Strategy Components

This is my first column on data governance strategy. In this column, I’ll attempt to lay out the primary components of a strategy and give you a starter kit for each one. This will allow you to tailor each component to your organization and then cobble together your own data governance strategy. Writers, lecturers and consultants in this field have different definitions of what constitutes data governance, and some will disagree with me on one point or another. That’s OK. I would expect you to take what is relevant for you and your organization and discard the rest. I’ll attempt to define any terminology that might be misinterpreted. This doesn’t mean that I have the only and correct definition, but at least you will know how I’m using the term. I strongly suggest you create your own glossary that you will share with your team, your stakeholders and your organization and put it up on your internal Web site. If you don’t like my definitions, change them, but try to use them consistently within your organization.

Here we go. In my concept of data governance I include:

Data quality - including conformance to valid values; uniqueness; nonredundant, complete, accurate, understood, timely, referential integrity;
Metadata creation and maintenance - information about data, both technical and business;
Master data management;
Data integration;
Data categorization for performance, availability and security;
Business intelligence;
Organization to support data governance - data ownership, data stewardship, data administration, database administration, security officers and sponsorship for the data governance initiative;
Security and privacy;
Rogue data that is not under any controls or standards;
Treating data as an asset;
Traditional database care and feeding, including database design, performance, backup, recovery and archiving;
Tools and products to support data governance; and
Measurement - usage, performance, benefits, data quality measures.

Sponsorship

Before much else happens, a data governance initiative needs executive sponsorship, and it needs this sponsorship for three reasons:

The initiative takes resources and effort with the right people and the right skills with the proper level of authority.
Without the right sponsorship, a wonderful strategy might be developed, but there is little chance that it would ever be implemented.
Without the right sponsorship, the heads of each fiefdom will resist change - they may resist anyway - and it would be impossible to get the requisite cooperation and commitment to change.

Data governance takes an ongoing commitment. It cannot be “this year’s initiative.” It needs sustained support.

Find a Sponsor