Data Governance Success Factors

Data is created, changed and shared on a daily basis.

Data forms the primary source for decisions. To ensure that companies have confidence in their data and decisions, Data Governance is essential.

Data Governance is an initiative that brings uniformity to data across the organisation, removes the ambiguity of data and leverages current data to make strategic decisions. Rather than being a single exercise, it is an ongoing process that an organisation must imbibe into their daily operations.

Data governance tools are not vital to achieve this!

Factors that need to be considered

Data Standardisation

One of the initial steps in a data governance strategy is to gather and develop an enterprise-wide data dictionary. Departments, as well as functions within departments, may attribute different meanings to the same data. A frequent instance of this, is the use of Country Code. The finance team may use GB and the sales team may use GBR. Both country codes are correct however within an organisation there should only one format to guarantee the accuracy of reporting. Data Standardisation may be a time consuming exercise but it will benefit many of the stakeholders and decision makers. By rationalising data within teams and functions, prior to departments and office locations, the process becomes more manageable. In an organisation that spans cities or countries, it is worthwhile to establish the primary location that will represent the standard.

Ownership/Accountability

Accountability is one of the most common hurdles that companies face. In many cases, departments are accountable for the data that they use. In an organisation that spans many departments, across many different locations, this approach is not feasible. A central data team, with oversight across the organisation needs to be empowered with this responsibility. This can be made up of a data steward and data manager who is entrusted with ensuring that the data governance policies are in place and adhered to.

Consistency

As with many processes, the benefits are only truly appreciated when it is followed through. In Data Governance it is no different. In an environment where data grows organically, ensuring that data conforms to business rules is not second nature. This is where data governance tools do have merit. By allowing business users to only enter data that conforms to the business rules, data quality improves and it minimises any data cleansing activities. In the case where there are no data governance tools being used, data managers need to work with the business users regularly to capture and update any changes to the data requirements. This may be through a weekly/fortnightly meeting or through a workflow process where changes need to be carried out in a timeframe constrained environment. 

In the business landscape, where there are a number of software applications sharing information, the focus on data governance is therefore essential. Even the smallest efforts to define the Single Source of Truth for a team, department or a business as a whole will give more confidence in the decisions stakeholders make.