ISO/IEC 25024:2015

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 25024
First edition
2015-10-15
Systems and software engineering —
Systems and software Quality
Requirements and Evaluation
(SQuaRE) — Measurement of data
quality
Ingénierie des systèmes et du logiciel — Exigences et évaluation de
la qualité des systèmes et du logiciel (SQuaRE) — Mesurage de la
qualité des données
Reference number
ISO/IEC 25024:2015(E)
©
ISO/IEC 2015

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ISO/IEC 25024:2015(E)

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ISO/IEC 25024:2015(E)

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Conformance . 2
3 Normative references . 2
4 Terms and definitions . 3
5 Abbreviated terms . 8
6 Use of data QMs . 8
6.1 Data quality measurement concepts . . 8
6.2 Approach to data quality measurement .10
7 Format used for documenting QMs for data .12
8 Data QMs .12
8.1 General .12
8.2 QMs for accuracy .13
8.3 QMs for completeness .15
8.4 QMs for consistency .17
8.5 QMs for credibility .19
8.6 QMs for currentness .20
8.7 QMs for accessibility .21
8.8 QMs for compliance .22
8.9 QMs for confidentiality .23
8.10 QMs for efficiency .24
8.11 QMs for precision .26
8.12 QMs for traceability .26
8.13 QMs for understandability .27
8.14 QMs for availability .29
8.15 QMs for portability .30
8.16 QMs for recoverability .31
Annex A (informative) QMEs used to define QMs .32
Annex B (informative) QMEs, Target entities and QMs .35
Annex C (informative) QMEs references .37
Annex D (informative) QMs in alphabetic order .41
Annex E (informative) QMs identifiers for characteristics and target entities .43
Bibliography .45
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ISO/IEC 25024:2015(E)

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical
activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the
work. In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee,
ISO/IEC JTC 1.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for
the different types of document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject
of patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent
rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the
Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation on the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity
assessment, as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the WTO principles in the Technical
Barriers to Trade (TBT) see the following URL: Foreword - Supplementary information
The committee responsible for this document is ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, Subcommittee
SC 7, Software and systems engineering.
The SQuaRE series of standards consists of the following divisions, under the general title Systems and
software Quality Requirements and Evaluation:
— ISO/IEC 2500n — Quality Management Division;
— ISO/IEC 2501n — Quality Model Division;
— ISO/IEC 2502n — Quality Measurement Division;
— ISO/IEC 2503n — Quality Requirements Division;
— ISO/IEC 2504n — Quality Evaluation Division;
— ISO/IEC 25050 to ISO/IEC 25099 — SQuaRE Extension Division.
Annexes A, B, C, and D are for information only.
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ISO/IEC 25024:2015(E)

Introduction
This International Standard is a part of the SQuaRE series of International Standards. It provides a set
of data quality measures that can be used for measuring and evaluating data quality by referring other
SQuaRE series of standards, especially ISO/IEC 25012.
The set of data quality measures in this International Standard is selected based on their practical
value. They are not intended to be exhaustive and users of this International Standard are encouraged
to refine them if necessary.
Quality measurement division
This International Standard is a part of ISO/IEC 2502n series that currently consists of the following
International Standards:
— ISO/IEC 25020 — Measurement reference model and guide: provides a reference model and
guide for measuring the quality characteristics defined in ISO/IEC 2501n.
— ISO/IEC 25021 — Quality measure elements: provides a format for specifying quality measure
elements and some examples of quality measure elements that can be used to construct software
quality measures.
— ISO/IEC 25022 — Measurement of quality in use: provides measures including associated
measurement methods and quality measure elements for the quality characteristics in the quality
in use model.
— ISO/IEC 25023 — Measurement of system and software product quality: provides measures
including associated measurement methods and quality measure elements for the quality
characteristics in the product quality model.
— ISO/IEC 25024 — Measurement of data quality: provides measures including associated
measurement methods and quality measure elements for the quality characteristics in the data
quality model.
Figure 1 depicts the relationship between this International Standard and the other standards in
ISO/IEC 2502n.
Figure 1 — Structure of the Quality Measurement Division
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Outline and organization of SQuaRe series
The SQuaRE series consists of five main divisions and extension division. Outline of each divisions
within SQuaRE series are as follows.
