MURRAY HILL, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 29, 2002--D&B (NYSE:DNB), the leading provider of global business information solutions, announced its participation in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Total Data Quality Management (TDQM) Research Consortium for Corporate Householding.

As part of its ongoing commitment to providing quality data, D&B will explore ways to leverage this research to help customers better manage data quality challenges as well as to explore ways to further improve its own data quality practices.

The TDQM program is a joint effort among members of the MIT TDQM program, industry partners and related industry-specific research programs at MIT. A growing number of anecdotal evidence found that as much as 10 percent of data included in corporate applications, such as sales force automation and customer relationship management solutions, is inaccurate and can lead to failed implementations. Additionally, this research shows that strategic corporate initiatives often falter due to inaccurate or incomplete data.

"Our participation in the TDQM program is another example of the steps we are taking to continuously enhance the data and solutions we provide to our customers, which furthers our Blueprint for Growth Strategy to enhance our current business. Businesses have significant information challenges with integrating data across internal and external sources such as organizing various views of the customer and maintaining accurate customer data on an ongoing basis," said Tino Kokkinos, Senior Vice President, D&B Sales & Marketing Solutions. "Our participation in this research further demonstrates D&B's commitment to providing our customers with the information and tools to overcome these challenges and make more confident business decisions."

As a key sponsor of the program, D&B will provide information and case histories about challenges identified in improving and maintaining data quality. Recognizing that data quality is a critical success factor in direct marketing efforts, CRM, Business Intelligence and Business Activity Monitoring, D&B and the TDQM program will work to develop methodologies to support these findings. The D-U-N-S (R) Number, a unique nine-digit identification sequence, which provides unique identifiers of single business entities, while linking corporate family structures together, makes D&B ideally situated to participate in the TDQM research consortium on Corporate Householding. Corporate Housheolding refers to not only the hierarchial structure within a corporation, but also the variety of inter-organizational relationships, views which can be enabled by using the D-U-N-S Number.

"For the TDQM to be successful, it is critical that we gain participation and support from market leading sponsors," said Stuart Madnick, John Norris Maguire Professor of Information Technologies and Co-Director of the TDQM program at MIT. "D&B brings the D-U-N-S Number and more than 160 years of experience in managing information, making D&B a logical partner to participate in our data quality research. The expertise and insight D&B offers will have a significant impact on our research initiatives, and subsequently on how businesses and the industry react to these important issues."

About D&B

D&B (NYSE:DNB) provides the information, tools and expertise to help customers Decide with Confidence. D&B enables customers quick access to objective, global information whenever and wherever they need it. Customers use D&B Risk Management Solutions to manage credit exposure, D&B Sales & Marketing Solutions to find profitable customers and D&B Supply Management Solutions to manage suppliers efficiently. D&B's E-Commerce Solutions are also used to authenticate and verify potential trading partners online, increasing trust and confidence in e-commerce transactions. Over 90 percent of the Business Week Global 1000 rely on D&B as a trusted partner to make confident business decisions. For more information, please visit www.dnb.com.

About MIT TDQM Program

The TDQM program is a joint effort among members of the TDQM Program, industry partners, and related industry-specific research programs at MIT such as The Center for Technology, Policy, and Industrial Development, Leaders for Manufacturing, and the Center for Transportation Studies. Government agencies and industry partners such as D&B and Firstlogic are sponsoring the TDQM program to devise practical methods for business and industry to improve data quality. Motivated by evidence that strategic corporate initiatives are increasingly vulnerable to defective data, the TDQM program focuses on three major research components: information product management, corporate householding, and data quality management in the context of the lean enterprise and information supply chain management. For more information about the MIT TDQM program, visit http://web.mit.edu/tdqm or contact Dr. Richard Wang at rwang@mit.edu, 617-739-7234.