Electronic data play a crucial role in the information and communication
technology (ICT) society: they are managed by business and governmental
applications, by all kinds of applications on the Web, and are fundamental
in all relationships between governments, businesses, and citizens. Because
electronic data is so widely diffused, the “quality” of such data and its related
effects on every kind of activity of the ICT society are more and more critical.
The relevance of data quality in both decisional and operational processes
is recognized by several international institutions and organizations. As an example,
the importance of data quality in decisional processes is clearly stated
in the quality declaration of the European Statistical System [72], in which
its mission is identified as follows: “We provide the European Union and the
world with high quality information on the economy and society at the European,
national, and regional levels and make the information available to
everyone for decision-making purposes, research, and debate.”