— ISO/IEC 2500n — Quality Management Division. The standards that form this division define all
common models, terms, and definitions referred further by all other standards from SQuaRE series.
The division also provides requirements and guidance for the planning and management of a project.
— ISO/IEC 2501n — Quality Model Division. The standards that form this division present
quality models for system/software products, quality in use, and data. A service quality is under
development. Practical guidance on the use of the quality model is also provided.
— ISO/IEC 2502n — Quality Measurement Division. The standards that form this division include
a system/software product quality measurement reference model, definitions of quality measures,
and practical guidance for their application. This division presents internal measures of software
quality, external measures of software quality, quality in use measures, data quality measures from
“Inherent”, and “System dependent” point of view. Quality measure elements forming foundations
for the quality measures are defined and presented.
— ISO/IEC 2503n — Quality Requirements Division. The standards that form this division help
specify quality requirements. These quality requirements can be used in the process of quality
requirements elicitation for a system/software product to be developed designing a process for
achieving necessary quality or as inputs for an evaluation process.
— ISO/IEC 2504n — Quality Evaluation Division. The standards that form this division provide
requirements, recommendations, and guidelines for system/software product evaluation whether
performed by independent evaluators, acquirers, or developers. The support for documenting a
quality measure as an evaluation module is also presented.
ISO/IEC 25050 to ISO/IEC 25099 are reserved for SQuaRE extension International Standards which
currently includes ISO/IEC 25051 and ISO/IEC 25060 to ISO/IEC 25069.
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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 25024:2015(E)
Systems and software engineering — Systems and software
Quality Requirements and Evaluation (SQuaRE) —
Measurement of data quality
1 Scope
This International Standard defines data quality measures for quantitatively measuring the data
quality in terms of characteristics defined in ISO/IEC 25012.
This International Standard contains the following:
— a basic set of data quality measures for each characteristic;
— a basic set of target entities to which the quality measures are applied during the data-life-cycle;
— an explanation of how to apply data quality measures;
— a guidance for organizations defining their own measures for data quality requirements and evaluation.
It includes, as informative annexes, a synoptic table of quality measure elements defined in this
International standard (Annex A), a table of quality measures associated to each quality measure
element and target entitiy (Annex B), considerations about specific quality measure elements (Annex
C), a list of quality measures in alphabetic order (Annex D), and a table of quality measures grouped by
characteristics and target entities (Annex E).
This International Standard does not define ranges of values of these quality measures to rate levels or
grades because these values are defined for each system by its nature depending on the system context
and users’ needs.
This International Standard can be applied to any kind of data retained in a structured format within a
computer system used for any kinds of applications.
People managing data and services including data are the primary beneficiaries of the quality measures.
This International Standard is intended to be used by people who need to produce and/or use data
quality measures while pursuing their responsibilities.
— Acquirer (an individual or organization that acquires or procures data from a supplier).
— Evaluator (an individual or organization that performs an evaluation, which can, for example, be a
testing laboratory, the quality department of an organization, a government organization, or a user).
— Developer (an individual or organization that performs development activities including
requirements, analysis, design, implementation, and testing data during the data-life-cycle).
— Maintainer (an individual or organization that performs operation and maintenance activities of data).
— Supplier (an individual or organization that enters into a contract with the acquirer for the supply
of data or service under the terms of the contract).
— User (an individual or organization that uses data to perform a specific function).
— Quality manager (an individual or organization that performs a systematic examination of the data).
— Owner (an individual or organization that takes responsibility for the management and financial
value of the data with the legal authority and responsibility to establish for them evaluation,
collections, access, dissemination, storage, security, and cancellation).
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This International Standard takes into account a large range of data of target entities.
It can be applied in many types of information systems, for example, such as follows:
— legacy information system;
— data warehouse;
— distributed information system;
— cooperative information system;
— world wide web.
The scope does not include the following:
— knowledge representation;
— data mining techniques;
— statistical significance for random sample.
