Funding Models: Funding Data Governance

Getting Started

The DGI Data Governance Framework addresses funding two ways:

  • Obtaining funding and support is a phase in the Data Governance Life Cycle
  • Funding is part of one of the components of the framework.
Funding Data Governance

What type of funding is needed? Data Governance programs need to establish funding for four types of Data Governance and Stewardship efforts:

  1. The initial design and implementation of the Data Governance program
  2. Ongoing Data Governance / Stewardship / Compliance / Access Management efforts
  3. Ongoing Data Stewardship / Data Quality efforts
  4. Recommended projects and efforts that come from governance-led issue analysis.

It is this last type of funding that typically poses the greatest challenge for companies. We’ll look at options for funding issue-analysis recommendations. But first, let’s look at typical funding models for the first three types of Data Governance efforts.

 

Funding the Design of a Data Governance Program

Typically, organizations choose one of four models for creating a formal and acknowledged Data Governance program.

  1. A project to build a program
  2. Line item in other project
  3. Special funding by a stakeholder group
  4. Data Governance included in IT / Data Management / Data Architecture efforts.

1. A project to build a program

With this approach, a formal project is created to design and implement the program. Often, this project includes a prototype effort to which Data Governance is applied, such as a JAD session of Data Stakeholders or Data Stewards to address a legacy data issue.
Note: many “boilerplate” project plans are designed for the development of a piece of software, not for the development of a program. They can include steps and deliverables that don’t make sense for a program development project. Also, a certain amount of flexibility needs to be built into program development project plans, or project managers can find themselves having to process change requests when efforts to define scope and focus require multiple iterations, or meetings to discuss stakeholder needs are rescheduled.

 

2. Line item in another project

With this approach, a project that requires Data Governance to succeed in its objectives will include activities to initiate and fund the design and deployment of a formal Data Governance program. Examples would be SOA or Master Data Management initiatives or Data Warehouse projects.

 

3. Special funding from a stakeholder group

With this approach, a department or program with a major stake in the proper governance of data will initiate and fund the design and deployment of a formal Data Governance program. Examples would be SOA or Master Data Management programs, Data Warehouse initiatives, compliance initiatives such as Basel II or Sarbanes-Oxley, or Privacy/Access Control programs.

 

4. Data Governance included in IT / Data Management / Data Architecture efforts

With this approach, Data Governance is included in another technology or data-related program. If Data Governance is included in Enterprise Data Management efforts, for example, the program may be given a bucket of money to implement governance without being held to the type of spending oversight generally required of projects.

Read Next:

Establishing a Data Governance Office

Most organizations that begin a formal Data Governance and Stewardship effort need a support team to facilitate and coordinate activities of councils, stewards, and stakeholders. This support team may be individual contributors who have been doing this work informally...
Read More

Goals and Principles for Data Governance

What do you want Data Governance to accomplish?  Regardless of the focus of your program, chances are you hope to accomplish the following universal goals for Data Governance programs: Goal – Enable better decision-making Goal – Reduce operational friction Goal –...
Read More

Focus Areas for Data Governance: Management Alignment

This type of program typically comes into existence when managers find it difficult to make “routine” data-related management decisions because of their potential effect on operations or compliance efforts.Managers may realize they need to come together to make...
Read More

Implementing Change Management

Most organizations have string change management – or at least change control – mechanisms for technology. They usually have change management for software applications. They have change management for websites. And yet, many organizations do not practice structured...
Read More

Governance and Alignment

Data Governance is a balancing act. On the one hand, you need to exert control over how groups create data, manage data, and use data. On the other hand, you need to promote appropriate levels of flexibility. You need to ensure that data-related efforts support the...
Read More

Governance Communications

At a Data Governance Conference in Orlando, Florida (USA), a group of managers of successful Data Governance programs reached a startling consensus: They agreed that Data Governance is actually somewhere between 80 and 95% communications!How can this be? They said...
Read More

Defining Organizational Structures

There is no single “right” way to organize Data Governance and Stewardship. Some organizations have distinct Data Governance programs. Others embed Data Governance activities into Data Quality or Master Data Management programs.

Read More

Setting Governance Roles and Responsibilities

Who does what in a Data Governance program? First, a group of individuals (or a hierarchy of groups) representing a cross-section of stakeholder groups makes a set of rules in the form of policies, standards, requirements, guidelines, or data definitions. (Or, they...
Read More

Choosing Governance Models

It’s important to define the organizational structure of your Data Governance program. But before you can do that you have to define your governance model at a higher level. You need to consider what types of decisions your governance bodies will be called upon to...
Read More

Focus Areas for Data Governance: Data Quality

This type of program typically comes into existence because of issues around the quality, integrity, or usability of data. It may be sponsored by a Data Quality group or a business team that needs better quality data. (For example: Data Acquisition or  Mergers &...
Read More