M. David Allen, Data Blueprint

version (changing data into other forms, states, or products), or scrubbing (inspecting and manipulat-ing, recoding, or rekeying data to prepare it for sub-sequent use). • Approximately two-thirds of organizational data managers have formal data management training; slightly more than two-thirds of organizations use or plan to apply formal metadata management tech-niques; and slightly fewer than one-half manage their metadata using computer-aided software engineer-ing tools and repository technologies.3 When combined with our personal observations, these results suggest that most organizations can benefit from the application of organization-wide data management practices. Failure to manage data as an enterprise-, cor-porate-, or organization-wide asset is costly in terms of market share, profit, strategic opportunity, stock price, and so on. To the extent that world-class organizations have shown that opportunities can be created through the effective use of data, investing in data as the only organizational asset that can’t be depleted should be of great interest. Increasing data management practice maturity levels can positively impact the coordination of data flow among organizations, individuals, and systems. Results from a self-assessment provide a roadmap for improving organizational data management practices