A method and system are presented of automatically suggesting rules for data stored in a table, with the table comprising a plurality of columns. The table is profiled to identify a content type for each of one or more of the plurality of columns. A rule knowledge base is accessed to locate rules specified for identified content types. Then, one or more of the located rules specified for identified content types are presented as suggestions. Acceptance of one or more of the suggested rules is received from a user, and the received validations are stored in the rule knowledge base. The accepted rules are applied to data for quality detection and monitoring. Embodiments are also described where columns are suggested based on a given rule.