Oracle Data Scrubbing Online System Feedback Loop Oracle Database Tips by Donald Burleson

Let's take a look at the all-important "feedback loop" in the evolution of a DSS for Oracle data cleansing.

The Feedback Loop

If a suggestion was based on false assumptions or incomplete logic, the expert will works with the Oracle DBA to refine the model, and every iteration of the feedback loop makes the software more intelligent and reliable. 

A system that melds a human expert with a software application that learns from mistakes is called a "Decision Support System" (DSS).  These systems use a "feedback loop" to continuously refine the decision support software, where the human experts explains new rules and exceptions to existing rules to the Oracle database administrator, who incorporates these new logic into the existing data cleansing system.

Over time, these systems get better-and better, and a successful approach generally contains these steps:

STEP 1 - The DSS software collect outliners (based on rules from the human expert)

STEP 2 - The DSS software Check and Validate each outliner

STEP 3 - The DSS software presents the human expert with a system to manage the "suggestions" from the expert system.

STEP 4 - The expert approves or rejects each suggestion:

·        Approves "correct" changes (starting an audit) of the change

·        OR

·        Rejects invalid suggestions, stating the reason (usually an "exception to the rule"), and notifying the DBA to improve the software by incorporating the new decision rule exception.

STEP 5 - We then return to STEP 1, and repeat until:

·        We have completely and reliable replicated the decision rules of the human expert

·        OR

·        Complex human intuition prohibits further refinement of the software.

Graphically, the iterative improvements of Oracle expert systems for data cleansing might look like this (Figure 1):

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