ObjectsDAMA: 55

Uniqueness (Objects)

The degree to which objects (of the real world) occur only once as a record in a data file.

Created: 10/30/2025
Business Impact
Positive Impacts
  • •Accurate counting, reporting, and representation of real-world entities (e.g., customers, products, employees, assets).
  • •Avoidance of duplicated operational effort, wasted marketing spend, and customer confusion caused by multiple records for the same entity.
  • •Reliable foundation for Master Data Management (MDM) initiatives and achieving a true single source of truth.
  • •Improved accuracy and reliability of analytics, segmentation, and reporting based on unique, de-duplicated entities.
Negative Impacts (if poor quality)
  • •Skewed analytics, inaccurate reports, and flawed business intelligence due to double-counting or fragmented views of key entities.
  • •Inefficient processes, wasted resources, and increased operational costs dealing with duplicate entities (e.g., multiple customer profiles, redundant inventory items).
  • •Poor customer experience, inconsistent service, and brand damage if interactions are fragmented across duplicate customer records.
  • •Compromised MDM initiatives and inability to establish a true, reliable single source of truth for critical data domains.
Technical Description

%

Measurement Approach
How to measure this dimension

Percentage of duplicates in a data file.

Examples
Good quality vs poor quality indicators
Good Quality Examples

Logistics: Each distinct physical vessel calling at the port has exactly one corresponding master record in the vessel database, identified by its unique IMO number.

Customer Management: A robust Master Data Management (MDM) process ensures that each unique customer (individual or organization) is represented by a single 'golden record' in the system.

Asset Management: Every physical asset owned by the company has one unique record in the asset tracking system, identified by a unique serial number or asset ID.

Poor Quality Examples

Logistics: The same physical container (e.g., MSCU1234567) appears as two different records in the terminal inventory list due to a minor typo in one of the ID entries or being recorded by two different systems without reconciliation.

Customer Management: The same individual customer exists as three separate records in the CRM because they used different email addresses or had slight name variations when interacting with the company.

Asset Management: A single piece of equipment (e.g., a specific crane) is listed multiple times in the asset register under different asset tags.

Local Network
Quick Stats
Dependent KPIs0
Improvement Standards4
CategoryObjects
API Access
GET /api/dq-dimensions/6ab2b932-f971-477c-a24c-cdb70aff4b20