ABSTRACT: Database population - a quality issue

Harvey, Viv , P.T. Robertson Utama Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia

The data management world in Indonesia has evolved rapidly in recent years. The application revolution has been mirrored by changes in the regulatory framework concerning data availability and access. Due to the introduction of an Open File System in 1997, data is now publicly available. Major projects have subsequently been initiated by the Indonesian government to create and populate the national databases. Service companies seeking the commercial promise of the Open File System are developing and marketing the next generation of data products. E&P organisations are striving to make their existing databases conform to the new database standards. The age of E&P databases has dawned on Indonesia.

The issue now facing the data industry is that of database quality. Unfortunately, Garbage-In/Garbage-Out rules. No matter how sophisticated the technology, a database is only as good as its data. Considering the large amount of time and effort typically spent on high level design and presentation relative to data entry, is anybody particularly surprised when the data in a database is of inferior quality?

Recognising the commercial constraints placed on database population, the challenge has been to develop a data entry methodology that emphasises quality. An approach developed successfully during the painful deployment of hundreds of E&P databases will be presented. This approach involves the following sequential steps: database design, technology, training, double data entry and QC procedures. Each of these steps will be discussed fully and illustrated by examples.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90913©2000 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Bali, Indonesia