This blog series about a single source of truth for product content is based on the webinar, Let’s Get Digital, presented for the CHPA Academy in March 2024.
by Lisa Lopez, HRG data assets manager
How data is formatted, consumed, stored, and dispersed both internally and externally matters!
Having a single source of truth includes the structure and ongoing maintenance of a centralized repository of your organization’s master data. How you consume new data, and store, utilize, and maintain your master data establishes how you will maintain data integrity to support a single trusted source of truth for your organization. Implementation of data governance is important and helps maintain that source of truth.
The best ways to uphold data integrity is to either implement checks and balances with internal staffing and systems, or partner with a third-party data management vendor who can accomplish the checks and balances for you. Whichever route you choose to pursue, follow these guidelines for the best outcome.
- Define processes for collecting, using, reviewing, and reporting data.
- Ensure consistency across systems, departments, and geographies.
- Confirm accuracy in every instance of collected data.
- Allow accessibility to those who need to view and use data assets.
- Safeguard sensitive information or limit access where appropriate.
- Verify compliance with data privacy laws as they continuously evolve.
At HRG we have processes in place to ensure that we have accurate and current data. There are multiple checks and balances between our category, pricing, and data teams to ensure the items in our database are up to date. And it’s an ongoing process that is reliable and rules-based. We apply these principles on client projects as well. It’s what we do and how we do it that allows our single source of data to be trustworthy and complete.