Higher education institutions have experienced a sharp increase in demand for accountability. To meet the growing demand by legislators, accreditors, consumers, taxpayers, and parents for evidence of successful outcomes, this important book provides higher education leaders and practitioners with actionable strategies for developing a comprehensive data culture throughout the entire institution. Exploring key considerations necessary for the development of an effective data culture in colleges and universities, this volume brings together diverse voices and perspectives, including institutional researchers, senior academic leaders, and faculty. Each chapter focuses on a critical element of managing or influencing a data culture, approaches for breaking through common challenges, and concludes with practical, research-based implementation strategies. Collectively, these strategies form a comprehensive list of recommendations for developing a data culture and becoming a change agent within your higher education institution.

Everything you need to know to apply data contracts and build a truly data-driven organization that harnesses quality data to deliver tangible business value Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook Key Features Understand data contracts and their power to resolving the problems in contemporary data platforms Learn how to design and implement a cutting-edge data platform powered by data contracts Access practical guidance from the pioneer of data contracts to get expert insights on effective utilization Book DescriptionDespite the passage of time and the evolution of technology and architecture, the challenges we face in building data platforms persist. Our data often remains unreliable, lacks trust, and fails to deliver the promised value. With Driving Data Quality with Data Contracts, you’ll discover the potential of data contracts to transform how you build your data platforms, finally overcoming these enduring problems. You’ll learn how establishing contracts as the interface allows you to explicitly assign responsibility and accountability of the data to those who know it best—the data generators—and give them the autonomy to generate and manage data as required. The book will show you how data contracts ensure that consumers get quality data with clearly defined expectations, enabling them to build on that data with confidence to deliver valuable analytics, performant ML models, and trusted data-driven products. By the end of this book, you’ll have gained a comprehensive understanding of how data contracts can revolutionize your organization’s data culture and provide a competitive advantage by unlocking the real value within your data.What you will learn Gain insights into the intricacies and shortcomings of today's data architectures Understand exactly how data contracts can solve prevalent data challenges Drive a fundamental transformation of your data culture by implementing data contracts Discover what goes into a data contract and why it's important Design a modern data architecture that leverages the power of data contracts Explore sample implementations to get practical knowledge of using data contracts Embrace best practices for the successful deployment of data contracts Who this book is for If you’re a data engineer, data leader, architect, or practitioner thinking about your data architecture and looking to design one that enables your organization to get the most value from your data, this book is for you. Additionally, staff engineers, product managers, and software engineering leaders and executives will also find valuable insights.

This book presents unique insights and advice on defining and managing the innovation transformation journey. Using novel ideas, examples and best practices, it empowers management executives at all levels to drive cultural, technological and organizational changes toward innovation. Covering modern innovation techniques, tools, programs and strategies, it focuses on the role of the latest technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence to discover, handle and manage ideas), methodologies (including Agile Engineering and Rapid Prototyping) and combinations of these (like hackathons or gamification). At the same time, it highlights the importance of culture and provides suggestions on how to build it. In the era of AI and the unprecedented pace of technology evolution, companies need to become truly innovative in order to survive. The transformation toward an innovation-led company is difficult – it requires a strong leadership and culture, advanced technologies and well-designed programs. The book is based on the author’s long-term experience and novel ideas, and reflects two decades of startup, consulting and corporate leadership experience. It is intended for business, technology, and innovation leaders.

