Section 13 and 14 - Validation and Verification of Data
Section 13 and 14 - Validation and Verification of Data
Validation of Data
Validation of Data is the process of ensuring data have undergone data cleansing to ensure they
have data quality, that is, that they are both correct and useful. It uses routines, often called
"validation rules" "validation constraints" or "check routines", that check for correctness,
meaningfulness, and security of data that are input to the system. The rules may be implemented
through the automated facilities of a data dictionary, or by the inclusion of explicit application
program validation logic.
Reasonableness Check
A reasonableness check is a test to
determine whether a value conforms to
specified criteria. Note: These are
quality checks to ensure that data is complete,
reasonable, formatted correctly, and within
the ranges expected. For example, if you
expect an age, you should see positive
values ranging 0 to 110 or so (no negative
values or letters!). As another example, an
auditor could compare a reported ending
inventory balance to the amount of storage
space in a company's warehouse, to see if
the reported amount of inventory could fit in there.
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Data-type check
Data type check is customarily carried
out on one or more simple data fields. The
simplest kind of data type validation
verifies that the individual characters
provided through user input are consistent
with the expected characters of one or
more known primitive data types as
defined in a programming language or
data storage and retrieval mechanism. It
also verifies the specification of the
following primitive data types; 1) integers
(whole numbers), 2) real or floating point (decimals), 3) character, 4) string (text or words), 5)
alphanumeric (letters and numbers combined) or 6) Boolean (AND, OR, NOT).
Consistency Check
A consistency check ensures that the
entered data is logical. For example, the
delivery date cannot be before the order
date. A consistency check will perform a
test to determine if the data has any internal
conflicts. Another example is a column in a
database may only have the values for a coin
flip as "heads" or "tails." The image on the
right, you have to choices; to Use a header
or to Use a footer.
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Presence Check
A presence check makes sure that a critical field cannot be left blank, it must be filled in.
For example, a school will always want to know an emergency contact number, a video rental
store might always want to know a customer's address, a wedding dress shop might always want a
record of the brides wedding date. It the image above, the First Name field MUST be filled in before
you can move on to the next field.
Format Check
A format check for a check digit is computed from the characters given and compared to the
given check digit to verify it is correct. For a time field, format check verifies the hour and minute
are within the appropriate ranges. For example, 2/29/2008 is valid since 2008 was a leap year, but
2/29/2007 fails because 2007 was not a leap year.
A Length Check
A length check could be set up to ensure that exactly a certain amount of numbers (e.g. 11), are
entered into the field. This type of validation cannot check that the correct amount of numbers are
correct but it can ensure that 10 or 12 numbers aren't entered. A length check can also be set up to
allow characters to be entered within a certain range.
Verification of Data
Data verification is a process in which different types of data are checked for accuracy and
inconsistencies after data migration is done. It helps to determine whether data was accurately
translated when data is transferred from one source to another, is complete, and supports processes
in the new system. Data verification is a way of ensuring the user types in what he or she intends, in
other words, to make sure the user does not make a mistake when inputting data. An example of this
includes double entry of data (such as when creating a password or email) to prevent
incorrect data input. Verification techniques can be classified into formal or informal, and static or
dynamic. Four main verification methods are inspection, demonstration, testing, and analysis.
Some of the popular verification techniques
include desk checking, inspections,
walkthroughs, and reviews.