Information accuracy

Information accuracy is a measure of the reliability of information held within an IT system.

Information accuracy depends on both technical and human factors.

Technical factors include validation of input, and automatic reconciliation (cross-checking) of data with other sources.

Data integrity is an important part of information accuracy. Data integrity covers the mechanisms in place to ensure that data is consistent even if there has been a temporary or more permanent failure, such as a disk failure. Modern databases provide features that ensure data integrity if there is such a failure.

Human factors include correct data entry, and procedures in place to audit data.

Data consistency is related to information accuracy. It is a measure of the consistency of related information in different systems across the organisation. Data inconsistencies between systems can occur because of timing issues. They are also a particular problem if data is restored from backup copies.

Systems should not assume that their data is consistent with other systems, but should cope elegantly with mismatched data (for example rejecting orders for unknown projects, or holding transactions in a suspense file). Assuming or relying on data consistency undermines system autonomy.

See
Wikipedia articles on Data quality, Data integrity and Data consistency.