Irish Universities Consortium - Information Quality Network (IQ Network) launched at Dublin City University. The DCU School of Computing hosted the launch of the Information Quality Network (IQ Network) with the "Information Quality Breakfast Briefing" on Thursday, 24 February 2005. The IQ Network is a special interest group for professionals and researchers concerned about the quality of business data and information. The Breakfast Briefing, which was organised in conjunction with the International Association for Information and Data Quality (IAIDQ, www.iaidq.org), included informative talks from representatives of eircom, BT Exact, IBM, SAP, and the Assistant Data Protection Commissioner. Among the issues explored were evolving best practice thinking in reframing information quality management, information management and data compliance, and data quality for field process excellence. Poor data quality impacts on businesses in many ways; it can reduce the responsiveness of customer services, increase costs due to duplicate or incorrect processing, it may even cause system failure. High profile stories of the impact of poor data quality abound, from the incorrect charging of bank customers to the loss of billion euro space vehicles. The IQ Network will educate its members on the latest processes and technologies used to combat inefficient data and information. It will provide a platform for like-minded individuals and it will support members' efforts in driving improvements in information and data quality management throughout Irish organisations.

Further information can be found at http://www.computing.dcu.ie/iqireland.