What is Data Integrity? | Definition and Basic Concepts

There is a lot of confusion and disagreement among practitioners about what constitutes data integrity. In this article, we will explain what it means to have data integrity and show it impacts an organization.

What is Data Integrity?

Data integrity strictly means that all facts, including non-relevant and non-consistent information, are not recorded in a database or other system. It also means an absence of errors in data entry and maintenance. It is the degree to which data has provenance, integrity, and accuracy. Data integrity can be measured by looking at three components: provenance (how the data were collected), integrity (whether it's consistent with what was originally reported), and accuracy (whether it's complete).

So the layman's answer to the question "what is data integrity" is that it refers to making sure that the data your application, version control system, or database produces is correct. It can be achieved by having good processes and practices in place for creating and maintaining your databases, ensuring that they're using an appropriate schema (the structure of your database), and validating their input before storing it in memory or writing back to storage devices such as hard drives or SSDs (solid-state drives).

Dirty Values in Data: 

A value is considered "dirty" if it has been modified and needs to be updated. For example, if a customer's credit card number is changed in the system and then used by another user, the original value would be considered dirty because it has been modified. The same goes for any other kind of data that changes during processing (such as inserting new records). In these cases, you need to explicitly mark the values as dirty so that they can be synchronized with their source systems during synchronization time (when all changes have been made).

Data integrity is often thought of as something that happens automatically, but it can also be implemented manually. While some companies have procedures for maintaining data integrity, many do not have any formalized policy or procedure for ensuring this level of quality control. This lack of consistency leads to gaps between what's being stored and what should be stored, making it difficult to track changes made on one system outside another system (or even within systems).

Importance of Data Integrity:

A lack of data integrity can result in poor-quality decision-making because the business cannot make reliable decisions based on reliable information. It's not just a matter of having bad data; it's also a matter of how you use it. For example, if your marketing team uses inaccurate or incomplete information to make decisions about what kind of ads to run and when to run them, then those decisions may be based on faulty assumptions about who their customers are and what they want when they're looking for products like yours (or even worse: no clue at all!). If you end up buying something that doesn't fit into your marketing strategy, then it's unlikely that anyone will buy from you again—which means lost revenue.

Data integrity is the foundation of data security. It means that your organization's information systems are operating in a way that prevents unauthorized access, manipulation, loss, or destruction of sensitive data. In addition to ensuring compliance with laws and regulations such as PCI DSS and HIPAA, it also ensures that your company's internal processes can be trusted by customers and vendors alike so they don't have cause for concern when it comes time to share their personal information with you.

You’re probably already familiar with the importance of data integrity for compliance, data quality, and governance. But did you know that it also plays a critical role in security? Data integrity is vital to ensuring that your organization can trust its data and ensure that any access made to it won’t lead to errors or loss of information. If you want to be able to comply with regulations like PCI-DSS and HIPAA/HITECH while also protecting sensitive information from being compromised by hackers, then having good control over how your organization handles this type of information will be key.

Wrapping Up:

To conclude the article "what is data integrity", it can be stated that data integrity is all about making sure that the data your application, version control system, or database produces is correct. Data integrity is a process that must be followed to ensure the most accurate data possible.