Understanding Data Quality

In today’s digital world, data is the foundation on which business decisions are made.  If the underlying data is incorrect, then conclusions or decisions based on that data can’t be trusted.  Essentially, data quality is a measure of how much you can trust your data to make decisions based on it. 

When it comes to power & energy management, data quality can be characterized by six different properties:

In a modern facility with a growing business and regular digital upgrades taking place, data quality can be difficult to maintain.  Here are some examples of common activities in a facility that can compromise energy management data quality:

• An electrical contractor resets a meter configuration accidentally when taking some equipment offline

• An IT upgrade disrupts the communication network that an energy management system uses to communicate with meters

• An IT employee accidentally deletes data or a hacker changes data in a database

• Two meters from different vendors calculate an electrical parameter differently

Based on these examples, it should be clear that data quality is important and subject to change over time as a facility or business evolves.