Data management – and software for domain experts

Most industries struggle with data management – certainly the ones which we look at in detail do (shipping and oil and gas).

Data management is a problem for the organisation but not usually anyone’s individual problem, because leaving data in a mess today causes problems for the unknown person who has to make sense of it in 3 years time, and there lies the root of the problem.

If companies want to take the challenge seriously, then the solution probably comes to
– understanding the data flows which the company actually does
– coming up with agreed systems which will lead to the right data being stored in the right place
– giving all of the people in ‘crunch’ positions, who enter data into the corporate archive, tools to help them check that the data is in the right format
– people with responsibility for the ongoing quality of different types of data who have tools to check that data being entered is the right quality and format.

So you probably end up with a ‘Software for Domain Experts’ type structure with small ‘apps’ for doing specific tasks, entering data, checking data, checking the data which has been entered, which the domain experts use

And behind that, the corporate database.