Accurate and complete data is considered the most valuable asset for any business. Data may be generated by the business or extracted from various outside resources. Mined data should also be reliable and consistent to be considered valuable. Data is valuable because it is increasingly being used by businesses to form strategies. Businesses understand the importance of analytics and hence have started investing in analytic tools and Business Intelligence tools that offer valuable insights into how the business is performing and also predicting the future requirements to some extent. Many businesses engage a PDF to Excel data entry services provider to convert the data in PDF format collected from external sources into the required format. Since Excel is a popular database that stores data in columns and rows, making it easier to search for information, it is an accepted input type for most of the BI tools. Such conversions make bulk data entry much easier to handle. Here are the top 10 practices of data entry popularly used by businesses to make sure that their data is complete, accurate, reliable and consistent.
Set the Standards
Get the Validation Rules
Save in the Right Formats
To begin with the data entry, we need to get the standards set properly. Even though every company will have its own set of data rules, a common set of standards can be formed by the outsourcing company to come up with general data standards which can be followed across organizations. This will prove to be the first step towards better data quality.
Businesses may have their own set of data validations which can be considered as business rules. It could be what the business has been following for a while or defined by the BI tool. The business rules must be clear to the outsourcing company to make sure that the data they input conforms to the standards followed by the business.
Formats for data storage is very important. Offshore data entry services providers will be competent to provide you with the information in the right format or multiple formats as your business may require. They will have the right tools and expertise to effect data conversions in multiple formats efficiently.
Good Data Entry Practices
Stay Consistent
Complete Entries
The resources should be trained on good data entry practices which will familiarize them with what makes up good data and how to identify flaws in their existing data entry practices. This will make them more efficient, faster, and productive.
Data should be consistent. Whenever data is being inputted, it should be consistent throughout the organization. The formats and validation rules must be followed strictly throughout the organization where the same data is being used.
Data should be complete to be used in analytics and BI reporting. Incomplete data will result in the inconsistent analysis which is not reliable. Make sure that your excel data entry services provider offers complete data.
Fill in Missing Data Consistently
Descriptive Columns Assure Information
Log the Mistakes
During the data entry, if anything is found missing, the data should be input consistently across the organization. If there�s no mobile number, it should be uniformly inputted as 9999999 or a series of the only 9s to show that the data is missing. Nulls or zeros will also work but it should be used across various databases.
One reason many data entry operators find it difficult to find the right information to input is that the column, especially in the excel or form, is confusing. Descriptive column names will offer better clarity to the end user as to what information is expected.
All mistakes and discrepancies found during data cleansing and validations must be logged. This log can be used later to analyze the common mistakes and eliminate them in the next round of data entry after thorough analysis.
Adopt Automation
Automation eliminates many mistakes that happen during manual data entry. But it is not yet 100% accurate and hence, it needs to be reviewed by a team of competent resources to ensure data quality. A competent Offshore India Data Entry Services provider will have the right automation tools and resources to offer quality data within the stipulated time without increasing the cost significantly.