Succeeding with data isn’t just a matter of putting Hadoop in your machine room, or hiring some physicists with crazy math skills. It requires you to develop a data culture that involves people throughout the organization. In this O’Reilly report, DJ Patil and Hilary Mason outline the steps you need to take if your company is to be truly data-driven—including the questions you should ask and the methods you should adopt. You’ll not only learn examples of how Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook use their data, but also how Walmart, UPS, and other organizations took advantage of this resource long before the advent of Big Data. No matter how you approach it, building a data culture is the key to success in the 21st century. You’ll explore: Data scientist skills—and why every company needs a Spock How the benefits of giving company-wide access to data outweigh the costs Why data-driven organizations use the scientific method to explore and solve data problems Key questions to help you develop a research-specific process for tackling important issues What to consider when assembling your data team Developing processes to keep your data team (and company) engaged Choosing technologies that are powerful, support teamwork, and easy to use and learn

"What do you need to become a data-driven organization? Far more than having big data or a crack team of unicorn data scientists, it requires establishing an effective, deeply-ingrained data culture. This practical book shows you how true data-drivenness involves processes that require genuine buy-in across your company ... Through interviews and examples from data scientists and analytics leaders in a variety of industries ... Anderson explains the analytics value chain you need to adopt when building predictive business models"--Publisher's description.

“This is not the kind of book that you’ll read one time and be done with. So scan it quickly the first time through to get an idea of its breadth. Then dig in on one topic of special importance to your work. Finally, use it as a reference to guide your next steps, learn details, and broaden your perspective.” from the foreword by Thomas C. Redman, Ph.D., “the Data Doc” Good data is a source of myriad opportunities, while bad data is a tremendous burden. Companies that manage their data effectively are able to achieve a competitive advantage in the marketplace, while bad data, like cancer, can weaken and kill an organization. In this comprehensive book, Rupa Mahanti provides guidance on the different aspects of data quality with the aim to be able to improve data quality. Specifically, the book addresses: -Causes of bad data quality, bad data quality impacts, and importance of data quality to justify the case for data quality-Butterfly effect of data quality-A detailed description of data quality dimensions and their measurement-Data quality strategy approach-Six Sigma - DMAIC approach to data quality-Data quality management techniques-Data quality in relation to data initiatives like data migration, MDM, data governance, etc.-Data quality myths, challenges, and critical success factorsStudents, academicians, professionals, and researchers can all use the content in this book to further their knowledge and get guidance on their own specific projects. It balances technical details (for example, SQL statements, relational database components, data quality dimensions measurements) and higher-level qualitative discussions (cost of data quality, data quality strategy, data quality maturity, the case made for data quality, and so on) with case studies, illustrations, and real-world examples throughout.

Identify data quality issues, leverage real-world examples and templates to drive change, and unlock the benefits of improved data in processes and decision-making Key Features Get a practical explanation of data quality concepts and the imperative for change when data is poor Gain insights into linking business objectives and data to drive the right data quality priorities Explore the data quality lifecycle and accelerate improvement with the help of real-world examples Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook Book DescriptionPoor data quality can lead to increased costs, hinder revenue growth, compromise decision-making, and introduce risk into organizations. This leads to employees, customers, and suppliers finding every interaction with the organization frustrating. Practical Data Quality provides a comprehensive view of managing data quality within your organization, covering everything from business cases through to embedding improvements that you make to the organization permanently. Each chapter explains a key element of data quality management, from linking strategy and data together to profiling and designing business rules which reveal bad data. The book outlines a suite of tried-and-tested reports that highlight bad data and allow you to develop a plan to make corrections. Throughout the book, you’ll work with real-world examples and utilize re-usable templates to accelerate your initiatives. By the end of this book, you’ll have gained a clear understanding of every stage of a data quality initiative and be able to drive tangible results for your organization at pace.What you will learn Explore data quality and see how it fits within a data management programme Differentiate your organization from its peers through data quality improvement Create a business case and get support for your data quality initiative Find out how business strategy can be linked to processes, analytics, and data to derive only the most important data quality rules Monitor data through engaging, business-friendly data quality dashboards Integrate data quality into everyday business activities to help achieve goals Avoid common mistakes when implementing data quality practices Who this book is for This book is for data analysts, data engineers, and chief data officers looking to understand data quality practices and their implementation in their organization. This book will also be helpful for business leaders who see data adversely affecting their success and data teams that want to optimize their data quality approach. No prior knowledge of data quality basics is required.