IQM3: Information Quality Management Maturity Model

In order to enhance their global business performance, organizations must be careful with the quality of their information since it is one of their main assets. Analogies to quality management of classical products demonstrate that Information Quality is also preferably attainable through management by integrating some corresponding Information Quality management activities into the organizational processes. To achieve this goal we have developed an Information Quality Management Framework (IQMF). It is articulated on the concept of Information Management Process (IMP), based on the idea of Software Process. An IMP is a combination of two sub-processes: the first, a production process, aimed to manufacture information from raw data, and the second to adequately manage the required Information Quality level of the first. IQMF consists of two main components: an Information Quality Management Maturity Model (IQM3), and a Methodology for the Assessment and Improvement of Information Quality Management (MAIMIQ), which uses IQM3 as a reference model for the assessment and for the improvement goal of an IMP. Therefore, as a result of an assessment with MAIMIQ, an IMP can be said to have raised one of the maturity levels described in IQM3, and as improvement goal, it would be desirable to achieve a higher maturity level. Since an Information System can be seen as a set of several IMPs sharing several resources, it is possible to improve the Information Quality level of the entire Information System by improving the most critical IMPs. This paper is focused only on describing the foundations and structure of IQM3, which is based on staged CMMI.