What is Data Wrangling?

What is Data Wrangling?

If you are a regular follower of my videos and articles, you will know that one of my key aims is to help explain the vast - and sometimes confusing – amount of terminology that is found within Data Governance.

Often things have different meanings depending on the organisation you work within or can even vary from person-to-person, which is why I want to say first and foremost: there is no such thing as a stupid question! The person who sent me today's question actually apologised for asking it but I'm a great believer that there should be no such thing as a stupid question when it comes to Data Governance.

If you feel that you need to ask the question, then that means that somebody hasn't explained it well enough to you. So, the question we’re dealing with in this article is not a stupid one.

What is Data Wrangling?

Now, the person who sent me this e-mail felt stupid because they felt that perhaps it was something they should be doing, but they didn't understand what it was, and they didn't want to look stupid by asking.

The short answer is this: yes, the chances are you probably do have to do Data Wrangling in your job, whatever your job is, but whether you should be doing it is a different matter entirely.

I've actually heard the term Data Wrangling quite a lot over the past year or so, and I think people are using it to describe the situation where data isn't perhaps where you would like it to be, or it isn't good enough quality for you.

So, what they tend to use the term to mean, is the getting together of data from various sources and doing something to it so that you can use it.

What could that be? Well, it might be amalgamating it into a spreadsheet; it could be cleansing and fixing the data; it could even be running around various people asking them to fill in the gaps that you've got on your spreadsheet.

That all means that unfortunately, Data Wrangling is unfortunately a necessary thing if you have poor quality or missing data, and is very common in organisations that perhaps haven't yet got a proper Data Governance initiative in place or are very early on in their journey.

It’s part of the problem – not the solution

Data Wrangling also tends to be used to describe the frustration that you have of doing these activities, of bringing together data from disparate systems or spreadsheets, or fixing data before you can do what you should do with it.

Therefore, I don't think Data Wrangling is necessarily a good thing. It’s definitely not a skill you should perhaps aspire to have – what you should be aspiring to have is complete and accurate business data with a proper Data Governance initiative in place. Data Wrangling is not the solution – it’s a temporary fix for a much wider problem within your organisation. Especially if you find yourself having to do this regularly. At that point you should really stop and ask yourself ‘why am I having to do this so often – what data quality issues is my organisation facing and how can we find long-term solutions to address them’?

Data Wrangling is just something that unfortunately we have to do a lot of in our jobs at the moment, but it should be one of the things we should be looking to eradicate by having Data Governance in place.

Get in touch

Don't forget if you have any questions you’d like covered in future videos or articles please email me - [email protected].

Originally published https://www.nicolaaskham.com/

No alt text provided for this image
Ian Stuart

Data and Analytics Leader

2 年

Nice Article Nicola and some very good points. I will volunteer another definition of Data Wrangling that has become fashionable in recent times: That is preparing our data for reporting by transforming it from what lies in the source systems to structures that are suitable for reporting. ETL or "Extract Transform and Load" is the industry standard terminology for these operations but Data Wrangling is perhaps more easily understood by the masses (questionably!). It inevitably includes some data cleansing (which should be unnecessary) but it also includes adding calculations and shaping our data into performant, easy to understand data models that are optimised for reporting and analytics. We actually market one of our training courses as Power BI Data Wrangling as we felt that was more consumable than other potential names: https://www.altisconsulting.com/uk/training/private-data-analytics-training/power-bi-data-wrangling/ Thoughts?

Perfect: “Data Wrangling is not the solution – it’s a temporary fix for a much wider problem within your organisation.” And this final paragraph: “Data Wrangling is just something that unfortunately we have to do a lot of in our jobs at the moment, but it should be one of the things we should be looking to eradicate by having Data Governance in place.” This is everything right there - unimprovable explanation and even business case!

Nicola, 've never thought about data wrangling that way but you make a good point. It may just be a symptom of a deeper problem. Thanks.

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Nicola Askham的更多文章

  • Data Governance Interview with Marti Smith

    Data Governance Interview with Marti Smith

    An intro to Marti! Marti Smith, CDMP Associate, is an experienced Data Governance professional with a proven track…

    6 条评论
  • Do You Need a Data Strategy and a Data Governance Strategy?

    Do You Need a Data Strategy and a Data Governance Strategy?

    With the increasing importance of data, many organisations are asking whether they need both a data strategy and a Data…

    26 条评论
  • How I Fell in Love With Data Governance

    How I Fell in Love With Data Governance

    It’s Love Data Week so I wanted to put together a special post and talk about… how I fell in love with Data Governance.…

    3 条评论
  • Data Governance Interview with Jane Meharg

    Data Governance Interview with Jane Meharg

    Welcome Jane Meharg to the Data Governance Interview! Please can you give us an intro, Jane? I spent 20 years honing my…

    2 条评论
  • 15 Ways I Can Transform Your Data Governance Journey

    15 Ways I Can Transform Your Data Governance Journey

    Are you wondering how a consultant can add value when you already have a Chief Data Officer, Head of Data, or Data…

    1 条评论
  • Data Governance 2024 Round-Up

    Data Governance 2024 Round-Up

    Happy New Year and hello, 2025! As we start a new year, I want to send a big thank you to everyone who’s been reading…

    4 条评论
  • Cost Versus Value of Data Governance Coaching

    Cost Versus Value of Data Governance Coaching

    I often get asked for free advice and I truly wish had enough time to help everyone who asks but unfortunately, Data…

    7 条评论
  • How the Grinch (Didn’t!) Steal Data Governance This Christmas

    How the Grinch (Didn’t!) Steal Data Governance This Christmas

    Once upon a time, in a bustling company preparing for the festive season, there was a looming threat – the Data…

    14 条评论
  • Knowledge Graphs and Data Governance

    Knowledge Graphs and Data Governance

    When I first heard about knowledge graphs within Data Governance, I found it a really hard concept to grasp and it felt…

    12 条评论
  • Guest Blog from Niels Lademark Heegaard - Data as an asset?

    Guest Blog from Niels Lademark Heegaard - Data as an asset?

    I'm thrilled to introduce this guest blog by Niels Lademark Heegaard, a friend and colleague I've had the pleasure of…

    17 条评论

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了