A Data Quality Assurance Model in the B2B Networked Environment

Business-to-Business (B2B) electronic commerce environments are characterized by frequent information exchange. The Internet and advanced information technologies (IT) permit organizations to access information across organizational boundaries. It is important to assure organizations of the quality of information they get from other organizations. However, a well-established data quality (DQ) standard does not exist to manage the quality of data exchanged in the B2B networked environment. In this paper, we develop a generic data quality standard for the B2B data exchange by proposing a three-layer model: 1) the “DQ 9000” quality management standard for the information product manufacturing process, 2) standardized data quality specifications in metadata exchanged using XMI, and 3) a third party data quality certification issuer. This model is a first step to systematically address data quality management in the B2B data exchanges.