Create a new data quality rule

You can create data quality rules to check that an attribute is set for an object, to check the syntax of strings, or to check a condition based on a database query.

A data quality rule can check that at least two business owners are defined for each application.

The data quality rule will check that the attribute is set. It will not check the value that is set.
1. Go to Data Quality Rules > Data Quality Rules.
2. Click New.
3. Define the following attributes for the data quality rule:
  Mandatory Properties:
  - Name: Enter a short name that describes what needs to be done.
  - Severity: The severity of the data quality rule is coupled with a color code used to display the severity of a data quality rule violation on the user interface. Hints are displayed in blue, warnings in yellow and errors in red.
  - Data Quality Rule Type: Select Value Exists.
  - Target Classes: Select the object classes for which the data quality rule shall be evaluated.
  - Target Properties: Select the attributes that shall be mandatory.
  - Is Active: Select once the data quality rule is configured. Only data quality rules for which Is Active is set will be evaluated.
  - Resolution: Enter a short explanation about the action required to solve the data quality violation. This will be the hyperlink text to the resolution view.
  - When the user clicks the hyperlink to the resolution view, the content area page to set the object class properties defined in the Target Properties field opens by default. Alternatively, a standard page view or configured report can open. Define the following fields:
    - Resolution View Type: Select Standard View to provide navigation to a standard Alfabet FastLane view. Select Configured Report to provide navigation to a configured report.
    - Resolution View Name: Select the view that shall open to resolve the data quality issue from the drop-down list.
  Attributes for administration of the rule:
  - Description: Enter a description describing the relevance of the data quality rule for other data quality rule administrators.
  Optional attributes that limit the validity of the rule:
  - Valid From: If a date is selected in this field, evaluation of the data quality rule will start on the selected date.
  - Valid To: If a date is selected in this field, evaluation of the data quality rule will stop on the selected date.
  Optional attributes for sending email notifications:
  Go to the Notifications tab.
  - - Send Email Notifications: Select the checkbox to activate emails to be sent.
    - Notify Responsible User: Select the checkbox to send notification emails to the authorized user of the object violating the data quality rule.
    - Notify Roles: Select one or multiple roles to send notification emails to the users with the selected role for the object violating the data quality rule.
4. Go to the Test Data Quality Rule Definition tab.
5. Select the number of objects for which a test evaluation of the data quality rule shall be performed.
6. Click the Test button. The rule is evaluated and a message is displayed that provides information about the success of the execution of the data quality rule. Below the message, the objects violating the rule which are found during the test are displayed.
The data quality rule will check the composition of a string for a defined attribute via a regular expression. For example, a rule can check whether a string starts with a specific letter or contains no special characters. This type of data quality rule enables naming conventions to be checked for objects.
1. Go to Data Quality Rules > Data Quality Rules.
2. Click New.
3. Define the following attributes for the data quality rule:
  Mandatory Properties:
  - Name: Enter a short name that describes what needs to be done.
  - Severity: The severity of the data quality rule is coupled with a color code used to display the severity of a data quality rule violation on the user interface. Hints are displayed in blue, warnings in yellow and errors in red.
  - Data Quality Rule Type: Select Regular Expression.
  - Target Classes: Select the object classes for which the data quality rule shall be evaluated.
  - Target Properties: Select the string attributes that shall be evaluated.
  - Expression: Define a regular expression that specifies how a string shall be entered.
    Standard regular expressions for defining a sequence of strings are accepted. If you are not familiar with regular expressions, refer to descriptions of the syntax in the internet. An overview is provided at: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/base-types/regular-expression-language-quick-reference
    The following regular expression enforces that the data input is either a number or the string "n.a.":
    ^n\.a\.$|^[0-9]
  - Is Active: Select once the data quality rule is configured. Only data quality rules for which Is Active is set will be evaluated.
  - Resolution: Enter a short explanation about the action required to solve the data quality violation. This will be the hyperlink text to the resolution view.
  - When the user clicks the hyperlink to the resolution view, the content area page to set the object class properties defined in the Target Properties field opens by default. Alternatively, a standard page view or configured report can open. Define the following fields:
    - Resolution View Type: Select Standard View to provide navigation to a standard Alfabet FastLane view. Select Configured Report to provide navigation to a configured report.
    - Resolution View Name: Select the view that shall open to resolve the data quality issue from the drop-down list.
  Attributes for administration of the rule:
  - Description: Enter a description describing the relevance of the data quality rule for other data quality rule administrators.
  Optional attributes that limit the validity of the rule:
  - Valid From: If a date is selected in this field, evaluation of the data quality rule will start on the selected date.
  - Valid To: If a date is selected in this field, evaluation of the data quality rule will stop on the selected date.
  Optional attributes for sending email notifications:
  Go to the Notifications tab.
  - - Send Email Notifications: Select the checkbox to activate emails to be sent.
    - Notify Responsible User: Select the checkbox to send notification emails to the authorized user of the object violating the data quality rule.
    - Notify Roles: Select one or multiple roles to send notification emails to the users with the selected role for the object violating the data quality rule.
4. Go to the Test Data Quality Rule Definition tab.
5. Select the number of objects for which a test evaluation of the data quality rule shall be performed.
6. Click the Test button. The rule is evaluated and a message is displayed that provides information about the success of the execution of the data quality rule. Below the message, the objects violating the rule which are found during the test are displayed.
The data quality rule will check the input for an attribute based on the definition of other attributes.

