| Why Data Management is Vital |
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| Good
decisions are invariably based on Accurate and Timely
Information. Accurate information is only of value if it
has commonly understood meaning across the whole
business, in this case Defence. By agreeing meanings both the sender and the
receiver have the same understanding of the information
that is passing between them.
The loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter is a good example of what can go wrong.
The loss of the $125 million spacecraft was attributed to the fact that its spacecraft and navigational teams were
using different units of measure. One was using metric, and the other imperial.
What could have been done to prevent this error?
Both teams should have agreed that measurements passing between them would
always be metric (or always imperial).
Effective Data Management is one enabler for interoperability. Without it, new
‘ systems ’ will be developed in isolation, requiring complex, expensive and bilateral
interfaces to each system with which they need to exchange data.
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Reviewed 2004-09-29 |
Last updated on 2003-07-01 |
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