Analysis of Tools for Data Cleaning and Quality Management

Analysis of Tools for Data Cleaning and Quality Management Data cleaning is needed in process of combining heterogeneous data sources with relation or tables in databases. Data cleaning or data cleansing or data scrubbing is defined as removing and detecting errors along with ambiguities existing in files, log tables. It is done with the aim to improve quality of data. Data quality and data cleaning are both related terms. Both are directly proportional to each other. If data is cleansed timely then quality of data will get improved day by day. There are various data cleaning tools that are freely available on net. The tools include Winpure Clean and Match, OpenRefine, Wrangler, Data cleaner and many more. The thesis presents information about WinPure Clean and Match data cleaning tool, its benefits and applications in running environment due to its three filtered mechanism of cleaning data. Its implementation has been done by taking user defined database and results are presented in this chapter. WinPure Clean and Match It is one of easiest and simplest three phase filtered cleaning tool to perform data cleansing and data de-duplication. It is designed in such a way that running this application saves time and money. The main benefit of this tool is that we can import two tables or lists at same time. The software uses fuzzy matching algorithm technique for performing powerful data de-duplication. The functions of this tool are as follows: Removes redundant data from databases in faster way. Correct misspellings and incorrect email addresses. It also converts words to uppercase or lowercase depending on user’s demand. Removes unwanted punctuation and spelling errors. Helps to relocate missing data and gives statistics in form of 3D chart. This option can be proven useful in finding population percentage of particular area. It automatically capitalizes first alphabet of every word. Advantages Increases accuracy and utilization of database (either professional database, user defined database or consumer database). Eliminate duplicity from databases using fuzzy matching de-duplication technique. Increases industry perspectives by using standard naming conventions with facility of removing duplicate data from original data. Export given file into various formats like access, excel(95), excel (2007), outlook systems etc. Applications The software is made for use from normal users to IT professionals. It is ideal for marketing, banking, universities and various IT organizations. Working of WinPure Clean and Match Clean and Match is made of three components- Data, Clean and Match. Data gives us imported list of tables. Clean option consists of seven modules each having different purposes. The clean section is basically used to analyze, clean, correct and correctly populate given table without removing duplicity. It has separate cleansing modules like Statistics Module, Case converter, Text cleaner, Column cleaner, E-mail cleaner, column splitter and column merger. Match section is used to detect duplicity using fuzzy matching de-duplication technique. WinPure Clean and Match contains a unique 3 step approach for finding duplications in given list or database. Step 1: The first step is to specify which table/s and columns you would like to use to search for possible duplications. Step 2: The second step is to specify which matching technique you would like to use either basic (telephone numbers, emails, etc) or advanced de-duplication with or without fuzzy matching (names, addresses, etc. Step 3: The final step is to specify which viewing screen you would like to use, WinPure Clean Match offers two unique viewing screens for managing the duplicated records. Limitations of WinPure Clean and Match (a) It has nothing to deal with connectivity and networking of dataset. It simply removes redundant words by cleaning and matching data. (b) It is not derived from any expert systems like Simile Longwell CSI and lacks client server terminology. (c) It means modifying/updating dataset is not possible once data is imported in tool. Google Refine Google refine overcomes the limitations of WinPure Clean and Match. It was earlier called as OpenRefine. It is powerful tool for working with dirty data and cleans, transforms data along with various services to link it to databases like Freebase. OpenRefine understands a variety of data file formats. Currently, it tries to guess the format based on the file extension. For example,.xmlfiles are of course in XML. By default, an unknown file extension is assumed to be either tab-separated value (TSV) or comma-separated value (CSV). Once imported, the data is stored in OpenRefines own format, and original data file is left undisturbed. Google Refine Architecture OpenRefine is a web application that is intended to be run on ones own machine and used by oneself. The machine has server as well as client side. The server-side maintains states of the data (undo/redo history, long-running processes, etc.) while the client-side maintains states of the user interface (facets and their selections, view pagination, etc.). The client-side makes GET and POST Ajax calls to modify and fetch data related information from server side. The architecture has come into existence from expert systems like Simile Long well CSI, a faceted browser for RDF data. It provides a good separation of concerns (data vs. Universal interface) and also makes it quick and easy to implement user interface features using familiar web technologies. Server-Side: It tells about modeling of data and storing it into given repository. Client-Side: It tells about building of GUI. Faceted Browsing: It is related to facets (text, column). It tells how to use facets in browsing data. Reconciliation Service API: It describes a standard reconciliation service structure. 