David Loshin, president on Knowledge Integrity Inc., offers four possible examples of organizational change that have ramifications in association with the data quality program:

1. Reorganization and downsizing

2. Outsourcing

3. Offshoring

4. IT management changes

In each of these instances, the challenges associated with changes to organizational staff will impact the continuity of the data quality program. Therefore, make sure that you accommodate for the possibilities of how staff turnover and organizational changes will affect the program at the implementation stage.

How is this done? Read David's suggestions and the full article here: http://www.melissadata.com/enews/articles/07082010/2.htm

A recent report from TDWI offers a checklist of 10 best practices that shows it's time to raise the bar on integration expectations, as the industry's evolution has outpaced mindsets.

Philip Russom, senior manager for TDWI Research and author of the report, emphasizes that there's no silver bullet for "ideal" data integration. As the report explains, DI is a diverse discipline that makes use of a number of tools, depending on one's business and technological requirements.

For any reader with an open mind, this report redefines data integration and its potential in modern, future-facing terms. Read the full article here: http://www.melissadata.com/enews/articles/07082010/1.htm