90% of your data is never touched a second time

90% of your data is never touched a second time

I heard recently on a podcast that 95% of all the art New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art collects is never actually displayed in the museum. It's stored in a warehouse in New Jersey!

Which got me to thinking; how much of the data that we collect do we actually use? I would estimate that 90% of the data we collect never gets used more than once.

Think about it: most of the data we collect on a day to day basis is transactional. We track when Wes joined, when he renewed, when he attended a conference, which sessions he attended, and so on. The vast majority of transactional data is used for the transaction itself and then never touched again.

So what does this mean for data management? I think there are several significant implications:

  1. We need very clear and specific processes for collecting transactional data, so that the data is collected consistently and uniformly throughout the organization.
  2. We need clear data governance for identifying and managing the data that we will use again (beyond the transaction).
  3. We need clear policies in place for regularly cleaning/purging the database so that we're not continuing to store data that is no longer used.

I've written many times before that, because of technology, data is easy to collect and cheap to store. Data accretes. But managing data has a cost, even if that data is not being actively used. (Think of the costs involved for storing all that art no one ever sees!)

So be sure you have policies in place to regularly review the data you're managing.

Wes's Wednesday Wisdom Archives

Painting the Bridge

May 24, 2023

Painting the Bridge According to this article, the Golden Gate Bridge is painted continuously year-round. …

Painting the Bridge Read More »

Maintenance isn’t sexy

May 17, 2023

Maintenance isn’t sexy I remember reading once long ago that one of the reasons our …

Maintenance isn’t sexy Read More »

“Will I still have a job when this is done?”

May 10, 2023

“Will I still have a job when this is done? While working with a client …

“Will I still have a job when this is done?” Read More »

Evolution, not revolution

May 3, 2023

Evolution, not revolution I don’t recall where I first heard it many decades ago, but …

Evolution, not revolution Read More »

The power of the users’ group

April 26, 2023

The power of the users’ group Recently in an online users group forum for an …

The power of the users’ group Read More »

Who is your data evangelist?

April 19, 2023

Who is your data evangelist? I was recently talking with a client of mine about …

Who is your data evangelist? Read More »

Who is your data evangelist?

April 19, 2023

Who is your data evangelist? I was recently talking with a client of mine about …

Who is your data evangelist? Read More »

Ratio of Data to Errors

April 12, 2023

Ratio of Data to Errors One of the elements of a good data governance plan …

Ratio of Data to Errors Read More »

Back to basics

April 5, 2023

Back to basics Over the past couple of years I’ve noticed that some AMS vendors …

Back to basics Read More »

Your people matter

March 29, 2023

Your people matter I’ve written many times about how people, process, and technology have to …

Your people matter Read More »

Scroll to Top