What is Data Governance?
Most enterprises worldwide have fully acknowledged that their data is a strategic asset of the company to guide strategic decision-making, promote experimentation to learn and improve, and deliver better business results.
According to the Data Governance Institute (DGI), data governance is a system of 'decision rights' and 'accountabilities' for information-related processes which are executed according to agreed-upon models. Data Governance describes-- who can take what actions with what information, and when, under what circumstances, using what methods.
Gartner presents a macro perspective on Data Governance as it encompasses a collection of processes, roles, policies, standards, and metrics that guarantee the efficient and effective use of information, allowing an organization to reach its goals.
You should see very clearly here that Data Governance is directly related with business goals of your organisation, whether you realize or not.
As new data privacy laws and regulations have been passed in various countries, it has become critical for organizations to develop, implement, and follow ethically sound data governance frameworks.
Data Governance ensures that your data is used SECURELY and OPENLY at the same time. It creates the organisational framework for handling data, structures roles and responsibilities and thus supports the use of data in your company - and at the same time sets rules for handling data.
A concrete data governance framework covers 'operational' roles and responsibilities, as well as 'tactical' and 'strategic' objectives of your company.
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Who is Responsible for Data Governance?
Effective data governance involves the ENTIRE enterprise.
Large organizations typically designate a 'Data Governance Team' which will be responsible for setting goals and priorities, architecting the governance model, gaining budget approval, and selecting appropriate technologies to use.
Your company may want to consider some key Job-Profiles, including:
1. Chief Data Officer (CDO)
He is the person who will oversees the management, gathering, and use of data, including data analytics. Therefore, he/she would play a key role in your data governance.
2. Data Governance Manager
Your company may choose to designate a specific 'Data Governance Manager,' and assign a team to support him/her.
This may be particularly helpful when COMPLIANCE issues come into play because proper governance protects your organization.
3. Data Owners
This role should be assigned to senior manager(s), who would specify your organization’s requirements on data and data quality. They need to be able to take initiatives and make decisions for your entire organization. However, their role is business-orientated, not technical. Data owners are accountable for the state of your data as an asset to your company.
4. Data Stewards
This is a technical role and highly important one. Data stewards are also referred to as data architects. Data stewards are in charge of executing the actions necessary to properly protect data. They job is to ensure that all data standards and policies are adhered to on daily-basis. Often they are part of a central management team (committee) or IT department as they need to be 'subject-matter experts' for a data entity or/and a set of data attributes.
Data stewards provide you standardized data-element 'definitions and formulas' as well as 'profiling' source-system details and 'data-flows' between systems. They are either taking care of the data as an asset or providing consultation on how to do so.
5. Data Custodians
They are also called data operators. Data custodians create and maintain data based on an organization’s standards. This includes business and technical onboarding, updates, and maintenance of data-assets. Data custodian roles can be bestowed onto employees in established business units, or bundled together with dedicated 'support functions,' for example, shared services.
6. Data Governance Committee
At enterprise level, most organisation prefer to have Data Governance Committee, under the CDO. Small and medium-level organisations may or may not adopt committee set up. The job of this committee is to APPROVE policies and standards concerning Data Governance. This committee is supposed to handle all the issues which are escalated to them. Some large enterprise may divide it into some sub-committees, e.g., sub-committees for customers, vendors, products, and employees.
Some times, the committees can be formed separately for 'Strategic' governance, and 'Tactical' data management and governance.
Your DG team would NOT be complete without some compliance specialist(s), who pool their expertise to make informed and compliant decisions on behalf of your organization.
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What are fundamental principles of Data Governance?
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An organization must define its data governance team with clear job descriptions, responsibilities, and duties. This includes determining who is accountable for cross-functional data-related decisions, processes, and controls.
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Data governance programs must define accountabilities in a way that introduces checks-and-balance between business and technology teams to ensure everyone is working effectively towards a common goal.
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Data-related decisions, controls, and processes must be auditable and accompanied by documentation to support compliance requirements. Furthermore, the framework must support the standardization of enterprise data governance.
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Everyone in the organization must work with integrity when dealing with each other and data. They must be honest in discussions and feedback around data-related decisions.
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Data stewardship processes require transparency, so all participants and auditors know when and how data-related decisions and controls are introduced into processes.
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Lastly, effective data governance programs must support proactive and reactive changes made by management to ensure the proper handling of data processes.
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“Data needs to be governed as it has neither will nor intent of its own. Tools and people shape the data and tell it where to go. Therefore, data governance is the governance of people and technology”
Thomas G 2006
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This Article Was Written & published by Meena R, Senior Manager - IT, at Luminis Consulting Services Pvt. Ltd, India.
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