A centralized data governance framework provides users and decision-makers with more reliable data. This leads to higher confidence in decisions and a more effective business.
A successful data governance program involves many steps, including identifying and structuring the governance team. It also requires data classification and tagging and procedures that ensure policy compliance.
Table of Contents
Define Data Ownership
The first step in creating a data governance framework is defining who owns each piece of information within your business. This will help you determine what types of protections should be in place. For example, dealing with private or confidential customer data may need to be limited in who has access.
Additionally, it’s essential to make sure that you consider unmanaged data. This includes files, folders, and shares. This data is more likely to be corrupted or stolen than your managed data. Ensure you have an audit feature to track data flow across your business.
Implementing a pilot project is a great way to get started with a data governance initiative. This will allow you to test processes and see what works best for your company. Once you’ve established a baseline, you can implement the governance process throughout your organization. The key is to remember that these initiatives are ongoing and must be continually refined to account for organizational changes.
Define Data Access
Once your data governance framework is set up, monitoring and refining it regularly is essential. This could include re-analyzing which processes should be automated, what improvements can be made, and how to adapt your procedures for organizational changes.
For example, you may change who can access specific data elements as the business grows. Traditionally, this is done by creating a separation between data providers and data consumers. But as your company grows, this method doesn’t scale and can leave some teams without the data they need to make informed decisions.
Instead, you can create a data governance program that streamlines data to all data end-users using a tool that manages workflows, assigns data owners and approvers, and includes a collaborative business glossary, visual data lineage, and more. This allows everyone to focus on their work while remaining confident that their workflows protect sensitive information. Providing these assurances will ensure that your data is accurate, helpful, and ready for the next step of your business’s strategy. It’ll also help your company avoid costly mistakes caused by insufficient data and reduce waste from incorrect or outdated information.
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Define Data Requirements
As a business leader, you understand that data governance is more than protecting sensitive information. You also know that a good governance strategy can improve day-to-day operations, easier audits, increased profits, and more.
A successful governance program is a continuous process that must be integrated into your organization’s work. It is something that can be handled smoothly, and it should never be seen as a project. Those that view it as such risk losing interest and the program could fail.
The fields of action for a governance program vary from business to business, but the most common include data availability and usability, data quality, and security. To meet these goals, your company must be able to manage and access its data through a consistent format. Ideally, your company should have software to catalog your data, visualize it in one location, and track lineage. This will help your team stay on top of the issues and ensure compliance with your governance program. It will also protect your sensitive information from unauthorized access or theft.
Define Data Standards
Among the most critical aspects of data governance is establishing what standards to use, documenting them, and making them accessible to stakeholders. This includes defining how data is stored, processed, transferred, and displayed and how it’s classified.
The complexities of managing information across departments require teams to work together to ensure data governance procedures are implemented and monitored continuously, meeting company and regulatory compliance standards. A robust governance framework is also essential to ensuring a business can retrieve and analyze the data it collects, improving overall business outcomes.
To be successful, it’s critical to demonstrate a data governance initiative’s business value to executives at the outset. Getting the program approved and funded can be challenging if the benefits must be clarified. This can include identifying quantifiable metrics such as how many errors are resolved quarterly and the revenue gains or cost savings resulting from those improvements. In addition, it’s essential to communicate regularly with stakeholders to keep them up-to-date on the status of data governance initiatives.
Define Data Security
Data governance involves establishing policies, roles, and accountability. These are essential to ensure that your organization’s information is accurate, consistent, secure, and available when needed. Your data governance strategy should also align with your business goals, such as improving data quality, increasing revenue, reducing costs, or ensuring regulatory compliance.
Implementing a successful data governance framework can be challenging. It requires the support of leadership and buy-in from employees across your organization. It’s best to start with a small project and grow your efforts as your team becomes comfortable with the process. Keeping the program simple for couples is essential to avoid interfering with work efforts or discouraging employee engagement.
A tool can help you automate the entire data governance process and eliminate manual tasks such as assigning owners, tracking lineage, and enforcing data standards. This way, you can focus on building trust in your data, and your employees can be confident that they can trust the information they use to make business decisions. It’s also a great way to protect your data throughout its lifecycle.
