Data Profiling

As legacy data is uploaded for cleaning, Masterpiece runs a series automated routines that scan through free text descriptions to pick out key words, manufacturer names and part numbers to match and categorise each item against the currently approved catalogue and dictionary structures. Where there is inconsistent data, for example multiple ways of describing equivalent units of measure (Each, Piece, EA, PCE), this is highlighted and resolutions are then applied across the data set.

During every project sparesFinder's technical specialists conduct a series of analyses, often in conjunction with your own category experts, to optimise the scanning algorithms for each particular data set and to attain the best possible result. These automated processes are fast, robust, reliable and repeatable and help you to build a profile of your existing data set very quickly.

The resulting data can is then presented to the user in a series of highly configurable profile grids, showing the total number of data rows for whichever grouping or view of the dataset is required, and allowing drill down to view and adjust, or validate the data as required.

Process Workflow

Once the automated scanning processes have been run on your data, a clear picture will emerge of the difference between it and your required standard. Masterpiece breaks down the tasks involved in completing the data cleaning in many ways, according to the work required and offers project managers the ability to allocate tasks to individual users and track their progress.

Being web-based, Masterpiece can be made available to a user instantly, anywhere in the world, so the person best able to complete the work on time and most cost-effectively can be chosen. For example:

• Category experts who know your operating environment and can leverage their knowledge across the whole company, rather than at a single site
• OEMs and suppliers who can use their records of what they sold you, even when your files are incomplete
• Local inventory managers who know their stores and can quickly check and inspect a few items at zero travel cost
• Third party data cleaning companies where a rapid, bulk cleaning project is required, or remote office based research is a viable option. sparesFinder has partnered with specialist companies and regularly provides this turn-key solution to our customers

A very high quality of work is ensured by the granular and tightly controlled nature of our tool, which we can readily demonstrate to prospective customers. It even enables users to work on data supplied in different languages and identify duplicates across all the languages used. All of your users access the same database, so there is no risk of duplicated effort and, indeed, many time-saving features are built in to ensure maximum efficiency during manual data enhancement.

Quality Management

There are many ways of ensuring the highest levels of quality are attained, but too often quality assurance processes are added as an afterthought in application development. In Masterpiece, however, these have been embedded within our design and are apparent throughout the application. Examples of these include:

• Use of a technical dictionary with controlled entry for every field and guidance for users on the mandatory fields
• Bulk review and approval of all attribute values added during cleaning or item creation, with options to adjust or replace en masse
• Use of look-ahead fields and drop-down lists encourages users to use existing values
• Clear management of the check/control/approve process for every line of data
• Assignment of users to different levels of quality authority, so only more experienced staff are able to approve cleaning work
• A series of bulk quality analyses, looking for patterns across data sets, with exceptions subject to review and acceptance

The tracking of data quality is readily apparent using the data profile grids, right down to the level of giving a statistical analysis of the compliance of data with the targeted standard for every noun and modifier.

Control & Reporting

Within a data cleaning project, it is crucial to maintain a good history of work undertaken in order to ensure accountability, understand why decisions have been made and make corrections. All significant activity is recorded within the Masterpiece audit files and reports are available within the tool to track progress at individual, factory, country, regional and corporate levels.

Another very useful feature is the ability to add free format tags to data lines, which can then be used to group ad hoc tasks and quickly retrieve sets of data.

We have also designed the application to offer straightforward data extracts. Where a regular report is required it is best achieved by adding it to your reports library, but a user is also able to set up and save customised views of data and download this directly from the screen.