Complex data quality rules are based on queries. Alfabet FastLane users usually do not have the required internal knowledge about the database table structure required to define the required queries. Contact Software GmbH Support for help on defining a complex data quality rule.
1. Go to Data Quality Rules > Data Quality Rules.
2. Click New.
3. Define the following attributes for the data quality rule:
  Mandatory Properties:
  - Name: Enter a short name that describes what needs to be done.
  - Severity: The severity of the data quality rule is coupled with a color code used to display the severity of a data quality rule violation on the user interface. Hints are displayed in blue, warnings in yellow and errors in red.
  - Data Quality Rule Type: Select SQL Query.
  - Target Classes: Select the object classes for which the data quality rule shall be evaluated.
  - Expression: Define an SQL query that returns a result if the rule is fulfilled. The query must refer to the current object via the Alfabet FastLane query language parameter @BASE.
    For example to ensure that the application is assigned to at least one business support, define the following query:
    SELECT app.REFSTR
    FROM APPLICATION app
    WHERE app.REFSTR = @BASE
    AND NOT EXISTS(SELECT * FROM BUSINESSSUPPORT bss WHERE bss.OBJECT = app.REFSTR)
  - Complex SQL Query: Select the checkbox if the query is complex (for example, containing a WITH statement). By default, the evaluation mechanism can only read simple SQL queries. For performance reasons, a complex SQL query should only be defined if necessary. The checkbox should only be selected if the query does not pass the test that you can perform in the Test Data Quality Rule Definition tab. If the SQL query does not pass the test, select the checkbox and test again.
  - Is Active: Select once the data quality rule is configured. Only data quality rules for which Is Active is set will be evaluated.
  - Resolution: Enter a short explanation about the action required to solve the data quality violation. This will be the hyperlink text to the resolution view.
  - Navigation from a data quality issue description to the view required to fix the issue is not available by default for complex data quality rules. You need to configured it with the following attributes:
    - Target Properties: If the problem defined in the query can be fixed via setting one or multiple object class property values in the attribute section of the content area, select the properties from the drop-down list. The content area will then open if the user clicks the link in the data quality issue.
    - Resolution View Type: Select Standard View to provide navigation to a standard Alfabet FastLane view. Select Configured Report to provide navigation to a configured report.
    - Resolution View Name: Select the view that shall open to resolve the data quality issue from the drop-down list.
  Attributes for administration of the rule:
  - Description: Enter a description describing the relevance of the data quality rule for other data quality rule administrators.
  Optional attributes that limit the validity of the rule:
  - Valid From: If a date is selected in this field, evaluation of the data quality rule will start on the selected date.
  - Valid To: If a date is selected in this field, evaluation of the data quality rule will stop on the selected date.
  Optional attributes for sending email notifications:
  Go to the Notifications tab.
  - - Send Email Notifications: Select the checkbox to activate emails to be sent.
    - Notify Responsible User: Select the checkbox to send notification emails to the authorized user of the object violating the data quality rule.
    - Notify Roles: Select one or multiple roles to send notification emails to the users with the selected role for the object violating the data quality rule.
4. Go to the Test Data Quality Rule Definition tab.
5. Select the number of objects for which a test evaluation of the data quality rule shall be performed.
6. Click the Test button. The rule is evaluated and a message is displayed that provides information about the success of the execution of the data quality rule. Below the message, the objects violating the rule which are found during the test are displayed.