2 Conformance
Any measurement process for requirement, implementation, or evaluation of data quality shall be
conformed to this International Standard:
a) selecting data quality characteristics to be specified or evaluated as defined in ISO/IEC 25012;
b) selecting a target entity for which data quality characteristic shall be measured;
c) selecting the appropriate data quality measures defined in Clause 8 by each data quality
characteristic concerning a target entity;
d) providing the rationale for any changes when modify the data quality measures;
e) listing any additional quality measures or quality measure elements used that are not included in
this International Standard.
Order of items a) and b) can be applied in reverse.
When using modified or new data quality measures, the user shall specify the target entities,
measurement method, and related data quality characteristics of ISO/IEC 25012 or specifying any other
data quality model that is being used. This International Standard does not provide a complete list of
quality measure related to data defined during the data-life-cycle. The user may also identify some
other quality measures depending on the technology applied. Even if a number of quality measures
included in this International Standard have not been empirically validated and some of them are not
based yet on best practices observed in industry, this International Standard is still a good base and an
opportunity to improve the data quality measures.
3 Normative references
The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and are
indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated
references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 25000, Systems and software engineering — Systems and software Quality Requirements and
Evaluation (SQuaRE) — Guide to SQuaRE
ISO/IEC 25012:2008, Software engineering — Software product Quality Requirements and Evaluation
(SQuaRE) — Data quality model
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ISO/IEC 25021, Systems and software engineering — Systems and software Quality Requirements and
Evaluation (SQuaRE) — Quality measure elements
4 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC 25000, ISO/IEC 25012,
ISO/IEC 25021, and the following apply.
NOTE The essential definitions from ISO/IEC 25000 SQuaRE series and the other ISO standards are
reproduced here.
4.1
architecture
fundamental concepts or properties of a system in its environment embodied in its elements
(4.19), relationships, and in the principles of its design and evolution
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 42010:2011]
Note 1 to entry: In this International Standard, the term “architecture” is intended as “architecture of data”, a
particular view of the architecture being the work products considered expression of the perspective of a specific
system that concerns data (4.5). Architecture of data includes architecture elements such as contextual schema
(4.4), conceptual, logical, physical data models, data dictionary (4.6), and documents. In practice architecture of
data and data modelling, from the beginning of software engineering, have many levels, such as external model
(view), conceptual, and physical (see ANSI/X3/SPARK Three Level Architecture, 1975).
Note 2 to entry: The term “environment” is used in ISO/IEC 42010 to refer (system) context determining the
setting and circumstances of all influences upon a system that includes developmental, technological, business,
operational, organizational, political, economic, legal, regulatory, ecological, and social influences (in this
International Standard, the (system) context, where data models (4.10) are applied, can be represented by the
contextual schema (4.4)).
Note 3 to entry: In ISO/IEC 42010, 4.2.4, Note 1, “the architecture of a system is a holistic conception of that
system’s fundamental properties best understood via multiple views of that architecture”.
4.2
attribute
inherent property or characteristic of a target entity (4.36) that can be distinguished quantitatively or
qualitatively by human or automated means
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 25000:2014]
4.3
computer system
system containing one or more components and elements (4.19) such as computers (hardware),
associated software, and data (4.5)
4.4
contextual schema
formal description of the boundary of the context of use where data models (4.10) are applied
Note 1 to entry: It is a high-level description of the business’ informational needs. It is more general than a
conceptual model (see Note 1 in 4.10) as it includes a holistic vision of a (system) context of the architecture (4.1).
4.5
data
reinterpretable representation of information in a formalized manner suitable for communication,
interpretation, or processing
Note 1 to entry: Data can be processed by humans or by automatic means.
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[SOURCE: ISO/TS 19104:2008, B.103]
Note 2 to entry: The definition does not make reference to the one in ISO/IEC 25000 relative to the result of the
measurement (4.27).
4.6
data dictionary
collection of information (4.21) about data (4.5) such as name, description, creator, owner, provenance,
translation in different languages, and usage
4.7
data file
set of related data records (4.15) treated as a unit
Note 1 to entry: In this International Standard, data set is a synonym of data file.
4.8
data format
arrangement of data (4.5) for storage or display
Note 1 to entry: Format can be referred to data type (4.16) and length of data item (4.9).
4.9
data item
smallest identifiable unit of data (4.5) within a certain context for which the definition, identification,
permissible values, and other information (4.21) is specified by means of a set of properties
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 25021:2012, Annex A]
Note 1 to entry: Field is considered a synonym of data item.