5.6. Using Data Quality Services in connecting databases This section is to provide high quality data by introducing data quality services (DQS) in Microsoft SQL Server. The data-quality solution provided by Data Quality Services (DQS) enables an IT professional to maintain the quality of their data and ensure that the data is suited for its business usage. DQS is a knowledge-driven solution that provides both computer-assisted and interactive ways to manage the integrity and quality of your data sources. DQS enables you to discover, build, and manage knowledge about your data. You can then use that knowledge to perform data cleansing, matching, and profiling.It is based on building of knowledge base or test bed to identify the quality of data as well as correcting bad quality of data. Data Quality Services is a very important concept of SQL Server. Utilisation of data cleaning and quality phases The process of data cleaning starts from the starting phase when user chooses data from random dataset from internet or some books. A framework showing utility of these processes is described below in form of sequential steps listed below: Step 1) Choose random dataset Step 2) Shorten it as per user requirements Step 3) Find whether data contains dirty bits or not. Step 4) Cleanse data by testing it on application platforms like WinPure Clean and Match and Google Refine. Step 5) Then the task of creating high quality data is initiated. Step 6) Connect refined database with SQL server. Step7) Install Data Quality Services (DQS). Step 8) Knowledge base is built through DQS interface. Step 9) After building database, process of knowledge discovery has been started. Step 10) In knowledge discovery process, normalization of string values has been done to replace incorrect spellings and errors. Step 11) It leads to production of high quality data by removing dirty bits of data. Shortcomings of the existing tools WinPure Clean and Match simply clean data by removing redundant words. It does not give information about synonyms and homophones. This data cleaning tool produces moderate correctness level. The tool only gives details of incorrect words and matched words instead of removing similar words. It leads to wastage of memory and less accuracy. Data Quality Services (DQS) is somewhat complex for non technical users. A normal person cannot use this quality software without having knowledge of databases. DQS improves data quality with human intervention. If user selects correct spelling of given word, then DQS approves it else reject it. There is no automatic system for detection of strings and synonyms. One has to create set up of SQL in machine to use it. Both tools work syntactically rather than semantically. That is the reason they are unable to find synonyms. These tools corrects given data according to predefined syntaxes like spelling errors, omitting commas etc. Keeping the above shortcomings in consideration, the study has proposed data cleaning algorithm by using String detection Matching technique via WordNet.

Increasing Organizational Productivity Essay

There is a great challenge in increasing the productivity of organizations particularly to the managers who properly have turned to be experts in their specific fields. Basing on an organizational challenge that is tending to ubiquity, the productivity of the organization is the ratio that evaluates the efficiency of the resources used in the production of services. Production refers to the ratio between outputs and inputs. There are some particular companies that manage to produce more after using less as compared to other companies even when the conditions for productions are quite the same. Two companies may happen to be working in the same industry, deal with the same suppliers and resources, and work in similar business environment and after all, show some differences in organizational productivity. It means therefore the greatest challenge for managers of specific organizations is to have ideas on how to increase productivity. This is one of the manager’s responsibilities that lead to increasing the market share of an organization as well as maintaining profit (Smith, 1995). Goal setting A manager of an organization has to clarify the goals of the organizations, device processes so as to achieve them and in addition control the processes. A Service oriented organization basically shares the same goals with the peer organizations. The goals include developing a service that seems superior as compared to those offered in the marketplace. The second goal involves increasing the market share for the organizations. Sustain the profits and at the same time increase sales volume should be included. Moreover, offering suitable return on investment and using the available technology to increase productivity are also included. The goals also include eliminating waste, fostering the morale of the employees, reaching the best level of functioning efficiency and enhancing the image of the organization. It should be noted that the goals are related to each other and more importantly, their major intention is to increase the productivity of an organization. In all organizations the efforts of the employees basically determine the effectiveness of the organization. Generally, productivity happens in correlation to the interest and concern employees portray to a specific input component. Thus the human resource manager should be actively involved in developing and putting into practice practices and policies which encourage employees’ productivity (Maanen, 1998). Coping with factors that affect production There are some factors that have a great effect on productivity in service oriented companies. These are organization factors, environment factors, factors related to employee and management factors. The management of an organization have the obligation of examining the factors correctively to find out how one factor affects the other. This is because failure to examine a particular factor may lead to lowering of productivity. Since nobody can have a control on the environmental factors, the organization must always strive to be flexible so as to adapt to them. The structure of the organization is influenced by the environment it operates on and the environment has a significant impact on the employees. It is obvious that the style of the management establishes the effectiveness of the organization simply because it affects the reaction and attitude of the employee. Considering the relationship that