Improving data quality in the Enlisted Master File

Abstract

This thesis establishes the importance of maintaining the quality of information in the Enlisted Master File (EMF). The Enlisted Master File is generated by the Navy Enlisted System, one of many applications which process data for the Manpower, Personnel, and Training community. To clarify what technologies, policies, and procedures can contribute to improved data quality, a framework for classifying these initiatives is developed. The data quality control environment of the Navy Enlisted system is then evaluated with respect to that framework. Two deficiencies in the data quality control environment are identified. One is the lack of techniques to measure the quality of data in the Enlisted Master File, and the other is the lack of comprehensive plans for data quality control for the data base which will be a successor to the master file. A technique for assessing data quality is then tested, but its application to the Navy Enlisted System was not successful in this limited study. Technologies which could contribute to enhanced data quality in the environment of the future are discussed, and a plan for actively managing data quality is proposed. In closing, specific recommendations for improving the current data quality control environment in the Total Force Information Systems Management Department are presented.