Note 2 to entry: Data item is a physical object “container” of data values (4.17).
4.10
data model
graphical and textual representation of analysis that identifies the data (4.5) needed by an organization
to achieve its mission, functions, goals, objectives, and strategies and to manage and rate the
organization.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC/IEEE 31320-2:2012, 3.1.44]
Note 1 to entry: It is usual to distinguish conceptual model (a model of the concepts relevant to some endeavor),
logical, and physical when they represent data at different level of abstraction from high to low.
Note 2 to entry: The formal description of the boundary of the context of use where data models are applied is
called contextual schema (4.4).
Note 3 to entry: A data model identifies the entities, domains (attributes) (4.2), and relationships (associations)
with other data and provides the conceptual view of the data and the relationships among data.
4.11
data quality
degree to which the characteristics of data (4.5) satisfy stated and implied needs when used under
specified conditions
4.12
data quality characteristic
category of data quality attributes that bears on data quality (4.11)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 25012:2008, 4.4]
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4.13
data quality measure
variable to which a value is assigned as the result of measurement (4.27) of a data quality
characteristic (4.12)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 25012:2008, 4.5]
4.14
data quality model
defined set of characteristics which provides a framework for specifying data quality requirements and
evaluating data quality (4.11)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 25012:2008, 4.6]
4.15
data record
set of related data items (4.9) treated as a unit
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC/IEEE 15289:2015, 5.22]
4.16
data type
categorization of an abstract set of possible values, characteristics, and set of operations for an
attribute (4.2)
Note 1 to entry: Examples of data types are character strings, texts, dates, numbers, images, sounds, etc.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 25012:2008, 4.7]
4.17
data value
content of data item (4.9)
Note 1 to entry: In ISO/IEC 25012, 5.1.1, it is specified that from the “Inherent” point of view, data quality (4.11)
refers to data (4.5) itself such as data domain values and possible restrictions.
Note 2 to entry: Number or category assigned to an attribute (4.2) of a target entity (4.36) by making a
measurement (4.27).
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 25000:2005]
4.18
database management system
organized collection of structured data
Note 1 to entry: In order to use database management systems (DBMS), it is necessary to represent data (4.5)
and the relative operations on it in terms of a data model (4.10), a data definition and manipulation language (see
Table C.3.1).
4.19
element
smaller part of an architecture (4.1)
Note 1 to entry: In this International Standard, the term is used with reference to the architecture of data and to
the computer program domain such as data model (4.10) or data dictionary (4.6).
4.20
form
module or formulary to collect data (4.5)
Note 1 to entry: It can be paper-based (paper form) or digital.
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4.21
information
in information processing, knowledge concerning objects, such as facts, events, things, processes, or
ideas, including concepts, that within a certain context have a particular meaning
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 25012:2008, 4.10]
Note 1 to entry: Information will necessarily have a representation form to make it communicable. It is the
interpretation of this representation (the meaning) that is relevant in the first place.
4.22
information item
separately identifiable body of information (4.21) that is produced, stored, and delivered for human use
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC/IEEE 15289:2015, 5.13]
Note 1 to entry: Information product is a synonym.
Note 2 to entry: Information item can be produced in several versions during a project data-life-cycle.
4.23
information item content
information (4.21) included in an information item (4.22), associated with a system, product, or service
to satisfy a requirement or need
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC/IEEE 15289:2015, 5.14]
4.24
information system
one or more computer systems (4.3) and communication systems together with associated organizational
resources such as human, technical, and financial resources that provide and distribute information (4.21)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 25012:2008, 4.14]
4.25
master data
data (4.5) held by an organization that describes the entities that are both independent and fundamental
for an enterpirse that it needs to reference in order to perform its transaction
[SOURCE: ISO 22745-2:2010, 14.9, modified]
Note 1 to entry: Master data is a subset of data of a computer system (4.3), identified, categorized, and managed
that are essential for the core business of an enterprise.
4.26
measure
variable to which a value is assigned as the result of measurement (4.27)
Note 1 to entry: The term “measures” is used to refer collectively to base measures, derived measures, and
indicators.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 25010:2011, 4.4.5]
4.27
measurement
set of operations having the object
...