Raising the Bar on Data Quality and Management? (RFG)

Raising the Bar on Data Quality and Management?

Lead Analysts: John Van Decker

Business Objects SA announced its BusinessObjects Data Quality data quality software suite, while Evolutionary Technologies International, Inc. (ETI) released its latest data quality product. Teradata, a division of NCR Corp., also announced that it has entered the master data management market with both product and consulting expertise.

Focal Points:

• Business Objects Data Quality XI is based on the data quality product set the company acquired with its purchase of Firstlogic, Inc. earlier this year. The new tool allows enterprises to scale their data quality solution deployments into a single corporate implementation, to establish a "single version of the truth," according to the company. The product features a centralized repository that enables rapid creation and consistent application of business rules, the company added. Data Quality XI works with solutions from Informatica Corp., Oracle Corp. (including those from the former PeopleSoft and Siebel), and SAP AG, Business Objects said. An automated watch list can be established with the new tool, to support USA PATRIOT Act initiatives and help avoid situations that would put corporations at risk, according to Business Objects. Improved integration with Business Objects' popular Crystal Reports tool promotes easy statistical analysis, while a new match wizard helps administrators fine-tune data quality strategies, the company added.
• ETI released its latest data quality tools, ETI Data Profiler and ETI Data Cleanser. Both are intended to extend the capabilities of the company's ETI Solution V5 software and ETI High Performance Connectors, according to the company. ETI Data Profiler automatically discovers content, quality, and structure patterns from a variety of data sources at the outset of an IT project, according to ETI. The tool features automated discovery and analysis, and tracks data quality improvement actions and problem resolution progress through its issue management feature, the company added. ETI Data Cleanser helps resolve data conflicts and inconsistencies via matching technology based on fuzzy logic, and uses advanced algorithms to correct replacement, transposition, and semantic error types, the company said. The tool can run concurrently with production systems, or offline in batch mode, ETI added.
• Teradata announced the availability of its Master Data Management (MDM) product, which enables companies to classify customer, product, and supplier data shared across the corporation, according to the company. Teradata is also developing new suite of MDM applications intended to deliver additional value. The first of these, Teradata Product Information Management, is available now, the company said. Complementary modules, including Customer Data Integration, will be released later, Teradata added. The company also announced that it has acquired additional development and consulting expertise to help meet enterprise data management needs.

RFG believes data quality and management solutions will become increasingly important to more enterprises through 2006, with additional ramp-up from 2007 through 2010. Business intelligence (BI) solution vendors have deemed this valuable for their platforms, and it is also an important capability for transactional systems, such as those used for ERP. Business Objects has made major investments during the past couple of years to extend its reporting capabilities, through the acquisition of Crystal. The company has also extended the functional capabilities of its solutions, through acquisitions such as that of SRC Software. These latest data quality announcements further extend the company's solution set, and represent the state of the art in integrated BI/business performance management (BPM) suites. The ETI announcement, meanwhile, underscores the value of solutions that help to achieve and maintain high levels of data quality. Overall, data quality can improve automated discovery and analysis, as well as major enterprise initiatives such as regulatory compliance. The addition of MDM capabilities to the Teradata product set is another acknowledgment of the enormity of the corporate data management challenge. IT executives should seek opportunities to improve BI, BPM, and operational solutions with data quality and management initiatives, and consistent, enterprise-wide data architectures. IT decision-makers should also consider both suite-based and standalone best-of-breed products when seeking solutions to improve enterprise data quality and management capabilities. (See the RFG Research Note "Data Architecture: The Key to Information Services.")