Data integrity refers to the accuracy, consistency, completeness, and reliability of data throughout its entire lifecycle. It ensures that information remains correct and has not been improperly altered, duplicated, corrupted, or lost as it is created, stored, processed, and transferred. Database constraints, validation rules, access controls, and audit trails are commonly used to maintain integrity.
In practice, data integrity is particularly important when systems depend on trustworthy records for transactions, reporting, analytics, or automated decisions. For example, a financial database may use validation and transaction controls to prevent incomplete or conflicting account records. Data integrity is closely related to data quality, data security, database management, and data governance.
