

Software like Tableau Prep can help you drive a quality data culture by providing visual and direct ways to combine and clean your data. To do this, you should document the tools you might use to create this culture and what data quality means to you.ĭata cleaning tools and software for efficiency Before you get there, it is important to create a culture of quality data in your organization. False conclusions can lead to an embarrassing moment in a reporting meeting when you realize your data doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

This step is needed to determine the validity of that number. Remember: just because an outlier exists, doesn’t mean it is incorrect. However, sometimes it is the appearance of an outlier that will prove a theory you are working on. If you have a legitimate reason to remove an outlier, like improper data-entry, doing so will help the performance of the data you are working with. Often, there will be one-off observations where, at a glance, they do not appear to fit within the data you are analyzing. For example, you may find “N/A” and “Not Applicable” both appear, but they should be analyzed as the same category. These inconsistencies can cause mislabeled categories or classes. Structural errors are when you measure or transfer data and notice strange naming conventions, typos, or incorrect capitalization. This can make analysis more efficient and minimize distraction from your primary target-as well as creating a more manageable and more performant dataset. For example, if you want to analyze data regarding millennial customers, but your dataset includes older generations, you might remove those irrelevant observations.

Irrelevant observations are when you notice observations that do not fit into the specific problem you are trying to analyze. De-duplication is one of the largest areas to be considered in this process. When you combine data sets from multiple places, scrape data, or receive data from clients or multiple departments, there are opportunities to create duplicate data. Duplicate observations will happen most often during data collection. Remove unwanted observations from your dataset, including duplicate observations or irrelevant observations. Step 1: Remove duplicate or irrelevant observations While the techniques used for data cleaning may vary according to the types of data your company stores, you can follow these basic steps to map out a framework for your organization. Reference Materials Toggle sub-navigation.Teams and Organizations Toggle sub-navigation.
