The development of a national water data base by the Bureau of Meteorology is our most recent requirement for consistent data of a known quality. So how will we know whether our data are “good enough”, what are the bench marks we will set, how can we know the quality of data to build a robust and reliable national water information resource? The hydrographic community is well acquainted with the Hydstra quality code system. When we load our data to Hydstra, and review it we are in a position to assign a code to indicate something about the quality of the data. But is this the only way we measure the quality of our data? And when we convert our data to information, will it have any relevance to anyone? Indeed what is information quality? How do you define it? How do you measure it? Information quality is now a growing discipline around the world. A number of thought leaders have provided guidance how to understand and measure information quality.

This presentation will consider what we mean by information quality. It will explore some of the dimensions of information quality and look at some metrics we can use to assess these dimensions.

Data quality metrics delivered through Hydstra’s KPI tools are now a routine part of NSW water data management.