Determining the Cost and Effectiveness of Enhancing Data in the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency Supply Chain

We present here a methodology for determining the benefits that can accrue from efforts to enhance data quality relative to the cost of those efforts. The methodology proposes a Data Enhancement Index (DEI) which is a vector sum of measurements of aggregate properties of a legacy data collection along three axes. The first axis measures the current state of the business process that the data collection is meant to support. The second axis measures the current state of the supporting data. The third axis measures the ease with which current data can be enhanced. The construction of the DEI is presented in the context of the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) supply chain management and the legacy data that supports it. The DEI is computed for various classes of repair parts that the DLA purchases and indicates which classes of repair parts would achieve the greatest improvement in supply chain performance from an effort to enhance technical data about the parts purchased.