Issues and Opportunities for Improving the Quality and Use of Data in the Department of Defense

The Department of Defense (DoD) is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of data quality to its operations, leading to an interest in methods and techniques that can be used to determine and improve the quality of its data. The Office of the Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (OSD [AT&L]), Director, Defense Research & Engineering (DDR&E) sponsored a workshop to bring together leading researchers and practitioners to identify opportunities for research focused on data quality, data analysis, and data use. Seventeen papers were accepted for presentation during the workshop. During workshop discussion participants were asked to identify challenging areas that would address technology gaps and to discuss research ideas that would support future DoD policies and practices. The Software Engineering Institute formed three primary recommendations for areas of further research from the information produced at the workshop. These areas were integrating data from disparate sources, employing provenance analytics, and developing models, methods, and tools that support data quality by design.