How to launch data governance, accelerating the path to game changing useful data

It is more and more imperative that organisations globally ensure their systems and operations work properly and effectively. We have heard and continue to hear the mantra “data is the new oil”. The truth is that any enterprise in possession of a big data capability, or any type of data processing capability, will need to continuously pump into that machine, updated and new information. The eventual output is only as good as the input. Let’s take for example, a car that has had the wrong type of fuel put in; it may continue to drive for a short period but will eventually grind to a halt.

For that reason, data governance is a discipline that requires investment and effort especially as laws governing data usage and processing are changing rapidly, globally. What used to work in the past may only work for a short time. At some point the risk is that the business operations could be ground to a halt due to rules and regulations.

Any good Enterprise Data Governance programme needs to have two parts; Strategy and Operations. The strategy needs to include a solid operating framework, and policies that set out the way in which data is to be governed. This is then backed up by operational procedures and rules by which the strategy is implemented across an entire organisation.

During this process, it is fundamental to note that there are 4 primary roles inside of an enterprise that are becoming ever more present; these are the Data Owner, the Data Steward, the Data Custodian, and the Data Citizen.

Data Owners - individuals that are ultimately responsible within an organisation for their customers data. This will usually be a C level representative and will usually be from the market facing units.

Data Stewards - teams of people that are responsible for ensuring the data is clean and consistent, raising any issues and concerns if this is not the case. Data Stewards would generally be within the reporting organisation of the Data Owner.

Data Custodians - the teams responsible for the up keep of hardware and software. To make any changes to any of the data whilst it is in their custody, must be approved by Data Owners.

Data Citizens - users within the business that extract information and use for a very specific and defined purpose e.g. analytics teams that produce predictive and prescriptive modelling, and finance divisions that are required to report on a company’s financials.

Other areas of Data Governance focus include the following:

The contents in the table is not exhaustive but gives you an idea of the depth of the realm of Data Governance. Remember that Data Governance is not a project. It is an ongoing and continuous activity, and one that is rapidly becoming a hot topic in board rooms across the globe. It has the ability to support revenue growth as well as optimise underlying costs of the business.

If you need more information or clarification about any of the contents in this post contact Sunny directly via LinkedIn.

All the best,

Sunny Nirala

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