People always seemed to know half of history, and to get it confused with the other half.
Jane Haddam

The successful pursuit of reliability demands that we all deal in "facts". Facts play a part in two hierarchies that are critical to analysis.

The first hierarchy begins with "data" and works its way upward in terms of utility. This hierarchy goes as follows:

• Data

• Information

• Knowledge

• Wisdom

Starting with the definition of "data" and continuing on:

Data Information in the form of facts or figures obtained from direct observations, used as a basis for making decisions or drawing conclusions.

Information The comprehensive collection of facts and data about a particular subject.

Knowledge Familiarity with, and understanding of, information concerning a particular subject gained through study and experience.

Wisdom The knowledge and experience needed to make sensible decisions and judgments. The good sense shown by decisions and judgments made in the past.

When we are asked to identify a root cause, to create a diagnosis, or to solve a problem, we are being asked to exercise our "wisdom," and wisdom has its basis in data. And finally, to be useful, data must have its basis in fact.

In a high-volume, high-speed environment; we must depend on the computer to perform a significant portion of the analysis and data reduction. As a result, the data we use must not only be factual, it must be recognizable by the computer. Simply described, we need to create "buckets"...