Between the Spreadsheets: Classifying and Fixing Dirty Data

‘Clear, concise, engaging and entertaining. Highly recommended for anyone involved with data in any capacity.' Information Professional Dirty data is a problem that costs businesses thousands, if not millions, every year. And with the increasing use of AI and Generative AI, it’s only getting worse. In organisations large and small across the globe you will hear talk of data quality issues. What you will rarely hear about is the consequences or best practices on how to fix it. Fully revised and updated throughout, this new edition of Between the Spreadsheets draws on classification expert Susan Walsh’s years of hands-on experience in data to present a fool-proof method for cleaning and classifying your data. The book covers everything from the very basics of data classification to normalisation and taxonomies, and presents the author’s proven COAT framework, helping ensure an organisation’s data is Consistent, Organised, Accurate and Trustworthy. A series of data horror stories outlines what can go wrong in managing data, and if it does, how it can be fixed as well as new advice on using GenAI and why it is so important to have clean data before using it. After reading this book, regardless of your level of experience, not only will you be able to work with your data more efficiently, but you will also understand the impact the work you do with it has, and how it affects the rest of the organisation. Written in an engaging and highly practical manner, Between the Spreadsheets, 2nd Edition gives readers of all levels a deep understanding of the dangers of dirty data and the confidence and skills to work more efficiently and effectively with it.

Table of Contents:
Introduction The Dangers of Dirty Data Supplier Normalisation Taxonomies Spend Data Classification Basic Data Cleansing Before and After: Real-Life Data Cleaning Case Studies The Myth Exposed: Data Cleaning and GenAI Other Methodologies The Dirty Data Maturity Model Data Horror Stories Summary

About the Author :
Susan Walsh is Founder and Managing Director of The Classification Guru, a specialist data classification, taxonomy customisation and data cleansing consultancy. With over 13 years of experience in data, Susan is a world-renowned thought leader, data expert and speaker. She has been featured in the DataIQ 100 most influential people in data as well as winner of the 2022 & 2023 DataIQ Data Champion of the Year, a finalist for The Great British Businesswoman Awards and Practitioner of the Year at the Big Data Awards. Susan has classified and cleaned data across a number of different sectors, countries and languages for over 100 clients worldwide, and created and recently launched a self-service supplier normalisation tool, Samification.

Review :
The second edition of Between the Spreadsheets seamlessly expands a world in which author Susan Walsh is showing us not only the uncomfortable truth around dirty data, but also approaches and methods on how to get rid of dirty data in an effective and sustainable way. The new chapter on breaking myths around how GenAI can help with data cleaning is especially timely and enlightening, and the data horror stories are scary but also painfully reflective of data issues in today’s day and age. Susan’s writing style is wonderfully reflective of her fun and approachable personality, and I can only recommend anyone interested in creating and maintaining clean data to read this book! With her trademark humour, Susan takes the headache out of dirty data with fresh insights, real-world stories and a toolkit you’ll enjoy using. If you want consistent, trustworthy data without falling asleep over a spreadsheet, this is the guide you’ve been waiting for. This book will leave you better equipped, more confident, and maybe even laughing along the way.