With such an abundance of raw data in the financial, energy, and commodities industries, there’s still one piece of the data collection puzzle that often gets overlooked – data integrity. Data integrity is something everybody needs, but can be difficult to define, let alone achieve.
Problems Companies Face
By the very nature of the industry, data is going to cause companies headaches from time to time. As data specialists, some of the common issues we are constantly addressing include:
- Data outliers: Unless someone is looking at surface temperatures from the planet Venus, values above 400 degrees are probably mistypes by the original data source. We see these kinds of typos all the time and they can completely change the meaning of a value.
- Incomplete data: Sometimes data sources just don’t publish a complete set of data. This happens occasionally, and often causes disruption among data consumers.
- Untimely data: Sometimes data comes in late. When this happens, systems and processes relying on the data can be affected.
- Changing Landscapes: Data vendors are constantly changing formats with little warning. Systems picking up data need to be easily maintained and updated when a data source decides to alter its publishing method or format.
With ZE, businesses not only have the advantage of an enterprise-level data management software suite, but they also leverage ZE’s services, processes and methodologies that emphasize quality and reliability.
So how did ZE become an industry leader in quality data capture?
- Years of Experience: We’ve been around for a long time, and maintain thousands of feeds from over 400 vendors. What this means is that our clients benefit from a large breadth of experience and a fundamental understanding of market data.
- Data Vendor Relationships: ZE keeps in contact with many data vendors to ensure that we’re on top of any changes or developments that need to be made on a parser (we call them processors).
- 24X7 Data Monitoring Services: Our clients don’t want to worry about data quality, so we provide around-the-clock monitoring services. Our monitoring ensures that clients get peace of mind in knowing that business decisions are being made with the highest quality of data.
- Data Integrity Services: At ZE, we understand that data is more than just numbers. A dedicated Data Integrity Team researches, monitors and understands the data our clients are using. With organizational intelligence around the data our clients utilize, we know what your data means, and more importantly, we know how to maintain high quality.
- Robust Data Monitoring Tool: The ZEMA Data Validation tool is an enterprise-level data monitoring application that monitors incoming data for timeliness, completeness and correctness. Through an easy to use interface, clients can quickly understand the status of their data and can take action based on those sources.
- Data Source Analysis: Some data sources will be more prone to format changes. When ZE develops a processor, a historical analysis is done on the original data source. The ZE team can identify patterns in the way the source changes its format over the course of weeks or months and configure the processor to handle it. In this way, our parsers are built to withstand changes from the get-go.
- Processor Patches: No matter how much flexibility is built into a processor, data source format changes still happen without notice. To ensure minimal impacts, ZE’s mandate is to get those feeds up and running as soon as possible. Our release teams and services teams work hand in hand to ensure data is up and running as soon as possible. ZE has become an industry leader in rapid response and getting clients up and running.
With ZE, companies get the benefit of robust data capture that ensures minimal gaps, timely collection and reliable fixes when they’re needed. We know data quality is important to our clients, and our entire development cycle reflects a stable, sustainable approach. With 24×7 support and a dedicated data integrity team, ZE is always monitoring market data feeds to stay on top of developments.
To learn more about the ZEMA solution and the many ways it can improve your organization’s data management, book a demo.