Laatutieto

Laatutieto is a Finnish term used to describe information that satisfies explicit quality criteria within information management, data governance, and public sector administration. The concept emphasizes that data and information assets should be trustworthy and fit for use across different applications and audiences, including decision making, reporting, and research.

Etymology: laatua means "quality" and tieto means "information" or "knowledge." In practice, laatutieto denotes information that meets agreed-upon standards for accuracy, reliability, and usefulness, rather than simply being stored or produced.

Quality dimensions commonly associated with laatutieto include accuracy, completeness, timeliness, consistency, validity, relevance, accessibility, interpretability, provenance, and traceability. These dimensions guide how information is collected, stored, validated, and presented to users.

Usage and importance: in Finland, laatutieto is used in public data portals, municipal information systems, libraries, and universities to assess and communicate the reliability of datasets. The concept aligns with international data quality standards such as ISO 8000 and ISO 25012 and informs data governance policies, metadata practices, and quality assurance processes.

Implementation and practices: achieving laatutieto typically involves metadata schemas, data quality assessments, quality dashboards, and roles such as data stewards and data custodians. Techniques include validation rules, data cleansing, reconciliation, and ongoing monitoring to detect degradation over time.

Limitations and challenges: maintaining laatutieto can be difficult in complex data ecosystems, where privacy constraints, evolving data definitions, and limited resources hinder continuous quality management.

See also: data quality, information quality, data governance, metadata.