exists among the factors have an ultimate effect on the productivity of an organization (Smith, 1995). The changing conditions in the economy have intense effect on the productivity of an organization and hence the degree of the stability of the company in terms of economy has effects on decisions concerning growth and staffing. As a result the labour union may change the benefits, wages and work rules and therefore the human resource department have to be cautious of the changes in the labour market conditions. An organization ought to be in a position that it can adapt easily to changing work environment. The organization factors which include structure, climate and technology also affect the profitability, efficiency and more particularly productivity (Smith, 1995). The application of management approaches of economy, efficiency as well as effectiveness as productivity measurement in a service oriented company have been noted not to increase productivity significantly (Bass& Avolio, 1998). There is need to incorporate the use of ethical approaches such as empathy and evaluation to increase the production of the organizations to a greater extent. There are limits that seem practical in the level of formalization and specialization of an organization. It may be national, privately owned or publicly owned and to increase productivity, the human practices and policies must match with the complexity and size of an organization. The makeup as well as size of the Human Resource department ought to echo with the organization’s structure. Another thing to consider is the degree of specialization or in other words technology. This involves the technical level of the processes in an organization. To sustain market viability, there is need for a particular scope of development and research. Employees should have the necessary skills basing on varying degrees. An organization ought to focus on whether it wishes to be employee-centred hence encourage employees to attain results. It must bear in mind its reward systems, communicating information, decision making and offering a positive climate for all employees. The Human Resource professionals ought to involve themselves in determining the climate of the organization. If it happens that they do not get involved, it means they lack the power to command a position that seems strong to lead to the implementation of policies created by the climate. Each organization has a basic management style that may be naturally evolved or consciously adopted. Whether democratic, task-oriented, authoritarian, laissez-faire, whether it strives to be reactive or chooses to be proactive or innovative, the managerial style for a particular organization has intense effect on the ability of the HR department in developing and implementing procedures and policies as well as on the employees. The function of the Human Resource is also highly affected by the manner in which resources are attained and used, the question regarding who makes decisions and sets the goals, how communication is communicated and the style of motivation used (Warrwick Organizational Behaviour Staff,2001). Employee attitude is another factor that has effect on the productivity of an organization. It is through the employees that the goals of an organization are attained and as a result they drive the failure or success of the organization. It is important to have employees with the proper educational levels or knowledge and skill concerning the job. Moreover, the employees’ motivation and abilities are also important factors to consider. The organization should avoid setting practices and policies that intensify negatively the employees’ social, personal, religious and political factors since this is likely to affect the workers’ effectiveness hence influencing productivity (Warrwick Organizational Behaviour Staff, 2001) What matters most? Productivity is concerned with what can be derived from the organizations’ resources and hence it is important to clearly list the most significant resource. For example in labour-intensive industries, the major input could be total number of hours worked by an individual and in steel plants could be the equipment. To increase productivity it is good to benchmark the operations in an organization to avoid being left behind in competition. An organization should invest in resources and this does not imply that there is need to use large sums of money. Investment could entail training employees on skills, operations as well as procedures. Training employees help impact in them vital skills that would help them to avoid making mistakes in customer service and manufacturing. For example, investing in technology may assist the organization to speed up in production and reduce the head count hence leading to less wastage. Paying the employees for work done would not bring the best for an organization. There are so many factors that affect the employees’ behavior. The organization needs to carry out an analysis and determine what has been missing in the list of motivating employees. To set things straight, there is need for a balanced approach and studies have revealed that doing away with pilferage of efforts could result to increased productivity (Warrwick Organizational Behaviour Staff, 2001). Best practices Increasing revenues and lowering costs are the major fundamental goals for service oriented organizations. At the same time as a businesses strives to attain its goals and objectives, IT organizations are pushed forward to accomplishing more with less. IT organizations have an added obligation of assisting other organizations comply with the regulatory requirements. Apparently, in the past years, reducing risk in organizations has assumed a different meaning and has become the most significant goal for organizations. For an organization to succeed in increasing productivity, it needs to examine the other perspective of reducing risks. This means that the need to manage and reduce risks is intertwined to increasing productivity. Managing risks involves reliability, compliance and security (Kelly, 2005). From the compliance point of view, development organizations ought to make sure that business