energies Article Determining Information Quality in ICT Systems Marek Stawowy 1, * , Stanislaw Duer 2 , Jacek Pa´ s 3 and Wojciech Wawrzy´ nski 1   Citation: Stawowy, M.; Duer, S.; Pa´ s, J.; Wawrzy´ nski, W. Determining Information Quality in ICT Systems. Energies 2021, 14, 5549. https:// doi.org/10.3390/en14175549 Academic Editor: Silvio Simani Received: 10 July 2021 Accepted: 1 September 2021 Published: 5 September 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Faculty of Transport, Warsaw University of Technology, 75 Koszykowa St., 00-662 Warsaw, Poland; wojciech.wawrzynski@pw.edu.pl 2 Department of Energy, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Koszalin, 15-17 Raclawicka St., 75-620 Koszalin, Poland; stanislaw.duer@tu.koszalin.pl 3 Faculty of Electronic, Military University of Technology of Warsaw, 2 Urbanowicza St., 00-908 Warsaw, Poland; jacek.pas@wat.edu.pl * Correspondence: marek.stawowy@pw.edu.pl Abstract: The article deals with the estimation of information quality (IQ) in information and communication technologies (ICT) systems. A number of recent publications were analyzed, as well as ISO standards concerning quality and information quality. Due to the limitations of the known methods of estimating IQ, the authors present their own proprietary concept based on multidimensional and multi-layer modeling using methods of estimating uncertainty. The modeling proposed in this publication uses sixteen dimensions of quality known from the literature. The features of dimensions are taken into account as another layer and information states as successive steps in the IQ model. An example of calculations is also presented in which the mathematical evidence method used in estimating the uncertainty is extended to the modeling of dependent elements. The article also presents a simulation based on the presented example. This simulation shows the assumed dependencies between the output and input values. Keywords: information quality (IQ); modeling; uncertainty; information and communication technologies (ICT) 1. Introduction Nowadays, assessing information quality (IQ) seems to be the first step in assessing a technical system. This is especially the case when it comes to ICT systems in areas such as transport, healthcare, or other emergency services, where the safety of people or transported people and loads frequently depends on the quality of the information provided. Assessing IQ seems to be the first step in assessing the energy supply of ICT systems too. IQ has been studied by many institutions worldwide. One of them launched the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Information Quality (MITIQ) program—an IQ research program carried out after 2000 at MIT [1]. In publications such as [2], the components of IQ dimensions called features are mentioned many times, but hardly any indication is made regarding how to determine these dimensions and features. Additionally, in the ISO 8000 standards [3] there is no reference to the IQ stored dimensions and how to define them. The authors of this article propose a method for determining IQ based on a multidimensional model based on uncertainty modeling. The model takes into account not only the features and dimensions of quality but also information states, due to which the model enables a comprehensive description of the entire ICT system. 2. State of the Art According to the definition given in [3,4], information is knowledge about objects, such as facts, events, things, processes, or ideas, including concepts that have special meaning in a specific context, and knowledge that reduces or removes the uncertainty about the occurrence of a specific event from a given set of possible events. In turn, data stand for a reinterpretable representation of information that is formalized in a manner Energies 2021, 14, 5549. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14175549 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies