ISO 8000 - Data Quality 150:4: 4 Principles of roles and responsibilities for data quality management

ISO 8000-150 rests on three principles for setting roles and responsibilities that manage and improve data quality through systemic, systematic processes. First, an organization-wide approach: data are spread across the organization and pass through many hands, and errors can arise wherever data are inserted, updated or retrieved, so quality cannot be controlled from one corner; the causes have to be pinned down and quality managed everywhere, which needs roles and responsibilities that are allocated, communicated and understood across the whole organization so that processes produce what they should. Second, commitment from the top that gives people power to act: managing data quality costs real time and effort because errors are frequent, serious and complex, and recurrence stops only when ways of working change, so people with data quality duties at every level need resources and authority, backed by top management, which is responsible for co-ordinated governance that monitors and controls data quality management organization-wide. Third, a cycle of change that adds value: data requirements keep moving with internal and external change, and well-chosen roles let the organization respond fast. The organization can put the principles into practice through a framework that sets out levels of role and groups of responsibility (Annex B), by having suitable roles carry out each responsibility group as part of one whole (Annex C), and by covering a wide range of deployment scenarios (Annex D).