processes as well as applications data consistently adhere to the regulatory guidelines and requirements. Failure to do this may imply that many IT departments could be exposing the organization to regulatory and legal risks. Organizations need to meet the requirement of the SOX-type reporting and hence organizations need to perfectly ensure that any alterations in their applications do not interfere but rather meet with other regulations including those of SOX. Basing on the reliability perspective, it is better that organizations continue with the attempts of increasing availability and reliability of the internal and facing customers’ applications. The key component to ensuring reliability is testing. However, many organizations fail in the procedure as they test what they perceive as important since they have little testing time at their disposal. This means that the organization leaves what is most important in real sense. Therefore, to become a bit more efficient and effective, organizations are required to perfect their effectiveness in the testing process and this means that testing should including testing the most important aspects or components and not the easiest components. From a security point of view, this is the real meaning of business in organizations. A breach in the application raises the risks involved in the organizations and therefore there should be a good thought on matters to do with reducing possibility attacks and this henceforth reduce risks linked to data access and applications (Kelly, 2005). The issue linked to managing risks is developer productivity. There is a lot of pressure on service oriented organizations to execute more while utilizing less. There is more job security if there is consequent greater effectiveness and developer’s productivity. It does not count much if organizations purpose to increase productivity without the proper tools as this will not show the practicability of the set goals. This is like purposing to work smarter but not harder. To increase organizations’ productivity, developers ought to come up with new ways of minimizing the time that is not utilized in benefiting the business value. For instance, the time utilized in testing does not particularly give business its value, but instead gives support on the release of an application that is complete which focus on a business need. Looking for ways to effectively and efficiently test will lead to an increase in productivity hence affect positively the delivering of the business value. The best way for efficient testing is creating a good level for best practices and not waste time in rebuilding standards from the grassroots (Kelly, 2005). Nothing comes easy and therefore if in an organization there will be addressing of challenges and risks, more effort and may be more time will be used. This implies that more money will be needed for executing the process. There is no way an organization can increase quality without having to increase time and cost. Organizations need to think on the best manner of reaching quality in the current world in the available time in a manner that is cost effective. This is the challenge that organizations face today. The best practices assist organizations to have a good improvement in the performance and efficiency of the organizations (Kelly, 2005). In the past years organizations considered the top down approach as the best in increasing productivity. However, this can also be achieved by using the bottoms up approach and this helps organizations to define, capture and apply the best practices in particular portions of the cycle of development. For instance, a particular organization may put into practice a limited performance of code of review for specific forms of services or applications. On the other hand, the organization may apply development tools and automated testing that streamline the identification of errors and also educate developers on the appropriate modes of solving errors as well as accomplishing a given job.

The Social Disorganization Theory Of Crime - 1141 Words

One of the most important and well-studied criminological theories intended to explain and predict crime rates is social disorganization theory (Sampson 2012). The social disorganization theory of crime was originally articulated by Shaw and McKay (1942) to explain differences in neighborhood crime rates among juvenile delinquents in concentric zones in the Chicago metropolitan area. They found that some areas had consistently high crime rates and juvenile arrests over time despite population changes in race and ethnicity, suggesting that structural factors within a neighborhood were more important for crime than characteristics of individuals within that location. The original theory provided examples of residential instability, racial†¦show more content†¦Lastly, economic disadvantage can bring unwanted chaos and disruption to the family, divorce, single parent situations, bring juveniles being unsupervised, which can lead to criminal opportunities, also a feeling of despe ration among the adults themselves, which can lead to other criminal behavior such as drug use, etc. The work of Bursik, (1988) demonstrated that individual and contextual factors are salient in predicting crime that victimization is important to assess in addition to crime rates and that a community’s crime rate may affect social control and vice versa. Institutional Anomie Theory in the simplest terms is a lack of social or ethical norms in an individual or group. When Dr. Merton (1938) was developing his theory on deviance, he analyzed American culture, structure, and anomie. Dr. Merton believed that all United States citizens believed and strived for the â€Å"American Dream†; however, the ways in which citizens obtain the â€Å"American Dream† of success are not the same, simply because not all citizens have the same opportunities and advantages. (Savolainen, 2000). Dr. Merton believed that this leads to deviance in achieving the â€Å"American Dream† by some who turn to illegal activity while still believing in the dream of success but using illegal means to obtain the dream by such activity as illegal drugShow MoreRelatedSocial Disorganization Theory And Crime998 Words   |  4 PagesStarz’ â€Å"Power , Social Disorganization Theory and Crime Introduction: In the television show â€Å"Power†, organized crime is the most prevalent form of crime displayed. Organized crime can be defined as a methodically unlawful activity for profit on a city-wide. interstate and worldwide scale. 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Learning Styles and the 4 Quadrants of Learning

