A telecommunications company is implementing an AI solution to optimize network performance.

PMI’s CPMAI/PMI-CPMAI guidance places “data preparation and transformation” at the center of getting data into a usable state for model development and operations. The CPMAI v7 outline explicitly includes coordinating data preparation activities such as formulating data preparation requirements and performing data cleansing and enhancement—work that directly addresses inconsistent formats. In addition, CPMAI v7 lists “Executing Data Preparation and Transformation,” including methods to improve data quality and accuracy and to clean/enhance data for optimal AI performance. When the issue is format inconsistency (e.g., mismatched schemas, units, encodings, timestamp formats), the PMI-aligned response is to define and execute the required transformation steps (normalize formats, standardize fields, convert units, align timestamps, encode categories) so the dataset meets the model and pipeline requirements. Governance (C) is important but is broader and slower-moving; it does not, by itself, resolve the immediate technical incompatibilities. A data quality report (D) documents problems but does not fix them. Data breach impact (B) is a different risk category. Therefore, the method that best meets the stated objective is determining the necessary data transformation steps.