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    Validation and Verification

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    Dbest Mathproblem
    The document discusses data verification and validation techniques used to check data accuracy when first entered into a system. Data verification involves human checking and re-entry of data to find errors, while data validation uses automated checks by software. Some validation checks include range, data type, and inconsistency checks to verify entered data is reasonable.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Validation and Verification

    Uploaded by

    Dbest Mathproblem
    17 views3 pages
    The document discusses data verification and validation techniques used to check data accuracy when first entered into a system. Data verification involves human checking and re-entry of data to find errors, while data validation uses automated checks by software. Some validation checks include range, data type, and inconsistency checks to verify entered data is reasonable.

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    The document discusses data verification and validation techniques used to check data accuracy when first entered into a system. Data verification involves human checking and re-entry of data to find errors, while data validation uses automated checks by software. Some validation checks include range, data type, and inconsistency checks to verify entered data is reasonable.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    17 views3 pages

    Validation and Verification

    Uploaded by

    Dbest Mathproblem
    The document discusses data verification and validation techniques used to check data accuracy when first entered into a system. Data verification involves human checking and re-entry of data to find errors, while data validation uses automated checks by software. Some validation checks include range, data type, and inconsistency checks to verify entered data is reasonable.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    Verification and validation of data

    In Section 4A you met the concept of data integrity. We say that data has integrity if it is
    accurate and up to date.
    All organisations know that data is useless to them unless the data is kept up to date. For
    example, a hotel may hold the names and addresses of people who have stayed there in
    the past, so they can send them details about special offers. The names and addresses
    are of no use unless they are correct.
    You also saw in Section 4A that the aim of data security is to keep data accurate. Data
    stored on a computer system may have been altered by mistake or it may have been
    altered deliberately by someone who should not have done so.

    Data security prevents the wrong people from having access to data and protects the
    hardware and software from damage.
    But suppose the data was entered incorrectly in the first place. No amount of data
    security will prevent that from happening. Data verification and data validation are two
    techniques that can be used when data is first entered, in order to check whether it
    is correct.
    • Data verification is a process carried out by humans.
    • Data validation is an automatic process carried out by software.

    Data verification
    There can be some problems when an
    Typographical errors;
    employee keys in data that is written on a tand saw
    source document. Errors may occur-because it I sent down the stree .
    my friends playing cricket.
    is difficult to read the writing, or the person
    may simply make a typing mistake.
    • Typographical errors are the typing errors
    that we all make when we hit the wrong key. Transpositional errors;
    • Transposition errors happen when we enter
    numbers or characters in the wrong order. It
    is very easy to do this when entering long
    ____________
    I wne~ down the stre~t and wa.s
    my fl'lends playing cricket.
    ......,... .,
    1

    numbers, such as phone numbers, or when a hical


    Fig 5.9: Examples of typogr p
    typing in an unfamiliar place name.
    and transposition errors
    One very simple way to reduce errors is for the em I
    to check the data a second time O h P oyee • WHAT DOES IT MEAN ?
    . . · nee t e data has been
    input and displayed, the employee can read it back from data verificati9 n
    the screen and. check that it matches th e data on the Data verification takes place when
    document. This process is known as dat a ven·t·1cat1on.
    . a person checks that data has
    been correctly keyed into a
    However, a simple visual check is not really appropnate
    . computer system.
    for large amounts of data, so a more robust method double entry verification
    called double entry, is often used. ' Double entry is; a ~mmon method
    of data verification in which the
    In double entry verification, a second person enters the data is keyed In a second time,
    and the first entry Is checked
    data all over again. The computer system will have been
    against the second.
    set up so that it checks each data item that is entered the
    seco~d t!me against the first data entry. It will display a
    warning if they do not match. The employee then has to
    check whether the error was made in the first e11try or the second, and confirm which is
    correct. Data verification should identify many of the errors that humans make when
    keying in data.

    Data validation
    You may have entered your personal details into a
    web-based form on-line. If you leave out some data that
    oug~t to be included it will give you a message and ask
    • WHAT DOES IT MEAN ?
    data validation
    Data v~!&datlcil
    out by!jf~ m~
    data Is ~n,d
    , ..,_,re

    ~ ; t tlfy
    m
    irrled
    e r/
    ta ·
    you to enter it. Similarly, if you type in a password that cannot be con:ect.
    incorrectly it will tell you to try again.
    These are examples of data validation checks. They are
    carried out automatically by the software.
    Similar validation checks can be used when data is entered into any computer system
    from a source document, such as the insurance example on page 230. Data validation
    checks are carried out by the software as the data is being entered. If the data validation
    checks identify a possible error, a warning is displayed.
    There are many kinds of data validation checks and suitable ones will be chosen
    depending on what data is being entered. Here are some of them.

    Range checks
    These check whether numerical data is within expected limits. For example, if you are
    asked to enter someone's age, the number should b_e b~tween Oand 110. If the data
    required is the date when someone joined an or~an1sat1~n then cle~rly the date cannot
    be in the future. Similarly, figures entered for height, weight, shoe size, etc can all be
    checked against the range of numbers that could be reasonably expected.
    Data type checks
    These check whether the data is of the correct type, such as number, date or text. For example,
    phone numbers are numerical, so a data type check would notice if a letter was included.

    Inconsistency checks (also known as consistency checks)


    These check one piece of data against another. For example, the data may include both
    gender (Mor F) and title (Mr, Mrs, Miss). If someone has entered Mand Mrs, then the two
    data items are inconsistent.
    The main purpose of data validation is to check that the data is reasonable. Data
    validation should identify some errors that will not be picked up by data verification.
    However;'it will not spot other errors, such as the incorrect spelling of names. In these
    cases, the input data may be reasonable, but still wrong. Errors like these can only be
    checked by data verification.
    To make sure that data entered is as accurate as it can be, both data verification and data
    validation checks should be used.

    CH_ECK YOUR PROGRESS_


    An employee was keying in data written on aA application form. Which of these
    errors could be identified by data verificati9n, which by data validation, and
    which by neither? ·
    • Year of birth is given on the f9rm as 2003, bl:lt entered as 2103.
    • Year of birth is given on the form as~1894.
    • Surname is very indistinct on the.form; it could be Davis or Davies.
    • The Town of Birth is given on the form as 256.

    ---=----~•
    • The address given on {he form does n0t exist.

    Summary of key points


    In this topic you have learned:
    •
    • the importance of checking input data to make sure that it is accurate.
    • the differences between data verification and data validation.
    • what kind of data validation checks can be used.

    .-
    en 1 What is the main difference between data verification and data validation?
    z 2 Why is it better to use ,double entry for data verification rather than simply checking_over what
    0 has been entered?
    . en 3 Describe three methods of data validation.

    lB

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