From Ron Gross book, Peak Learning: How to Create Your Own Lifelong Education Program for Personal Enlightenment and Professional Success comes this learning styles inventory designed to help you discover your preferences for dealing with facts or feelings, using logic or imagination, and thinking things through yourself or with other people--reprinted with permission. The exercise is based on the pioneering work of Ned Herrmann and his Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI). Youll find more on Herrmanns work, including info on his Whole Brain Technology, assessments, products, and consulting at Herrmann International. Herrmann expressed his personal credo in a colorful book, The Creative Brain, in which he tells the story of how the idea of stylistic quadrants first came to him. Its a vivid example of how ones preferred ways of knowing can lead to fresh ideas. Herrmann had been intrigued by both Roger Sperrys work with two different brain-hemisphere styles and Paul MacLeans theory of the three-level brain. Herrmann administered a homemade test to fellow workers to see whether he could correlate their preference in learning with the idea of brain-hemisphere dominance. The responses seemed to group themselves into four categories, not two as hed anticipated. Then, while driving home from work one day, he combined his visual images of the two theories and had this experience: Eureka! There, suddenly, was the connecting link I had been searching for! ... The limbic system was also divided into two separated halves, and also endowed with a cortex capable of thinking, and also connected by a commissure—just like the cerebral hemispheres. Instead of there being two parts of the specialized brain, there were four—the number of clusters the data had been showing! ... So, what I had been calling left brain, would now become the left cerebral hemisphere. What was the right brain, now became the right cerebral hemisphere. What had been left center, would now be left limbic, and right center was now right limbic. The whole idea unfolded with such speed and intensity that it blotted out conscious awareness of everything else. I discovered after the image of this new model had taken form in my mind that my exit had gone by some time ago. The last 10 miles had been a total blank! Note how Herrmanns preference for visual ways of thinking led him to a spatial image, which sparked the new idea. Of course, he followed up on his insight by using his analytical and verbal skills to delineate how the quadrants might work. The moral, notes Herrmann, is that if we want to learn more creatively, we need to learn to trust our non-verbal right brain, to follow our hunches, and to follow them up with careful, highly focused left-brain verification. The Four Quadrants Exercise Start by picking three learning areas. One might be your favorite school subject, the one you had the most fun with. Try to find another that was different—perhaps the subject you hated most. The third should be a subject you are currently starting to learn or one that youve had an intention to begin for some time. Now read the following descriptions of four learners styles and decide which one was (or would have been for the subject you hated) closest to your most comfortable way of learning the subject. Give that description the number 1. Give the one you like least a 3. Of the two styles remaining, decide which one might be slightly more enjoyable for you and number it 2. Do this for all three learning areas on your list. Remember, there are no wrong answers here. All four styles are equally valid. Likewise, dont feel you have to be consistent. If one style seems better for one area, but not as comfortable for another, do not give it the same number in both cases. Style A The essence of any subject is a hardcore of solid data. Learning is built up logically on a foundation of specific knowledge. Whether youre learning history, architecture, or accounting, you need a logical, rational approach to get your facts straight. If you focus on verifiable facts on which everyone can agree, you can come up with more precise and efficient theories to clarify the situation. Style B I thrive on order. I feel most comfortable when someone who really knows has laid out whats to be learned, in sequence. Then I can tackle the details, knowing that Im going to cover the whole subject in the right order. Why flop around reinventing the wheel, when an expert has been through it all before? Whether its a textbook, a computer program, or a workshop—what I want is a well-planned, precise curriculum to work my way through. Style C What is learning, anyway, except communication among people?! Even reading a book alone is interesting primarily because youre in touch with another person, the author. My own ideal way to learn is simply to talk with others interested in the same subject, learning how they feel, and coming to understand better what the subject means to them. When I was in school my favorite kind of class was a free-wheeling discussion, or going out for coffee afterward to discuss the lesson. Style D The underlying spirit of any subject is whats important to me. Once you grasp that, and really feel it with your whole being, learning becomes meaningful. Thats obvious for fields like philosophy and art, but even in a field like business management, isnt the important thing the vision in peoples minds? Are they simply pursuing profit or do they see profits as a way to make a contribution to society? Maybe they have a totally unexpected motive for what they do. When I study something, I want to stay open to turning the information upside down and looking at it in a brand-new way, rather than being spoon-fed specific techniques.